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Yes, very often the plotted star charts from AAVSO VSP miss out stars at all magnitude levels. Far better to plot a chart using the Digitised Sky Survey as Jeremy notes. It’s good for visual observers too, but you can’t set a magnitude limit for the stars of course, just the sequence.
Gary
Indeed Jeremy, interesting and a must to try I think, but as Denis notes no substitute for the real thing!
There are obvious questions to be asked for VS observing of course – spectral response etc. etc.
Gary
Oh well, another prospective RCB bites the dust!
Think I’ll keep an eye on it for the rest of this season to see what it’s up to.
Gary
Nice one Nick. Thanks for posting!
Was hoping to see it for myself, but weather didn’t play ball.
Gary
Readers of these AG Dra pages might be interested in this pro-am campaign which has just been announced…
http://www.britastro.org/vss/aavso_alert_notice_572.htm
Although not specifically aimed at spectroscopy, you might find it of interest.
Gary
Thanks for that Nick. Must remember to look next time I’m at Burlington House.
Haven’t seen Rob for donkey’s years!
Gary
Can’t believe it’s been a year since we last did this…
2015 numbers in brackets
Clear Nights (50% or less cloud) 33 (24)Partially Clear (50% or more cloud) 62 (80)Total 95 observable nights (104) with 37 of these nights under Moonlight.I missed 10 nights due to various reasons.On 40 occasions the BBC weather forecast for cloud cover was incorrect.Total hours at telescope 223.33 hours (206.88h)Best month August with 13 nights – 10 clear and 3 partially clear (June 16)Worst month June with 2 nights – 0 clear and 2 partially clear (Dec 4)Total visual Variable Star observations 8,022 (7,741). Only 598 single CCD observations made this year. This is due to the demise of the BRT and a lengthy Monsoon in the SW of the USA where my AAVSOnet instruments are based.Happy New year to everyoneGaryNo Denis, your not alone. I get easily irritated by most stuff these days, which is why I didn’t raise a similar point myself, but it’s well made and I agree with you.
Gary
Nick,
I’ll come to your Comet meeting if you come to ours at Winchester 2017! 😉
Good meeting up yesterday. Good meeting too, and thanks to Council for that.
Gary
The mind boggles Nick! Seriously though we do have miles of canals here, so if it does catch on I can see the council lighting the many bridges over the canals in the city centre. You can thank our President for that cheerful thought!
Gary
Here is the photo I mentioned earlier. Late 70’s early 80’s. I forget where it was taken too, but probably a TA meeting (Earls Barton or Northampton).
John Hosty (discoverer of HS Sge Nova Sge 1977 – with a monocular in January!), George Alcock and Roy Panther.
Gary
I too am saddened to hear this. Roy was a lovely bloke, and his comet was a delight to observe.
I last saw him a couple of years ago at a meeting in Northampton, where I recall, he received a standing ovation when he was introduced. It was a marvellous moment!
I have a photo somewhere of Roy, George Alcock and John Hosty together taken at a TA meeting I think it was. Must dig it out.
Gary
Hi Tom,
I’ve recently added a link from the BAAVSS home page to the updated AAVSO DSLR manual. You might want to look at that as well as Des’s paper…
Good luck,
Gary
Washing up liquid also contains lanolin, which can leave white marks if not washed down properly. I’ve not cleaned a corrector plate (I did have a Meade 14 for 7 years but didn’t clean it and didn’t lose any limiting magnitude either over that time), but have washed more mirrors than you can poke a stick at, and white marks/streaks were certainly a problem if your like me and need everything to be pristine. It was probably this that sent me grey.
If in doubt, leave well alone.
Gary
