The Journal
of the British Astronomical Association
Volume 121, No.2: 2011 April
Summary
contents page
Detailed contents: Notes and News / Articles / Observers' Forum /
Reviews / Letters / Meetings / BAA Update
Cover image
NGC 2239, the Rosette Nebula in Monoceros. Mapped colour, 200 min Ha
(r), 150 min S11 (g) & 90 min Hb (b). ST10 on Takahashi FSQ,
steered by ST8 on 406mm RCOS with adaptive optics. Gordon Rogers, 2011 March 4–8
From the President (David Boyd)
/ Aurora Section (Ken
Kennedy)
/ Uranus & Neptune: an interim report on the 2010 apparition (Mike Foulkes) / Solar Section (Lyn Smith) / A second
interim report of the 2010/2011 Saturn apparition (Mike Foulkes)
/ An abundance of SIDs (Paul
Hyde)
The Presidential Address, 2010
Pro-am collaboration
in astronomy – past, present and future
... David Boyd
The 2010 BAA Presidential Address, given on 2010
October 27 at the Royal Astronomical Society Lecture Theatre,
Burlington House,
Piccadilly, London W1.
Refereed papers
Making visual lunar and planetary
observations at the Lowell Observatory ... Paul Abel
In
the last year or so, I have been interested in the idea of using a
small to medium sized professional telescope for making visual
observations of the Moon and planets. In Europe and the US there are a
number
of good refractors which, if they are used at all, provide little more
than
occasional views of the heavens to interested members of the public.
Those
are the fortunate ones; many more seem to have been allowed to fall
into
disrepair (Herstmonceux for example) and languish in a state of limbo,
perhaps
waiting to become a hazard to health and safety so that they can then
be humanely
culled. The great Meudon refractor has been out of action since the
early 1990s,
but at least the dome has been restored and money has been allocated
for the
refractor be refurbished. We can only hope the telescope might be back
in action
relatively soon.
While it may be the case that, in the current economic climate, it is
not cost effective to upgrade these instruments with the latest CCD
software and technology, I have always thought that these great
stalwarts of astronomical history deserve a rather better retirement,
and could come to play an increasingly important role in the activities
of the visual amateur
astronomer. Recently, I began to wonder just how hard it would be to
get some time on such a telescope using only the funds available to
amateurs. I decided to test the water by getting time on a famous
telescope: the Alvan Clark refractor at the Lowell Observatory in
Arizona.
The
orbital and superhump periods of the
deeply eclipsing dwarf nova SDSS J150240.98+333423.9
... Jeremy
Shears et al.
The speed of
the
lunar shadow on Earth during solar eclipses ... Wilhelm Carton
Currently
there is no direct method to calculate the speed with which the lunar
shadow
rushes past points on the central line during a total or annular solar
eclipse.
Two well-known specialists in the field of eclipse computations admit
that they
are forced to use a ‘two-sites difference’ method. I present here a method
inspired by my background in construction engineering. The technique
decomposes
vector quantities (forces, velocities) into their components along a
3-D system
of rectangular axes, finally composing the three component sums to
obtain the
result.
Click here to
obtain a PDF file of
any of these articles
- Exhibition Meeting
& Ordinary
Meeting, 2010
June 26, held at
the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, London SE10
... Hazel McGee & Hazel Collett
Why not join us at a BAA meeting near
you? Meetings are open
to all and you will be made very welcome. Click here for
the latest Meetings Diary
- Commander Henry Hatfield ... Jeremy Shears
- Five spiders in a Newtonian ...
Bob Marriott
Reviews
Asteroids
and dwarf planets and how to observe them by
Roger Dymock
Springer, 2010. ISBN 978-1-4419-6438-0. Pp. xiii + 248, £27.50
(pbk, available from BAA Sales).
Reviewed
by Ted Bowell
Cosmic Challenge: The ultimate observing list for amateurs by
Philip S. Harrington
Cambridge University Press, 2011. ISBN 978-0521-89936-9. pp xi + 469,
£27.50 (hbk).
Reviewed
by Callum Potter
CLICK HERE
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more authoritative book reviews from the BAA Journal
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BAA Update
Meeting of the Historical Section,
2010 November 27
... Lee Macdonald
Obituary:
Elmer J. Reese, 1919-2010 ... John H. Rogers & Reta F.
Beebe
Obituary:
Valerie Ann White, 1952-2010 ... Sheridan Williams
The Owl Nebula, M97 ... Stewart L. Moore
A useful DSLR camera
modification ... Jack Martin
M97, the Owl Nebula, imaged by Andrea Tasselli, Leicester,
UK.
Sky
notes for 2011 April & May by Callum Potter
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