April 2004 - UVAA - mailman.xmission.com

Workshop/Moon Watch
by Jim Gibson 29 Dec '04

29 Dec '04

There will be a workshop/moon watch at Fort Provo on Saturday night May 1st starting at 6:30. PM. The park has to be cleared by 11PM. The work shop will be given by John Zeigler and he will present a discussion on the light train and on eyepieces (how the work, not necessarily which ones to buy). If time permits, Jim Gibson will present a short introductory discussion on the moon and it features. To make things interesting for the new folks a free CD will be given away that can be used as an aid to learning moon features and their names. There is also some material on the Apollo missions on the CD. There will be 2 Telrads for sale at the price of $40.00 each for any one who is interested. Fort Provo can be reached by getting off of I-15 on Provo Center Street and going West. From the West side of I-15 go to the 2nd stop light at Center Street and Geneva Rd. Turn right and go about a block and you will see the Fort and the park on the right-hand side. Bring lawn chairs, a snack, the kids, and a telescope or binoculars. If you have none of the above, come anyway. When you arrive look for some strange old guy with a parallelogram and binoculars and if Rich Tenney doesnt show up, then look for a young 60 year old guy with a suave short hair cut and with a parallelogram and binoculars. Jim Gibson --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Photos: High-quality 4x6 digital prints for 25¢

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Weekend observing report from Gravel Pit & Rush Valley
by Richard Tenney 19 May '04

19 May '04

Friday night proved to be pretty good from the Gravel Pit. Three scopes showed up; my 16, Daniel "Galaxy Hunter" Turner's 17.5" and Lou Griffin's 20-inch, joined later by a group of enthusiastic young adults. The seeing was poor/fair until the clouds fully departed about 10:30, and seeing was decent as we lingered until about 1:30. I managed to log about 25 H-400 objects there, mostly open clusters and galaxies in Orion, Auriga, Cam. and Gemini, and one nice PNe, NGC 1501. The weather was downright balmy. Over 40 degrees at least until midnight, and I never even donned the gloves. The most difficult object of the night was NGC 2185, a diffuse nebula in Orion. Very challenging object. Anyone on the list have any luck with this one? I barely saw the nebulosity, but the seeing was poor and it was low in the sky. Any personal observing notes on this as to what to expect with good seeing would be appreciated. Saturday at the "pit 'n pole" in Rush Valley the sky was much clearer. Unfortunately I arrived late and a bit frustrated from getting lost (sorry to bark at you Jim!), joining a large group (including my 2 compainions from the night before) that was quickly dissipating about 10-ish. While it has a better South-Western horizon than the gravel pit (in spite of some light pollution from the chem depot), overall isn't a better site, and was actually much colder than the gravel pit ironically. Again I managed to bag approx another 25 objects, spending most of the night hunting galaxies in Leo and UMa; some nice galaxy cluster surprises, e.g., NGC 3681,3684, 3686, and 3691 in the same eyepiece field (@115x in the 22 Nagler), and 3185, 3190, and 3193 in another view, etc. Lots of fun multiple galaxy pairs, trios, and quads, including groups near NGC 3395 and NGC 3607. Saw the beautiful dual transit on Jupiter (with superb color banding in the 17.5") about 11:20, and was treated to an easy find of Omega Centauri (my first view ever) skimming along just above the horizon approx. 2 a.m. (just two of us left by then). I'd sure love to see that baby overhead before I die in a big dob under clear dark skies... Tired (yet happy) after two nights of getting to bed after 3am and not being able to sleep in past 8. Yawn. (Sorry, I suspect this post is a yawner too), -Rich __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance Tax Center - File online. File on time. http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html

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FS: Meade ETX-90EX w/ Autostar
by Paul Witte 29 Apr '04

29 Apr '04

Although it holds some sentimental value, I have finally decided to part with my Meade ETX-90 telescope. It includes an Autostar controller as well as several other accessories including: Tripod, Solar Filter, Rigel Quickfinder. I'm asking $450 OBO for everything. I have made a web page with more details and pictures: http://www.uvaa.org/etx.html Thanks, --Paul

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Outstanding speaker tonight (Tues.) at SLAS
by Richard Tenney 27 Apr '04

27 Apr '04

I managed to talk Dr. Ben Bromley, a physicist at the University of Utah, into speaking at SLAS tonight on his research on Planet formation. I heard this talk late last year and thought it was excellent. If any of you non-Salt Lake Astronomical Society members out there want to come please do -- there are plenty of seats. SLAS meets at the 10th East Sr. Center in SLC ( 237 South & 1000 East ) starting at 7:30 pm. Rich __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Win a $20,000 Career Makeover at Yahoo! HotJobs http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/careermakeover

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Another comet article
by Jim Gibson 26 Apr '04

26 Apr '04

This is a NASA atricle on comet C/2001 Q4. http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_166.html Jim --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Photos: High-quality 4x6 digital prints for 25¢

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Comets now visiable
by Jim Gibson 26 Apr '04

26 Apr '04

For those willing to get up early (like 5AMish), the Bradfield and Linear T7 comets have emerged from behind the sun. http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/comets/article_1238_1.asp http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/comets/article_1229_1.asp Jim --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Photos: High-quality 4x6 digital prints for 25¢

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Repeat Workshop/Moonwatch
by Jim Gibson 24 Apr '04

24 Apr '04

There will be a repeat workshop Saturday April 24th at Fort Utah in Provo for those who missed it. It turns out we had a dry run on the 10th. About 12 people showed up, some people showed up and missed us and some people want to come but had other commitments. So, we are going to try it again. This time I will be in a white van with a parallelogram and binoculars plainly visible. John & Lisa Zeigler will be in ah white Suburban. Everybody bring lawn chairs incase we cant get the pavilion. The schedule will be as follows: April 24th Fort Provo The following is the schedule of events. 6:30 - 7:00 PM Arrive and set up 7:00 7:45 PM John Zeigler will give a workshop on the Optic Train and Collimation. Please dont setup during Johns workshop. 7:45 8:00 PM Jim Gibson will give a short presentation on moon features. Sometime after 8:00 PM the sun sets. 8:02 PM Those who came late can finish setting up. 8:02 9:00 PM people cruse the line of scopes looking at moon features and other fine objects. 9:00 9:30 PM There may be an impromptu class on constellation identification. We must clear the park by 11:00 PM. Jim Gibson --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - File online by April 15th

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Update On Weekend Weather
by Jim Gibson 22 Apr '04

22 Apr '04

I tried this onec and didn't see it appear. I hope you all don't get this twice. Thursday night The tea leaves say (from Dugway MET) there will be hi cirrus with the wind dieing down in the evening in Northern Utah Friday night We wetted a sheeps nose (with a Chem. Wipe) and spun it on an Ouija board and it came up - The only clear spot in the state will be Blanding (South East Utah). The models (mostly blonds) are showing St. George cloudy Friday as well; with Blanding only clear until mid-night. There will be strong south westerly winds ahead of the front. Saturday night The Tarots says the whole state is washed out Saturday night. --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - File online by April 15th

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RE: [UVAA] A couple more questions
by Griffin Louis A Civ OO-ALC/MAKGBA 22 Apr '04

22 Apr '04

I'm sure more will chime in but FWIW my 2cents worth on Naglers, Panoptics, Powermates, - I don't think anyone's eyepiece collection would be complete without a few of Al's (Tele Vue) products. I don't think they should be considered "high end" as much as "expensive". There is a HUGE difference between a 80 degree field of view and a 45 deg. with the less expensive lines. It's not like comparing say, cars where 4 wheels get the job done if you're looking for transportation, there is a whole different experience with the wide fields. As far as being worth the money - for me a resounding YES! But that is true for the many various wide field eyepieces out there (Meade SWA's, Pentax XL's etc) I have seen it in print more than once " a telescope is only as good as your best eyepiece" and it's true when you think about the light path and anything you put in the way of the object to be viewed - having said that I very much enjoy and use my University Ortho's, especially great for planetary work but my widefeild's are used 90% of the time. University also has some nice 2" EP in the Konig line offering 60 deg. FOV and fewer lens elements than the TV's Meades, etc. and at a great price. Another great WF would be the BD 80deg 30mm for only $95 - great value!! I think for a newbie the field of view on the TV's, etc. allow for greater sucsess in star hopping and time spent observing before having to move the telscope to track the object also if you wear eyeglasses the TV Radian and Pentax line provides great eye relief. Get to a star party and check out some of the "high end" eyepieces - you will definatley want one or five....I can definatley see a difference between my Celestron 2x barlow and my 2.5x Powermate. The Powermate seems crisper, brighter and dosent affect color at all - check out the Astronomics website for some great info and comparisons on eyepiece selection, it has definitions and descriptions for all the terminology, and Televues site is great also though more Televue brand specific. As far as Filters go I have observed with some borrowed filters but I have yet to invest in them - Yet. Right now I think I need a few more eyepieces and a 2" Barlow before I plunk down $250 on two filters that I will use on a few objects. Zambuto has a great reputation and will probably hold it's value but you're going to pay dearly - If you are a newbie like me you probably would not be able to detect the nuances that make the difference between a great mirror from Nova or Intermountain or Swayze or Zambuto or........ but you would see a difference between a so so mirror from China and a great mirror from any of the above. I hope that makes sense... sorry 'bout the long wind -----Original Message----- From: uvaa-bounces+louis.griffin=hill.af.mil(a)mailman.xmission.com [mailto:uvaa-bounces+louis.griffin=hill.af.mil@mailman.xmission.com]On Behalf Of David Trevino Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2004 9:59 PM To: Utah Valley Astronomy Association Subject: [UVAA] A couple more questions I have some questions about some high end items. I doubt I would ever be able to afford them, but if someone has had the opportunity to use or even own some of these, I am interested on your comments (mainly if they are as good as I read they are, and if they are worth their weight in gold, reasonable [affordable] alternatives, etc.) - Nagler (or any Tele Vue) Eyepieces (and Powermate "amplifiers") - Narrowband filters such as the UltraBlock or Lumicon UHC - Zambuto mirrors Thanks __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Photos: High-quality 4x6 digital prints for 25¢ http://photos.yahoo.com/ph/print_splash _______________________________________________ UVAA mailing list UVAA(a)mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/uvaa

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A couple more questions
by David Trevino 22 Apr '04

22 Apr '04

I have some questions about some high end items. I doubt I would ever be able to afford them, but if someone has had the opportunity to use or even own some of these, I am interested on your comments (mainly if they are as good as I read they are, and if they are worth their weight in gold, reasonable [affordable] alternatives, etc.) - Nagler (or any Tele Vue) Eyepieces (and Powermate "amplifiers") - Narrowband filters such as the UltraBlock or Lumicon UHC - Zambuto mirrors Thanks __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Photos: High-quality 4x6 digital prints for 25¢ http://photos.yahoo.com/ph/print_splash

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