December 2013 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

Best viewing sites in SW Utah
by Mike Scott 16 Dec '13

16 Dec '13

The new St. George Astronomy Group is putting together a list and map of good places for locals and visitors to view the night sky. If you have some favorite places, we would like to add them to the list. You can see what we've got so far at https://sites.google.com/site/stgeorgeastronomygroup/viewing-locations. Thanks for your help.

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Utah-Astronomy Digest, Vol 130, Issue 44 (Chinese Mining the Moon)
by John R. Peterson 15 Dec '13

15 Dec '13

>Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Chinese Moon landing this morning. >Bruce Hugo wrote: >Yup...these moon shots are for mineral?prospecting.? Its only time?before China begins to claim?areas on the?moon as their property. > Before we start worrying about the Chinese mining the Moon, let's remember what it takes to bring back even a small number of kilograms of rock. 400 (about what the Apollo astronauts brought back) is nothing compared to what a commercial mining interest would want, and that says nothing about getting it down to the surface of the Earth. The more mass, the larger the heat shield needed to slow something down to parachute speeds, and then, of course, you must consider the ridiculous size of parachute needed. No, we have to wait until some incredibly revolutionary form of propulsion is discovered before we can start making the Moon look like Appalachia or Bingham Canyon (I say discovered, because it's a much bigger problem than just modifying/developing something based on existing technologies). Of course, if you recover the metals and make the widgets off the Earth, that's another story, but because of the the same problems of currently unknown energy sources that would be needed, it's still all SciFi. John R. Peterson

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How I feel about space travel
by Joe Bauman 15 Dec '13

15 Dec '13

http://variety.com/2013/film/news/interstellar-trailer-1200956238/

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Carl Sagan interview
by Wiggins Patrick 14 Dec '13

14 Dec '13

As we approach the anniversary of the death of Carl Sagan it seems appropriate to re-watch his final TV interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8HEwO-2L4w patrick

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Chinese Moon landing this morning.
by Bruce Hugo 14 Dec '13

14 Dec '13

Yup...these moon shots are for mineral prospecting. Its only time before China begins to claim areas on the moon as their property. Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science. - Edwin Powell Hubble

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That's a big scope
by Wiggins Patrick 13 Dec '13

13 Dec '13

And I always thought the Kecks, at 10 meters, were big. Now I see that Europe is about to break ground on a 39 meter! http://www.eso.org/public/announcements/ann13099/ Funny that they're calling it the ELT. To them that means Extremely Large Telescope, but to aviators it means Emergency Locator Transmitter. :) patrick

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telescope anyone
by Mark Shelton 12 Dec '13

12 Dec '13

Hi, If anyone is interested, I acquired a used orion 10" Dob. Let me know if you would be interested in acquiring it. Please email me off list. Thanks Mark

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Impressive meteor over AZ
by Thomas Sevcik 12 Dec '13

12 Dec '13

Saw a clip this morning on HLN about an impressive meteor over Arizona on Tuesday. Interesting video and story about it on MSN today as well. While not associated with the Gemind meteor shower, it has gotten me excited about looking for meteors in the wee hours of the next two mornings. http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2013/1212/Arizona-meteor-Video-captures-br… Just a reminder, on January 1st there'll be a record-thin young crescent Moon. Looking at the U.S. Naval astronomical applications website, sunset occurs at 5:11 p.m. with civil twilight ending at 5:42 p.m. MST. Moonset occurs at 6:01 p.m. More info can be found on page 52 of Sky & Telescope's January issue. Tom Sevcik

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] SN (Was: The Big Freeze-9 December 2013)
by Joe Bauman 10 Dec '13

10 Dec '13

Yeah I had that happen to me with M-51 years ago. ------------------------------ On Tue, Dec 10, 2013 9:26 PM MST Wiggins Patrick wrote: >Yeah, I'm pretty much guaranteed a job for life. > >It is a bit frustrating to know that light from multiple supernovae are on their way from every one of those galaxies. I just have to hope I'm imaging when it arrives. > >Which reminds me of my "one that got away" story. In summer 2012 I'd been running my search program a few nights in a row but then came my monthly lecture at Bryce Canyon so no searching that night. As is my habit I drove home right after the talk and when I got home I found an email indicating that someone had found a bright SN in one of the galaxies I'd been working that week (M-33, IIRC). Ugh! > >And to make matters worse I exchanged emails with the discoverer and found that he'd found it much later in the night than I would have imaged it had I only been home. > >Oh well, maybe I'll get one tomorrow. :) > >patrick > > >On 10 Dec 2013, at 11:03, Joe Bauman <josephmbauman(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > >> Ah but are they still supernova-free? Better look again! >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> On Tue, Dec 10, 2013 6:32 AM MST Wiggins Patrick wrote: >> >> Well, there's one handy thing about these cold temps. I run my camera at -10 year round. In July and August it sometimes has problems cooling down that far. But tonight I didn't even need to turn the cooling circuit on as ambient has been between around -14 all night. >> >> Sure is a dry cold too. I've been open for a bit shy of 11 hours tonight and there no frost on the scope. >> >> patrick >> >> p.s. I can certify at least 320 galaxies to be supernova free tonight... > >_______________________________________________ >Utah-Astronomy mailing list >http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy > >Send messages to the list to >Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > >The Utah-Astronomy mailing list is not affiliated with any astronomy club. > >To unsubscribe go to: >http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy >Then enter your email address in the space provided and click on "Unsubscribe or edit options".

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] The Big Freeze-9 December 2013
by Joe Bauman 10 Dec '13

10 Dec '13

Ah but are they still supernova-free? Better look again! ------------------------------ On Tue, Dec 10, 2013 6:32 AM MST Wiggins Patrick wrote: >Well, there's one handy thing about these cold temps. I run my camera at -10 year round. In July and August it sometimes has problems cooling down that far. But tonight I didn't even need to turn the cooling circuit on as ambient has been between around -14 all night. > >Sure is a dry cold too. I've been open for a bit shy of 11 hours tonight and there no frost on the scope. > >patrick > >p.s. I can certify at least 320 galaxies to be supernova free tonight... > > >On 09 Dec 2013, at 11:34, Dave Gary <davegary(a)me.com> wrote: > >> Some snow pictures (can’t really say it’s winter) from St. George. I had to clear out the driveway observatory with a flat-head shovel. That was a real treat. I guess when area businesses get in another batch of snow shovels I’d better buy one. I was sure missing the snow thrower I used to have when I lived in Salt Lake City. It’s 11:26 MST (18:26 UTC for Patrick and Joe) and it’s 14°F (-10°C for Patrick and Joe) at my house. >> >> http://www.flickr.com/photos/78046474@N06/sets/72157638513931966/ >> >> >> Dave > >_______________________________________________ >Utah-Astronomy mailing list >http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy > >Send messages to the list to >Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > >The Utah-Astronomy mailing list is not affiliated with any astronomy club. > >To unsubscribe go to: >http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy >Then enter your email address in the space provided and click on "Unsubscribe or edit options".

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