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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Comet PanSTARRS
by Joe Bauman 13 Mar '13

13 Mar '13

Fine analysis, Chuck. It is interesting but certainly not a great comet and not even a very good comet. It's nice to see if you can. -- Joe ------------------------------ On Wed, Mar 13, 2013 8:32 AM MDT Chuck Hards wrote: >I was reading Joe's SLAS blast on the comet and have some thoughts. > >This isn't a "Great Comet", by any means, actually it's not even a "good" >comet. I guess once you see a Great comet such as Bennett or West, others >pale in comparison. Certainly Hale-Bopp was pretty spectacular, even if a >bit shy of "Great" status, and Hyakutake was in a league of it's own. The >longest comet I've ever seen, but ghostly pale and almost eerie. I'd even >put Ikeya-Zhang above PanSTARRS. That said, we don't see naked-eye comets >(or those verging on naked-eye visibility) very often (at least in the >northern hemisphere lately- what's up with that?) so even these little guys >are kind of special to us. > >I do think that we as a community tend to go overboard when dealing with >the press, and especially so with comets. Anybody who's been doing this >for a while knows that comet visibility predictions, even though based on >data and carefully plotted brightness curves- are no better than rolling >dice. I think press releases on things like this should wait until such >time as a comet is actually big and bright enough for the general public to >see and recognize as something special. As astronomers, we get excited >over little nebulous puffs, but the general public do not. I wonder if >sometimes we do ourselves and our hobby a disservice by promoting the >average or below-par (from the public's viewpoint). Crying Wolf isn't >really the right analogy, I think in the public eye we come off more like >cosmic Dead-Heads. Fans who follow our band everywhere and are completely >consumed by it. Well, most of us are, but a lot of what we get excited >about just won't ever really infect 99.99% of the public the way it >infected us. > >I plan on going to SPOC tonight because a comet is a comet, and these >little ones have their own charms. Also I won't have to contend with the >neighbor's patio lights until ten PM. > >A "Great Comet" is something that we only get to witness a very few times >during a lifetime, if we are lucky. So I'll get my fix with this little >guy and bide my time for the next really knock-your-socks-off comet. > >(Gets down off soap-box) >_______________________________________________ >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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No comet watching
by Kelly Ricks 13 Mar '13

13 Mar '13

...and no luck in Ohio either...sigh. Been cloudy all week, and likely to continue. You guys out west are lucky. ~Kelly > ------------------------------ > > Message: 3 > Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2013 20:16:08 -0600 > From: Patrick Wiggins <paw(a)wirelessbeehive.com> > To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> > Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Pan starts from spoc > Message-ID: <8ACC4AF3-A84E-44F5-97C2-A6E298122A58(a)wirelessbeehive.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > Looking ok in the Bogdan but hopeless naked eye, > > 4.5 degrees to left of Moon. > > patrick > > > >

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Scott Stringham's Comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) over the Great Salt Lake
by David Bennett 13 Mar '13

13 Mar '13

Scott Stringham got quite the shot of Comet PANSTARRS over the Great Salt Lake at: http://www.rustlingleafdesign.com/Art/the-SKY/23531920_c4B5fP#!i=2405960790…

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Saw Comet Panstarrs
by Dave Gary 13 Mar '13

13 Mar '13

Saw the comet last night. Looked pretty good. Sadly, no pictures. Tonight, I may take out the little 6” scope and attach the Nikon Coolpix 4500 and get a shot of it. Dave

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Mars rover to image astronauts
by Patrick Wiggins 13 Mar '13

13 Mar '13

I'm watching a replay of yesterday's MSL/Curiosity news conference. Exciting to learn that they've now confirmed the Mars was once habitable and they've found everything needed to form what we think of as life (though no evidence of life has been found). But one of the scientists said something I found fascinating. He was asked how long might Curiosity survive. His answer was that with the rover's power source having a half life of 84 years the rover could last long enough to shake hands with the first astronauts on Mars. Granted, he was grinning when he said it and there was laughter in the room so I don't know how serious he was. But with MER-A & MER-B having lasted 10s of times longer than their planned 90 days missions, if Curiosity manages to live an equal number of times past it's planned 2 Earth-year mission I can almost imagine seeing images coming back from the rover of humans approaching. Neat stuff. patrick This next is OT but there are enough pilots and would be pilots on the list that I couldn't resist posting this: Lainey's first airplane ride (note the open door and windows. That kid is fearliess!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8JU-1ZrRAg&feature=youtu.be Ok, now who wants to go for their first airplane ride? It's free. Just ask!

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ISON tonight, 2013 MAR 13
by Patrick Wiggins 12 Mar '13

12 Mar '13

Here's my latest of ISON: http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/C_2012_S1.2013MAR13.JPG Pan-STARRS looks better. :) Speaking of Pan-STARRS, a reminder that SLAS is holding a public comet watch tomorrow evening (Wednesday) at SPOC from 6 to 9. Moon and Jupiter watching until it gets dark. Based on what we saw tonight I'm guessing the comet probably wont come into view until just before 8 and it will set about 8:45 or so. patrick

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PANSTARRS photos
by Jared Smith 12 Mar '13

12 Mar '13

http://smithplanet.com/astro/solarsystem/comets/ It was pretty hazy with lots of clouds, but I still managed some photos of PANSTARRS this evening (3/12/13). It looked pretty cool next to the very new moon. Jared

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Pan starts from spoc
by Patrick Wiggins 12 Mar '13

12 Mar '13

Looking ok in the Bogdan but hopeless naked eye, 4.5 degrees to left of Moon. patrick

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Big Mosquitoes at SPOC
by D P Pierce 12 Mar '13

12 Mar '13

One night I out there 2 mosquitoes grabbed me. One asked the other "Should we eat him here or take him home?" The other replied "If we take him home the big guys will take him away from us!" Deloy LARGE bored member

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NGC 2362 (Tau Canis Majoris Cluster)
by Dave Gary 12 Mar '13

12 Mar '13

I decided to try and nab NGC 2362. I wanted to check my mount‘s guiding characteristics and see if the stars would look nice and round after an 8-minute exposure. It seems to be OK. I tried to do some post-processing and no matter what I did it still looked the same. I guess if I want more color I’ll have to do 10-minute exposures with the William Optics GT81 or use the 10” LX200. I sure like the ease of polar alignment of the iEQ30 mount. Maybe I’ll get an 8” Astro-Tech astrograph and still use the iEQ30. Something to save for. If any of you have suggestions about processing data please give me some pointers. You can contact me off-list if you prefer. Any help would be appreciated. I go through the tutorials on the Nebulosity web site, do what it says, stand back and say, “Great, what did that do? Looks pretty much the same.” Of course, my data may suck, too. Dave http://www.flickr.com/photos/78046474@N06/sets/72157632977427591/

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