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Whilst on the topic of elections, I’ve cast my vote electronically and found it very easy. Well done to Council for introducing e-voting to the BAA. A long time coming, but I hope it’s here to stay. I also hope that the numbers of votes cast will rise because of this innovation!
Gary
The VSS wouldn’t pressurise anyone to do anything, AAVSO or other, so no problem there. I do think though that ARPS is the best place for Exoplanets to reside.
Good luck with your proposal.
Gary
That’s a bit of a shock Tony! I’m now wondering what Brum’s LED’s are. My skies haven’t been the same since they started installing them!
If you get to the end of Mario’s presentation video, he includes a contact e-mail address.
Gary
The discovery of the ‘victory star’ as it was called at the time was credited to Warren Curdworth of Norwood, Mass USA. Not because he was the first to see it, but because he was the first to report it (to Harvard).
Apart from Bower, Michelle Luizet of Lyon observatory France observed it at 08.40 GMAT on June 8.
There is also a story of a Cornish fisherman seeing the Nova a whole day before anyone else, but upon reporting it to Greenwich his account was dismissed as he was a non astronomer (who might know the night sky better than a fisherman?) I remember reading the account in I think Philosophical Transactions many years ago, but despite re-checking can no longer find it. Perhaps I am mistaken with the publication I first encountered this story, but if anyone knows about it I would very interested in where it was published!
The Nova attracted the imagination of the public, and the attached satirical cartoon appeared in ‘Punch’ on June 19, 1918.
Some of us still observe the Nova, myself included. It can be seen varying slightly between magnitudes 11 and 12, but doesn’t do anything spectacular these days. It is interesting though to consider the turbulant times in which the Nova first appeared when ‘looking’ at it through a telescope!
Gary
Well done Robin. Amazing!
It’s worth mentioning that Martin Mobberley has been monitoring it since day 1, and is still sending me V-band measures.
Gary
I had it at 10.0 visual last night – my small 22cm dob (stopped down to 5cm) balancing on a garden table, desperately trying to get over the roofs.
The Nova should be entering it’s transition phase any time soon (about 3-4 mags from maximum), but some fast nova (and some slower ones too) simply pass through it without any visible change to the decline, whilst others show oscillations and the dusty ones fade and re-brighten before fading again. The rarer activity is to re-brighten before fading to it’s post nova quiescence. What’s this one going to do?
Gary
Prof. Sumner Starrfield is a computational astrophysicist at Arizona State University, and he’s a world authority on cataclysmic stellar events.
Gary
Indeed the guidelines have to be met, even for small groups like the Heart of England AS. We have uploaded a privacy policy to our web page, and each member will be required to sign a new form of our own design regarding the data we keep on them, and to say that they have read and agree to the privacy policy.
We use CCTV cameras to cover the car park, and the data is kept on a PC. Therefore we have to register and pay an annual sum to the ICO. If you use CCTV and store the data, their is no escaping it.
Gary
We’ll make a VS observer of you yet Andrew. Give those fuzzies a break for a bit! 😉
Your estimate is in good agreement with other observers – fading quite quickly now. My own was 8.5 last night with 10x50B from dear old Brum!
Might have to take my life in my hands and observe from a nearby hill when it gets a bit lower. Bit dodgy up there of a night time, but needs must. Can I sneak out without the wife finding out though? Just as risky…
Gary
So, the Nova outburst of V392 Per is not unique after all. I found this interesting article describing Nova Cen 2009 (V1213 Cen) and it’s pre-Nova outbursts.
One other candidate (V1017 Sge – Nova Sgr 1919) was found to have a DNe type outburst 18 years before the Nova outburst and two following it, but although the light curve shape is the same as a classical Nova, V1017 Sgr is actually a symbiotic star and not a classical dwarf novae.
Maybe not unique then, but it’s still extremely rare – and interesting!
Gary
Last nights (April 30) observations show V392 Per has faded by nearly a magnitude; 7.3-7.4 through the course of the evening.
Stick with it though, as the decline is usually pretty interesting – especially if it has an active transition phase.
Gary
Eric,
The programme did mention Roy’s discovery of his Comet, and interviewed Guy Hurst regarding that. Did you watch the whole programme?
Gary
“That is an interesting idea. It also occurs to me whether exoplanets might be a good fit within the Variable Star Section? I’m not sure if this is a controversial idea, perhaps as a ‘subsection’?“
Mildly controversial Andy. Whilst I think that a new section is an excellent idea, IMO the VSS have enough to think about 😉
Gary
Always a pleasure to be reminded of that incident Nick. Many thanks. Another round of counselling coming up! 🙁
I now have two – 60w and 120w – thermal tubes located at the mirror end of the 51cm. They take it in turns to keep the primary cosy, and it seems to work OK. The one that caught fire 18 years ago was kept inside the (horizontal) tube of a 40cm. It worked like a dream for many years – until it didn’t.
I do get some condensation from the plastic roof of the observatory, but I don’t worry about it. Just cover the scope with a tarp! I’ve been using the same ‘hinged roof’ observatory/shed for 31 years now, and it’s never been an issue. My previous observatory was of the same design which I used for over 10 years and I didn’t worry about condensation in that either!
Gary
Indeed Denis. You can do so much more with an e-version!
Anytime you feel like contributing, you know where I am 😉
Gary
