-
Search Results
-
As the UK is gripped by inclement weather, it is with heavy heart that I have had to come to the conclusion to cancel the Deep Sky Section meeting on the 4th March in Bedford.
However, I have been able to secure the same venue for Sunday April 22 – and the meeting will go ahead then. There may be some minor changes to the programme of speakers – I will keep the BAA website updated with the changes.
If you have booked for the 4th March it will be held over for the new date, but if you are unable to make the new date or do wish to cancel please get in touch with the BAA Office who will be able to provide a full refund.
I do hope, though, you will be able to join us on April 22.
If you have any questions please do get in touch with me.
Best regards,
Callum
In reply to: Meteor Spectra 2017 Nov – I87 Astroshot Observatory
Hi,
I tried to renew my membership for 2017-17, but it was trying to force me to sign up to Pay Pal! No option to just pay via Pay Pal without signing up
Is there any better way, as I have no desire to join Paypal.
By the way, the online form still says 2016-17, but I have given up in that (as I got no reply from either from the forum or the BAA Office).
I hope someone can be of help.
John
In reply to: Radius Estimation of VV Cep´s disk
Just a bit to high for my R ~ 9000 echelle. I am not sure I will finish the R ~ 20000 in time but if I do I will join in. I am sure some LHires III users will join you.
Regards Andrew
In reply to: I am new here
In reply to: Condensation
Hello Nick,
thinking about this again, I do remember a bit more condensation in the first year after installation of the observatory. I suspected that some moisture was coming out of the concrete base upon which the dome sits. I gave it several coats of concrete sealant paint which stopped that – I put another layer down every couple of years, just to be sure (and to give it a nice aesthetic finish!). I also made sure the join between the bottom fibreglass flange and the concrete base is properly sealed with exterior grade door sealant. I renew this periodically, again just to be sure.
All the best,
Jeremy
In reply to: Great new Will Hay video!
Thanks for sharing that link Tony …. reading it makes me want a physical copy to join such books as Ouse’s Silent Tide by C.F. Farrar and Amateur Astronomer’s Handbook & Observational Astronomy for Amateurs by J.B. Sidgwick, Thanks to Martin too for the Video link , Yes I still enjoy Will’s films too 🙂
In reply to: JBAA Letters section
In answer to Robin’s question, “No, I don’t”. One has to be careful to distinguish between a comment (i.e. a response to the paper) and the groundrules defining how the comment can be made. The issues I am raising refer to the groundrules – once these are defined one can then move on to formulating the comments themselves.
There would appear to be a sub-text inherent in Robin’s remark however – that the Forum would be a better place to discuss papers than the Journal. In this I would fundamentally disagree with him. The protocol for writing, submitting, refereeing and reviewing “learned papers” is well-established throughout the scientific community, and proceeds by the open publication of the paper and its comments in the relevant Journal. By doing so, a reader of the original paper can readily access all parts of any subsequent discussion, and the final conclusion, and thus be sure that the information given in the paper is accurate and reliable (or not, as the case may be). A Forum discussion, on the other hand, is a transitory thing with no firm link to the original paper and so a later reader may not be aware that a discussion has even occurred, let alone what the final judgement on the paper was. It must also be born in mind that the reader may not be a member of the BAA and so even if they think to consult the Forum they probably will not be able to join in the discussion, as this requires a log-on to be established. The only way in which the Forum scores over formal publication is “turn-round time”, but even so this may not be an actual advantage as knowing that there will be a delay before your response is published should encourage a contributor to do the research and carefully think through their submission rather than just bash off a quick reply.
Regards,
Steve
In reply to: Finding speakers for society meetings
Dr Ann Bonell has become the 40th speaker to join Astrospeakers. Ann’s topics are on the history of astronomy, including “Ladies of the Night” about lady astronomers at a time when it was not the done thing for a lady to be an astronomer.
Newtown Astronomy Society have also registered and you will find their details by clicking the map at E10. At their meeting on 10 September there was a talk by Dr Tony Cook, “Cook’s tour of the Moon”.Graham
In reply to: Thank You
Sorry I couldn’t join you for a drink Wayne but I hope you find your BAA membership worthwhile and useful. We are all here to help if you ever need any advice on anything astronomical.
Stewart Moore, BAA Council
In reply to: Filters
This dwarf nova was in bright outburst for about 13 days from July 1 – a light curve with observations by Ian Miller, Roger Pickard, Richard Sabo, Jeremy Shears can be seen on the VSS web site here: http://www.britastro.org/vss/css_121005.htm
At the peak of the outburst it was mag 15.9, ~4 to 4.5 mags above quiescence. Time series photometry revealed humps in the light curve, but the runs weren’t really long enough to draw definitive conclusions about their period. The humps certainly looked like superhumps, although intriguingly there appeared to be more complex structure in them towards the end of the outburst
The most recent observation was on Jul 19.957 when the star was at mag 19.2 (Ian Miller).
We are now eagerly awaiting the next outburst of this frequently outbursting dwarf nova. It will almost certainly be a short, or “normal”, outburst lasting a couple of days. Continued monitoring is needed to determine how often the system goes into outburst, so please feel free to join it (you can upload your data to the VSS and/or AAVSO databases – and do let me know how you get on). In addition, further time series photometry during future long outbursts will be required.
For more details go to: http://www.britastro.org/vss/CSS%202126%20campaign_20140511%20(1).pdf
Go well!
Jeremy
The observing campaign was launched at last week’s VSS meeting in York and there a write-up in the current Section Circular (VSSC 160).
On returning home from the meeting, I found the star rising to outburst (Jun 22.977) at 16.9C and 24 hours later was slightly brighter at 16.2. Since then I haven’t been able to obtain further obs.
Best of luck to anyone wanting to join in the observing fun. Do let me know how you get on.
Go well! Jeremy
In reply to: Availability of the BAA forum
Posted by TonyAngel at 10:24 on 2012 Dec 09
Nick I think a balance could be achieved that could encourage guests to join and get members to use the forum more.
In reply to: Availability of the BAA forum
Posted by Richard Miles at 10:50 on 2012 Nov 10
The key is to attract more BAA members to use this forum. People’s attention is split between the various items potentially grabbing their attention, of which there are loads these days. We shall have to advertise its use more rather than leaving it as more or less a background activity – it’s a sort of competition for people’s attention and so we need to enhance the value of the forum to our members. How we might do this would be the subject of some other thread.Getting back to Nick A’s point about having this area of the BAA Web viewable by non-members might be considered a negative move, if we enhance the content of the forum then those non-members who can only read and not post their own comments will feel increasingly left out or missing out on what we are doing. Overall, that ought to make them more inclined to join the BAA, which would then further liven up the forum.Richard
Posted by Nick James at 07:35 on 2012 May 02
We have just set up a mailing list specifically for the discussion of matters of interest to members of the BAA Comet Section. This could include alerts, observations, meeting plans, equipment, or anything else related to comets and the BAA. If you are interested you can join the list here. Initially we don’t expect there to be too much traffic but you can always unsubscribe at any time.Nick.
In reply to: EQ mount
Posted by Paul A Brierley at 09:02 on 2011 Feb 05
Tom,I can testify to the accuracy of the EQ6Pro mount. I am a member of the UKAI imaging forum. On this forum. There are a large number of members who are using this mount, with excellent results. And most, if not all are using medium or large telescope’s.I know off. One member who lives (emigrated)in Brisbane. He’s using one of these mount’s, with an Orion Optics SPX 14". But there are other’s in Grt Britain who us smaller (8") telescope’s all for CCD imaging.My advice to you. Join UP! and ask these questions on there. I am sure you will get the answer’s that you need. Below is a link to said website.http://ukastroimaging.co.uk/forums/index.phpGood luck.
Topic: Telescope for planetary work
Posted by Tom Moran at 20:23 on 2010 Sep 13
Hello.I have recently joined the BAA and wonder why I didn’t join ages ago!I am a keen solar observer and use a skywatcher 120mm refractor, herschel wedge and continuim filter for white light and a pst for hydrogen alpha. I am interested in planetary work but I feel the 120 refractor is not quite up to it. I, like most people, have a limited budget and I was considering the skywatcher pro 180. Does anyone have experience of this telescope? Would it be adequate to make contributions to the Jupiter, Mars and Saturn sections of the BAA?Kind regards.Tom Moran
In reply to: Makeing a white light filter for my 10″ Dobsonian
Posted by Paul A Brierley at 17:32 on 2010 May 21
Cheers Callum,I will use the dust cover I have for my ZS66SD. I have been a casual solar observer on and off for a number of years, and I hope that with my new 10" Dob which is, after all so easy to set UP. It might encourage me to do more in the way of Solar observing.I might even be tempted to join the solar section!
In reply to: White LED street lighting
Posted by Dale Holt at 13:29 on 2010 May 10
Thanks to David for outlining some of the lesser known facts around LED street lighting. It does sound very worrying and already happening if David can witness deterioration from his NW London location.I have often wondered why more of the low level bollard type lighting isn’t used by local authorities as the units must be considerably cheaper that full lamp posts, especially for pedestrian only applications.Movement detection is also a good idea but with the energy usage being that much lower with LED’s the cost & environment cards will have already been satisfied to a greater extent, the advantages to residents & councils will not be so attractive.I think the serious option for many astronomers trapped in light polluted areas will be to concentrate or areas of astronomy that are less effected by the scourge of poor lighting, i.e. Lunar, Solar, Planetary. Double stars etc or to join the increasing number of UK astronomers accessing scope remotely under really dark skies. I appreciate that theses means imaging and not visual observation but what else can a small group of astronomers realistically do to prevent it?Dale Holt
British Astronomical Association
Supporting amateur astronomers since 1890
