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

Re: [Utah-astronomy] Today's Google Logo
by Joe Bauman 08 Jul '13

08 Jul '13

Nice! ------------------------------ On Mon, Jul 8, 2013 5:58 PM MDT Rodger C. Fry wrote: >If you haven't Googled today, you might want to look at their very >appropriate logo. > > > >Enjoy > >Rodger C. Fry > >_______________________________________________ >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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Retail Astronomy in Utah
by jcarman6＠q.com 08 Jul '13

08 Jul '13

I always had a bad attitude about Scoop City. (Old SLAS joke, but based on real event). For a number a years a group of SLAS members attended the Riverside Telescope Makers Convention in Big Bear, California in mass. Back then (80s) all the dealers would set up booths and you could get all kinds of accessories or scopes at bargain basement prices - not to mention the swap meet (opps I mentioned it). Worth the trip in and of it self. Got my 10X50 binos from Celestron for $30. Well, one year one of the dealers had a hugh selection of eyes pieces for incredible prices, but before anyone could get to the booth, Scope City bought EVERYTHING and turned around and tried to sell it to the attendees at twice the price. The situation spread like wildfire through the attendees and Scoop City ended up taking a lot of accessories back to their stores. I know that was ages ago, but always had a bad feeling about the company ever since. The fact they have failed to send the final scope today just bolsters the history. Hate to see Meade going in the same direction, but that's what happens when it is just business for profit.

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Meade now contemplating bankruptcy instead of selloff
by Chuck Hards 08 Jul '13

08 Jul '13

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/wires?id=187471762&c=y Some of what the article states doesn't square with what I see.

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Rain at New Moon
by Chuck Hards 07 Jul '13

07 Jul '13

I have a rain gauge in my backyard. For the entire month of June, I recorded *zero* precipitation. The first *week* of July saw a total of just a tad over 2 inches, in total! My prediction is that the next two weekends will see perfectly cloudless skies. As we pass third quarter, the monsoons will return. :-(

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Comet Hamner-Brown
by Jay Eads 06 Jul '13

06 Jul '13

Kitt Peak has confirmed the discovery of a new comet, Hamner-Brown that is out beyond Neptune. It looks to be approaching the Sun next February and the scary part is Kitt is calculating that this may be a impacter with Earth on the way back out. Harvard is listing Hamner-Brown as a 6 right now on the Torrino Scale. Both discoverers are amateurs, Hamner owns a major soap company out of California and Brown is a student in Iowa who ground his mirror and built his own scope. This is one to watch, not for the show, but if impact does occur, it will be devastating. So, this isn't true but is based on events in a famous Sci-Fi Book. Can anyone name the book? Also, if you guess correct, please pick an astronomical event from a book or movie and do a reply to this to see if others can guess. If you know your right, then do your post. Hopefully this will be kinda of fun.

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] TIME
by Joe Bauman 06 Jul '13

06 Jul '13

------------------------------ On Sat, Jul 6, 2013 12:09 PM MDT Ed wrote: >Hi Joe, > >The Grand America historical display seemed to be connected with the Glenn Beck show this evening. All I know about it was from an interview of Reed Moon on the radio on July 4th, I believe. The demand was so great that additional tours of the exhibit had to be added for this weekend. The display was not just American Revolution era, but extended to modern times. > >Back to your collection: > >I gather these are some of the reasons why your daguerreotypes are so rare: > >1. This was the first photographic medium and did not gain widespread use until the mid 1800s > >2. By that time there would have been few surviving veterans of the American Revolution because the youngest enlistees would be reaching their 90s. > >3. Of those, a few opted to have their photo taken by the newfangled process which I assume was expensive at that time. > >4. Of the daguerreotypes that exist depicting old people, the problem of positively identifying the person as a veteran of the war is difficult. > >5. On the other hand, these early photos might be more likely to survive passing from one generation to the next because their weight could signify their importance as opposed to a paper object. > >Did I miss anything? > >I still don't understand what the card photo was for. Did one carry several of these for use as business cards of the times? What words does the acronym CDV stand for? > >And, what is the description on the bottom of your five card photos all about? It seems the two Moores were responding to an 1864 act of Congress to place card photos of veterans as a record in the District Court of Connecticut. The description for Lemuel Cook is misplaced downward indicating it was added to an existing card after the card was made. > >Was this perhaps an early version of the current effort of historians to record the exploits of WWII and subsequent war veterans before they all pass away? > >BTW, all of this is somewhat related to astronomy because Wikipedia claims that the first correctly exposed photo of an eclipse of the sun was done with the daguerreotype process. > >Thanks for helping us understand more about your collection, > >Ed > > >_______________________________________________ >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] TIME
by Joe Bauman 06 Jul '13

06 Jul '13

Hi Ed, First, few veterans of the Revolution lived long to be photographed, as you mentioned. Then there are these factors to consider -- of these, few would have been well enough or inclined to be photographed, as daguerreotypes were relatively expensive; of daguerreotypes that were taken, only a small minority were identified in the case because, at the time one was taken, everybody in the family knew who the old man was -- I have plenty of daguerreotypes of old fellows that aren't identified, just as with ordinary daguerreotype portraits; daguerreotypes were one of a kind, the plate that went into the camera, not a print, so when one was destroyed or thrown out, that image was just gone. I can't think of any daguerreotype of a southern Revolutionary, probably because so much of the South burned during the Civil War. A card photo is a small print on paper glued to a rectangle of cardboard. The information at the bottom identifies the person and the photographers and the business about filing it is justva copyright notice from that era, so other photographers wouldn't copy it and sell the photo as their own work. -- Joe ------------------------------ On Sat, Jul 6, 2013 12:09 PM MDT Ed wrote: >Hi Joe, > >The Grand America historical display seemed to be connected with the Glenn Beck show this evening. All I know about it was from an interview of Reed Moon on the radio on July 4th, I believe. The demand was so great that additional tours of the exhibit had to be added for this weekend. The display was not just American Revolution era, but extended to modern times. > >Back to your collection: > >I gather these are some of the reasons why your daguerreotypes are so rare: > >1. This was the first photographic medium and did not gain widespread use until the mid 1800s > >2. By that time there would have been few surviving veterans of the American Revolution because the youngest enlistees would be reaching their 90s. > >3. Of those, a few opted to have their photo taken by the newfangled process which I assume was expensive at that time. > >4. Of the daguerreotypes that exist depicting old people, the problem of positively identifying the person as a veteran of the war is difficult. > >5. On the other hand, these early photos might be more likely to survive passing from one generation to the next because their weight could signify their importance as opposed to a paper object. > >Did I miss anything? > >I still don't understand what the card photo was for. Did one carry several of these for use as business cards of the times? What words does the acronym CDV stand for? > >And, what is the description on the bottom of your five card photos all about? It seems the two Moores were responding to an 1864 act of Congress to place card photos of veterans as a record in the District Court of Connecticut. The description for Lemuel Cook is misplaced downward indicating it was added to an existing card after the card was made. > >Was this perhaps an early version of the current effort of historians to record the exploits of WWII and subsequent war veterans before they all pass away? > >BTW, all of this is somewhat related to astronomy because Wikipedia claims that the first correctly exposed photo of an eclipse of the sun was done with the daguerreotype process. > >Thanks for helping us understand more about your collection, > >Ed > > >_______________________________________________ >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] TIME
by Ed 06 Jul '13

06 Jul '13

Hi Joe, The Grand America historical display seemed to be connected with the Glenn Beck show this evening. All I know about it was from an interview of Reed Moon on the radio on July 4th, I believe. The demand was so great that additional tours of the exhibit had to be added for this weekend. The display was not just American Revolution era, but extended to modern times. Back to your collection: I gather these are some of the reasons why your daguerreotypes are so rare: 1. This was the first photographic medium and did not gain widespread use until the mid 1800s 2. By that time there would have been few surviving veterans of the American Revolution because the youngest enlistees would be reaching their 90s. 3. Of those, a few opted to have their photo taken by the newfangled process which I assume was expensive at that time. 4. Of the daguerreotypes that exist depicting old people, the problem of positively identifying the person as a veteran of the war is difficult. 5. On the other hand, these early photos might be more likely to survive passing from one generation to the next because their weight could signify their importance as opposed to a paper object. Did I miss anything? I still don't understand what the card photo was for. Did one carry several of these for use as business cards of the times? What words does the acronym CDV stand for? And, what is the description on the bottom of your five card photos all about? It seems the two Moores were responding to an 1864 act of Congress to place card photos of veterans as a record in the District Court of Connecticut. The description for Lemuel Cook is misplaced downward indicating it was added to an existing card after the card was made. Was this perhaps an early version of the current effort of historians to record the exploits of WWII and subsequent war veterans before they all pass away? BTW, all of this is somewhat related to astronomy because Wikipedia claims that the first correctly exposed photo of an eclipse of the sun was done with the daguerreotype process. Thanks for helping us understand more about your collection, Ed

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Retail astronomy in Utah
by Joe Bauman 06 Jul '13

06 Jul '13

Probably there just aren't enough serious amateurs in this little oasis, and everybody has access to big on-line stores. -- Joe ------------------------------ On Sat, Jul 6, 2013 9:14 AM MDT Dion Davidson wrote: >I wanted to probe the collective memory of this group to find out about retail astronomy in Utah. I know the Clark Planetarium sells a few telescopes in its store. I know Inkley's on 21st S used to have a small telescope selection and a cabinet of cool accessories and eyepieces. Have there been any other examples of telescopes for sale in Utah? I'm not talking about classified ads or online sales, but the real-life, touch-and-see-before-you-buy kind. > >I guess I'm wondering why there isn't a telescope store here, like OPT or ScopeCity. > >We have darker skies (or easier access to them) than most of the places where those retail stores are located. We have, it seems, a large community of science-loving, earth-friendly (and sky friendly) people who might patronize such an establishment. And considering the cost of many good telescopes and accessories it seems that some of us might be more inclined to buy if we could see it and touch it and heft it and try it out before we commit. No wonder the lesser-quality telescopes on display at big box stores and toy stores sell - you can put a bow on them! > >Just wondering. > >Dion > >“I thought the telescope was broken, but upon further looking into it, I found out it was not.” >_______________________________________________ >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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Jordanelle Friday night
by Enid Norton 05 Jul '13

05 Jul '13

Is anyone still planning on going to Jordanelle?

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