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An excellent cover! As I recall, those books all had a common plot: either the explorers were trapped in a cave (at least they were on Mars or the Moon) or they ran out of oxygen (normally more than once).
The latest feature seems to be objective, for the reason Martin stated. It is a challenging matter not only from a technical perspective, but because of the very short observing window every few years, and by the very slow rotation of the planet.
Thank you Paul. There was even a Victorian police detective series in which there was a plot to blow up a factory making Paris Green, to contaminate London. And what about those glass lenses and eyepieces that contained high concentrations of Uranium…..? But although we can enjoy this as fellow chemists, I think we are getting a little off topic, so I had better force myself to stop.
A fascinating post, Alex.
Yes, the good old bright green pigment known as copper arsenate….. The Victorians were fond of it, and used it even for colouring sweets. Mind you, they probably had more arsenic in their bodies from other sources. There is a famous story about this pigment, also called Paris Green, where it was used in wallpapers. In damp conditions fungal growth on wallpaper breaks down the pigment to the very toxic gas arsine, or arsenic trihydride. Now that is very toxic indeed. In confinement on the prison island of Elba, Napoleon was once thought to have been poisoned by the decomposition of his somewhat damp green wallpaper, which was shown to contain Paris Green, but I think the verdict was that his death was due to other factors. Of course there were many sources of poisonous compounds. White paint was then lead sulfate, and Cadmium yellow was a very toxic and popular pigment for artists. Not to mention medicines like calomel (Mercury chloride). Take your pick!
In summary I would not get too excited about green coloured Victorian books, unless you have a big pile of mouldy damp ones. The Victorians certainly knew how to poison themselves.
Dear Rob, the answer is no, but I can put you in touch with James Dawson who produced the book if you send me a private email to my address in the back of the Journal.
RichardRe. Books for sale, I have now closed the sale. The unsold items will be offered at a future BAA meeting such as a Winchester weekend. There are many other books in addition to those already listed.
Some more books have gone, but please enquire if anything interests you, so here are some more. Offers to my email address in the back of the Journal please.
A.M.Clerke The system of the stars second edition 1905.
Ex Croydon AS library copy, as indicated on flyleaf and one other page but otherwise in vg condition in original green cloth bindingA.M.Clerke A Popular history of astronomy during the nineteenth century 1885
V good in original bindingA.M.Clerke Problems in Astrophysics 1903
Excellent condition, original binding with previous owner’s neat signature on flyleafE.Forbes David Gill: man and Astronomer 1916
Original binding with the front board slightly looseThanks to Pauline for the correction, and we must blame my iPad! In fact I provided Colin some artwork for that book. I was sitting in his lounge at Bar Hill, Cambridge, and he was returning some material to me that had been published in the latest Journal, when he suddenly asked if he might keep one Figure a bit longer for use in his latest book.
I have quite a few more books to list. Thanks to those who made offers.
An update with additions. The Becvar atlases are spoken for. All offers on the rest will be considered.
Additions…
H.D.Howse
Greenwich Time and the discovery of Longitude 1981
Nice copy with dust jacketR.A.Proctor
Easy star lessons 1881
Good clean copy but little piece of titlepage missingG.F.Chambers
The Story of the Comets 1909
A classic and sought-after book in good conditionWill Hay
Through my telescope 1935
Worn ex BAA library copy, no dust jacket (perhaps there never was one).R.s.Ball
Ball’s Popular Guide to the Heavens
1955 edition revised by E.A.Beet, v.g. ConditionMore to come later.
You will find that the WinJUPOS software (downloadable for free) nicely predicts their positions, with both ephemerides and graphics. You must first specify which solar system object you want, then select ephemerides. You can set any time, with subdivisions of minutes even, if you wish.
The graphics also show the Martian albedo features quite well, though the base map is out of date.
Good luck!
These are nice albums to see. The latest posting does indeed show E.H.Collinson, as I know for certain that he was there. Unfortunately his notebook for that time has not survived, though there are both earlier and later ones in existence. Many years ago he gave me a framed print of the eclipse that he had been given from the team at Giggleswick, in fact another copy of the large print towards the end of the album. (He was also sent a copy of a photo of that well-known exploding bolide, which sometimes appears in books of a century ago, from the very same W.J.S.Lockyer.) In the same photo as EHC there is also Larkin, a BAA member too I think, and H.H.Waters, who had written a little book about astronomical photography. It is good to see him identified for certain here, for it confirms his identity on another print. And flying overhead in his own plane is Gerry Merton, who later would be President and Comet Section Director. Merton was very regular at attending the RAS monthly dinners, and over decades came close to beating the 19th century attendance record.
My wife Michaela was in Prague on this date, January 3, and captured the event with her mobile phone. It is a much more interesting image than the one I took from home with my iPad (which shows only a cottage and a tree in the foreground). In Michaela’s picture the building on the right is the Rudolfinum, situated on Jan Palach Square.
Attachments:
Once again there is some dust storm activity worth observing. It is fortunate that we have had daily coverage for a long while now (and on every day of this month) with observers being situated around the world. Images by Clyde Foster and Nick Haigh in the last couple of days showed local dust cores in southern Chryse-Xanthe and near Lunae Lacus. As of today, September 19, dust runs along a good length of Valles Marineris, across parts of Chryse-Xanthe and across Mare Acidalium. The area is well placed for UK observers able to observe in the pre-dawn skies. The latest Mars Section blog post describes the recent large regional storm, which originated in the same area as the current event. Images and drawings will be welcome.
As of today this event seems to be ending. The eastern secondary core at Meridiani Sinus and more prominent western ones at or near Solis L. did not last long; for a time there was a bit of atmospheric dust raised in Hellas. The area around Argyre is still bright, but its lack of daily movement suggests it is now dust fallout from the storm. This area is larger than Argyre, as was the case with the similar event in 2022. Compared with the 2020 and 2022 regional storms at similar seasonal dates, the present one was less energetic and less extensive.
I will write an illustrated account of this regional storm for the Mars Section 2024 blog later, but will not submit further posts here, unless something striking or unexpected happens. Thanks to all those who sent observations.
On August 21 and 22 the storm continued to expand. There is now activity in Hellas as well, so the event continues to be visible from the longitude of the UK. It is unlikely that it will expand much further east than Hellas. On the other side, there is a fresh (and very bright) dust core close to Solis Lacus as of August 22, imaged by Frank Melillo and Gary Walker from the USA. Thanks to all those who have sent data directly to me.
Today’s update, August 20. The storm has reached Regional status and is still growing. Images this morning by Clyde Foster show that dust has reached E. Sinus Sabaeus on the eastern side, while Peter Tickner’s later, daylight, image timed at 08.45 UT shows dust surrounding a still dark Aurorae Sinus to the west, and expanding south west with apparently one discrete dust cloud southeast of Solis Lacus. Dust continues to occupy Chryse and Xanthe. Mare Acidalium to the north is largely unaffected. Other excellent images of the event have been taken by Damian Peach and Eric Sussenbach. Given the expansion to the east, the area remains visible to UK observers, though we must now rely upon others to watch the western side.
Today, August 19, the storm has expanded to the north over Chryse-Xanthe, and to the south over Mare Erythraeum towards Argyre. It is quite likely that secondary dust cores will arise, perhaps over some or all of Meridiani Sinus, Margaritifer Sinus and Argyre, as they have in similar events in the past.
As of this morning, August 18, images by C.Foster show very bright dust activity along eastern and central Valles Marineris, bordering southern Chryse-Xanthe. We are at Ls 314, which is right at the upper limit for an encircling storm to begin, but a large regional event cannot be ruled out. We have had relatively little telescopic dust activity so far this Martian southern summer, and I encourage those that can view the area of interest to do so. Over the last few decades this initiation site has become more important than Hellas in generating dust storms, as I have discussed in the appendix to the 2020 Mars report (downloadable from the Section website).
Good luck!No doubt that sulfur, in the form of hydrogen sulfide, is the enemy of silver. The family silver needs a clean from time to time, but if it is just plated it needs to be done as rarely as possible. Sulfur is also the traditional enemy of art galleries in industrial cities. Old Masters used lead sulfate as their preferred white pigment, and over the years the surface of the paint would turn to lead sulfide, which is black, clearly the opposite of the artist’s intentions! The remedy here is to treat the surface with a solution of hydrogen peroxide which oxides sulfide back to sulfate, but that is not the answer with a delicate silver film. Best answer for a mirror is to keep it dry and airtight. For my aluminised mirrors I always used a piece of muslin stuffed with cotton wool which is placed right against the mirror surface. I don’t know what these modern anti tarnish papers contain, but I suppose that if you soaked a strip of paper with copper sulfate or lead acetate or lead nitrate solution and let it dry, the paper would absorb the gas in lieu of the mirror film. It should not be in contact with the mirror surface. You would then see the paper gradually take on a brownish or black tint with time, depending upon where you live. In fact chemists use lead acetate paper as a practical test for H2S gas. It goes black even with traces of the gas, long before the smell becomes apparent. I read that musicians sometimes use the anti tarnish paper in instrument cases. I don’t personally, but it would be effective for an instrument with silver plated keys, such as a flute. (Nickel plating is common, and does not involve the same problem.)
In conclusion, yes to the anti tarnish paper, yes to keeping the surface dry and as airtight as possible, and you can always try to make your own anti tarnish paper if you like! Just beware that lead and copper salts are poisonous.An excellent result. It shows that the method leaves a film that does not need burnishing, and that no special equipment is needed. Moreover the cost is not high, and Alan’s results after a few preliminary tests clearly demonstrates that expensive kits are not necessary to achieve success. What is necessary is great care in preparation of the surface and of the solutions. Well done!
