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Posted by David Mottershead at 19:24 on 2010 Dec 27
Yes, a good idea. David and Tony have covered off what I would have said, so nothing else to add.
Posted by David Arditti at 17:59 on 2010 Dec 27
Yes, although there are several other sites that already offer this service, it would be nice to be able to offer items to BAA members first. When I want to sell or give away something I often offer it to members of my local society first before putting it on one of the national websites.As this forum is currently set up it seems to be impossible to delete posts, but they could be modified to show when an item has been sold/donated, or the vendor could insert a "reply".David
Posted by TonyAngel at 09:23 on 2010 Dec 27
Yes, provided that:It was not commercial.Wants could be advertised.Free items to be included.Placers of posts were duty bound to delete their own posts once transaction has been completed, in order to keep the area tidy.No responses to adds as this would make housekeeping more difficult. .
Posted by TonyAngel at 09:02 on 2010 Dec 27
A belated Merry Christmas to you too.North view from my observatory
Posted by Tom Moran at 12:22 on 2010 Dec 26
Here is the view of my observatory. The warm room sounds good…I might have to build one.Tom
Posted by David Mottershead at 18:20 on 2010 Dec 25
And a Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year to you and your family.
Posted by Andrea Tasselli at 16:45 on 2010 Dec 13
First question would be: is it a refractor or a reflector?If a refractor is it an apo or achromat?Achromats tend to produce large halos so they’re not best suited for ccd imaging unless you filter them. For photometry a V filter would do. Just keep this in mind.As for the CCD camera, I would tend to lean toward the SX lines as they’ve never let me down in so may years of near-continuous usage. If you want to cover an extended field then your best bet would be their monochrome camera based on the Kodak 8300 chip. For best response (highest sensitivity) I’d suggest the SXVF-H9. The former can be binned to boost the sensitivity and you would still get a decent pixel scale and you’d probably not needing a focal reducer as the field would be large enough to have enough comparison stars. The other side of the coin is that you might end up having to buy a more expensive set of filters because of the larger format of the CCD chip. With the other option you can use a focal reducer to achive a respectably fast f/ratio and use less expensive filter set and still enjoy the best sensitivity per £ in the market today. Obviously if you want to splash out than I’d suggest that the ST8-XE is a good compromise between pixel scale and FWC. I’d recommend to avoid pixel larger than 15 um as it would severely undersample the PSF.Hope it helpsAndrea T.
Posted by John ONeill at 16:29 on 2010 Dec 11
I hope Santa notices!I remember 2450000. Funny how time passes so quickly.
Posted by Gary Poyner at 12:04 on 2010 Dec 02
It was the very short notice which prevented my club (Heart of England AS) from taking part. Chatting with the Midlands BBC co-ordinator on the phone yeterday, this has been the major stumbling block with groups in this area, and I guess other areas too.Any TV programme associated with that idiot Ross will always be doomed to mediocrity and self promotion. Good luck to everyone who gets involved.Gary
Posted by Tom Moran at 20:10 on 2010 Dec 01
The notice is ridiculously tight. We at Newcastle Astronomical Society will put on an event. If it promotes the public’s interest in the night sky and maybe the issue of what we must contend with regarding light pollution then all well and good. Why do they persist in using the term stargazing? This surely undermines the important work many amateurs do.Hoping the sub freezing temperatures in Tyneside will subside.Tom Moran
Posted by TonyAngel at 16:11 on 2010 Nov 30
Sorry, but I could never recommend anyone to take part in something that Jonathan Ross was involved in. Obviously this is my own thoughts, but I cannot see why any astronomer would like see Astronomy and Ross associated with each other. I am quite broad minded but I find his humour sick. I am all for promoting astronomy but not this way.
Posted by Callum Potter at 11:27 on 2010 Nov 29
The live elements are being broadcast from Jodrell Bank too – with Brian Cox being the anchor.It will get a lot of media coverage, i’m sure, so should be used as an opportunity to spread the word to the general public. Many local societies are organising events to coincide (though at horribly short notice) so if it gets more people interested in astronomy and science it must be a good thing.Maybe BAA members will take their telescopes out onto the pavements or invite their neighbours round to see things ‘for real’. Would be nice to think so.Sadly, though, i will be in Florida (working) that week…Callum
Posted by Paul A Brierley at 21:00 on 2010 Nov 27
I well remember the last program of this sort, which if I can remember coincided with the close approach of Mars back 2003 (I think) That program was hosted by Adam Hart Davies, and the program was live from JBO here in East Cheshire, and it was a success.I don’t think I shall watch this one. The choice of Prof Brian Cox, is excellent but as for the other too????? It would have made more sense had I been in charge, to ask Dr Brian May and possibly Sky at Night’s Chris Lintott. To co-host the show.It is also a great shame this didn’t go out during the 2008 IYA.
Posted by Andrea Tasselli at 20:14 on 2010 Nov 18
Yes, that’s the thing. Apparently everyone was out on monday!BestAndrea T.
Posted by Tom Moran at 20:50 on 2010 Nov 17
Hi.I am rather hesitant submitting images in this section because of the limited nature of my equipment for planetary use. I use a Skywatcher 120mm achromat at f8. However I think I may have caught the SEB dark marking and I would welcome comments either to confirm or not. The image was taken with a Toucam, x2 barlow and processed in Registax. I have expanded the image to 150% to show the suspect a little better. The image was taken on 15th Nov 2010 at 18:16 UT.Regards.Tom Moran
Posted by Steve Holmes2 at 16:42 on 2010 Nov 17
I had also noticed the sequence of events you mention but circumstances prevented me from observing. This was also the previous "only one visible moon" [night-time] event, as you say. Looks as though the weather isn’t going to be kind this evening so we’ll have to wait another week. The next night-time event starts at 1:00am on 25th Nov, until 1:32am – not really a "daughter friendly time" though! That’s it for the current "season" however, as after 7 more days the situation is close but not quite there.Fascinating stuff!Steve
Posted by Nick Hudd at 09:16 on 2010 Nov 17
I have been trying to catch some such events for her – exactly the reason for my original query, but as you say, the time of evening is a limitation for a child. Last week, there was a transit of Europa followed by shadow (easier to see than Europa) and occultations of Io and Ganymede, but later on Io came out of eclipse while Ganymede emerged from occ then went into eclipse then reappeared. As Ganymede was eclipsed about where Io emerged (in line of sight that is) it provided a striking example of the shadow extending diagonally away from where we are. Regrettably, she couldn’t come that evening and it would have meant probably an earlier and a very late session for her.Nick
