[Gary Poyner]

Thanks for passing that sad news on Nick.  I’d known him for many years, and always enjoyed our chats at Winchester. 

Gary

[Gary Poyner]

Hello Gordon,

You can see the 2017 Christmas lecture here…  https://britastro.org/video/8000

You can find videos of past meetings in the ‘Events’ tab (Videos of past meetings)

Gary

[Gary Poyner]

Seems a very low percentage of members actually voting.  Around the 10% mark I would guess?  Lets hope any future e-voting implemeted by the BAA will see this number increase.  I suspect it will.

Gary

[Gary Poyner]

Happy New Year Jeremy, and all BAA members.

2017 has been a bad year observing wise for me – the worst since 2012 and the sixth worse since my records began in 1978.  Graph here if anyone is interested.

Here are the numbers…

25 totally clear nights (50% or less cloud) and 61 partially clear (50% or more cloud) = 86 observing opportunites from Brum.  These include evenings and mornings.  A total of 183.6 hours were spent at the eyepiece during the year.

Best month March, 2 clear and 10 partially clear

Worst month February, 1 clear and 2 partially clear

Of the 86 observable nights during the year, 42 had Moonlight of varying irritations.  The local Met office had incorrect forecasts for cloud cover on 59 nights of the year (16%).  My weather owl perfoms better!

Lets hope for a clearer 2018.

Gary

[Gary Poyner]

It’s been above mag 11 for about two weeks now.  The brightest outburst for some years occured in 2012 (10.5mv), which was the brightest it reached since 1988 (mag 8.5), so worth keeping an eye on to see if this is really a major outburst or one in a series of minor outbursts seen since the 2012 event.

Gary

[Gary Poyner]

Hi Nick,

The VSS hasn’t discussed this at all – but…

You might find this interesting…

http://iopscience.iop.org/journal/2041-8205/page/Focus_on_GW170817?utm_medium=email&utm_source=iop&utm_term=&utm_campaign=12734-36073&utm_content=FI

Gary

[Gary Poyner]

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2017-258

Gary

[Gary Poyner]

The OED says…”An expert in or student of astronomy”, so that makes you an astronomer.  I’m from the same mould as Andrew – I love looking through my telescope (not much of a view from Birmingham, but it’s all I have), but I also use remote telescopes with CCD’s to compliment my data.  The reduction is pretty boring though!  My point is that you have a love for astronomy as a science and a desire to make a contribution to it. Regardless of how you do either, you are an astronomer!

Whether Woolleys comments are valid today is debatable

Gary

[Gary Poyner]

I too was very shocked to hear that Glyn had passed away.  On the occasions we met up at BAA meetings he was a good bloke to be with – friendly, funny and above all extremely knowledgable.  He could make a great Comet too.

What with Glyn and Melvyn Taylor passing away last week, it’s not been a good month.

Gary

[Gary Poyner]

You might find the AAVSO observing campaigns of interest.  Have a look here…

https://www.aavso.org/aavso-alert-notices-for-observing-campaigns-and-discoveries

The one on DDE 48 is especially interesting as the UGSU-ER UMa type stars are pretty rare, and there is another UG star located just 4 arc mins away  MASTER OT J204627.96+242218.0.  Both are located in Vulpecula, so well placed now.

Gary

[Gary Poyner]

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

[Gary Poyner]

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

[Gary Poyner]

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

[Gary Poyner]

Crikey 🙁

[Gary Poyner]

Any mention of ‘Dyson Sphere’ fades will surely result in immediate expulsion from the VSS 😉

Gary

[Gary Poyner]

Nice one Nick.  Thanks for posting!

Was hoping to see it for myself, but weather didn’t play ball.

Gary

[Gary Poyner]

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

[Gary Poyner]

Thanks for that Nick.  Must remember to look next time I’m at Burlington House.

Haven’t seen Rob for donkey’s years!

Gary

[Gary Poyner]

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 everyone

Gary

[Gary Poyner]

No 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

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