Search found 412 matches

by SEmert
Wed Mar 27, 2024 10:26 am
Forum: General Astronomy
Topic: IDA Nightscape newsletter
Replies: 15
Views: 9649

Re: IDA Nightscape newsletter

The March 2024 issue of the DarkSky International (formerly International Dark Sky Association - IDA) Nightscape newsletter has arrived. This is issue number 115. With the organization's additional emphasis on "International", it is now printed in a new format allowing them to mail interna...
by SEmert
Mon Mar 25, 2024 9:32 am
Forum: General Astronomy
Topic: Oh boy! K Index says we've got aurora!
Replies: 3
Views: 128

Re: Oh boy! K Index says we've got aurora!

Maybe they get bright enough that we can see them through the clouds.
by SEmert
Sat Mar 23, 2024 7:50 pm
Forum: Beginners SIG
Topic: Need suggestions for solar eclipse viewing
Replies: 5
Views: 211

Re: Need suggestions for solar eclipse viewing

Also, instead of my first thought of destroying a cheap cutting board, you can instead use a colander for the dense pattern of holes. And you can re-use the colander for its normal purpose afterwards. An alternative to 2, the yardstick Earth-Moon system model, you can use an appropriately sized pair...
by SEmert
Sat Mar 23, 2024 8:29 am
Forum: Beginners SIG
Topic: Need suggestions for solar eclipse viewing
Replies: 5
Views: 211

Re: Need suggestions for solar eclipse viewing

Glad some of the ideas helped. Also, as long as you're thinking of using the PC projector to show the animated path of the eclipse, there are going to be a number of sites showing the total eclipse as they happen. You could bring up at least one of those sites as totality passes through that location.
by SEmert
Fri Mar 22, 2024 4:16 pm
Forum: Beginners SIG
Topic: 8" f/12 classic cassegrain collimation
Replies: 2
Views: 100

Re: 8" f/12 classic cassegrain collimation

I would trust the collimation cap or a sight tube/Cheshire more than a laser for this, especially as that is the only method discussed in the manual. You mentioned some play when inserting the laser collimator. that can greatly affect the collimation. Personally, I'd do the collimation cap or sight ...
by SEmert
Tue Mar 19, 2024 10:02 pm
Forum: Beginners SIG
Topic: Need suggestions for solar eclipse viewing
Replies: 5
Views: 211

Re: Need suggestions for solar eclipse viewing

Here are a couple of ideas: 1. You already mentioned the hole in the notecard, making a pinhole camera to project the shape of the eclipse on a card/table/ground, etc. You could expand on that idea by taking a cheap, thin cutting board from a dollar store, marking a grid on it and drilling lots of a...
by SEmert
Mon Mar 18, 2024 12:41 pm
Forum: Marketplace/Exchange
Topic: CPC800 Project scope or parts spare $300
Replies: 2
Views: 437

Re: CPC800 Project scope or parts spare $300

I just received my copy of the May 2024 Sky & Telescope. In the Astronomer's Workbench column on page 72 there is an article about taking one of the arms off the CPC mount to reduce it's bulk and weight, and adding a dovetail to the remaining fork. After which, the CPC mount can be used with an ...
by SEmert
Sat Mar 16, 2024 10:48 am
Forum: General Astronomy
Topic: Mpls Public Schools Community Ed course "Urban Astronomy"
Replies: 0
Views: 126

Mpls Public Schools Community Ed course "Urban Astronomy"

Found in the MAS PO box, the Minneapolis Public Schools Community Education spring/summer 2024 catalog. In it, there is a course called "Astronomy for Urban Dwellers". Six Tuesdays, April 23 to May 2, 7:00 to 8:30 PM and also four Wednesdays July 10 to 31, also 7:00 to 8:30 PM. See first i...
by SEmert
Sat Mar 16, 2024 10:38 am
Forum: General Astronomy
Topic: U of M Physics Dept Guest Lecture open to public
Replies: 0
Views: 109

U of M Physics Dept Guest Lecture open to public

We received the notification below in the MAS PO box. Paul Chaikin from New York University is lecturing on "Towards Artificial Life with DNA Nanotechnology" at 7:00 PM April 3, 2024 in room 100, 10 Church St. building on the U of M campus. Those still in town and not traveling to the tota...
by SEmert
Thu Mar 14, 2024 9:11 am
Forum: Marketplace/Exchange
Topic: 10" f/8 RC carbon fiber telescope w/ TS focuser
Replies: 3
Views: 568

Re: 10" f/8 RC carbon fiber telescope w/ TS focuser

I brought it to a telescope shop in the Twin Cities about a year ago to have the mirrors cleaned.

Can you tell us where this elusive telescope shop in the Twin Cities is located and what it is called? I'm not aware of any since Radio City has closed!
by SEmert
Tue Mar 12, 2024 11:18 am
Forum: Marketplace/Exchange
Topic: CPC800 Project scope or parts spare $300
Replies: 2
Views: 437

Re: CPC800 Project scope or parts spare $300

Additional information, as I'm the one who examined it: The corrector plate was smashed by the primary mirror falling down and hitting the corrector. All remnants of the broken corrector plate have been removed. The secondary mirror and assembly is intact and is included with the scope. The primary ...
by SEmert
Mon Jan 22, 2024 9:19 am
Forum: MAS Electronic Media & Book Group
Topic: Book Review: Breif history of black holes
Replies: 2
Views: 1806

Re: Book Review: Breif history of black holes

By the way if you haven't ever run across her on YouTube, she has a YouTube channel called Dr. Becky where she provides scientific news updates and other videos. She is an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford in the UK. One of the latest ones is a sort of a mea culpa, saying she never knew the...
by SEmert
Mon Dec 18, 2023 4:35 pm
Forum: General Astronomy
Topic: IDA Nightscape newsletter
Replies: 15
Views: 9649

Re: IDA Nightscape newsletter

The December 2023 issue of the DarkSky International (formerly International Dark Sky Association - IDA) Nightscape newsletter has arrived.
This is issue number 114.
Attached is a copy for you to download and read for your enjoyment.
DarkSky_Intl_Nightscape_114_December_2023.pdf
(25.54 MiB) Downloaded 127 times
by SEmert
Thu Nov 30, 2023 3:25 pm
Forum: General Astronomy
Topic: Bad SAT question and Sidereal time
Replies: 1
Views: 1991

Bad SAT question and Sidereal time

Not only is this a description of an incorrectly worded SAT math question, it also includes the most complete description of sidereal time I've seen:
Veritasium YouTube channel: "The SAT Question Everyone Got Wrong"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUHkTs-Ipfg
by SEmert
Sun Nov 26, 2023 7:11 am
Forum: Beginners SIG
Topic: Second Night Out - Dark Sky and Freezing to Death
Replies: 4
Views: 1939

Re: Second Night Out - Dark Sky and Freezing to Death

... I also suspect that the focus knob built into catadioptric scopes (such as Schmidt-Cassegrains and Maks), which physically move the objective, take more time to settle than drawtube focusers, such as those found on the catadioptric scopes at the club observatories. Actually, that hasn't been my...
by SEmert
Wed Nov 22, 2023 12:34 pm
Forum: Beginners SIG
Topic: First Time out With Club Loaner Scope - Success
Replies: 6
Views: 2407

Re: First Time out With Club Loaner Scope - Success

I have a couple of questions. 1. My hands were freezing cold, and I only came in because I couldn't stand it anymore. What do you winter viewers use to keep hands warm? I'm thinking of digging out my old ice fishing gloves that glove the hand but present the fingers, and put a hand warmer packet in...
by SEmert
Sat Nov 11, 2023 5:21 pm
Forum: General Astronomy
Topic: Universe Today article on Valts restoring scope rescued from the U of M
Replies: 5
Views: 2399

Universe Today article on Valts restoring scope rescued from the U of M

https://www.universetoday.com/163339/amateur-astronomer-restores-a-classic-historic-refractor/#more-163339 This summer/fall, Valts rescued and refurbished the 6-inch Gaertner telescope that has been stored in Tate Hall at the U of M. Above is the link to the Universe Today article describing his work.
by SEmert
Sun Oct 29, 2023 6:03 am
Forum: Beginners SIG
Topic: A Few Newbie Questions
Replies: 9
Views: 3035

Re: A Few Newbie Questions

Scott, regarding the "smudge" statement. This is really in reference to nebulae and not planets. Observation of planets, particularly Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn can be quite satisfying. And other deep sky objects (open clusters, globular clusters, double stars, carbon stars) aren't general...
by SEmert
Fri Oct 27, 2023 4:51 pm
Forum: Beginners SIG
Topic: A Few Newbie Questions
Replies: 9
Views: 3035

Re: A Few Newbie Questions

Hi Scott, I'm in White Bear Lake too and I do some observing from my backyard, but honestly not all that much. I'm south of the lake and just east of White Bear Avenue, so the lights from the Hwy 61 car dealers are to my southwest and west, so I don't try observing those directions very much. I view...
by SEmert
Tue Sep 05, 2023 4:07 pm
Forum: General Astronomy
Topic: IDA Nightscape newsletter
Replies: 15
Views: 9649

DarkSky International Nightscape newsletter 113 Sept. 2023

The September 2023 issue of the DarkSky International (formerly International Dark Sky Association - IDA) Nightscape newsletter has arrived.
This is issue number 113.
Attached is a copy for you to download and read for your enjoyment.
by SEmert
Sun Sep 03, 2023 1:42 pm
Forum: MAS Electronic Media & Book Group
Topic: Group purchase of Observers handbook?
Replies: 34
Views: 11096

Re: Group purchase of Observers handbook?

I'll go for it!

Update: Paid using PayPal last evening, 9/11/23. Thanks, Clayton!
by SEmert
Sun Aug 13, 2023 5:43 am
Forum: MAS Star Parties and Events
Topic: Last weekend for the Apollo landing site at ELO:
Replies: 1
Views: 3251

Re: Last weekend for the Apollo landing site at ELO:

I just ran across this YouTube video: What the Apollo 11 Site Looks Like Today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqXtPNDCuVk After having worked on recreations of a number of the items left on the surface for the 2019 and 2022 LM site mockups at ELO, seeing animated recreations of those same instrume...
by SEmert
Fri Jul 28, 2023 2:05 pm
Forum: General Astronomy
Topic: The Size of Space
Replies: 2
Views: 5133

The Size of Space

Just ran across this interactive demo of the relative size of objects in space. Interesting.
https://neal.fun/size-of-space/
by SEmert
Sun Jul 09, 2023 5:33 pm
Forum: Beginners SIG
Topic: July BSIG Recap
Replies: 2
Views: 4964

Re: July BSIG Recap

Kudos for coordinating the event, as always, Suresh. I think a great time was had by all. Thank goodness we had reasonably clear skies for most of it. I know I had fun, and even had a chance to help out a few people.

Steve
by SEmert
Mon Jun 26, 2023 11:43 pm
Forum: Beginners SIG
Topic: Collimation
Replies: 6
Views: 6439

Re: Collimation

Ok, I'll try to remember to bring my sight tube and laser collimator and screwdriver and allen wrenches to the meeting.