Search Results for 'Join'

[Callum Potter]

The Senior Manager of Public Astronomy at the Royal Observatory Greenwich has asked if we could circulate this role that they are looking to fill:

JOB: Support Astronomer (Zero Hours) – Royal Observatory Greenwich, London [Closing Date: 15 January 2022]

We are looking for individuals who have a passion for astronomy, enthusiasm for observing with telescopes and experience in astrophotography to join the Science Learning and Public Engagement department at the Royal Observatory Greenwich as Support Astronomers.

Find the job description here

Support Astronomers are critical to the delivery of our observing programmes, including public observing activity, the acquisition of telescope astrophotography images and other projects. As well as supporting telescope-based activity, post holders deliver planetarium shows to varied audiences. Work opportunities will usually be in the evenings, often after dark, or during the daytime at weekends. Those with availability in the daytime on weekdays will be offered a broader range of work.

Work opportunities will often be irregular, requiring a certain amount of flexibility and responsiveness within realistic limits. Work opportunities will usually be offered 1 month in advance, unless we are seeking emergency support.

Pay: £12.24 per hour plus holiday pay

Closing date: 15 January 2022

To apply follow the link above.

[David C Rayment]

I would also like to add my thanks to the team who put together the streaming of the Christmas Lecture.  Having missed the last few due to rail engineering works and then SARs-Cov 2, it was a pleasure to have been able to watch this event live on-line.

As a supporting member of the Natural History Museum (BM) I feel privileged to have twice had the opportunity to join a small group visiting the behind-the-scenes work area at the NHM where the meteorite collection is kept.  On both occasions we were shown specimens by Dr Caroline Smith who was excellent in her explanations of these different types of visitors from outer space.

Professor Sara Russell’s mention of the analysis of meteorites through the electron scanning microscope and the x-ray by-product from firing the electrons reminded me of another visit to the NHM where the group on that occasion was able to handle one of the solar panels from Hubble which was brought back to earth by the space shuttle.  These panels, which are basically as thin as crisp or peanut wrappers, have small impact holes. The scientist fire the electrons at the impact holes which reveal the structure of those holes and from the x-ray by-product the scientist are able to tell if the impact material was natural or man-made.  If the impact material was man-made it was likely to be rocket fuel and through the spectral analysis they could determine if it came from an American or Russian rocket due to the different chemical compositions of the fuel used.  I forget the exact ratio of man-made material to natural material but, if memory serves me correct, it was around forty five percent to fifty five percent.  My understanding is that rocket fuel is less of a problem nowadays due to most satellites being placed in geostationary orbits.

The talk by Professor Heymans was excellent and interesting Sky Notes as always.

Many thanks,

David C Rayment.

[Nick Hewitt]

I had fully intended to be there in person – I had a ticket!- but was “inconvenienced”. So it was marvellous to join by Zoom, the quality was excellent and the event most enjoyable.

[Gordon Dennis]

Here’s what’s going wrong I believe.  After editing the install script per Appendix A, I get this result when I try to run it; plainly, it’s a pathname issue, as it cant find the pathname to the python interpreter.

I’m a little cautious about fixing this.
Executing python -c “import sys; print(‘n’.join(sys.path))” gives this result:

I don’t understand why there are apparently two different python.exe files. Maybe because the machine once had python 2.7 on it?

The full Anaconda result is also shown here:

I think if you could advise me which pathname to specify (and where) that ought to fix this problem..
Many thanks
Gordon

[Jeremy Shears]

I am posting this information, provided by Tonny Vanmunster, about a free webinar tomorrow on using the Peranso 3 software. Tonny has developed this software for period analysis of variable star and other light curves. I have used Peranso for many years and have recently upgraded to Peranso 3, which was released over the Christmas hols. It’s a super piece of software!

Note the webinar starts at 16.00 UT

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Dear colleagues,

The below might be of interest to some of you. Gabriel Neagu (AAVSO ambassador) is hosting a webinar tomorrow to showcase the new Peranso 3 software. I will join him during this session. We will demonstrate the power of Peranso using several real-life light curves, including some of the data mining work that Gabriel and colleagues are doing using Peranso.

In you are interested to join this free webinar, you can connect through Zoom:

Meeting ID = 912 8822 1402

Passcode = 351389

The invitation has also been posted on some Facebook groups (Cataclysmic Variables, Variable Star Astronomy, etc), where you can find more information.

Best regards

Tonny

Attachments:

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   peranso-31.png
   

[Callum Potter]

You should find that the BAA is an affiliate organisation, so any BAA member would be able to join the AAS as an amateur member.

Callum

[Michael E. Marotta]

A new initiative to include amateurs in the professional organization is being launched at the 237th Meeting, 10-13 January 2021. In 2016, Amateur status was added to the membership categories. Now, the AAS is extending its initiatives for inclusion by actively seeking engagement at the conferences. Ahead of that, an ad hoc committee of correspondence was launched by several AAS members. We held our first meeting online on 16 December.

Speaking to the group, AAS publicist Rick Fienberg underscored the fact that when the AAS was founded in 1899 a significant fraction were amateurs. However, the birth of astro-physics with spectroscopy meant that by the early 20th century the communities already were diverging. Amateurs fell away. Then, by the 1990s, amateurs were equipped with CCD cameras, spectrographs, and now are doing good science in collaboration with professionals. It made sense for the AAS to open its arms to the amateurs in 2016. Now we have 300 Amateur Affiliates. Also, the AAS recently purchased Sky & Telescope magazine. That being as it may the AAS opened the membership to amateurs ahead of a defined rationale. So, in the summer of 2019, the Board of Directors created a task force to develop a coherent set of programs and benefits.

An 8 August 2018 press release said:  As long as amateurs do not depend on the field of astronomy as a primary source of income or support, they are now welcome to join the AAS as Amateur Affiliates.

Applicants are required to be a member of an affiliated organization, such as an astronomy club that belongs to the Astronomical League; the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers (ALPO); the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP); the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO); the Society for Astronomical Sciences (SAS); the International Meteor Organization (IMO); the International Occultation Timing Association (IOTA); the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers (SARA); or the Citizen Science Association, to name a few. 

Dues for Amateur Affiliates will be $52 for 2019. Inaugural benefits include reduced registration fees to AAS meetings, access to the AAS family of journals, and the annual AAS Wall Calendar. Additional programs and opportunities are expected for this group once a critical mass is established for survey and feedback purposes.

The Session Notes from the Convention Schedule –  Jan 14 2021 6:50PM –  Amateur Astronomers Meet & Greet

“Recognizing the increasingly important role of backyard stargazers in astronomical research, science advocacy, and public outreach, the AAS recently created a new membership class: Amateur Affiliate. Subsequently the Society became the owner/publisher of Sky & Telescope after the magazine’s former owner went out of business. As 2021 begins, the AAS has about 300 Amateur Affiliate members. Many of them, as well as many S&T readers and other amateur astronomers who haven’t yet joined the Society, have registered to attend AAS 237. If you’re among them, please join us for this virtual get-together. (Others interested in meeting an engaged group of astronomy enthusiasts are welcome too!) In addition to getting to know each other, we’ll hear from Rick Fienberg, AAS Press Officer and former S&T Editor in Chief, about how the AAS plans to bring professional and amateur astronomers closer together for our mutual benefit. You’ll also have an opportunity to offer your own ideas about how the AAS can be more supportive and encouraging to amateur astronomers.”

[Bill Ward]

Hi,

There was some correspondence on the nemetode.io group (which I heartily recommend you join) about peculiar captures…

Are you using Windows 10 by any chance…?

If so, the conclusion, after exhaustive tests just like you describe, seemed to be to change to win 7 or even XP. I have systems using both these operating systems for over 10 years and they’ve never hiccuped. I’m not an expert and I don’t know why but Windows 10 does seem to have some issues.

That may be the main issue but I could also add, from experience, stick to onboard hard drives, using external ones seems to cause problems with recording. Mine was/is a western Digital USB3 model and it just didn’t seem happy…

Not much of a solution but I hope it helps.

Cheers,

Bill.

[Hazel McGee]

Several BAA members (including Nick James, Brian McGee & Mike Frost) have made it to Argentina despite everything (it’s been a pretty weird year…) and are set up now on their site in Patagonia!  Join them by livestream this afternoon (2nd contact is at 16:13 UT) — see links below

 

Watch the Solar Eclipse Live with Eurotur!

 

 

This year, Argentina will be the stage of a rare and unique event: a Total Solar Eclipse!

 

Eurotur is on site at Fortin Nogueira (Piedra del Águila, Neuquen) operating a closed bubble group of over 40 passengers, specially authorized for this astronomy event!

 

We are very happy to welcome this group of over 40 international astronomy enthusiasts, and our first overseas passengers since the sanitary crisis started.

 

You can be part of the backstage through our social media accounts, and we invite you to watch the Total Solar Eclipse that will happen on Monday 14th December at 11:30 Argentina Time (14:30 UTC/ 9:30 a.m. EST/ 6:30 PST).

 

Live Streams:

NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html#public

Canal 10 (Spanish): https://diario10.com.ar/en-vivo/#fvp_6,4s

 

[Dominic Ford]

Hi Alan,

Thanks for your kind words! Plate-solving refers to the process of looking at the pattern of stars in an image, and attempting to match it against a star catalogue in order to work out the celestial coordinates of the image. We use a piece of software called astrometry.net to do this. However, the software takes a few minutes to run, and newly uploaded observations join a queue to be processed, which means there is a delay between you uploading an image and the celestial coordinates appearing in the associated metadata.

When the plate-solver finds a match, you should see a panel to the right-hand side of your image with a tick-box “Enable overlay”. This will overlay a star chart over the top of your image.

Best wishes,

Dominic

[Dominic Ford]

Yes – unfortunately CUP is going through a lot of changes currently. You may have heard the news that CUP is going to merge with Cambridge Assessment in 2021. The university says there will be lots of exciting opportunities for CUP to produce “digital education” tailored to exam syllabuses. But at the same time, they’ve admitted they will be laying off a significant number of staff:

https://www.cam.ac.uk/news/cambridge-university-press-to-join-with-cambridge-assessment

I fear the future is not very bright for the bits of CUP not connected with “digital education”, given it will soon be a sub-division within an exam board.

[Daryl Dobbs]

One way to go about it is to find a comfortable position to sit or stand and measure your eyelevel from the ground. Subtract from this the height of the mount from where it would join the pier to the position of the eyepiece when your telescope is at the lowest practical observing position and also when the telescope is at it’s highest practical observing position. That should give you an idea of the pier height. depending on your interests and location you might find there’s a certain ‘band’ of altitude your favorite objects reside in I’m thinking of planets or the Moon which will make choosing the pier height a bit easier.

Another method may seem a bit odd. But if you get a pole higher than the top of the sides of your observatory you wedge it in the vertical position. This simulates the pier. Next take another pole which will simulate the telescope and tie it with string to what you think is a suitable height to the vertical pole. You then can pivot the pole simulating the telescope up and down to find out if the observing height is practical. If not just untie the ‘telescope pole’ and move it up or down the vertical pole until you are happy with the range of heights from the viewing end where an eyepiece would be. Measure on the vertical pole the point where the ‘telescope pole’ is to the ground and subtract from this the height of the mount and you will arrive at your desired pier height.

If you change your telescope you might have to put an extension piece on top of the pier or use steps. 

I hope this helps

[Peter L J]

Hi Everyone,

Please could anyone tell me if it will be possible to view a recording of today’s Webinar after the event?  I particularly wanted to join Owen’s session today but unfortunately, I have a clash of commitments and cannot.  If a recording is made, please would anyone post the link so that I can access it tomorrow.

Many thanks and best wishes

Peter L Jennings

[Tony Morris]

Hi

Carbon composites can be tricky to mechanically fix together or join to other structures

For ideas have a look here:-

https://www.rockwestcomposites.com/shop/connector-accessories/carbonnect/fixed-connector/ce-cl-05-group

Tony

[Eric Watkins]

Ernie, the details of that object are on the image. can’t locate original thread.  Nick also caught this one. I’m pleased that this thread has made you re-join the BAA. I have recently had my 50 yrs of continuous membership acknowledged.

It may be better to locate the original post and carry out any discussions  of this object  there to avoid confusion.

Eric

[Gary Poyner]

Hello Roy,

There is no formal way to join the VSS, as long as your interested in VS we’ll welcome you!  

To submit observations to the database, you will need an observer code and login details.  Have a read of this and it will advise how to go about it…

https://britastro.org/photdb/notes_submissions.php

I’ll leave it to one of the CCD observers to comment on your set-up, but it looks fine to me.

Don’t forget the VSS Circulars – free to everyone!  https://britastro.org/vss/VSSC_archive.htm

Gary

[Roy Lemmon]

Hi,

I have recently joined the BAA without much prior experience, but I am particularly interested in variable star observing. At the moment I am learning the basics by observing visually with a pair of binoculars, which is already challenging but fun ! I will submit some measurements soon but do you have to join the VSS to do this ?

However, I am thinking ahead and my aim would be to build a setup for CCD/CMOS variable star photometry. I was wondering if you had any comments about the suitability  of a setup such as:

• good quality German equatorial mount
• 80-100mm APO refractor
• guide scope
• CMOS mono camera with filters

My main question is whether a good quality refractor of this size is suitable for variable star CCD/CMOS observing ? With the above setup, I could also do some visual and imaging work. I am aware that a small refractor will be much easier to track with and balance the imaging equipment on for a beginner.

Thanks for any help.

Cheers
Roy.

[Carolyn Kennett]

Hi all, 

I want to thank everyone who got involved last month and sent me your image of the Moon and Venus. You may recall we are having a final attempt this month. Exactly the same as before except we would like you to image the Moon with Venus on Tuesday evening at 9.30pm (local time). 

Once all this attempt is over, we will work on the calculations from all the attempts and I will let you know how we have got on

thank you once again for your help. 

here is more details from last times request about what we are doing.

I am involved in a Heritage Lottery funded project where we have been celebrating the types of historical measurements astronomers used in the past. Part of this has been a parallax project where we have been asking people each month to take an image of the crescent moon and Venus. From this, we are going to use parallax (peoples locations around the globe and the orientation of the crescent to Venus) and measure the distance to the moon, much in the way the Transit of Venus was used to measure an astronomical unit. I know a few of you took part last month and I thank you for all your excellent images. We are asking people to take part again this month for a second attempt.

So if you would like to join in and it is safe for you to do so, can you take an image of the crescent moon and Venus on Saturday night at 8pm local time on your cameras and send it to us either here or my email carolyn@hird.net or @mayescreative on social media.

I will need to know your location of where the image was taken from, but a general location is fine eg Bristol.

more information can be found out about the project here

http://www.mayescreative.com/measure-to-the-moon.html

[Carolyn Kennett]

I am involved in a Heritage Lottery funded project where we have been celebrating the types of historical measurements astronomers used in the past. Part of this has been a parallax project where we have been asking people each month to take an image of the crescent moon and Venus. From this, we are going to use parallax (peoples locations around the globe and the orientation of the crescent to Venus) and measure the distance to the moon, much in the way the Transit of Venus was used to measure an astronomical unit. I know a few of you took part last month and I thank you for all your excellent images. We are asking people to take part again this month for a second attempt.

So if you would like to join in and it is safe for you to do so, can you take an image of the crescent moon and Venus on Saturday night at 8pm local time on your cameras and send it to us either here or my email carolyn@hird.net or @mayescreative on social media.

I will need to know your location of where the image was taken from, but a general location is fine eg Bristol.

more information can be found out about the project here

http://www.mayescreative.com/measure-to-the-moon.html

Attachments:

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[Neil Morrison]

Deeply sorry to learn of Heathers death.  I am sure that every on in the BAA who  knew her and Nigel  will  join with me in sending their deepest Sympathy’s to Nigel.