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Hi Alex,
The VSS spreadsheet (downloadable from VSS web page) will convert UT to UT decimal and calendar date to JD.
You can batch upload observations to the database using the aforementioned spreadsheet, which takes a few seconds from beginning to end. Entering the data individually takes longer of course, but a single observation only takes about 30 seconds or less to enter.
It doesn’t matter how old your data is – we would very much like to have it.
Good to see you back!
Gary
Thanks for another good link Martin. Doesn’t matter if there is any Astronomy in it. If it’s about Will Hay, it’s worth a listen.
Gary
Yes Howard it’s ‘nearly’ back after 8 years below maximum brightness. It currently seems to be stuck around the mid-7’s, with perhaps a suggestion of a very slight fading trend. Perhaps this year we will see it back at it’s maximum brightness, but I wouldn’t bet on it!
Gary
Just watched your video Nick, and it was terrific. Well done! Even a few ‘whooo’s’ a North American would have been proud of!
Gary
For once the Sun shone on the centre of the known universe – Birmingham! Clear skies from beginning to end with some high stuff about at times, but didn’t spoil the fun. Visual for me of course with a 22cm stopped to 10cm and (ancient) solar screen. Then took BAA eclipse viewer to my community library where I give IT classes and showed a lot of people the second half of the eclipse. I also bought some BAA viewers for my grandchildren, who took them to school and at mid eclipse, all the school (small school ~75 kids) was in the playground passing them around and seeing it in real time. A bit of a result all round I would say!
Gary
Hi Jeremy,Here are my Birmingham stats. Last years numbers in brackets!Observable nights (not counting brief gaps) = 112 (93)37 (59) clear and 75 (34) partially clear (50% cloud or more). Of these 112 nights 53 had Moonlight interference.Best month – Feb & July with 13 nights each (April with 12 nights)Worst month – September with 6 nights (January with 3 nights)Number of hours spent at eyepiece = 247.27 hours (191.18 hours)The weather forecast (for Birmingham) for cloudy/clear nights was incorrect on 53 (60) occasions, so a slight improvement for the Met. office!The sky conditions continue to deteriorate here in Birmingham, with increased light pollution and the clarity of the sky worsening year after year – for reasons which I can’t explain. The Milky Way was ‘glimpsed’ on just one occasion in 2014 – Aug 4th.Look forward to seeing other members stats for 2014.Happy New Year!GaryThanks for the greetings Paul. Have a Happy Christmas yourself – and everyone in the BAA too of course 🙂
Gary
R CrB is now visible with binoculars for the first time since 2007. As of the evening of Oct 11 it could be seen with 10×50’s (from Brum) at magnitude 8.8. The rise at the moment is ~0.1 mag every 2 days, but this could change of course in the coming days/weeks.
This looks as if it could be the recovery we have waited 7 years for.
Gary
Indeed Howard. The recovery started around April/May this year, and R CrB is now at it’s brightest level for 15 months or so. The previous partial recovery was slow, taking around 18 months to complete 4 magnitudes. This one is rather steeper, taking just over 3 months to cover the same magnitude. Might this mean that R CrB will get brighter this time? We will have to wait and see.
I’ve uploaded an up-to-date light curve from BAAVSS observers to the front page of the VSS web pages. Unless anything else interesting happens I’ll try to keep this plot updated weekly and post to the web site, so that we can all see if this recovery is the real deal or not.
Clears skies,
Gary
Hi Martin,
Thanks for the tip. As a big Will Hay fan I’ll be recording it (although I have seen it).
We had a Will Hay night at the Heart of England AS last year – DVD’s shown on big screen, with the support act being several episodes of Shaun the Sheep. Astronomy can be fun in many ways, especially at the HoEAS! The room was full too 🙂
Gary
Just gave my votes Nick. Good idea! Must find time to go through your archive and vote too.
Stray dog or mad dog? 😉
Gary
OK Nick. I’ll give it a try and contact you offline.
I still had a few issues with Win7 whilst streaming. The video(s) would stop every 10 minutes, and I had to click to continue! Didn’t stop me enjoying John Mason and David Boyds presentations though. Hope to watch the rest over the weekend. Good stuff.
Gary
Nick,
I have no audio on any of the video’s whilst watching online – Windows 8 using Chrome. If I try IE I get logged out each time I select a video.
Gary
It will be 600 years since Agincourt on Oct 25 2015, so I vote for Henry V or a silhouette of an archer drawing a yew bow. Nothing to do with astronomy, but who cares. No one reading this will be alive for the next centenary, so lets celebrate! Much more interesting than dormant Cometary nuclei anyway 😉
Gary
Hi Dave,
Glad to hear you’ve come back to us. Might we see some of your VS observations in the VSS database now? 😉
Hope we’ll get to see you at a few meetings. I think we’ve only met once at a VS meeting a few years ago (a VS workshop wasn’t it?). Be good to catch up face to face rather than e-mail.
Clear skies,
Gary
