[Dawson]

I have had an email discussion with Helen Usher in recent weeks about this very topic. For relatively low level engagement, such as a group of 10 year olds, or an informal U3A group, the images and resources do not need to be astrophotography of the year standard, and graphics not NASA-animation standard and I am sure many members would be happy for their images to be used, potentially even without stipulating who took the image, with permission. As long as not for profit, I’d have no issue with any of my images to be used and wouldn’t stipulate that my name be used. But it is a minefield.

Some will say ten year olds are not going to sign up for membership, but the purpose isn’t to drum up membership primarily, the objective is to inspire, educate youngsters, and to help make the work of outreach easier for those members of the BAA who undertake it from time to time. I suspect it also ticks a charity obligation box for the BAA.

Hopefully Helen and her team will get the ball rolling and in time we will see such packages.

James

[Dawson]

Jumping on the band wagon, I’ve got an 8.5″ mirror, 72″ focal length I need to get rid of. I’ll bring it to Winchester but happy if anyone want to contact me: james@dawson.me.uk

See: https://britastro.org/forums/topic/is-it-worth-anything

[Dawson]

Sorry to hear about this. I hope the kit finds new worthy homes.

[Dawson]

Great news Paul. I’ll sen you an email.

James

[Dawson]

More pictures

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[Dawson]

Thanks all.

I emailed OVL amd asked them, and they’ve contacted the engineers who replied with:

“We can confirm that we will add dual-axis tracking options to the SynScan Pro app for equatorial mounts in the future.”

So a) we’ll wait and see, and b) I better work out what the app is as I use the handset.

Thanks.

James

[Dawson]

Yes, you got a great deal, and I happy to have sold it too on behalf of the SHA. It will get posted today I hope. Thanks Paul.

James

[Dawson]

Mike, both of these sound interesting. You should write them up for the solar sections newsletter or the journal. I’d be interested to see pictures too.

[Dawson]

Thank you all.

Robin’s solution looks like a good solution, and after a bit of playing with the software I will spend some time playing with that. I wish I had spent more time programming as a teenager as I can see the power of Python etc, but it’s not something I would currently use often enough to retain new learning.

[Dawson]

The other thing I stumbled on, free online, is a website called ImagetoSTL: https://imagetostl.com/

It uses pixel intensity to create a 3D projection which the user can rotate, zoomin etc, really impresive. Does anyone do this kind of stuff with astro data?

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[Dawson]

Thanks Bill.

I found a picture this morning of Alan using his Scotch Mount.

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[Dawson]

Whitbys have replied to my email.

The chap is Derek Whitby who started the business in 1982. The photo is from August 1985 and was taken in the Sadlers Waklk premises, not Storm’s office.

I’ve thanked them.

Good work, thank.

James

[Dawson]

Martin, yes, defiantely Storm’s office, it looked very similar when I was there earlier this year.

I think Jeremy is on to something. I’ve emailed Whitbys. I will keep you posted. I might email John Mason and see if he recognises the chap.

James

[Dawson]

Andrew,

Dave Finnigan has a really spectacular image of Mare Marginis from 2023 which features Jansky. It’s a fairly hard crater to image. I’ve taken the liberty of making an animated gif of Dave’s image to show which crater is Jansky. I would contact Dave and see if he is happy for you to use it.

https://britastro.org/observations/observation.php?id=20231230_131753_cd0ed773ce4ed1ce

You could also email Tony Cook, the Lunar Section Director and see if he has any images of it in the BAA archives. I will add this crater to my list of things to try and observe.

Good luck with the talk.

James

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[Dawson]

I’d forgotten there is a copy of who’s who in the moon for sale too there I’d listed: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/157523120743

[Dawson]

Paul, I know you are after various editions of Norton’s which I look out for, but none so far. I’ll see what else I’ve got.

James

[Dawson]

I’ll be there with a load of secondhand books for sale, so bring your money.

James Dawson
Society for the History of Astronomy

[Dawson]

Our eastward facing camera (UK00AN) from the Nottingham Astronomical Society Observatory detected the flash amongst the clouds and Moonlight; bottom right.

• This reply was modified 6 months ago by Dawson.

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[Dawson]

Yes, apologies for hijacking. It is, I think and important, wider, BAA topic.
James

[Dawson]

Thanks Nick.

Poor Denis! Sorry Denis.

With sufficient website access privileges one can search for all comet observations on the member pages for a given period and download them to a file in one go, along with their metadata file. But I guess you and Denis know this already.

James

[Author]

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