October 2017 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

Re: [Utah-astronomy] Last night's lecture
by Joe Bauman 11 Dec '18

11 Dec '18

Brent, speaking of the ISS, I have wondered if it could be put into an orbit that continuously cruised between Earth and Mars. When it swung by Mars it could drop off and retrieved crews. I don't see how the radiation would be any worse than the ISS crews are already exposed to. ------------------------------ On Wed, Feb 25, 2015 8:18 AM MST Brent Watson via Utah-Astronomy wrote: >I attended the lecture last night on trajectories. It was really a good, stimulating talk. Thanks for passing the word along. >There were some interesting side comments made about our launch capabilities and the Mars One effort. Mr. Adamo was not at all enthusiastic about the Mars One effort. His opinion is that the effort is doomed because there is not really a way to assure that folks going there would be safe - primarily from radiation. He has done some work with a former flight surgeon on designing a spacecraft to go to Mars. Their result is that in order to get sufficient shielding (using a water jacket), the spacecraft's mass would be around 380 metric tons. That is for a small crew, probably only about 5 members. For a point of comparison, the ISS mass is 400 metric tons. He made the comment that an astronaut who made this trip could only go to space once in this craft, and then he would be at the limit of radiation exposure for his life. The NASA limit is an increased risk of developing cancer of 5%. >That brings us to our current launch capability. Our latest heavy lift rocket - the one we are currently developing - will have the capability to lift 130 metric tons to a very low earth orbit. So low, in fact, that it would burn up at perigee. The Apollo 17 Saturn 5 rocket lifted 140 metric tons into earth orbit -- higher than the new rocket will go. (I am sorry, but my mind will not allow me to recall the name of our currently being designed rocket.) Recall that it took several dozen shuttle launches to assemble the ISS. The Mars One vehicle would require either a hugely more massive launch rocket or a similar effort to build the craft. >As I mentioned, it was a very intellectually stimulating lecture and did involve several ordinary differential equations. They were nicely explained in English by Mr. Adamo. This was the first time I have seen some real math put to Kepler's laws. There were many charts showing what it takes to leave the earth and go to the moon or Mars. It was a very well done lecture. >The above is my recollection of the lecture, and may not actually represent the opinions of Mr. Adamo. It is only my interpretation of what he said. He knows his stuff, that is apparent. Thanks Patrick and Dr. Sohl for passing the word along. >_______________________________________________ >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] Yard Sale
by chuck.hards 29 Oct '17

29 Oct '17

What's killing sales is that shipping costs have doubled in the last 24 months. Nobody on the east coast wants to spend a hundred bucks to ship a $300 telescope. Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone -------- Original message --------From: Craig Smith <cs2560(a)gmail.com> Date: 10/29/17 8:30 PM (GMT-07:00) To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Yard Sale Yeah, I did that, that's how I sold everything else. I sold quite a bit of stuff a long time ago, it just took me a bit to figure it out again. Once you have the boxes it's easier, although I wish I had real labels to print on. I have a postal scale, but the new flat rate boxes make it easier, although they are limited sizes. On Sun, Oct 29, 2017 at 7:47 PM, Chuck Hards <chuck.hards(a)gmail.com> wrote: > I've been doing pretty well in the Cloudy Nights Classifieds. Wrapping > stuff up for shipping is a pain, but I've been getting better than > swap-meet prices on stuff. > > > > On Sun, Oct 29, 2017 at 7:38 PM, Craig Smith <cs2560(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > Well, I sold everything but my dob scope cloak. Anyone interested? See > my > > ad on KSL or SLAS. > > > > On Sat, Oct 14, 2017 at 6:31 PM, Craig Smith <cs2560(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > OK thanks. My stuff is actually new in box or opened but not really > > > used. I've already gotten a lot of response off cloudy nights. > > > _______________________________________________ > 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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Yard Sale
by Craig Smith 29 Oct '17

29 Oct '17

Whatever happened to the talk of a yard sale?

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Has anyone done business with Gorilla Gagets?
by Richard Tenney 21 Oct '17

21 Oct '17

They have what looks like a decent 50mw green laser with rechargeable batteries for $23. Wondering if they are reputable. One of my 5mw lasers went kaput, and I've wanted something a bit brighter anyway. I'm also interested in hearing about any other 20mw or higher lasers that have been purchased online cheap and who you did business with. TIA,/Rich

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6" reflector and other stuff available for free
by John M. Craig 14 Oct '17

14 Oct '17

Hi Folks, Some stuff I was hoping to unload at the yard sale, but would love to get rid of this year. These items are free--if you want parts, I'll give you the whole mess and you can discard what you don't want and not tell me about it ;-) I'd even meet somewhere within reasonable distance from Orem to give it to you if you take several items--you might have to give me a few bucks to cover the gas or buy me a burger or something--actually, if I get rid of some of this stuff, my wife will probably be so grateful you wouldn't need to do that. If you want details, please email me directly and I can send pictures or more careful measurements. 1. 6" ~f/9 Newt reflector Free Aluminum 8" tube with Novak spider and primary mount. The focuser is a 1970's Edmund rack and pinion. I think the diagonal is okay but it might need re-aluminizing by now. The primary is a piece of junk (not my fault--my folks bought this for me when I was like 11 and it was third hand from the student who ground it--didn't cost much, but I'm sure it was a sacrifice for them). The primary could be reground/polished into a decent mirror--it's plenty thick and I think it's Pyrex. It does actually work and show stuff, so it could be used as is. It has a cradle made of very old plywood (attaches to the mount listed below) and a homemade straight-through finder that's decent--although the rings are definitely in the dorky category and no doubt could stand to be replaced. It would also be easy to redo the scope as a Dob--might be simplest to just buy/make a shorter focal length primary and then put some weight in the back of the tube. At any rate, if anyone wants a fixer-upper (that does work, just not real great), it's free. 2. Vintage Edmund Scientific-design pedestal topped by an ATM pillow-block mount that, with some work, would be a decent item (this one is my fault); the scope's cradle bolts to the mount head. If the pedestal is too short for you, a trip to a plumbing supply would solve that for you. 3. I also have a ~36" long ~12" diameter fiberglass tube (it's not very round and has some holes drilled in it but it might be useful for something). 4. A wooden surveyor's type tripod. 5. A wooden-legged tripod with a barely useable equatorial mount (it does have a big clamshell that might be useful--it's 5" or so inside diameter (felt covered). Good seeing! John Craig

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Utah-Astronomy Digest, Vol 176, Issue 4
by Stephen Peterson 07 Oct '17

07 Oct '17

RE prominence, Thanks for the heads up. Steve On Sat, Oct 7, 2017 at 12:00 PM, < utah-astronomy-request(a)mailman.xmission.com> wrote: > Send Utah-Astronomy mailing list submissions to > utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah- > astronomy > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > utah-astronomy-request(a)mailman.xmission.com > > You can reach the person managing the list at > utah-astronomy-owner(a)mailman.xmission.com > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Utah-Astronomy digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Sun pretty interesting in H-a today (John M. Craig) > 2. Re: Sun pretty interesting in H-a today (Chuck Hards) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Fri, 06 Oct 2017 13:09:36 -0600 > From: "John M. Craig" <jmcraig(a)xmission.com> > To: utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Sun pretty interesting in H-a today > Message-ID: <59D7D4F0.7010708(a)xmission.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed > > Hi Folks, > > If you have a hydrogen-alpha solar scope, there's some neat prominences > on the eastern limb. > > John > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2017 13:30:49 -0600 > From: Chuck Hards <chuck.hards(a)gmail.com> > To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> > Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Sun pretty interesting in H-a today > Message-ID: > <CAHmuOYr7+fuvKBE-hb+xSxvMiEzUhs8bU7bvS7GGWoukXYvNt > A(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" > > Thanks for the heads-up, John, I'll take a look when I get home from work > today. > > On Fri, Oct 6, 2017 at 1:09 PM, John M. Craig <jmcraig(a)xmission.com> > wrote: > > > Hi Folks, > > > > If you have a hydrogen-alpha solar scope, there's some neat prominences > on > > the eastern limb. > > > > John > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > 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". > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Subject: Digest Footer > > _______________________________________________ > Utah-Astronomy mailing list > Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy > Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php > > ------------------------------ > > End of Utah-Astronomy Digest, Vol 176, Issue 4 > ********************************************** >

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Sun pretty interesting in H-a today
by John M. Craig 06 Oct '17

06 Oct '17

Hi Folks, If you have a hydrogen-alpha solar scope, there's some neat prominences on the eastern limb. John

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Mars-Venus conjunction this morning
by Chuck Hards 05 Oct '17

05 Oct '17

If anyone is awake and has a good view of the eastern horizon, Venus and Mars are very close this morning. You may need mild optical aid to pick Mars out from the dazzling glare of Venus, that's how close they are. They will be farther apart tomorrow, right now is closest approach.

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Telescope for sale
by Brent Watson 05 Oct '17

05 Oct '17

I have decided to sell my 10 f10 planetary Newtonian. Before I list it on another site I thought I'd give the Utah folks a chance. Here are some of the details: Primary mirror diameter 10"Primary focal length 97"Primary mirror is Astro Sital zero expansion ceramicPrimary mirror fabricated by Intermountain opticsSecondary mirror minor diameter 0.875"Secondary mirror is PyrexThere is NO spiderSecondary mirror is mounted to an optical windowOptical window is 12" diameter BK7 optical glassOptical window is ground and polished flat and surfaces parallelOptical window fabricated by Intermountain OpticsTube is 12" diameter 0.125' thick aluminumTube is cork lined and painted flat blackTube is painted with Imron paintMirror cell is all anodized aluminum Mirror cell collimation is push-pull typeMirror cell has built in 12 volt fan for coolingOptical window cell is anodized aluminumSecondary mount allows full collimation capabilityTube includes detachable 24 inch cork lined forward light baffleIncludes cradle which allows 360 degree tube rotationTelescope includes an 80mm right angle Lumicon SuperfinderFocuser is an Astrosystems low profile Crayford focuserAlso includes a Telrad The optics in this scope are excellent, and allow excellent refractor-like high power views of the moon and planets. Since it is also a 10 inch telescope and allows deep sky viewing equal to or better than any other ten inch telescope. I am not sure what the value f this scope is, but I believe $4,500 is a fair price. Any interest? Brent Watson

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School Star Party
by Robert Patty 02 Oct '17

02 Oct '17

Hello everyone, The past few years I've helped my wife's school out with their astronomy lessons by bringing my telescope one night in October. This year they would like more telescopes and have asked me to reach out to the community for volunteers. Would anyone on this mailing list want to help out on the night of October 26th at Oquirrh Hills Middle School in Riverton? Robert Patty

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