May 2012 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

Solar Filter
by william baker 10 May '12

10 May '12

I am looking for a solar filter that would fit my 10" Orion Dob at a reasonable price, any ideas?

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Here's some sunspot photos
by jcarman6＠q.com 09 May '12

09 May '12

Dave, your pictures are the best by far. Excellent detail.

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Annular but not by much
by jcarman6＠q.com 09 May '12

09 May '12

Okay, not so much as a "tug" but sort of the moon is lagging behind earth in earth's orbit and so it is slightly farther away, thus the annular.

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today's giant sunspot
by Joe Bauman 09 May '12

09 May '12

Just when you think you're looking at the sun, it's looking back at you with its big dark eye! Today's neat sunspot, http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=4954&g2_imageViewsIndex=1 Thanks for taking a look -- Joe

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Excel challenge
by Patrick Wiggins 09 May '12

09 May '12

Howdy folks, I'm trying to use Excel to sort data by right ascension while at the same time keep the format of the original file. What I'd like to be able to do is input this (as generated by the target selection and scripting feature of TheSky): SlewToObject, NGC 2314, 7.20284 75.30996 WaitFor , 5 , TakeImage , 30 , SlewToObject, NGC 1961, 5.72365 69.38635 WaitFor , 5 , TakeImage , 30 , SlewToObject, NGC 2146, 6.34319 78.35322 WaitFor , 5 , TakeImage , 30 , And then have it come out sorted like this: SlewToObject, NGC 1961, 5.72365 69.38635 WaitFor , 5 , TakeImage , 30 , SlewToObject, NGC 2146, 6.34319 78.35322 WaitFor , 5 , TakeImage , 30 , SlewToObject, NGC 2314, 7.20284 75.30996 WaitFor , 5 , TakeImage , 30 , Note that it's sorted by the number in the third column with everything else remaining the same. Any ideas? Thanks, patrick

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Annular But not by much
by jcarman6＠q.com 09 May '12

09 May '12

Thanks Dan. It just sort of konked me on the head - duh, the moon 's full orbit takes 29.something days, so it will reach perigee and apogee within that time period (easily two weeks). With the earth orbiting the sun and carrying the moon with it, it tugs the moon a little to and fro as well. For this annular the earth has "kind of" thrown the moon a little farther away, so we get an annular eclipse rather than full one. Does that make sense?

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Spring dark skies
by daniel turner 09 May '12

09 May '12

Last night I took advantage of the clear sky and the midnight moonrise to do some binocular deep sky observing out at Lakeside. I brought along a load of firewood to warm myself as the moon rose and blotted out the dark. I do this once a year before the weather turns dry and burning restrictions are in force. You should check out M83 this time of year. It's called the "Southern Whirlpool" because it's every bit as spectacular as M51 which happens to be straight overhead these evenings. South of Spica and Saturn and east of Corvus and M68 its easy to find. There is a set of four stars that make an upside down cross or kite just like Cygnus but without the central star. M83 is right in the middle where the two lines cross. You need a good southern horizon like Lakeside or Rush Valley. Do it this month, It will be lost in the evening twilight by next month's new moon. DT

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Annular but not by much
by jcarman6＠q.com 09 May '12

09 May '12

I trust Brent's calculations. That adds another wrinkle to the annular photo problem. Was counting on a decent amount of light from the "ring of fire" to be sufficient to light up the surrounding geological features. If the ring is going to be minimal, that may make any wide angle photo too dark. Of course, I'll still try, but dang. It could just mean longer exposure times. We are going to have four minutes, but those four minutes go pretty fast at times like these. A nyone planning on taking pictures should make note of this. AND if it is going to be so small, MAYBE there might be a slight corona as well as b ailey's beads - maybe a diamond ring? Was ruling out taking my scope because as the contact points are interesting, the photos aren't too exciting. Well, it could be if sunspot group1479 is still visible. The moon covering the group little by little would be an interesting effect in a picture. (Video would be better) The super moon is another issue I'd like to hear from people on the board about. If the moon was at perigee on May 6th, how can it be making an annual eclipse two weeks later (Q.E.D. notwithstanding lol). I'm sure its a complicated geometric configuration, but I'm having a little problem envisioning it. If the moon will almost cover the sun, that helps with the geometry. Your thoughts anyone?

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solar filter purchase
by Chrismo 09 May '12

09 May '12

ring.... ring.... ring.... ring.... ring.... ring.... ring.... ring.... ring.... ring.... ring.... ring.... ring.... ring.... ring.... ring.... "Good aftahnoon, (New York camera place) dis is Bev" Hi Bev, I wanted to check to see if you have a particular filter in stock "Oh, yeah, lemme guess, a solah filtah?" Yes, a model blah blah blah "Naw honey, we don't got those, dey're on special ordah from da manafacturer and it takes about 7 to 10 days for us to get em" Ah, well, thanks for your time, I'm hoping to find one today "Ha ha, good luck wit dat buddy, nobody got those in stock" -- Chrismo I fix things, all kinds of things... (801) 897-9075

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Solar Image
by jcarman6＠q.com 09 May '12

09 May '12

Way super photo Mat (not to be be confused with photomat store hehe - pretty sure they are long gone) Let's get this straight - you hand held a camera with a normal lens up to an eyepiece? ?? Really???? I'm sure the exposure time was short. Did you use the autofocus on the camera? I'm going to have to try it. Dang, my plans for the annular keep changing. Guess there is still time, but dang,

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