MnAstro Forums

This is really cool. I'd love to hear a talk like that.

The article starts off by saying Bill attended a Minnesota Astronomical Society lecture when he was in middle school. If he is 91, it's hard to believe he was still in middle school when our club became the Twin Cities Astronomy Club. Clearly he attended an astronomy club lecture, but what was the s...

The Saturday forecast, although better than Friday, still looks bad. This event is cancelled. If the forecasts change, you can still go to CGO and take your chances with the morning, but there will be no official Mini-Messier event.

It will not happen on Friday night and if this holds it will likely not happen on Saturday either.

I think it's really awesome that the other MAS (Memphis Astronomical Society) is also using Slack. :) https://youtu.be/NtLTpN--gfk?t=827 They are set up a little different than us, but are using it for similar reasons. As a reminder, if you would like to join our Slack platform, just send an e-mail ...

My battery died at about 3 am.

There were 11 of us at CGO on Saturday for the Messier Marathon. It was cold and frosty, but there were moments of excellent sky between passing clouds. These are the results I have. Not everybody turned in a sheet as they left, so I might not have all scores yet. Don Gazdik -- 104 Kristopher Setnes...

Here are the Messier Marathon Sheets for tonight. You can also use your own if you have an observing order preference. I will print and bring some of these along. One is an optimized Messier observation order and the other is ordered by Messier number. Messier_Marathon_2022-04-02-CGO_Observing_Order...

We are about 24 hours from the event on Saturday and the forecast has been consistently good for the first half of the evening. The different forecast sites also seem to be in agreement. I am calling this event ON for Saturday night. Please dress warm!

I also agree. The Messier Marathon is officially OFF for Friday night.

I will wait before giving an official call for Saturday night. There is a reason for hope though.

It's only Wednesday, so there's time for this to change, but I thought I'd share the current weather forecast. This points to Saturday over Friday for this event. (not an official call)

This year's Messier Marathon is scheduled for this Friday or Saturday at CGO. I will be making a call on the weather later this week. Prizes will be awarded at the following MAS meeting. The goal of the event is simple. Observe as many Messier objects as possible in one evening. More info to follow.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks this is weird. I've long wanted to get rid of Daylight Saving Time because it was an arbitrary hassle that saved nothing. Getting rid of Standard Time doesn't make any sense to me. High noon will forever be at 1pm. <sigh>

Did they turn on the fans for cooling it down?! ...

Fans in space?

Thanks Merle. That validates Mark's theory.

It also means this had nothing to do with it.

I've been scratching my head trying to understand how they determined which star was from which mirror. They eluded to it in the video, but didn't come out and say it exactly. Are they using the "selfie" images to determine which mirror is brighter for each sub exposure in the mosaic? If s...

matt_2018 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 11, 2022 2:41 pm We have people in the club who can help with collimation...

Let me know when you get up there, we'll stay here and tell you which screws to turn.

I think some of the complications are necessary... or at least worthwhile. Infrared makes sense because we can see farther into the red shifted past, but that's also where many of the complications come into play. The L2 point is ideal because it allows the telescope to have only one infrared shield...

sandconp wrote: ↑Wed Nov 17, 2021 9:59 am You are going right?

No, but I think it would be super cool.

In the video they described the sun shield deployment as a Rube Goldberg machine. Hopefully it's one that works.

Is anybody in MAS traveling to French Guiana to see the launch?

The forecast for tonight has gotten worse, not better. I am officially cancelling the 4M this weekend. There is a little bit of room for optimism at the very start of the evening, but it doesn't look good enough for a Messier Marathon. If anybody DOES go out and experiences excellent sky, I'd love t...

There will be three categories for this year's MAS Mini-Messier Marathon. 1) Non computerized visual (traditional Messier marathon) 2) Computerized visual (GOTO or Push-To computers) 3) Astrophotography (Most Messier objects imaged) We will have the Messier event at Cherry Grove Observatory, but you...

Deane Clark wrote: ↑Wed Jul 21, 2021 11:16 pm “Recover”. That’s the tough nut to crack

Right. If it actually does still exist, it is likely safer in orbit than it would be if there was an attempt to encapsulate it somehow and drag it home. It's fun to think about though.

Bill Murray is a national treasure. There are far worse things to resemble.

Sometimes tapping the side with a big shoe helps.