January 2005 - UVAA - mailman.xmission.com

International Space Station Pass Over
by Jim Gibson 25 Jan '05

25 Jan '05

Tomarrow night (Wed) the IIS should pas directly overhead; it will be visible for 6 minutes coming out of the NW and exiting to the ESE ISSWed Jan 26/06:14 PM64910 above NW10 above ESE Jim --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - 250MB free storage. Do more. Manage less.

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Is this a great hobby or what?
by daniel turner 21 Jan '05

21 Jan '05

I belong to several of the Yahoo astronomy discussion groups and one of my favorites is the one on planetary nebulae. It can be dead quiet for six weeks and suddenly errupt into a passionate debate about whether post asymtotic giant branch stars actually overlap the proto planetary nebulae as a group. There is lots of heavy hitting technical jargon, my favorite phrase today is "axisymmetric superwind mass loss". If you can't get enough of geek jargon, try the Yahoo group discussions on astronomy. Daniel Turner __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Easier than ever with enhanced search. Learn more. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250

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Re: Sanpete Star Party
by Richard Tenney 21 Jan '05

21 Jan '05

Dave, I think we can probably drum up some local interest in this event (I've included the various list members in my reply here). Anyone in the lists have a good idea for a date or dates? -Rich --- Dave Fullmer <davef(a)hallmarkcabinet.com> wrote: > Hi Rich > I'm the manager of the Mt Pleasant airport in > Sanpete County. Each year we hold a fly in at the > airport and it's steadily expanded into all things > that fly, including rockets. You've probably > already heard that Jake Garn (who has roots in > Sanpete County and often comes to our fly in) has > succeeded in scheduling the Interplanetary > Conference in Utah next October. Conference members > which include astronauts from all over the world, > are scheduled to visit school districts throughout > the state. In conjunction with their visit to > Sanpete County I'm planning on several days of space > related activities including model rocket > demonstrations, space related movies at the local > drive-in, and numerous educational outreach programs > at the local schools. A star party would also be > most appropriate and the remote location of places > like Spring City Utah would be perfect for it. > Other than sometime in October, I don't have any > dates yet, but I'll be visiting with the Utah State > Office of Education tomorrow (Wednesday) and > presenting ideas for this event. Would your group > be interested in holding a star party as part of the > Sanpete County Space Exploration Event? > > Thank you, Dave Fullmer __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Helps protect you from nasty viruses. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail

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Swap Meet
by Sdatapemin＠aol.com 16 Jan '05

16 Jan '05

I saw an announcement this past week regarding a swap meet at a church. Can someone provide me with the address again. Thanks, Dwight Turner Roy, Utah

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Fwd: Final 14 January update
by Richard Tenney 15 Jan '05

15 Jan '05

This is old news by now (sorry it took so long) but there may be details of interest here to some of you. Rich --- jane.h.jones(a)jpl.nasa.gov wrote: > Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2005 17:23:05 -0800 (PST) > From: jane.h.jones(a)jpl.nasa.gov > To: retenney(a)yahoo.com > Subject: Final 14 January update > --------------------------------- Hello Richard Tenney, Three raw images have been released by ESA today. For those of you with slow modems, or busy websites here is a description of the three images:Image 1 This raw image was returned by the ESA Huygens DISR camera after the probe descended through the atmosphere of Titan. It shows the surface of Titan with ice blocks strewn around. The size and distance of the blocks will be determined when the image is properly processed. Image 2 This is one of the first raw images returned by the ESA Huygens probe during its successful descent. It was taken from an altitude of 16.2 kilometres with a resolution of approximately 40 metres per pixel. It apparently shows short, stubby drainage channels leading to a shoreline. Image 3 This is one of the first raw images returned by the ESA Huygens probe during its successful descent.It was taken at an altitude of 8 kilometres with a resolution of 20 metres per pixel. It shows what could be the landing site, with shorelines and boundaries between raised ground and flooded plains. These are on the ESA website, and I understand many more images will be released in about 10 hours or at 10:00 UTC Saturday 15 January. There are also 5 status reports and 2 press conferences on the website. Check back frequently! http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/index.html All the websites are getting a lot of traffic and may be slow. Remember ESA Huygens raw images will not appear on the Cassini website "Raw Images" page. I figured you all knew that, but I thought I should mention it anyway. The raw images on the Cassini raw image webpage are Cassini orbiter images taken by the Imaging Science Systems cameras aboard the Cassini orbiter. Huygens raw images are taken by the Huygens DISR camera. DISR stands for Descent Imager-Spectral Radiometer. Here is some information about the Huygens DISR instruments http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~kholso/ And here is a page devoted to the DISR sub-instruments http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~kholso/spec.htm On the horizon: The next NASA webcast of ESA TV is 2:00 a.m. Pacific http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm or ESA broadcast is at 10:00 UTC http://television.esa.int/default.cfm Now it's 5:30 p.m.on Friday 14 January, the end of a long and exciting day here at JPL. I'm taking my own telescope out in the nearby city of Pasadena, where I'll show Saturn, Titan and the moon to many people tonight. It's perfectly clear here in southern California tonight! Monday 17 January is a JPL holiday celebrating the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King, so although I may read some emails I probably won't send any announcements like these until Tuesday! Thanks for all of your notes and congratulations. I sent every one of them to both the Cassini and Huygens teams. They are much appreciated! Jane Jane Houston Jones Senior Outreach Specialist, Cassini Program JPL - 4800 Oak Grove Drive, MS 230-205 Pasadena, CA 91109 Phone - 818-393-6435 Fax - 818-393-4495 jane.h.jones(a)jpl.nasa.gov http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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weather alert
by daniel turner 13 Jan '05

13 Jan '05

The dark sky clock shows tonight to be about the best there has been for quite a while. Even the pessimistic weather forecasters call for scattered clouds until midnight and broken cloud cover after that. Moon sets at 9:33 and it's only a 15 percent crecent. So bundle up some one and drag them outdoors, they already think your're pretty wierd, so show them the comet. This could be the last call until the next moon. Clear Skies Daniel Turner __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - now with 250MB free storage. Learn more. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250

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Fwd: Call for Observations January 13-14
by Richard Tenney 12 Jan '05

12 Jan '05

--- jane.h.jones(a)jpl.nasa.gov wrote: > Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2005 16:01:58 -0800 (PST) > From: jane.h.jones(a)jpl.nasa.gov > To: retenney(a)yahoo.com > Subject: Call for Observations January 13-14 > --------------------------------- Hello Richard Tenney, I received this message today, and some of you who do CCD imaging may be interested. If you have questions, the contact is at the bottom of this email. CALL FOR OBSERVATIONS: SATURN'S MOONS Saturn reaches opposition on the night of January 13-14, 2005, which is close to the time when the Cassini spacecraft's Huygens probe should touch down on Titan. At every opposition the Sun, Earth, and Saturn are nearly aligned in space, but this opposition is special. An observer at Saturn would literally see Earth transit the disk of the Sun -- something that has not happened since 1990 and won't take place again until 2020. While no one can be there to see the transit directly (and the Sun is too bright for Cassini to image), the near-perfect alignment gives Earth-based astronomers their only chance in many years to truly measure the "opposition effect" -- a dramatic brightening expected to occur in the Saturnian system as the solar phase angle approaches zero. Measurements should reveal important clues to the surface composition of such moons asTethys, Dione, Rhea, and Iapetus. (Mimas and Enceladus are probably too close to the rings to be considered reasonable targets.) Anne Verbiscer (Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia) and Richard G. French (Department of Astronomy, Wellesley College) are coordinating a NASA-funded, worldwide campaign to measure the brightness of these moons as close as possible to the time of the alignment. Ten ground-based observatories and the Hubble Space Telescope are involvedalready, and they are seeking even wider participation. "We ask advanced amateurs with CCD-equipped telescopes to observe this event," Verbiscer writes, "not only on the critical night of January 13, 2005, but for two nights on either side of opposition, weather permitting. "I am most interested in obtaining visible-light (UBVRI) CCD images whose exposure times are long enough to get usable photometry of the brighter moons. With these long exposures Saturn and its rings will be saturated, so we are not looking for 'pretty' CCD images of the planet and rings. Almostany size telescope will be sufficient, but the image scale should be such that a point source is recorded across several pixels for adequate sampling. Scattered light from Saturn and its rings will be the most significant complication, so a telescope with clean optics, few elements, and minimal diffraction will produce the best results. "Since good photometry is our goal, multiple exposure times are needed to make sure that each satellite, in turn, is not saturated and not underexposed. At each exposure time several images should be taken, both to improve statistics and to protect against contamination from cosmic rays. Observations should alternate between the Saturn system and a nearbycalibration field defined by our project." Those wishing to participate can find detailed instructions athttp://www.astro.virginia.edu/~av4n/SatOpp05.html Please send any questions about observing Saturn at Opposition 2005 to verbiscer(a)virginia.edu. Jane Houston Jones Senior Outreach Specialist, Cassini Program JPL - 4800 Oak Grove Drive, MS 230-205 Pasadena, CA 91109 Phone - 818-393-6435 Fax - 818-393-4495 jane.h.jones(a)jpl.nasa.gov http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Fwd: Call for Observations January 13-14
by Richard Tenney 11 Jan '05

11 Jan '05

Note: forwarded message attached. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? All your favorites on one personal page Try My Yahoo! http://my.yahoo.com

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Some excellent comet pics from various amateurs
by Richard Tenney 11 Jan '05

11 Jan '05

Got these links today from another mailing list I subscribe to. Some impressive "amateur" shots... http://www.astromeeting.de/comets/050107a.htm Nice animation: http://www.astromeeting.de/comets/050104a1024.htm >From a guy in Atlanta: http://www.bobholzer.com/images/macholtzm45.jpg Check out some of his other images while you're at it: http://www.bobholzer.com/contents.htm __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - now with 250MB free storage. Learn more. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250

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Astronomy swap meet, Tuesday the 18th
by Patrick Wiggins 08 Jan '05

08 Jan '05

Jo Grahn has secured the spacious, downstairs meeting room of the Zion Lutheran Church, 1070 Foothill Dr. in SLC, for an astronomy swap meet the evening of Tuesday the 18th from 7 to 9 pm. Tables, chairs and warmth supplied by the venue. The meet is open to all and is not affiliated with any club. Clear skies (please), Patrick

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