Fire Mitigation is
Everyone’s BusinessBy Mark A. Gabriel, United Power President and CEO
Everyone’s Business
Recent wildfires, particularly those close to home, demonstrate the reality – and unpredictability – of wildfires in Colorado. Now more than ever it is important to have a plan and be as prepared as possible. United Power serves a territory that includes the plains of eastern Colorado and two rugged mountain canyons in the Foothills with dense forests and ample fuel for wildfires. Thanks to the dedicated effort of your cooperative’s operations team, we implemented a robust and aggressive fire mitigation plan to protect our members. This plan is reviewed and revised every year to make sure your cooperative is taking advantage of the most up-to-date and innovative technology, which can proactively alert us to equipment failure or heat warnings. We encourage all United Power members to read the plan, found on our website at www.unitedpower.com/fire-mitigation, to understand how your cooperative is working to mitigate the possible loss of life and property from wildfires. The fire mitigation plan identifies three core areas of focus: vegetation management, system improvements, and situational awareness.
Sunday, Nov. 1 — The moon in the Beehive Cluster (predawn)
Step outside in the early morning to spot the moon passing near the Beehive Cluster (M44). Daylight Saving Time also ends today, meaning darkness now arrives an hour earlier in the evening for late-night skywatchers.
A medium-sized telescope will resolve the cluster’s dozens of stars sprinkled around the lunar glare.
For quick imaging, holding a smartphone to the eyepiece and tapping the screen on the moon can lock the exposure, preventing the bright lunar surface from washing out the cluster.
To see the faintest stars closer to the moon’s edge, use averted vision by looking slightly away from the moon to engage your eye’s more light-sensitive peripheral rods.
ssive ray system. Because Tycho sits far from the terminator tonight, the high sun angle washes out topographical depth but brilliantly illuminates the streaks of bright, pulverized rock ejected during its violent formation.
Even small telescopes and binoculars will easily reveal the brilliant white splashes radiating outward like spokes on a wheel across the southern highlands. Observers using larger telescopes can push the magnification to trace these intricate rays for hundreds of miles across the lunar surface and hunt for the irregular, asymmetrical secondary craters created by falling massive debris.
Astrophotographers can capture this prominent feature using a DSLR camera on a standard tripod or a smartphone directly held to the eyepiece, utilizing a fast shutter speed to avoid overexposing Tycho’s intensely bright core.
To comfortably explore the fully illuminated portions of the disk without eye fatigue, thread a variable polarizing filter onto your eyepiece to dial back the glare and improve the contrast of the delicate ejecta rays.