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RE: [Utah-astronomy] FW: AO at the MMT Observatory
by Dale Hooper 07 Feb '03

07 Feb '03

Interesting, I didn't realize that they used that method with the AO-2. Unfortunately, it was only for planets - and as you mentioned - it is no longer in production. But, it sure would be fun to have one for the Mars opposition! I noticed from the Stellar Products website that the follow-on product (AO-5) will be about $50k! > -----Original Message----- > From: Chuck Hards [mailto:chuckhards@yahoo.com] > Sent: Friday, February 07, 2003 10:19 AM > To: utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] FW: AO at the MMT Observatory > > > Actually, Dale, a deformable mirror star-diagonal was > offered commercially several years ago....I"m not sure > if it is still in production. > > As I recall, it was called the "AO-2" or similar, and > I think the manufacturer was something like "Stellar > Products". S&T reviewed it favorably based on tests > by Roger W. Sinnott. > > C. > > --- Dale Hooper <Dale.Hooper(a)sdl.usu.edu> wrote: > > This is a bit long, but extremely fascinating. I > > wonder if we might see some trickle down of this > > technology into the amateur ranks in 15-20 years? > >

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Picture in the DN
by Brent Watson 06 Feb '03

06 Feb '03

Jim, Upon closer examination, there are many stars you caught in your image as well. Identifying these stars will give a VERY precise position of the shuttle when you shot your image. BTW, the compression ratio of your image is 19:1. Brent --- Jim Gibson <xajax99(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > > Patrick > > Thank you. You deserve a grate deal of credit for > the pictures we all got. You got us in the right > place at the right time oriented in the right > direction with the right setup. All I did was push > the button. > > The one thing I kick myself for now is that I didnt > have my date/time stamp turned on. After working for > 17 of the last 27 years in the data collection > business and in particular being involved in writing > programs that bring a number of different data sets > together for analysis, I know how important it is to > have properly time coordinated data. With out it the > significance of each data set is reduced. It would > be easy to assume that the video shown on TV and my > picture are data of the same event. There is a good > chance that that is not the case. If anyone hasnt > seen the video spoken of shown on KSL go to > > http://tv.ksl.com/index.php?nid=39&sid=8498 > > If we consider that the zipper affect started over > Hawaii, pieces were falling off over the pacific, > California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona etc all the way to > the final catastrophic event. There were multiple > events and without time coloration it makes it very > difficult to have confidence in saying these two > pictures were of the same event. Patrick from some > of your previous statements I feel that the event I > captured was of the 6:56 (local time) event. Saying > I feel does not inspire a lot of confidence in an > important matter. You were astutely the timekeeper > besides everything else you were doing. I guess the > best we can do is say here is our piece of data. > > Just a few thoughts concerning me. > > Jim > > > > > Patrick Wiggins <paw(a)trilobyte.net> wrote: > I checked the web to see if Jim's picture was in the > D News today (Tuesday). > Did a search on "Gibson" and got "Utah photo may > show breakup of space shuttle" > but when I clicked on it it tried to take me to > http://deseretnews.com/dn/view2/1,4382,455029547,00.html?textfield=Gibson > . All > that got me was "Not Found The requested object does > not exist on this server." > > Has anyone been able to get to Jim's picture today? > > BTW, kudos to Jim for a fine interview on KSL TV > this evening. > > Patrick > > _______________________________________________ > Utah-Astronomy mailing list > Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy > > > --------------------------------- > Do you Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com

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Ron Dittemore
by David Moulton 06 Feb '03

06 Feb '03

I have watched with some small fascination Mr Dittemore over the last few days. I hope this has not already been posted, but here is a link about him. He's earning his pay these days. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-02-03-dittemore-usat_x.htm Dave Moulton

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Bagley Cartoon
by RStmarie＠aol.com 06 Feb '03

06 Feb '03

I thought the Bagley cartoon in yesterday's Tribune was appropriate to the Shuttle event. He quoted a famous Jack London poem: I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a birlliant blaze, than it should be stifled by dry rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time. Jack London

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] Shuttle Re-entry
by David Dunn 06 Feb '03

06 Feb '03

Boy, I said some pretty interesting things in that clipper article. It is interesting how she decided what the de-orbit burn was for. I guess that just like in Star Wars they need to get rid of garbage before jumping to light speed. http://www.clippertoday.com/p_Historydetails.asp?id=153 -----Original Message----- From: Karen Pierce [mailto:starpartiesrus@utah-inter.net] Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 6:42 PM To: utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Shuttle Re-entry Sorry to be so late in sendin this but takes a few days to catch up on all that has happened. Deloy and I went to St George to watch the re-entry but because we did not have the latest info about where people would be, we went on our own. We drove west towards Mesquite and exited at Littlefield. There was a large parking lot on the north side of the freeway where we set up our cameras and thought we took some pictures but mine were blank (We don't know why because there were some pictures of the dawn sky with Venus and those didn't take either.) Deloy's pictures are still in his camera. (We wish now that we had been watching with binocs instead of taking pictures.) We then drove on to Mesquite for breakfast and was totally shocked to see the news on the TV as we walked through the casino. Couldn't believe it because just a short time earlier we had seen that shuttle fly over. We stayed in St George until Sunday morning and most of the time was watching the news about the Shuttle. Was proud of the coverage from those in Southern Utah and wish that we had been with one of the groups to watch it with others. Because this was our first time to watch a re-entry we did not know what to watch for but enjoyed seeing the passing-over. Hope to be able to see something similiar in the future. It has been enjoyable to read the comments here and see the pictures that others took. Thanks for your input and insight. Dave Dunn was mentioned in an article in the Davis County Clipper. Dave, have you seen the article in yesterday's clipper? We'll try to remember to bring it to next weeks OAS meeting. Karen and Deloy Pierce _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy

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Mourning
by Kim Hyatt 05 Feb '03

05 Feb '03

With all of you I am mourning the loss of seven souls who gave their lives in an exciting but also dangerous endeavor. I feel for their families and pray for peace to their hearts. I also wanted to share with my friends a loss a bit more personal: My mother passed away yesterday morning. Due to her illness and my desire to remain close to her, I did not join those of you who drove (or flew) to the St. George area to watch Columbia pass over southern Utah. I hope y'all will continue to invite me along for such events. I attribute much of my interest in space and astronomy to my Mom. She was always "game" for such things - from taking my brother and me to the canyons to watch Sputnik pass overhead to purchasing our first telescope, a Gilbert "80 power" (WOW!) toy. Anyone would be very lucky to have had or to have a mother like mine. God bless her. Kim A. Hyatt, AIA SL&A Architects 331 South Rio Grande, Suite 304 Salt Lake City, Utah 84101 801.322.5550 x122

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Shuttle Re-entry
by Karen Pierce 05 Feb '03

05 Feb '03

Sorry to be so late in sendin this but takes a few days to catch up on all that has happened. Deloy and I went to St George to watch the re-entry but because we did not have the latest info about where people would be, we went on our own. We drove west towards Mesquite and exited at Littlefield. There was a large parking lot on the north side of the freeway where we set up our cameras and thought we took some pictures but mine were blank (We don't know why because there were some pictures of the dawn sky with Venus and those didn't take either.) Deloy's pictures are still in his camera. (We wish now that we had been watching with binocs instead of taking pictures.) We then drove on to Mesquite for breakfast and was totally shocked to see the news on the TV as we walked through the casino. Couldn't believe it because just a short time earlier we had seen that shuttle fly over. We stayed in St George until Sunday morning and most of the time was watching the news about the Shuttle. Was proud of the coverage from those in Southern Utah and wish that we had been with one of the groups to watch it with others. Because this was our first time to watch a re-entry we did not know what to watch for but enjoyed seeing the passing-over. Hope to be able to see something similiar in the future. It has been enjoyable to read the comments here and see the pictures that others took. Thanks for your input and insight. Dave Dunn was mentioned in an article in the Davis County Clipper. Dave, have you seen the article in yesterday's clipper? We'll try to remember to bring it to next weeks OAS meeting. Karen and Deloy Pierce

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Comforting
by Patrick Wiggins 05 Feb '03

05 Feb '03

This is meant mainly for those who saw Saturday's reentry from near St. George. I've been very troubled that I was celebrating as I watched Columbia while those on board knew they were about to die. An unsolicited email from another of our group confirmed I was not the only one feeling this way. So it came as some comfort a few minutes ago when I received word from NASA indicating the crew was unaware of their situation until after Columbia had disappeared from our line of sight. Patrick

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Pictures on web site
by Patrick Wiggins 05 Feb '03

05 Feb '03

Just a reminder that the Columbia pictures on my "ambassador" web site are only there temporarily and that they'll probably go away in a week or two. So if you want copies of your own, please download them soon. Regarding downloading, remember that some of the pictures are copyrighted so if you plan on using them for anything other than personal use, you'll need to get the photographer's permission first. Patrick

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More Space Balls
by David L Bennett 05 Feb '03

05 Feb '03

Hey Folks, Cynthia Sorensen was gracious enough to scan the recent Bowling Ball article from the january New Scientist for us. I've put the jpeg on my Meteorites & Spoof site at my homepage ( http://homepage.mac.com/dlbennett/ ) but you can also find her direct link at: http://www.xmission.com/~lucyblue/images/ua/newscientist.jpg She's got the full 1mb tiff file if anyone really would be interested as well. Dave Bennett President Salt Lake Gastronomical Society

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