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

Old book collection a thrill for astronomy enthusiasts
by Patrick Wiggins 20 Feb '13

20 Feb '13

Here is Sheena's piece on the recent non-SLAS adventure of SLAS members to the Marriott Library. Old book collection a thrill for astronomy enthusiasts http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/55860443-78/book-books-lake-library.html.… patrick Sent from my iPad

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Solar safety (Was: Current ATM Project)
by Joe Bauman 20 Feb '13

20 Feb '13

It is absolutely essential that no unsafe equipment is used EVER. -- Joe ------------------------------ On Wed, Feb 20, 2013 9:57 AM MST erikhansen(a)thebluezone.net wrote: >>It should be noted that I sometimes gazed at the sun with H-alpha for hours. >The danger to the casual public is probably slight, but anyone who used >the H-alpha a lot before its repair should take note. > >I'm reserving final judgement until I see the doctor. > >SLAS is telling the public it is safe, seems prudent SLAS should do some >inspections. H-alphas that are 10-15 years old should be serviced. Does >point to an advantage of the PST's. Harder if not impossible to damage. > > > > Joe, it might be a good idea if a qualified club officer inspected all >> white-light solar filters, both glass and film, to be used at public >> events >> prior to sun parties. Any found with pinholes or other flaws should be >> disqualified from being used for club events until repaired. >> >> Not sure how to do on-the-spot inspections of H-a equipped scopes without >> some kind of portable photometric device. Nobody wants to see >> anyone else go through what Erik experienced. >> >> Old timers will remember Ralph Seilor, who quit the club after an attorney >> friend of his told him that he personally could be held liable for injury >> or damage claims against the club. It was when we were building SPOC 1. >> Ralph was a very active member up until that time. Seemed like an >> over-reaction at the time, but these days I'm not so sure. >> >> It's up to the owners of solar filters to make sure they are in good >> working order prior to use, for their own safety, but a club needs a way >> to >> be assured of it when the general public is involved. >> >> I know that more than once, I've found a pinhole in a Baader filter and >> didn't use it until the hole was opaqued. A bottle of White-Out kept in >> the observing kit works for true holes (do they still make that stuff?). >> If it's not a hole that goes through the substrate but just a piece of >> missing aluminum coating, a Sharpie works well. Sharpies work great on >> glass filters as well. You'd have to have quite a few black dots on a >> solar filter before it's performance was compromised noticeably. >> >> My 2 cents. >> >> On Tue, Feb 19, 2013 at 5:55 PM, Joe Bauman <josephmbauman(a)yahoo.com> >> wrote: >> >> This is awful! When did it happen? >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> 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". >> > > > >_______________________________________________ >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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The last massive meteor in 1908
by Ann House 20 Feb '13

20 Feb '13

Interesting story and video of the Siberian meteor that leveled 800 square miles of forest. http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/2013/02/the-last-massive-explodin… -A

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Animated Nebulae
by Howard Jackman 20 Feb '13

20 Feb '13

Found this link today to some cool animated nebulae, anyone want to try this....? http://www.petapixel.com/2013/02/20/amazing-animated-gifs-capture-nebulae-i… Howard

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Test Image from New Astrograph - Adventures in ATM
by Tyler Allred 20 Feb '13

20 Feb '13

Hello All, I have been working feverishly on my new astrograph and everything is now working well except the flexure issue I mentioned in a previous thread. I finally got a chance to run the scope for about 40 minutes a couple of nights ago, and decided to point it at the Flying Hamburger (NGC3628). Due to flexure, I am limited to 1-minute exposures, so this image is not very deep or well defined, but I can see potential. I thought I would post it for others to enjoy. The new scope has over twice the focal length of my previous scopes. This longer focal length, combined with the small pixel size of the ML8300 camera, make for a pretty large image scale. This is going to be fun! :) Here is a link to the luminance-only image: http://www.allred-restoration.com/Images/NGC3628_SLAS.jpg Take a peek! Cheers, Tyler

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Test Image from New Astrograph - Adventures in ATM
by Tyler Allred 20 Feb '13

20 Feb '13

Hello All, I have been working feverishly on my new astrograph and everything is now working well except the flexure issue I mentioned in a previous thread. I finally got a chance to run the scope for about 40 minutes a couple of nights ago, and decided to point it at the Flying Hamburger Galaxy (NGC3628). Due to flexure, I am limited to 1-minute exposures, so this image is not very deep or well defined, but I can see potential. I thought I would post it for others to enjoy. The new scope has over twice the focal length of my previous scopes. This longer focal length, combined with the small pixel size of the ML8300 camera, make for a pretty large image scale. This is going to be fun! :) Here is a link to the luminance-only image: http://www.allred-restoration.com/Images/NGC3628_SLAS.jpg Take a peek! Cheers, Tyler

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Messier Marathon app
by Patrick Wiggins 20 Feb '13

20 Feb '13

Anyone here tried this app yet? https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/messier-marathon/id594617818?mt=8 If so how has it worked? thanks, patrick

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Solar safety (Was: Current ATM Project)
by Chuck Hards 20 Feb '13

20 Feb '13

Joe, it might be a good idea if a qualified club officer inspected all white-light solar filters, both glass and film, to be used at public events prior to sun parties. Any found with pinholes or other flaws should be disqualified from being used for club events until repaired. Not sure how to do on-the-spot inspections of H-a equipped scopes without some kind of portable photometric device. Nobody wants to see anyone else go through what Erik experienced. Old timers will remember Ralph Seilor, who quit the club after an attorney friend of his told him that he personally could be held liable for injury or damage claims against the club. It was when we were building SPOC 1. Ralph was a very active member up until that time. Seemed like an over-reaction at the time, but these days I'm not so sure. It's up to the owners of solar filters to make sure they are in good working order prior to use, for their own safety, but a club needs a way to be assured of it when the general public is involved. I know that more than once, I've found a pinhole in a Baader filter and didn't use it until the hole was opaqued. A bottle of White-Out kept in the observing kit works for true holes (do they still make that stuff?). If it's not a hole that goes through the substrate but just a piece of missing aluminum coating, a Sharpie works well. Sharpies work great on glass filters as well. You'd have to have quite a few black dots on a solar filter before it's performance was compromised noticeably. My 2 cents. On Tue, Feb 19, 2013 at 5:55 PM, Joe Bauman <josephmbauman(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > This is awful! When did it happen? > >

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Current ATM Project
by Chuck Hards 20 Feb '13

20 Feb '13

I'm nearly finished with an RFT refractor built around a (as sold and stated in their literature) Jaegers 110mm f/4.5 doublet. Using an original Jaegers lens cell, the clear aperture turns out to be nearly 107mm and the actual focal ratio is closer to f/4.4. It uses an Antares (same as GSO) single-speed 2" Crayford-style focuser. Aluminum tube and dewcap, Orion tube rings. All that remains to be done is to paint the tube exterior and line the inside with flocked paper. I may add a glare stop if needed, but based on my experience with flocking, it won't be. It should be completely finished in the next week or so. I'm using automotive paint (catalyzed) for all exterior finishes. Stainless-steel allen-head cap screw hardware & washers. I turned the focuser/tube adapter on my mini-lathe. The scope will be used in either alt-az mode on my "Weightless" mount, or on my CGEM on a short Losmandy-style dovetail plate. I'm adding an upper bridge plate of 1/4" thick aluminum on top of the rings for both traditional finderscope and a red-dot sight. It sports one of my molded-fiberglass dust covers. The dew cap is flocked and felt-lined and slips on and off. A Baader solar filter is also in the works, as is a foam-lined wooden case if I can't find an inexpensive military surplus case on-line. Daytime optical tests have been encouraging. Spurious color is surprisingly slight for such a fast cemented doublet, about the same as a well-made large binocular objective. It won't be noticeable at all on deep-sky objects. Jaegers certainly made some great achromats in their heyday. This scope is the "proof of concept" for my 5" f/5 and 6" f/5 Jaegers objectives, which I hope to build scopes around later this year. The 6" is air-spaced. Pictures: http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii24/JethroTull1958/ATM/refractor001_zps… http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii24/JethroTull1958/ATM/refractor002_zps… http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii24/JethroTull1958/ATM/refractor003_zps… You can actually just click on the first one and then scroll through the album, the second and third links are the next two album photos. Note the little 50mm f/20 refractor in the foreground of the first shot. This is the one I plan to re-observe the Messier catalog with this year. It is actually a 49.5mm clear aperture, f/20.5 achromatic doublet. I'll be using it on a small GEM with electric RA drive and manual DEC, from the back yard as well as dark sites. The "50mm Project" is a personal challenge project, to test my observing skills under compromised skies and with minimal aperture. I've observed the moon, Jupiter, and a few bright double stars with that little objective before with great results. The DS challenge will be interesting.

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Meteorite damage in Russia
by D P Pierce 19 Feb '13

19 Feb '13

Many of the injured tell of hearing the loud blast then rushing to look out the window only in time to have the glass to come crashing in. Why would the sound waves travel faster than the shock wave? Deloy

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