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You may want to watch the talk I gave at the BAA Comet section meeting about comet magnitudes which mentions “the Sidgwick method. Here is the youtube link;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8I3TdaUjxY&list=PLzBTybazXT40groFEC3zg4uVLFFGdApQL&index=4
Hello David.
This sounds like a very intersting project/programme for someone. I hope the Zeiss Blink Comparator and the Hilger Plate measuring machine that I gave to NLO a couple of years ago (part of the return of the Mond Astrograph after Glyn Marsh’s untimely passing) will be of use in this project.
Hi Jeremy Looking at the Catalogue of Meteorites by G.T.Prior and Max Hay 1953 (Harold Ridley book) I see that the Gibeon Meteorite fell in SW Africa at Great Namaqualand and the finds are well documented in this book pages 131 and 132. Many large and small masses were found over wide area and 51 large masses over 15 tons have been recovered. These specimens have found between 1838 and 1910. So it is likely that the specimen you saw at Tatton Park could well be one of those.It was classified as Iron fine octahedrite. A 1.5 lb piece was sold at Christies in February 2021 for 12.500 dollars, So the 325 lb specimen at Tatton must worth a few quid! Christies gives this description :
Details
Like most iron meteorites, Gibeon meteorites formed 4.5 billion years ago within the molten core of an asteroid whose shattered remains are part of the asteroid belt. After wandering through interplanetary space, several thousand years ago the Gibeon mass slammed into Earth’s atmosphere where it exploded and rained down over what is now the Kalahari Desert in Namibia. In previous generations, indigenous tribesmen recovered small meteorite fragments at or near the surface and fashioned them into spear points and other tools. This specimen was recovered with the aid of a metal detector. Gibeon meteorites were not known to westerners until 1836. They formed deep in the iron core of an asteroid that resided between Mars and Jupiter.Hi Richard, I am sure that this Mike Peel is not the Mike Peel you are referrring to. I knew Mike Peel well, he was the Science librarian at the University of Central Lancashire and a variable star observer who made photoelectric measures with an IP21 photometer (you will remember those devices I expect!) with his home built 8 inch reflector. His main interest was in T Cor Bor using period analysis to try and to find when its outbursts would occur. He is much older than the astronomer in the link in Jeremy’s post, he will be in his 70’s I expect now.I hope this helps and brings to mind a past member who was very active within the VSS in the 1970-80s.
Some views throughout here at Tarbatness both NE and 102mm Mak+solar film. Cloud was thick at times but more attenuated after maximum eclipse. Clear, sunny and warm now! Liz watched the event NE via reflection from the glass coffee table with the sun behind thin cloud.So simple, looking down rather than up and without neck strain.
Denis Buczynski (Tarbatness still in the UK!)
I knew Sally when she lived in Windermere Cumbria. She was a keen visual lunar and planetary observer. A very fine person and so likeable. I helped set up the Elliot Merlin 12 inch reflector ( on loan from the BAA) at her home in Windermere in the 1990’s. She used it regularly and contributed many observations to the BAA observing sections. Picture of the Elloit Merlin telescope is attached. Unfortunately this fine example of a Calver refector so kindly bequethed to the BAA is now no longer usable having passed through the “care” of the last BAA Instrument Curator after it was returned to the BAA after Sally had finished using it. Picture of the telescope last time it was seen is attached.
Here is my image of this object from last night 20210402 00:29 UT with astrometry of what I assume to be the SN.There are lots of knots in the galaxy arm and i have to use a small 3 pixel radius aperture to get a measurement.
Denis Buczynski I81
1) Where did this object originally form and where has it resided in the Solar System since its formation 4.6 Billion years ago?
2) Has its original orbit(within the asteroid belt?) around the Sun been constantly altered by planetary perturbations etc?
3) What was its present orbit and period around the Sun prior to impact with the Earth?
4)How has its orbit evolved to put it on an Earth crossing orbit.
5) Have there been previous near misses in the past?
Signed INTERESTED and CURIOUS of TARBATNESSHello all, My main observing programme is astometry and monitoring of comets. The year is divided into 3 parts for me here in Tarbatness Highland Scotland at 59d N latitude. The fisrt is the months from Jan-May when observing is possible ina dark sky. The second is frOm mid May-mid August when no observing is possible due to all night bright twilight, Then third from mid August-December when observing is possible in a dark sky. During the second period of the year only observations of NLC are possible. Vitually no observations were made of the bright naked eye comet C/2020F3 NEOWISE in June/July due to the twlight conditions. Contrary to other parts of the UK which saw good spring and summer conditions that allowed pleasant observing, here in Highland Scotland the weather was fairly grey, overcast and cool. However I was able to observe on 106 nights when comet imaging took place and I included 87 reports of photometry of comet 29p a target for the 29P MISSION progamme run by Richard Miles for the BAA Comet Section. My two meteor cameras were operating through the year apart form the summer shutdown months and around 2000 meteors were captured on each camera and reported to NEMOTODE. The year was comparable to previous years for observing.
Hi Alan, I am looking forward to the ATS meeting online. Can you please tell me your surname, you will know who you are but I cannot place you with a simple A for a surname.
Best wishes
Denis
Denis Buczynski
Denis Buczynski It is good to read about observer experiences from around the world which feature in this issue of the magazine. The historical material pays a tribute to observers of the past who made comet observations in a completely different way to the techiniques we use today. Also as free read it is well worth the effort of downloading. Denis Buczynski BAA Comet SectionRichard, so the answer was in your memory bank. You are one of the few people who must have listened to anything I say! I will buy you that beer next time we meet. I will have to think up a more difficult and obscure question next time and make sure I haven’t already plied you with the answer!
Denis
Richard you must have cheated by looking up the names on the internet, I had hoped that the answer would have resided in your memory! Ah well, you win. Next time I see you at a meeting I will bring your prize , a 16×20 inch mounted print of Comet Arend Roland taken by Reggie Waterfield in April 1957 (when you were still a boy) Yes you are correct. The Donohoe medal was awarded over 250 times by the ASP and there are so many famous names amongst the recipients. I have written an article for the upcoming editon of The Comet’s Tale about this and other comet medals.
Thanks to all, it was the link that Dominic gave that took me back far enough in the EBULLETINS to 2007 that I wanted Denis
Hi Nick(Evetts) too many Nicks around the the Comet Section, better to have a distinctive name.Your excellent image of C/2020F8 is in the BAA Comet Archive at this link:
https://britastro.org/cometobs/2020f8/2020f8_20200501_nevetts.jpg
Let us hope that the weather cooperates as the comet climbs higher into northern skies. It would be good if the comet had an outburst of dust to help visibilty, at present it is a gassy comet which means low contrast in bright skies. I am not sure about any effect of forward scattering in the comet/ earth/ sun geometry, perhaps there will be some enhancement due to that effect. I hope we don’t get lots of “I was dissapointed with this comet” comments like we have had with C/2019Y4. OK this comet has not (as yet) lived up to the show that its 1844 counterpart put on but the chance for us to watch the slow crumbling of this comet as it approaches perihelion has been fascinating and my thoughts about observing this series of events have been anything but a feeling of disapointment. Even now after the fragmentation events of April the comet is slowly brightening again. Keep watching is my advice, don’t take you eye off the ball that is C/2019Y4 ATLAS!
Hi David, the fuzz is almost certainly a ghost of the bright star at the center of the frame. I had a similar fuzz appear on a sequence of one of my comet image runs. After I had done astrometry on the fuzz and sent it to Nick James he ran the astrometry though FindOrb and the result was an ludicrous earth orbit object. So I suspect your fuzz will be the same, a ghost image of the bright star. Nice image of the comet though, please send it to me for the BAA Comet Archive. Denis
