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Some one-shot photos (10-minute exposures, binned 2x2): M104, M64, C2019 Y4 Atlas, C2017 T2 Panstarrs
by Dave Gary 25 Apr '20

25 Apr '20

I went out last night on the driveway and took some one-shot photos of a couple of galaxies and two comets. The exposures were 10-minutes each. Photos were binned 2x2. It was a nice way to spend the evening. The weather tonight does not appear to be so promising. Dave > https://www.flickr.com/photos/78046474@N06/with/49815761343/ <https://www.flickr.com/photos/78046474@N06/with/49815761343/>

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Venus & co.
by Chuck Hards 05 Apr '20

05 Apr '20

I stepped out back for a little while last night, to admire Venus sitting there just below the Pleiades. Really a spectacular sight, I was using a 60-year-old ATCO 60x910mm refractor, modern 1.25" dielectric diagonal, and a 60-year-old Jaegers 56mm eyepiece. The whole scene fit in the FOV nicely. A TV 25mm Plossl gave a similar view, higher power but larger AFOV, overall the Jaegers gave the slightly better view. The weather may give us another break tonight, give it a look if you can. I then looked at M42 just because you can't not look at it if you are out with a scope and Orion is up. Over to the moon and the little old refractor really showed it's stuff. Uncorrected color was minimal, the view was nice and crisp up to 105X. The seeing was better than average last night. And finally it was nice to see Betelgeuse brighter than it has been in months. Orion looks almost normal again. Stay safe, my friends. Wear a mask rated no lower than N95, and rubber gloves, whenever you go out, and only go out when you must.

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Red dwarf stars and the possibility of life
by Joe Bauman 01 Apr '20

01 Apr '20

Hi Friends, I hope you will enjoy my Blog 102. Thanks, Joe https://the-nightly-news.com/blog/blog-102-red-dwarf-stars

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morning planets
by Sue Ellen Ebertz 01 Apr '20

01 Apr '20

Thanks, Chuck Been enjoying this view every clear morning:) Hope Thurs night will be clear Best to all. Shoshana

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Morning Planets
by Chuck Hards 01 Apr '20

01 Apr '20

There is quite a planetary pile-up in the morning sky right now. Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars. Mars and Saturn are especially close to each other for a couple of days. M75 sits quite close by. Worth a look if you are an early riser.

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Comet ATLAS
by Kay Hargis 20 Mar '20

20 Mar '20

Hi all. I just got this information. I haven't seen it published previously. K https://spaceweatherarchive.com/2020/03/16/comet-atlas-is-brightening-faster -than-expected/ I ordered a chicken and an egg from Amazon.. I will let you know...

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Starlink cluster
by Chuck Hards 16 Mar '20

16 Mar '20

I saw my first Starlink cluster pass over last night. Took me by surprise for moment. Not quite dark, out in back getting a last look at Venus, when I noticed two satellites about 2 degrees apart but moving together, going from WSW to NE. They faded out quickly once in earth's shadow, but then there was another about five degrees behind them. Then another, then two more, then another- and another- and another! None were brighter than about 2nd magnitude but it was quite the parade for five minutes or so. I have seen smaller satellite "constellations" before, typically military formations, in much tighter groupings. I don't think these will interfere with astronomy the way some have predicted. Much dimmer than Iridium flares, and kind of cool to see them keep coming, singly and in pairs. Any body else seen one of these groupings fly overhead?

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Mars occultation & question
by John M. Craig 21 Feb '20

21 Feb '20

Hi Folks, Sorry for the long chain of emails attached to this original question; tried to clean it up :-\ Thanks Mat & David for the site suggestions! Anyone else see the occultation and how'd it look for you? (My email client wants me to "correct" that to "auscultation"!) I decided not to try for the disappearance, but the reappearance was great! The non-amateur astronomer friend I was with was just completely astounded. One thing was that it didn't seem like it took more than a second or two for Mars to reappear--maybe didn't have eye on the right spot or was using too low a power to see it really peaking out. In the interest of sharing observing sites: on Wednesday, a friend and I observed from up at the top of South Fork in Provo Canyon (right before you get to the Trefoil Ranch gate there's a spot off to the right whose signage makes it sound like an official city park--more like a gravel area maybe 150' in diameter). The sky not as dark as farther from cities, but not bad to the east and south particularly; overhead is great. It was easy to see the nebulousity around the Pleiades, for instance in both a 4" and 6" refractor. It's not too bad a spot for being so close to Provo & Orem--you do get the occasional car or truck driving up the road (it's probably a make-out spot). Seeing was okay, disappointingly it got somewhat worse as it got darker--maybe that's expected. This time of year, I recommend having some cheap sleeping pads to put down on the ground around your scope (a very useful observing accessory I've never heard mentioned, I don't think). Or you might want to wear some ice cleats or something of the like: very hard ice and frozen mud. It was cold, but other than fighting with the buttons on a mount hand-controller with gloves off (so I only pressed one button at a time), we were dressed for it and I enjoyed it. Although my friend's parting comment was: let's do that again. . . when it's warmer! Clear skies/no wind! John

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Mars occultation & question
by John Craig 21 Feb '20

21 Feb '20

Hi All, Question first so I don't forget. Is there still a little airfield out by Cedar Fort where you could observe from the parking area? Are airport lights on all night? I'm trying to find a place that's moderately dark near Eagle Mountain--for the convenience of a new friend. Open to other suggestions, of course. Had an excellent view of the reappearance from Orem Lakeside Sports Park. Amazing to see Mars peak out and suddenly be easy to see naked eye. One of the coolest thing I remember seeing was Mars occulting many of the Pleiades. I have not been able to find any info on when that should happen again. Just a great memory. On Feb 16, 2020, 2:25 PM, at 2:25 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. Re: Info on the occultation of Mars on Tuesday a.m. > (Jamie Bradley) > 2. Re: Mars occultation info (John Craig) > 3. Re: Mars occultation info (Chuck Hards) > > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >Message: 1 >Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2020 13:35:55 -0700 >From: Jamie Bradley <astro(a)jamiebradley.com> >To: Utah Astronomy <Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> >Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Info on the occultation of Mars on > Tuesday a.m. >Message-ID: > <CAK_rPoMQgB0wdhwr03a51zg=biX=iMBUbWTiRuF=7JFhp1S7kA(a)mail.gmail.com> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" > >Thank you, I was going to find this info later tonight. >I guess that changes my planned viewing of this. > >Jamie B > >On Sun, Feb 16, 2020, 9:41 AM John M. Craig <jmcraig(a)xmission.com> >wrote: > >> Hi, >> >> I just put together some info from a long list of timings (from >> occultations.org) of the disappearance & reappearance of Mars and if >> anyone's interested in having a look, I've shared it here on Google >Sheets: >> >> >> >https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15_kCgqU2o7B4uVL5LzbC8KEfr4o5VtyuuG_… >> >> The most significant issue is the altitude of the disappearance. To >see >> it from anywhere on the Wasatch Front, you'll need as low a visual >> horizon as you can get toward azimuth 126 degrees (East is 90, so >it's >> sort of East-South-East) because the altitude is only 4 degrees. >> >> Note that based on other entries, the farther south you are from SLC >> (not sure the exact coordinates used for it by the program that >produced >> the data), the higher in the sky the event will be (and there is no >> correction factor for that, but Phoenix shows 11 degrees as opposed >to >> SLC's 4). So, heading farther south will get things a bit higher, but >> the opposite is also true: farther north means lower. >> >> Hope this is of use! And hoping to find a low horizon on Tuesday >> morning--and fewer clouds than predicted! >> >> 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". >> > > >------------------------------ > >Message: 2 >Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2020 13:55:26 -0700 >From: John Craig <jmcraig(a)xmission.com> >To: utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com >Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Mars occultation info >Message-ID: <d86ba771-c64a-4cfd-a103-541df229b98e(a)xmission.com> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 > >I didn't read carefully enough. The latitude/longitude used for >calculating the alt/az & timings for SLC is apparently near the center >of the airport property. As best I can get Google maps to show me, >that's about 2/3 of the way down the B concourse, on the east side. >Good luck getting scope and mount thru security ;-) > >? 40 degrees 47.3' N >111 degrees 58.7' W?? > >I'd be interested to hear what you manage to see. > >John > > > >? > >On Feb 16, 2020, 12:00 PM, 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. Info on the occultation of Mars on Tuesday a.m. (John M. Craig) >> >> >>---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >>Message: 1 >>Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2020 09:40:57 -0700 >>From: "John M. Craig" <jmcraig(a)xmission.com> >>To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> >>Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Info on the occultation of Mars on Tuesday >> a.m. >>Message-ID: <5E497099.10002(a)xmission.com> >>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed >> >>Hi, >> >>I just put together some info from a long list of timings (from >>occultations.org) of the disappearance & reappearance of Mars and if >>anyone's interested in having a look, I've shared it here on Google >>Sheets: >> >>https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15_kCgqU2o7B4uVL5LzbC8KEfr4o5VtyuuG_… >> >>The most significant issue is the altitude of the disappearance. To >see >> >>it from anywhere on the Wasatch Front, you'll need as low a visual >>horizon as you can get toward azimuth 126 degrees (East is 90, so it's > >>sort of East-South-East) because the altitude is only 4 degrees. >> >>Note that based on other entries, the farther south you are from SLC >>(not sure the exact coordinates used for it by the program that >>produced >>the data), the higher in the sky the event will be (and there is no >>correction factor for that, but Phoenix shows 11 degrees as opposed to > >>SLC's 4). So, heading farther south will get things a bit higher, but >>the opposite is also true: farther north means lower. >> >>Hope this is of use! And hoping to find a low horizon on Tuesday >>morning--and fewer clouds than predicted! >> >>John >> >> >> >> >>------------------------------ >> >>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 204, Issue 2 >>********************************************** > > >------------------------------ > >Message: 3 >Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2020 14:25:27 -0700 >From: Chuck Hards <chuck.hards(a)gmail.com> >To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> >Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Mars occultation info >Message-ID: > <CAHmuOYovzQ7f0Gh1xu52zua7vVz2uinm8qwVekiSDDf_9Pd+qQ(a)mail.gmail.com> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" > >I will actually be within just a couple of miles of the airport but up >against the mountains, so will probably have to catch it online later. > > >On Sun, Feb 16, 2020 at 1:56 PM John Craig <jmcraig(a)xmission.com> >wrote: > >> I didn't read carefully enough. The latitude/longitude used for >> calculating the alt/az & timings for SLC is apparently near the >center of >> the airport property. As best I can get Google maps to show me, >that's >> about 2/3 of the way down the B concourse, on the east side. Good >luck >> getting scope and mount thru security ;-) >> >> 40 degrees 47.3' N >> 111 degrees 58.7' W >> >> I'd be interested to hear what you manage to see. >> >> John >> >> >> >> ? >> >> ions". > > >------------------------------ > >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 204, Issue 3 >**********************************************

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The Radcliffe Wave as shown the World Wide Telescope
by Sue Ellen Ebertz 18 Feb '20

18 Feb '20

http://worldwidetelescope.org/webclient/?tourUrl=https%3A%2F%2Ffaun.rc.fas.h arvard.edu%2Fczucker%2FPaper_Figures%2FRadWave_AAS_Press.WTT Hiya, forgot to add this. Hope the link works. Best, Shoshana

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