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I write the lunar occultation report in the LSC. E.Moore is frequently credited. Does anyone have some info him ? (Full name, local AS etc).
There is one reference to him in the JBAA, 1973 August. Vol 83, No 5, page 361. Im wondering if he was also a double star observer since he was interested in the occultation of double stars.
There is an E.Moore (Eddie) who was a member of Reading AS in the 1970s/1980s, who i was acquainted with, and we observed together. I don’t think its the same person, but could be wrong.
https://www.stargazer.me.uk/grazes/GrazeObs.htm#OvertonToo add: The Lunar Section circular of 1975 Nov. is an interesting read: https://britastro.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Lunar-Section-Circular-1975-11.pdf. E. Moore presented a paper at the Reading Meeting. I was not at that meeting though.
There’s an E G Moore active in the BAA around this time, the attached image is from the second half-century Journal index. He also contributed to The Astronomer where his address was: 44 Nelson Road, Rayleigh, Essex. By the time his final Journal contribution was published (vol 92, p.47) in 1981 he had moved to 1 Hillside Villas, Station Road, Pluckley, Kent.
Attachments:
Thank you Bill. This extra info is very helpful. His Pluckley address coincides with some reported Occultations in the attachment.
All the best.Attachments:
I remember visiting him at Pluckley in the 1980s to buy a copy of volume 1 of the Webb Society’s deep sky observing books. He was active in the Webb Soc. He wrote about Webb in the Journal in 1975: https://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1975JBAA…85..426M
Try this link to get to the paper Jeremy mentions:
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1975JBAA…85..426M/abstract
Or read the Journal in our archive at:
https://britastro.org/journal/journal-of-the-british-astronomical-association-vol-85-iss-5I enjoyed Tim Haymes’ write up in the current LSC mentioning his findings on EG Moore. Seeing the photo of EG Moore’s observatory reminds me how interested I was when I first read Moore’s article back in 1975 that he had used Beta Lights to illuminate key items in the observatory. They do not require a power supply. I couldn’t find a supply at the time.
Moore followed up with a Letter to the Edition in JBAA, 85(3), 283 (1975), https://britastro.org/wp-content/uploads/journals/v085i03j.pdf, about the safety aspects of these Tritium containing lights.
Betalights are still available: https://www.betalight.nl/
I also read “Betalights are generally considered safe due to their lack of electricity and spark risk, and the low-energy beta particles from tritium cannot penetrate the outer casing. In the unlikely event of a breakage, the tritium gas would disperse harmlessly, posing a minimal health risk. The self-luminous technology is reliable, maintenance-free, and certified to meet various safety and building codes”.
So, 50 years on, does anyone use them?
Although it’s been several years since I had any involvement with railway level crossings, the emergency telephones used to be lit with a beta lite.
So, 50 years on, does anyone use them?
A PARTIAL UPDATING..
In the past Century Jeremy.. I came across ‘Betalights’ in a delightfully shaped Household Telephone called a ‘Trim-phone’..
this was around 1972.. Executive wives had them installed and waxed eloquently of their Beauty..
until the Chagrin of reality BIT them.. During all telephone calls.. Every time they had covered the mouthpiece..
to ‘whisper a home-truth’ to a companion.. every Intonation had been Amplified and transmitted asper Normal use!
Satan himself must have designed the phone.. as the audio input was actually a small hole near the Earpiece.. some 4inches away from the Mouth-piece of the phone..
Several decades later in 2001.. 2 ‘betalights’ were installed in every BT wall mounted
‘Call Line Indicator’.. I doubt very much that the word ‘Radioactivity’ ever featured in the awareness of many fitting/using/disposing of them.. so local waste in the Grey Bin I guess?. Enjoy seeing your Innate Curiosity Jeremy.A further characteristic of the Trim-Phone is that the frequency of their tone was exactly in the middle of the ranges where human hearing distinguishes location between sound intensity in each ear and the phase difference of sound waves across the head. Consequently, it was very difficult to work out where the ringing sound (in actuality a warbling) was coming from.
Not only that, blackbirds and starlings loved to imitate the noise which did not help the humans.
Thank ${DEITY} they are no longer common. May they Rust In Pieces.
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