Posts Made By: Linton Rohr

The clouds are clearing out here, so I just took a look at our nearby star.
Aside from some very nice prominences, there one particularly long filament in the NW quadrant.
Spaceweather has a story on it, I see.
I though I saw a long group of sunspots as well, in the north,
but it must be smaller filaments as they don't list any.
Get out there and check it out!
Linton

Well, it's less than a week now, but I've heard no mention of GCSP.
I'll be splitting my week between the South and North Rims again.
With a couple nights up in Utah afterwards.
Anybody else going?
Linton

Here's a good article on the recent meteor non-impact, complete with with Hubble photos.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/meteor-jupiter.html
The ammonia-obscured SEB is also covered. Sounds like we might
get to observe the unveiling of the SEB over the next few months.
Linton

Major Tom to ground control...
http://fx.worth1000.com/entries/435137/earth-shattering-experience

Wow.
I was just taking a look at the huge sunspot 1084 and some
interesting filaments, when quick movement caught my eye.
As soon as I focused on it, the dark rectangular silhouette
left the solar disk, but it sure looked like the ISS in that brief moment.
The time was 18:05 PST. I'll have to verify that somehow.
Linton

While at the Grand Canyon Star Party last month, my brother and I worked in a couple hikes in the daytime hours. A couple miles down the South Kaibab trail, there's an amazing vista at a spot they call "Ooh Aah Point". I was able to take a full 360 degrees of wide-angle vertical frames here, but the software flipped out when I tried to stitch them. So I broke it up into two sections. The first one here is looking back up at the South Rim, from whence we came...

This is a new star party being planned by some folks near Capitol Reef, in southern Utah, where I'm building a home. It's mainly a local event, intended for Wayne county and the surrounding area, but I think it might grow into something bigger. I've registered to attend. If you're in Utah or nearby, you might take a look.
http://www.heritagestarfest.com/home
Linton

William,
I started out with an 8" LX-90 (2000mm) and a set of Meade plossls, so I kinda know where you're coming from. The first thing I'd recommend is a Meade 14mm UWA (series 4000). Great EP and a terrific value. Watch the Amart classifieds. Then get the 8.8mm version if your seeing conditions will support 284x. I used a 40mm Superwide for my ow-power, wide-field EP, but your 32mm Orion may suffice for a while. You'll always be wishing for more FOV on extended objects like M31, M45, M44, NGC844/869, etc. Your MVP, most used EP though, will be in the 20mm range. I used a Nagler 20mm T5, but a 22mm Panoptic would do quite well for a lesser investment.
Whatever route you go, have fun!
Linton

Ouch! That hurts. Crazy story out of Minneapolis...
Text pasted below, but photo and video can be found at this site:
Linton

http://wcco.com:80/local/mike.lynch.telescope.2.1963406.html

WCCO Radio Meteorologist Mike Lynch says the stars aligned when a fire on his back deck started with his telescope.

"I get a call from my wife up at 'CCO radio and she calls me up and says, 'the telescope just blew up and the deck's on fire,' and I rush home and she has called 911," said Lynch.

What baffled firefighters was clear to Lynch, who is an avid astronomer. He left his telescope out on his deck.

"I put a towel over the eyepiece hole so it wouldn't get a bunch of dew on it," said Lynch.

But overnight, the telescope raised into the sky somehow.

"The most amazing thing happened -- the chances of this are so small -- the sun just happened to cross right in front of the opening of the scope," said Lynch. "It collected the light, bounced it back to the focal point."

That's similar to starting a fire with a magnifying glass, but much more powerful, according to Lynch. The sun hit a 14-inch mirror that collects the light.

"It bounced up. It was magnified greatly, bounced up and came out through (the eyepiece), started the towel on fire," said Lynch.

Luckily, the fire didn't spread to his home.

On Thursday night, Lynch held a stargazing class at Casey Lake Park in North St. Paul. He usually tells the stories behind the constellations, but had another story to tell about the power of our planet's biggest star.

"It just goes to show the power of the sun and you never ever want to look at the sun through a telescope," said Lynch. "What are the chances it will pass through a telescope like that? Pretty small."

You're all quite familiar with Barbara (Ma'am) Boxer's infamous condescending rant.
It's now been rendered in video by David Zucker, of Airplane and Naked Gun fame.
I'm sorry, I should have called him Director... he worked so hard to get that title. 8)
Linton

http://vimeo.com:80/16072732