From: "Alyxandra K. MacLeod" Subject: (utah-astronomy) Slides Date: 01 Nov 1999 14:34:47 -0700 Hi! Mark Dakins (a member of SLAS and UVAA) now has all of the astronomy slides mentioned in my email of last week. Mark tells me that those wishing to pick up some of the freebie slides for themselves are welcome to contact him at mark_dakins@Novell.com or 801-489-5767. Carpe Noctem! Patrick :-) -- Patrick Wiggins Hansen Planetarium Education Department email: p.wiggins@m.cc.utah.edu voice: 801.531-4952 - To unsubscribe from utah-astronomy, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe utah-astronomy" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Alyx MacLeod" Subject: (utah-astronomy) Forwarded Date: 03 Nov 1999 16:56:00 -0700 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_001E_01BF261C.4E550E00 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Patrick, I hope it's okay for me to post this to the list... FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Patrick Wiggins November 1, 1999 Phone: (801) 531-4952 STARS FOR STRIPES On Armed Forces Day, Thursday, November 11, the Hansen Planetarium will = pay tribute to members of the United States Armed Forces. Any person who is either a veteran of, or currently serving in one of = the United States armed services in active, reserve or guard status and can show substantiating identification will be admitted to a Planetarium star = program free of charge on Thursday, November 11. In addition, all immediate = family members accompanying military members will be admitted for one half the = regular price. Hansen Planetarium's current star programs are "20th Century Universe", = a remarkable account of what we have learned about our universe in the = 20th century, & "Visions Through Time", a look at how astronomers are = starting to unlock the mysteries of the origins of the planets and our own Solar = System. Hansen Planetarium is located at 15 South State Street in downtown Salt = Lake City. For more information about these or other Hansen Planetarium = programs, please call (801) 538-2104. # # # ---- Elsinore Lucilla Aurelius Smooth Blue Collie LucyBlue@Softhome.net http://www.angelfire.com/pq/LucyBlue http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Cabana/4637 ------=_NextPart_000_001E_01BF261C.4E550E00 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Patrick, I hope it's okay for me to = post this to=20 the list...
 
FOR IMMEDIATE=20 RELEASE           =      =20 Contact: Patrick Wiggins

November 1,=20 1999           &nb= sp;         =20 Phone: (801) 531-4952

STARS FOR STRIPES

On Armed Forces = Day,=20 Thursday, November 11, the Hansen Planetarium will pay
tribute to = members of=20 the United States Armed Forces.

Any person who is either a = veteran of, or=20 currently serving in one of the United
States armed services in = active,=20 reserve or guard status and can show
substantiating identification = will be=20 admitted to a Planetarium star program
free of charge on Thursday, = November=20 11.  In addition, all immediate family
members accompanying = military=20 members will be admitted for one half the regular price.

Hansen=20 Planetarium's current star programs are "20th Century = Universe",=20 a
remarkable account of what we have learned about our universe in = the=20 20th
century, & "Visions Through Time", a look at how=20 astronomers are starting to
unlock the mysteries of the origins of = the=20 planets and our own Solar System.

Hansen Planetarium is located = at 15=20 South State Street in downtown Salt Lake
City. For more information = about=20 these or other Hansen Planetarium programs,
please call (801)=20 538-2104.

# # #
 
----
Elsinore Lucilla = Aurelius
Smooth Blue=20 Collie
LucyBlue@Softhome.net
http://www.angelfire.com/pq= /LucyBlue
http://www.geoci= ties.com/TheTropics/Cabana/4637
------=_NextPart_000_001E_01BF261C.4E550E00-- - To unsubscribe from utah-astronomy, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe utah-astronomy" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mark Dakins Subject: (utah-astronomy) The Great Astronomy Slide Giveaway Date: 17 Nov 1999 15:54:29 -0700 (MST) As some of you are aware (and many are not), Richard Tenney and I recently recieved about 20,000 slides of astronomical objects that Hansen Planetarium was about to throw away. We have now finished examining and cataloging what we have. It turns out that most of the slides are boxes of anywhere from 30 to 3000 identical copies of a single slide. There are, however, also about 25 "sets", that is, boxes of collections of different slides. Each set seems to be different. They consist of anywhere from a few dozen to about 170 slides. Any given set is likely to have a few duplicate slides and a few damaged slides (by the way, damaged slides can be repaired as long as the emulsion is not scratched by remounting.) The slides are almost all rather old, black and white slides taken at Mt Palomar or Kitt Peak. Some are only so-so but many are absolutely gorgeous. The bottom line is; we have LOTS of slides to give away to good homes. We are each keeping one set for ourselves and are offering the rest to people who can put them to good use. First preference will be for school teachers but, if you would like a set, regardless of who you are, let me know. After we have given away all of the preassembled sets we will put together "mini-sets" from the boxes of identical slides and keep going until we run out of takers (or slides). I indend to gather requests for a little while and then send the best sets to the requestors who can put them to the best use. If I haven't given them all away at that point I will then gather more requests and so on. By the way, if anyone has a good idea about what to do with nearly 3000 slides of the Trifid nebula, please let me know. Attached is an inventory of the slides we have seen in our cataloging (we haven't even tried to look through everything, 20,000 slides is a LOT of slides) and another inventory of what we have whole boxes or portions of boxes of. Your set may well contain slides not in the inventory (since we have not searched everything) and will likely be missing a lot of what is in the inventory. I am afraid neither of us has the time to sort sets for any of you or make up custom sets but, if you receive a set that is missing a slide(s) that we have lots of we can fix that. If you would like a set let me know who you are and what you would do with it. Good luck. Mark Dakins mark_dakins@Novell.com - To unsubscribe from utah-astronomy, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe utah-astronomy" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mark Dakins Subject: (utah-astronomy) Inventories for Great Astronomy Slide Giveaway Date: 17 Nov 1999 17:16:40 -0700 (MST) Oops, I forgot to attach the inventories to my last message so, here they are. Inclusive index of a "set" 11/17/99 1. 3967-5 Galaxy E0 Virgo M87 NGC4486 KPNO 4-Meter 2. 3968-3 Galaxy Sb U Major M81 NGC3031 KPNO 4-Meter 3. 02108 Galaxy Sb C. Venatici M94 NGC4736 KPNO 4-Meter 4. 02109 Galaxy SBb C. Venatici NGC5383 KPNO 4-Meter 5. 02110 Galaxy Sb C. Bereneces NGC4565 KPNO 2.1-Meter 6. 3974-8 Galaxy Sc Pavo NGC6744 CTIO 4-Meter 7. 3975-6 Galaxy Sc Cepheus NGC6946 KPNO 4-M 8. 3976-4 Galaxy Sb Centaurus NGC4622 CTIO 4-M 9. 02115 Galaxy Sb Pegasus NGC7331 KPNO 4-M 10. 02117 Galaxy E2 Andromeda M32 NGC221 KPNO 4-M 11. 3978-0 Galaxy Sb M31 NGC224 12. 3981-0 Galaxy M84 NGC4374 13. 3982-9 Galaxy M87 NGC4486 14. 3983-7 Galaxy M64 NGC4826 15. 02122 Galaxy 55 16. 3986-1 Galaxy 5364 17. 3988-8 Galaxy (same as 02125) 1530 18. 02200 Galaxy (same as 3989-6) 4753 19. 3991-8 Galaxy 3077 20. 3992-6 Galaxy 2685 21. 02205 Galaxy (same as 3995-0) VV285 22. 02207 Galaxy 1275 23. 4000-2 Galaxy Clust. Coma B. 24. 02306 GC Hydra 25. 02307 GC Pices 26. 02302 GC Stephens Quintet 27. 4003-7 GC Hercules 28. 02304 GC Perseus (same as 4004-5) 29. 02305 GC Gemini 30. 4009-6 GC Centaurus 31. 4011-8 Quasar Virgo 3C273 32. 4012-6 Nebula 2070 33. 07102 Drawing KPNO 4-Meter 34. 07202 Drawing McMath Solar Telescope 35. 4025-8 Jupiter 36. 4026-6 Full Disk Magnetograms 37. 4027-4 Complex Sunspot 38. 4028-2 Heliogram & Magnetogram 39. 4029-0 Sunspot Group 40. 4031-2 Dicomed-Solar Magnetogram 41. 4032-0 Drawing McMath Solar Telescope 42. 4063-3 McMath Solar Telescope 43. 02106 Galaxy 87 4486 44. 361 Drawing 200-inch 45. 106 Nebula 6853 Dumbell 46. 108 Nebula 6960 Veil 47. 109 Nebula 6992 Veil 48. 112 Star Clust 1432 Pleiades 49. 113 Supernova 4725 (in) 50. 128 Nebula 1432 51. 129 Nebula 3587 Owl 52. 130 Galaxy 4826 53. 132 Galaxy 5866 54. 138 6 Galaxies 55. 139 6 Barred-spiral Galaxies 56. 141 Var. Star WWCygni 57. 201 Milky Way, Saggitarius 58. 204 Milky Way, Sagg. to Cassiopeia 59. 204-a Milky Way, Sagg. region 60. 230 Sun 61. 231 Spectroheliogram 62. 233 4 Light views of sunspots 63. 234 Solar prominences 64. 237 Solar prominence 65. 239 Sunspot group 66. 240 Sun with sunspots 67. 241 Magnetograms 68. 242 Sunspots 69. 243 Sunspots 70. 244 Solar flare 71. 245 Solar granulations 72. 246 Spectroheliogram 73. 11 Nebula 2392 (4 views) 74. 12 Galaxy 2403 75. 14 Galaxy 2685 76. 15 Galaxy 2841 77. 9 Nebula 2261 78. 158 Galaxy 598 79. 16 Galaxy 2903 80. 20 Galaxy Sextans 81. 21 Pl. Nebula 3242 82. 23 Galaxy 4314 83. 24 Galaxy 4486 84. 25 Galaxy 4565 85. 27 Galaxy 4631 86. 28 Galaxy 4736 87. 29 Galaxy 5194 M51 88. 31 Galaxy 5364 89. 32 Galaxy 5457 90. 35 Nebula 6514 Trifid 91. 36 Nebula 6523 Lagoon 92. 37 Nebula 6611 93. 253 Moon Full Phase 94. 273 Jupiter 4 views 95. 275 Mars Jupiter Saturn & Pluto 96. 276 Mars 2 views 97. 279 Jupiter 98. 280 Jupiter 99. 282 Venus 100. 295 Comet Arend-Roland 101. 297a " " " 102. 297b " 103. 297c " 104. 297d " 105. 298a Comet Mrkos 106. 298b " 107. 298c " 108. 298d " 109. 5070-9 GC VZw311 110. 38 Nebula 6618 Omega 111. 39 Nebula 6720 Ring 112. 40 Galaxy 7217 113. 4884-4 Galaxy 7741 114. 49 Nebula 7635 115. 50 Pop 1 & 2 Stars 116. 48 Nebula 7293 Helix 117. 56 Nebula IC443 118. 55 GC (1 billion lyears) 119. 54 Galaxy 1398 120. 53 Cygnus A 121. 47 Galaxy 4258 122. 46 GC Coma Berenices 123. 45 GC Hydra 124. 44 GC Corona Borealis 125. 43 GC Coma Berenices 126. 57 Nebula 1952 Crab 4 views 127. 58 Galaxy 2623 128. 51 Galaxy 1275 129. 59 Star clust 2682 130. 60 Galaxy 4938, 4939 Antenna 131. 61 Galaxy 3504 132. 63 Galaxy 5128 Centaurus A 133. 62 Glob Cluster 5897 134. 66 Plan Nebula 6720 Ring 135. 150 Galaxy M31 224 136. 69 Quasar 3C295 137. S-29 Nebula M20 6514 Trifid 138. 178 Milky Way Saggitarius 139. 159 Nebula 6960, 6992 Veil 140. 157 Nebula Cygnus 141. 158 Galaxy 598 142. 154 Galaxy NGC2976 143. 156 Nebula 7000 North American 144. 15 Galaxy 2841 145. 152 Nebula 2237 A region of the = Rosette 146. 151 Nebula 2237 Whole Rosette 147. 100 Galaxy M31, Central Region 148. 248 Sun Solar Prominance >From Boxes 149. 204b Milky Way Serpens - Aquila Region 150. 1007 Nebula M16 Eagle 151. 2 Galaxy NGC205 152. 1003 Nebula M42 153. 8 Nebula IC434 Horsehead 154. 7 Nebula NGC1952, Crab (full frame) 155. 252 Moon 11 day old Gibbous 156. 257 Moon Northern Region, Copernicus limb 157. 260 Moon Copernicus Crater 158. 4 Galaxy NGC628 159. 01104 Globular Cluster M5 160. 1 Galaxy NGC147 161. 5 Galaxy NGC1300 162. 300 Sun Solar Spectrum 163. 250 Moon 2 Crescents 164. 255 Moon Mislabeled Waning Gibbous 165. USNO 17 Jupiter The Great Red Spot visible Box Inventory 11/17/99 Object Number of Boxes 1. NGC 6514, Trifid 16 2. Milky Way, Serpens-Aquila Region 1 3. M16, Eagle 1 4. NGC 2685, Galaxy 1 1/3 5. NGC 205, Galaxy 1 1/3 6. M57, Ring 2 7. NGC 3077, Galaxy 2 8. NGC 5457, Galaxy 4 9. NGC 2237, Rosette 1/3 10. M42, Orion Neb 1/4 11. NGC 2682, Open Cluster 1 12. 3C295 Picture and Spectrum 1/4 13. IC434, HorseHead 9 14. NGC 1952, Crab 1 15. Moon, Gibous (11 day old) 2 16. Moon, Full 2 17. Moon, Northern Region Copernicus Limb 1 18. Copernicus Crater 1 1/3 19. Jupiter Great Red Spot 1 20. NGC 628, Galaxy 3 21. M5, Globular 1 22. NGC 598, Galaxy 4 23. NGC 147, Galaxy 4 24. NGC 2261, Hubble's Var Neb 7 25. NGC 1300, Galaxy 4 26. NGC 2841, Galaxy 4 1/3 27. NGC 2623, Interacting Galaxies 3 28. Galaxy Cluster in Hydra 3 29. Galaxy Cluster in Corona 2 30. Galaxy Cluster in Cass 1 31. Galaxy Cluster in Coma Berenices 1 32. Galaxy Cluster in Coma Berenices (dif pict) 1 33. Lagoon Nebula, M8, NGC 6523 2/3 34. Solar Spectrum 1/3 Two Crescent Moons 1/2 - To unsubscribe from utah-astronomy, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe utah-astronomy" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Alyxandra K. MacLeod" Subject: (utah-astronomy) Congrats on the New Asteroids! Date: 18 Nov 1999 12:49:05 -0700 Patrick Wiggins and Holly Phaneuf should be congratulated for finding two asteroids on November 2, 1999. To read more about their discovery check out the Salt Lake Tribune Web Page at: http://www.sltrib.com/11181999/science/science.htm Congratulations you guys, and let us know when you decide on the names! Here's a small bit of the article from the Trib: "After discovering the first asteroid, Wiggins said he and Phaneuf were considering naming it after one of their cats, Comet. Marsden said Comet would not be allowed, partly because it is an asteroid, not a comet, and also because the International Astronomical Union no longer allows asteroids to be named for animals. The practice offended astronomers who named the objects to honor deceased people. Asteroids also are named for living people and for geographic places. Now, Wiggins said he and Phaneuf are pondering whether to name the two asteroids after each other. %% " -- LucyBlue@Softhome.net ICQ #10306498 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Elsinore Lucilla Aurelius Smooth Blue Collie http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Cabana/4637 Moon Shyne Catalina 22 - #5315 - GSL Utah http://www.angelfire.com/pq/LucyBlue - To unsubscribe from utah-astronomy, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe utah-astronomy" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Alyxandra K. MacLeod" Subject: (utah-astronomy) [Fwd: 2 December lecture] Date: 19 Nov 1999 07:15:40 -0700 Patrick, I hope you don't mind I've forwarded this to the astronomy list... Cynthia -------- Original Message -------- Reply-To: p.wiggins@m.cc.utah.edu World-renowned Author to Tackle Laws of Physics at Warp Speed During Dec. 2 Lecture What happens when you get beamed up? What exactly is anti-matter and why does the USS Enterprise need it? Is time travel possible? And what's really out there anyway? Lawrence M. Krauss, author of The Physics of Star Trek, will answer these questions and more during Weber State University's Dec. 2 Convocation. Free to the public, his lecture will begin at 10 a.m. in the Shepherd Union Ballroom. An internationally recognized theoretical physicist, Krauss has investigated questions ranging from the nature of exploding stars to issues of the origin of all mass in the universe. During his presentation, Krauss will use Star Trek as a launching pad to take his audience on a warp speed journey into the fascinating world of modern physics. He will describe how the Star Trek universe stacks up against the real universe, covering a range of topics from the Big Bang to time travel, from warp speed to the likelihood of extra-terrestrial intelligence. Krauss holds undergraduate degrees in both mathematics and physics from Carleton University and a doctorate in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was a member of the Harvard Society of Fellows (1982-85) and has taught at Yale University and Case Western Reserve University. Krauss is the author of more than 170 scientific publications, as well as numerous popular articles on physics and astronomy. He is the recipient of numerous awards for his research including the Gravity Research Foundation First Prize Award (1984) and the Presidential Investigator Award (1986). Additionally, he has lectured to audiences at such places as the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, the National Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Natural History in New York. Krauss is the author of several acclaimed books including: The Fifth Essence: The Search for Dark Matter in the Universe, Fear of Physics, The Physics of Star Trek and Beyond Star Trek. CONTACT: Elise Hadley, Convocations chairwoman, 626-7237 -- Patrick Wiggins Hansen Planetarium Education Department email: p.wiggins@m.cc.utah.edu voice: 801.531-4952 - To unsubscribe from utah-astronomy, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe utah-astronomy" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Alyxandra K. MacLeod" Subject: (utah-astronomy) Odd Day Date: 19 Nov 1999 14:19:33 -0700 Off the subject but interesting... Today is an odd day, meaning that all of the digits are odd, 11-19-1999. The next odd day after that will be 1-1-3111 (well over a thousand years away), which we will never see. Days such as 4-13-89 have both even and odd digits, thus, it is neither odd nor even. The next even day will be 2-2-2000 (the first one since 8-28-0888). Now you have a reason to celebrate today as it will be your last odd day on earth!!! Have a nice Odd day! -- LucyBlue@Softhome.net ICQ #10306498 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Elsinore Lucilla Aurelius Smooth Blue Collie http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Cabana/4637 Moon Shyne Catalina 22 - #5315 - GSL Utah http://www.angelfire.com/pq/LucyBlue - To unsubscribe from utah-astronomy, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe utah-astronomy" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mark Dakins Subject: Re: (utah-astronomy) Odd Day Date: 19 Nov 1999 15:14:10 -0700 (MST) > > Off the subject but interesting... > Today is an odd day, meaning that all of the digits are > odd, 11-19-1999. The next odd day after that will be > 1-1-3111 (well over a thousand years away), which we > will never see. Days such as 4-13-89 have both even > and odd digits, thus, it is neither odd nor even. > The > next even day will be 2-2-2000 (the first one > since 8-28-888). Now you have a reason to celebrate > today as it will be your last odd day on earth!!! > Have a nice Odd day! > Oh, if only I could bring myself to believe it :-) Mark Dakins - To unsubscribe from utah-astronomy, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe utah-astronomy" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: DrCutis@aol.com Subject: Re: (utah-astronomy) The Great Astronomy Slide Giveaway Date: 21 Nov 1999 12:54:33 EST Hi, I would be very interested in a boxed set of slides. I grew up in San Diego, and went to Palomar as a kid and loved the "old black and white" images! I am a dermatologist with a huge number of skin slides and since dermatology is a very "visual" specialty, whenever I give a lecture, I bring lots of slides to show. It would be really interesting and a good change of pace to include some great astronomy slides in my talks. I give talks in schools, BYU, U of U, and dermatology meetings. Anyway, let me know.....I could come and pick them up since I know where you live. As an aside, I was the one who bought that property next to you, but then sold it to a Brown (?Aaron). I hope is a good neighbor, I saw he built a house. Carpe noctum. - To unsubscribe from utah-astronomy, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe utah-astronomy" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Alyxandra K. MacLeod" Subject: (utah-astronomy) [Fwd: Hansen Planetarium: Mars lecture] Date: 26 Nov 1999 07:49:22 -0700 Patrick, I hope it's okay for me to forward this stuff to the list... Cyn FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Richard Cox November 24, 1999 Phone: (801) 531-4926 NASA SCIENTIST TO DISCUSS MARS EXPLORATION / COLONIZATION Hansen Planetarium announces that Anthony Griffith, Exploration Operations Lead in NASA's Exploration Office, has generously agreed to present a free public lecture at the University of Utah's Fine Arts Auditorium from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. the evening of Wednesday, December 1, 1999. The subject of the talk will be the exploration and eventual colonization of Mars. Tickets will be required for admission. Free tickets are available from the Hansen Planetarium, the Utah Museum of Natural History and the University of Utah Student Union. Mr. Griffith's talk will be especially well timed, happening only two days before NASA's Mars Polar Lander is scheduled to land on the Red Planet. The landing is currently set for just after 1:00 pm MST the afternoon of Friday, December 3rd. To help the public enjoy and be informed about the landing, Hansen Planetarium will provide free live NASA Television coverage of all landing day activities via its in-house closed circuit television system from 10 am to late evening. - To unsubscribe from utah-astronomy, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe utah-astronomy" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Alyxandra K. MacLeod" Subject: (utah-astronomy) [Fwd: Hansen Planetarium: Geminid meteor shower] Date: 30 Nov 1999 07:32:12 -0700 COMET PARTICLES MAY STREAK IN MID DECEMBER The Earth will be centered in a swarm of comet particles the night of Monday the 13th and the morning of Tuesday the 14th of December. All through the night, brief, needle-like streaks of light will cut across the sky as Earthlings are treated to the annual Geminid meteor shower. The Geminids usually treat viewers who are away from city lights and smog to nearly 100 streaks per hour. Unlike November's much talked about but short lived meteor shower which was primarily visible only from Europe and North Africa, December's show is predicted to still be going strong when Utah's spot on the planet rotates into position. According to Hansen Planetarium's Patrick Wiggins, "Most of the meteors will be a brilliant white, but the nice thing about this particular shower is that many are often yellow, green, orange, blue and even red". "Most people know these lights as shooting or falling stars," said Wiggins. "They're actually meteors -- tiny bits of rock, most no larger than a grain of sand -- that burn up and turn to ash when they strike the Earth's extreme upper atmosphere high above our heads." Wiggins said most meteor particles are thought to have been left behind by comets. In the case of this shower the identification of the parent body remained a mystery for many years. It wasn't until 1983 when a NASA satellite discovered a small asteroid, now named 3200 Phaethon, which is now thought by many to be a dead comet and the long lost parent body of the Geminids. As telescopes and binoculars restrict the view of the sky they should not be used to view this or any meteor shower. According to Wiggins, "Probably the best meteor observing equipment consists of a lawn chair, a few blankets and some munchies". As with most meteor showers, the Geminids will probably be most active after midnight, however many meteors may be seen in the early evening as well. A few Geminids may also be visible a few nights before and after the predicted peak, but their numbers on those nights could be fewer as the Earth will then be less centered in the comet particle swarm. For information on the Geminids or other astronomical subjects, call the Hansen Planetarium's STARLINE information service at (801) 532-STAR. * * * - To unsubscribe from utah-astronomy, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe utah-astronomy" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Alyxandra K. MacLeod" Subject: (utah-astronomy) [Fwd: Calendars / Net access / More slides] Date: 30 Nov 1999 07:34:44 -0700 Hi, Seems our publications department has a bunch of 1999 calendars left over and needs to get rid of them by year's end. Believe it or not the nearly out of date calendars have been very well received by the schools our outreach program has visited. Teachers and students don't want to use them as calendars. Rather, they want them for the many "pretty pictures" that look nice when cut out and hung on classroom walls. Alas they all have to go away before the end of the year or they will be shredded and our outreach program will not visit enough schools by then to get rid of them all. So, if any of you out there would care to grab a bunch of calendars to give out at schools (or most anywhere else you'd care to give them out) please let me know so I can arrange pickup (like maybe at Wednesday night's NASA lecture at the U). On another matter, a member of SLAS tells me he's looking for free email (not web) access via a local (SLC) dial up. All of the "free" email I've heard about lately requires one to first sign up with an ISP (for a fee). I know there used to be a place offering free email via a SLC number without going through an ISP but can't remember who. If you can help with this please let me know. Finally, you might remember the 10 thousand or so astronomy slides we came across recently and which the UVAA took off our hands. Well, believe it or not, a similar quantity of additional slides has just turned up. So, as before, they're there for the asking. Just ask. I'll even deliver. :-) Carpe Noctem! Patrick :-) -- Patrick Wiggins Hansen Planetarium Education Department email: p.wiggins@m.cc.utah.edu voice: 801.531-4952 - To unsubscribe from utah-astronomy, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe utah-astronomy" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message.