Posts Made By: Dave Mitsky

On Friday night, I caught Brian De Palma's new film, The Black Dahlia. The movie is based on James Ellroy's novel about an infamous and grisly unsolved murder that took place in Hollywood in 1947.

For a short while, I thought that The Black Dahlia was destined to be great film noir. However, the movie grows increasing shaky and completely self-destructs in the third act. The denouement is both confusing, although I understood what happened I was at a loss for the motivations of the characters, and overly campy. The relationship of the two cops and the Scarlet Johansson character, who, surprisingly, is not all that good in her role, seemed rather unconvincing to me as well. Apparently, quite a bit of the movie never made it to the final cut.

In short, The Black Dahlia fails to reach the heights of classic crime films like Chinatown and L.A. Confidential*.

The sets and the period look of the film are quite good and there are the usual De Palma Hitchcockian nods, mise en scène, and melodramatic music. Because of the subject matter, this is definitely a movie meant for mature audiences.

The movie is currently pulling only a 30% on the Tomatometer.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/black_dahlia

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Ellroy (see the final paragraph)

Dave Mitsky

I recently learned through Rod Mollise's blog page - http://uncle-rods.blogspot.com/ - that there may now be, in fact, a true "galaxy filter".

http://www.omegafiltersebuyer.com/servlet/the-GCE-Filters/Categories

Dave Mitsky

A few years ago there was a heated dispute about the ideal telescope for a novice. One individual claimed that Terence Dickinson, who he fervently believed to be a professional astronomer and not a science writer, said that it was a 90mm refractor.

Dickinson's books - http://www.smc.edu/planetarium/bkrev-Nightwatch&Backyard.html - on amateur astronomy and amateur gear at the time made no such direct statement and seemed to favor a 6" Dobsonian reflector. However, I happened to see the new (fourth) edition of his classic Nightwatch on Saturday and the answer is now crystal clear.

What does the author really have to say on the matter?

On page 69, a discussion entitled "An Ideal Beginners Telescope" ensues. Here is a partial quote from the passage:

"There may not be a perfect telescope for the beginner, but the closest thing to it is a 6-to-10 inch Dobsonian mounted Newtonian reflector."

In the next paragraph, Dickinson states:

"The 6-to-10 inch Dob is the product of a unque combination of factors, that in my opinion, makes it an overachiever in the telescope world and the ideal beginners instrument."

Dave Mitsky

Here's my list of deep-sky objects located within the two hour swath of right ascension of 22 to 24 hours for October.

Dave Mitsky

Seventy-five deep-sky objects for October: NGC 7640, NGC 7662, NGC 7686 (Andromeda); NGC 7180, NGC 7183, NGC 7184, NGC 7293, NGC 7392, NGC 7585, NGC 7606, NGC 7721, NGC 7723, NGC 7727 (Aquarius); Cz43, K12, M52, NGC 7635, NGC 7788, NGC 7789, NGC 7790, St12 (Cassiopeia); B171, B173-4, IC 1454, IC 1470, K10, Mrk50, NGC 7235, NGC 7261, NGC 7354, NGC 7380, NGC 7419, NGC 7510 (Cepheus); IC 1434, IC 5217, NGC 7209, NGC 7223, NGC 7243, NGC 7245 (Lacerta); NGC 7177, NGC 7217, NGC 7320 (the brightest galaxy in Stephan’s Quintet), NGC 7331, NGC 7332, NGC 7339, NGC 7448, NGC 7454, NGC 7479, NGC 7619 (the brightest member of Pegasus I), NGC 7626, NGC 7678, NGC 7742, NGC 7769 (Pegasus); NGC 7541, NGC 7562, NGC 7611 (Pisces); IC 5156, IC 5269, IC 5271, NGC 7172, NGC 7173, NGC 7174, NGC 7176, NGC 7201, NGC 7203, NGC 7214, NGC 7221, NGC 7229, NGC 7314, NGC 7361 (Piscis Austrinus); NGC 7507, NGC 7513, NGC 7713, NGC 7755, NGC 7793 (Sculptor)

Challenge deep-sky object for October: Jones 1 (PK104-29.1)

I observed the recently discovered comet C/2006 M4 (SWAN) this morning from approximately 9:45 to 10:10 UT (5:45 to 6:10 a.m.) using the ASH 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain and its 5" f/5 achromatic finder scope. Fortunately, Comet SWAN M4 rose right where there's a gap in the Naylor Observatory's eastern treeline. Its position was in the neighborhood of 12h12.92m, +33d21.0'.

The coma was rather condensed and fairly bright. It appeared to have a slight pale blue tint and seemed to exhibit a hint of tail when I jogged the OTA back and forth, although the brightening sky made it hard to be certain about that. I used a 55mm University Optics Ploessl (118x), 45mm U.O. Optics Ploessl (144x), a 40mm U.O. MK-70 (162x), a 32mm U.O. Optics Koenig-II (202x) and a 25mm U.O. Optics MK-70 (259x) with the 17". The 45mm Ploessl gave me the most pleasing view of the new comet.

Dave Mitsky

David Levy - http://www.jarnac.org/comets.htm - has recently discovered his 22nd comet, C/2006 T1 (Levy). It's currently in Leo and is approximately eleventh magnitude.

An ephemeris is posted at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Comets/2006T1.html

A finder chart is available at http://www.davelane.ca/levy.pdf

Dave Mitsky

According to reports, C/2006 M4 (SWAN) has undergone an outburst and is now in the fourth magnitude range of brightness. Some observers have reported seeing the comet without optical aid from light polluted locales.

Comet SWAN M4 is currently in northern Corona Borealis so be sure to have a look at it this evening if the skies are clear.

http://skyhound.com/sh/comets/2006_M4.gif

Dave Mitsky

Apparently, it's on.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/10/31/hubble.ap/index.html

Dave Mitsky

Here's my November list of deep-sky objects located within the two hour swath of right ascension ranging from 0 to 2 hours.

Dave Mitsky

Seventy deep-sky objects for November: M31, M32, M110, NGC 252, NGC 404, NGC 752 (Andromeda); NGC 680, NGC 691, NGC 697, NGC 772 (Aries); Cr 463, IC 1747, K14, M103, NGC 129, NGC 133, NGC 146, NGC 185, NGC 225, NGC 281, NGC 278, NGC 381, NGC 436, NGC 457, NGC 559, NGC 637, NGC 654, NGC 659, NGC 663, Tr 1 (Cassiopeia); NGC 40, NGC 188 (Cepheus); NGC 151, NGC 175, NGC 178, NGC 210, NGC 227, NGC 245, NGC 246, NGC 247, NGC 274, NGC 337, NGC 578, NGC 584, NGC 596, NGC 615, NGC 636, NGC 681, NGC 720, NGC 779 (Cetus); NGC 7814 (Pegasus); M76, St 4 (Perseus); M74, NGC 128, NGC 194, NGC 488, NGC 524 (Pisces); NGC 24, NGC 55, NGC 134, NGC 150, NGC 253, NGC 254, NGC 288, NGC 289, NGC 439, NGC 613 (Sculptor); M33, NGC 672 (Triangulum)

Challenge deep-sky object for November: IC 59 (Cassiopeia)

Due to gravitational perturbations, the Leonid meteor stream probably won't produce another meteor storm until 2099. However, a short outburst of perhaps 100 to 150 per hour (which is much higher than the traditional Leonid ZHR of 10 to 20 per hour) may occur in Europe and Africa this year after the normal peak of the Leonids has occurred. Although the radiant is rather poorly positioned at the predicted peak time of 11:45 p.m. EST on November 18 (4:45 UT on November 19), observers on the East Coast may still be able to catch some of the enhanced activity that could result from the Earth crossing through a debris trail left behind by Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle's 1932 passage.

http://www.arm.ac.uk/leonid/2006/info2006.html

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/061017_leonids_2006.html

Dave Mitsky