Bills Blog

NOVA CYGNI 2008 #2 (V2491 Cygni)

2008-04-16T15:28:00.000-07:00

Dave Samuels, one of FPOA's volunteer astronomers, has captured some images of Nova Cygni 2008 #2 (V2491 Cygni) with his Canon 20D on at 1920mm focal length from his backyard in Pleasanton, CA. I've quoted his email below with additional images.

Here is an image I took this morning from my backyard In addition, I cropped and labeled it so that you can clearly see the nova and the star next to it. Also included is the DSS image and a cropped and aligned version the same size as the cropped image that I took this morning. It is likely that one of the two faint stars (around mag 18 - 20) is the one that went nova (DSS image pixel location 726,754 or 722,757). The limiting magnitude of my image is 17 at best, 18 with a little imagination.

RA 19h 43m 01.96s DEC +32 19' 13.8" (2000) (North is up in all these images)

http://www.davesamuels.com/images/hires/2008_04_15/nova-cygus2008%232_140mmf140_20d-nr_4x120SecISO1600_ip-AdpAdd_ps-astrotools-crv-labeled.jpg

http://www.davesamuels.com/images/hires/2008_04_15/r=19h43m00s_d=+32d19'00.jpg

http://www.davesamuels.com/images/hires/2008_04_15/nova-V2491Cyg_140mmf140_20d-nr_4x120SecISO1600_ip-AdpAdd_ps-astrotools-crop.jpg

http://www.davesamuels.com/images/hires/2008_04_15/nova-V2491Cyg_r-19h43m00s_d=+32d19m00s-crop.jpg

Turns out that Chi Cygni is about 1 degree, 40' to the north east of this location. The bright star at the top-right is HIP 96977, mag 5.90 (according to StarryNight). At the center, just above and to the right of the nova is TYC 2660-1754-1, mag 10.25. There is a very faint star in my image just peeking above (north) of the nova at pixel location 1596,1250 (est. mag 16+/-), and the nova is located at 1595,1567.

Enjoy

Dave

TEC140APO, f/7.0, 2X Orion APO barlow, Canon 20d (unmodified) with in-camera noise reduction, captured with ImagesPlus 2.75.

AP1200 GTO3 mount

Guided with DSI2Pro piggyback through Orion ED80, K3ccdtools.

Pleasanton, CA

Peabody for Dover Doc

2008-04-02T12:01:00.001-07:00

http://tinyurl.com/24q26n

The excellent PBS NOVA documentary ""JUDGMENT DAY: INTELLIGENT DESIGN ON TRIAL" on the Dover area school evolution vs ID controversy has won a Peabody award.

Tucker

2007-08-20T10:39:00.000-07:00

Tucker is a dog we rescued from the local shelter. Here are some pictures of him the day we picked him up.

Fremont Peak Slideshow

2007-06-12T10:30:00.000-07:00

For some reason I can't do this on my wordpress blog....

Life in the smashed lane

2007-05-02T10:06:00.001-07:00

Wonderful morning. Someone at my place of orking managed to crunch an important file, and I don't appear to have a valid recent backup of it (which is entirely my fault). Now the Crystal reports I've written and posted to the server aren't working, and everybody's calling me and emailing me with the same information. Obviously some people don't bother to read their email, because I sent out a company wide email detailing the problem. over an hour ago.

Then the accounting manager called me and wanted me to call our vendor, because the issue that she reported to them as a bug hasn't been fixed yet. She wanted to know if I had heard back from them. Since she turned in the issue, they would be calling/emailing her not me, so no, I didn't hear back from them and I don't expect to.

sigh.

Just a few Firefox 2.0 add-ons

2006-10-31T10:38:00.000-08:00

Here's mine, what do you use?

Click2tab: opens bookmarks, history and cached items to tabs

Cooliris Preview: lets you preview pages by hovering the mouse over a link

Download Statusbar: neat and tidy download bar at the bottom of the window

Firefox Showcase: preview web pages that are open in tabs

FireFTP: Firefox FTP client

ForecastFox: Local weather forecasts

Foxmarks Bookmarks Synchronizer: Synchronize bookmarks between computers

gMail Space: use your gmail account for file storage

IE View: set certain pages to open in IE

Map+: highlight and right-click to map an address

Noscript: a javascript security add-on

Performancing: blog entry from firefox

Searchbar Autosizer: resize the google searchbar automatically based on input.

Talkback: Mozilla's error reporting tool

Web Developer: adds a web-developer toolbar to firefox.

The Simple Observing Log

2006-10-31T10:18:00.000-08:00

Found a neat piece of freeware (the author actually calls it 'giveware') for logging astronomical observations.

The Simple Observing Log

SJAA Fall Astro Swap Meet, Sunday 11/5/2006

2006-10-31T10:15:00.000-08:00

The San Jose Astronomical Association Fall Astronomical Swap Meet will be conducted at Houge Park in San Jose, Sunday November 5th, 2006 at 1 p.m. to about 3 p.m.

Telescopes, eyepieces, mountings, mirrors, lenses, clock drives, books, camera equipment, star charts, finders, tubes, diagonals, photographs, space art everything you need to make your hobby more enjoyable. You name it, it's likely to be there! Check your garage and closets for anything astronomical you would like to sell. Anyone can buy and sell! It's fun and easy! This is the sixth year for the fall swap, which is a follow on to the spring auction that has been run for twenty-six years. There is no auction, just the swap sale. Get your holiday shopping done early this year! Joe Sunseri of Earth and Sky Adventure Products with many fine new and used items. The club will also have the RASC Observer Handbooks and Calendars for sale. Check the swap web site as sellers inform us about what they are bringing!

Doors open at 12:00 pm to set up tables and bring in material for sale. Selling will begin at 1 pm, and will run as long as needed (probably 3 pm). Each buyer pays the seller. In the past the SJAA charged a 10% commission on all sales. It was brought to our attention that this might
prevent your payment from being completely tax deductible and possibly could complicate things for the club. So, payments to the club are now voluntary donations and thus are definitely tax deductible. In order to make things easier, sellers have an option: continue with the 10%
donation (its a donation now, not a commission), or if you wish just make it a flat donation for the table-$10 or $20 is recommended, depending on how much stuff you have and its value.
Obviously this has to be on the honor system, or conscious system as the case may be. Just keep in mind this event is a needed fund raiser for the club, so please be generous. Please bring items that would interest the astronomical audience such as astronomical, science, or tech items.

The SJAA reserves the right to turn away inappropriate items for the swap.

Do you have a large item to sell such as a telescope? Please email swap at sjaa.net with a description and a photo of the item or a link to your own website for some pre-swap publicity. Let us know what you are bringing before 5 PM on Saturday (11/4) and we will add it to the
website.

Have only one item to sell, such as a book or eyepiece? A consignment table for people to drop off up to 4 items will be available so that they can shop at the swap and not be hindered by selling an item. Please fill out the handy Form available off the website before attending the
swap and well enter the item number when you arrive.

Part of running a successful swap is to make sure that there are people who are new to astronomy in attendance. We can use your help to make this so! Please pass the word-especially to those who are new to astronomy. Thanks for your assistance!

The Swap Website:
http://www.sjaa.net/swap06/swap06.htm

***********************************************************
Directions to Houge Park:

Houge Park is in San Jose, near Campbell and Los Gatos.

>From Hwy.17, take the Camden Avenue exit.
Go east 4/10 mile, and turn right at the light, onto Bascom Avenue.
At the next light, turn left onto Woodard Road.
At the first stop sign, turn right onto Twilight Drive.
Go three blocks, cross Sunrise Drive, then turn left into the park.

>From Hwy.85, take the Bascom Avenue exit.

Go north 0.2 miles, and turn right at the first traffic light, onto
White Oaks Road.
Run another 0.2 miles to the first stop sign, then turn left onto
Twilight Drive. You will now be passing the park.
Turn right at the first driveway, into the parking lot.

See Map at http://www.sjaa.net/img/houge.jpg

***********************************

Clear Skies,
Mike Koop
President, SJAA
Questions? Comments? Flames?
Email: koopm <AT> best <DOT> com

_______________________________________________
Contacts mailing list
Contacts@aanc-astronomy.org
http://mail.aanc-astronomy.org/mailman/listinfo/contacts

_______________________________________________
FPOA-Members mailing list
FPOA-Members@fpoa.net
http://www.fpoa.net/mailman/listinfo/fpoa-members

Will Christian Hudson

2005-10-11T15:38:00.000-07:00

Born 10/9/2005 at 12:21 AM via emergency ceaserean section, weighing 10 lbs, 4 oz, and measuring 20 inches.

Both mother and baby are doing fine now.

"Under God": The wrong hill to die on.

2005-09-19T06:59:00.000-07:00

Normally I would blog education-related items over on the OpenGATE blog, but this topic isn't exactly GATE related.

Just to make things clear, I am a staunch believer in the Separation of Church and State. I believe that history shows that every example of the mingling of the two has resulted oppression, religious persecution, and the loss of religious liberty. Regardless, I oppose the attempt by Michel Newdow to remove the phrase "under god" from the pledge of allegiance.

For 30 years, between 1924 and 1954, the Pledge of Allegience did not contain the troublesome phrase. In fact, the pledge has been revised numerous times since Francis Bellamy (1855 - 1931) first wrote it in 1892. The phrase was added in 1954 at the height of the McCarthy communist witch-hunt era after President Eisenhower expressed public support for the idea. The phrase was added because the United States wanted to differentiate itself from those "Godless commies". If I had lived then, I would have opposed the inclusion of the phrase.

However, in the intervening years, the pledge has become ingrained in American culture, and the phrase "under God" has become an example of the 'civic religion' of the American government. Despite it's technical violation of the establishment clause, it is not (in my opinion) a serious transgression, and as the Supreme Court pointed out as recently as 1984, "[t]here is an unbroken history of official acknowledgment by all three branches of government of the role of religion in American life from at least 1789." Lynch v. Donnelly, 465 U.S. 668, 674 (1984).

I don't think that it is proper for teachers, or school districts to force children to participate in the pledge. During my school years, I witnessed many Jehovah's Witnesses abstaining from the pledge without ridicule, retaliation or coercion to participate. That is how it should be.

However, there are far more serious transgressions of the establisment clause taking place. This relates directly to the Christian takeover of the Republican party (which began under Eisenhower and Nixon but was firmly establised under Reagan, and has been extended under both Presidents Bush). George H.W. Bush, when he was Presidential Nominee for the Republican party said: "No, I don't know that Atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered as patriots. This is one nation under God."

At best, the "under God" phrase in the pledge is a borderline case, and it faces an uncertain future agains the Lemon Test. My fear is that this issue will come before a Roberts Supreme Court, and will be reversed. This in turn may cause a huge backlash and set back the cause of separation of Church and State.

How to tell if you're driving too fast

2005-09-08T14:07:00.000-07:00

Shut up and DO something!

2005-09-06T08:39:00.000-07:00

All around me I see people arguing, playing the 'blame game', pointing fingers at the President, at the State of Louisiana, at the Mayor of New Orleans for the horrible, awful, heart-wrenching tragedy there.

So, I ask, what have you done to help?

Have you given any money to a relief organization, like the American Red Cross? I offered my clients discounts if they showed me a receipt to one of the organizations listed on the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD) site dated after the date of my invoice.

How about giving blood? There are a lot of people who are injured, sick, and hurting, and the blood supply is very low.

Do me a favor. Stop whining and complaining. Skip lunch for a week, and donate $25 to one of the organizations on the ground in the Gulf Coast region. When you're hungry, think of the people who have lost everything they ever owned.

Magnificent Mondo Mega Mug

2005-09-02T07:32:00.000-07:00

52 Ounces of high-octaine caffeinated joy.

2005-08-17T23:15:00.000-07:00

The top two images are the front and back of a snapshot my father took after the capture of the two guns (280mm K5(E) railway guns, nicknamed "Robert" and "Leupold" by the Nazis) which comprised "Anzio Annie". The bottom image is a color photograph of one a similar gun (I believe it is an earlier version) being fired.

Picante

2005-08-12T10:35:00.000-07:00

Lassen: Fising in Deer Creek

2005-08-10T08:22:00.000-07:00

Fishing in Deer Creek

Lassen: Near the top

2005-08-08T08:45:00.000-07:00

Near the top

Lassen: Playing in the Snow

2005-08-08T08:43:00.000-07:00

Playing in the snow in July.

2005-08-08T08:41:00.000-07:00

Lassen in July

2005-08-08T08:36:00.000-07:00

Lassen National Park

2005-02-03T13:54:00.000-08:00

More Jellies

2005-02-03T13:53:00.000-08:00

Jellyfish in the Aquarium

2005-02-03T13:51:00.000-08:00

Monterey Bay, as seen from the deck of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, October 2004