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Last Night's SLAS Meeting
by Chuck Hards 22 Aug '13

22 Aug '13

Many thanks to SLAS and Wayne Sumner for an excellent presentation last night. My only regret is that due to time constraints, we didn't get the full 2-period presentation. I may audit that class at Northridge fall semester! I took a 300-series astronomy class in college that included star evolution, but that was more than a third of a century ago, and I've probably lost more than a few brain cells along the way. Much new information has been turned-up since then. It was good to see Brent again as well, it's been probably ten years or so, hasn't it, Brent? My goatee wasn't white the last time we spoke face-to-face, lol. Also good to see Scott Crosby make an appearance, and good old Rich Tenney represented Utah county, as usual. Siegfried, I saw you there but didn't get a chance to talk to you and Joe about meteor showers and radiants. ;-) Sorry we couldn't stay for the business section of the meeting or Advanced Training at Dennys. I had to get up at 3:30 this morning and was running on fumes from a long, hot work day even before the meeting started. Hope to see you all again next month!

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Phone APP's
by Erik Hansen 21 Aug '13

21 Aug '13

I hope you all have this on your smart phones. http://911.utah.gov/

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] N.J. approves ban on sale of select lasers
by Bruce Hugo 21 Aug '13

21 Aug '13

Ok, trying to post for the first time: Hmmm... what if they dual mount the laser/gun on their telescope? Bruce Hugo ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 17:26:21 -0600 From: Siegfried Jachmann <siegfried(a)jachmann.org> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] N.J. approves ban on sale of select lasers Message-ID: <CAH4Gk7h5n+3VYaqDc=3zaEvdZ_yYxB3yDXB8RMDA28YPS8Uxow(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Can California be far behind? On Tue, Aug 20, 2013 at 4:11 PM, william baker <baker464b(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > Am I assuming correctly that N.J. is the first state to consider a ban > like this? > > > ________________________________ > From: Patrick Wiggins <paw(a)wirelessbeehive.com> > To: utah astronomy listserve utah astronomy < > utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> > Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 2013 1:23 PM > Subject: [Utah-astronomy] N.J. approves ban on sale of select lasers > > > NJ Senate OKs bill banning some laser pointers > > The Associated Press > TRENTON, N.J. -- > > The state Senate has overwhelmingly approved a bill that would bar the > sale of certain powerful laser pointers, sending the measure to Gov. Chris > Christie's desk. > > But it's not yet known when or if the governor will act on the bill. > > The measure passed Monday by a 36-1 vote would ban the sale of laser > pointers that exceed one milliwatt in output power. > > > http://www.fortmilltimes.com/2013/08/19/2899305/nj-senate-oks-bill-banning-… > > > > > +++++ > Interesting that the law does not apply to lasers mounted on guns. So I > guess if a NJ star gazer want to use 5mW green lasers at star parties all > they need to do is mount it on a gun. > > Weird, > > patrick > _______________________________________________ > 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". > -- Siegfried

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San Rafael Swell; BLM to Sell of Leases for Oil and Gas
by Jay Eads 21 Aug '13

21 Aug '13

A quote from the article in the Trib: "But non-WSA lands found to hold wilderness characteristics — known as wilderness inventory areas, or WIAs — are not always supposed to be managed for wilderness. "They looked at the lands and determined they would be best managed for other uses," Crandall said. This is the situation for the 39,000-acre Eagle Canyon WIA, located between the Wedge Overlook and Interstate 70 near the Moore cutoff road, and the 37,000-acre Lost Spring Wash WIA, between Mexican Mountain and U.S. Highway 6. The BLM sale features 49 leases that overlap WIAs — 10 on Eagle Canyon and 11 on Lost Spring Wash." http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/56758841-78/wilderness-blm-areas-lands.ht… Some prime wilderness and dark sky locations are going to be impacted. Drill baby drill.

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N.J. approves ban on sale of select lasers
by Patrick Wiggins 21 Aug '13

21 Aug '13

NJ Senate OKs bill banning some laser pointers The Associated Press TRENTON, N.J. -- The state Senate has overwhelmingly approved a bill that would bar the sale of certain powerful laser pointers, sending the measure to Gov. Chris Christie's desk. But it's not yet known when or if the governor will act on the bill. The measure passed Monday by a 36-1 vote would ban the sale of laser pointers that exceed one milliwatt in output power. http://www.fortmilltimes.com/2013/08/19/2899305/nj-senate-oks-bill-banning-… +++++ Interesting that the law does not apply to lasers mounted on guns. So I guess if a NJ star gazer want to use 5mW green lasers at star parties all they need to do is mount it on a gun. Weird, patrick

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Women in Astronomy (was Astro Apps)
by jcarman6＠q.com 21 Aug '13

21 Aug '13

I just want you all to know I have NOT posted a response to Chuck's post about girls and toys because it would most likely be XXX rated, but all of you would have laughed heartily if I had. :) The topic women in astronomy is a serious one and Rich touched on it. It would be easy to blame the male dominated attitude in Utah and there is blame to be placed, but it's not just Utah, a lthough I believe there are many more women in other states actively involved in amate ur astronomy. But I want to speak from my own experience. While my interest has been accepted by SLAS members and members of this board without challenge or condemnation (well, maybe a little - sort of), it is not so much true of the general public. I have done many public star parties and invariably, while I am standing next to MY refractor, if there is a man standing anywhere near my scope, a number of general public males will turn to the man and ask him questions, about astronomy and/or MY scope. Many general public women as well. After a while it wears a girl down. There have been other women with scopes who gave up on public star parties for this reason . Men simply do not have a foundation upon which to handle such experiences because it doesn't happen to you. No one in the club or on this board is to blame - it is not you. It is just the general population's assumption that astronomy and/or science is a boys club. That's why I am on this board, at least I can talk to all of you about my interests and not be slighted.

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5000 year old Egyptian jewelry with meteorite beads
by D P Pierce 20 Aug '13

20 Aug '13

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2013/0820/Ancient-Egyptian-jewelry-came-fr… Deloy

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Women in Astronomy
by D P Pierce 20 Aug '13

20 Aug '13

About 10 years ago we went to an astronomy festival in Cheyenne, WY. It was co-sponsored by the local school district. The jr. high school had an astronomy club with a female membership of 90%! We were amazed! The district went to a lot of effort to let females know there were a lot of career options other than the traditional ones of housewife, secretary, school teacher and nursing. They brought in a successful women in a different field each year as a special speaker. That year Caroline Shoemaker spoke. Deloy

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astro apps
by jcarman6＠q.com 20 Aug '13

20 Aug '13

Thanks for the recommendations. Several people named Skeye or Skyeye, so it got downloaded first. HOLY COW!!! A full planetarium program for free!!! and I paid hundreds of dollars for The Sky for my laptop. The only problem is the size of the screen - I feel you pain Chuck!!. But the view can be enlarged (call it zoom in) with the flick of two fingers. It's going to take me weeks to get the hang of it. Is Skymap Pro and Sky Safari similar? What is Skywalk and Astromist? Someone mentioned an app that calculates sunrise/sunset and astronomical twilight awhile ago. Does anyone recall the name of that app? Thanks to all who responded :)

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Car pooling from UT County to SLAS meeting tomorrow
by John M. Craig 20 Aug '13

20 Aug '13

Hi Folks, Anyone interested in combining for rides to the SLAS meeting tomorrow evening? If so, please feel free to contact me off the list. John

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