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Highly recommend the Met Office Youtube channel. They have a ‘deep-dive’ look at the weather every Tuesday and a ’10 day trend’ each Wednesday. Far superior to the normal TV forecasts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGmEWQcidTc
Very slightly off topic but if they ever build another Voyager to send to the stars I hope they can find room for the Youtube videos of Baris and Aybuke. This young couple truly understand how lucky we are to live on a very special planet. The videos are short and often stunning….the joy captured when Aybuke sees the simple beauty of a bird in flight or walks on a sandy beach.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQc3EkD1rVE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diwRarXS1mEThanks Neil! Yes, for sure, a wonderful video (also another very recent upload by Mads Peter Iversen where he takes us out on a video shoot of NLC – he captures the experience perfectly). It is often a struggle for me to get a clear view – especially when North Sea ‘haar’ (sea-fog/low cloud) drifts inland after a beautiful sunny day! As always with astronomy we pray for clear skies.
Not had much luck seeing this comet for the last two weeks. I got a brief view last night July 18-19. Still have strong twilight in north Scotland. Images taken from the bedroom window due to a neighbouring weeping willow.Apologies to Allen and Hugh – I hit the wrong ‘reply’ button.
I must add though that despite my loss of enthusiasm for the modern Sky & Telescope covers the interior of the magazine is very well designed with excellent illustrations. I began my subscription in January 1986 – always looked forward each month to the articles written by Walter Scott Houston, George Lovi and John Bortle.
I had real problems renewing my Sky & Telescope subscription online last month – I gave up and sent in the renewal card by post, which they got. I love the old Sky & Telescope covers at Archive.org. They live long in the memory. By the early 1990s they started to use screaming headlines and that special look was lost. Nowadays the cover art never registers with me at all. The BAA Journal is still a joy though. https://archive.org/details/Sky_and_Telescope?&and%5B%5D=year%3A%221978%22
Hi Dominic, The Fornax LighTrack II looks to be a sturdy beast (sold by 365 Astronomy). The fact that they include an adapter that will accept a Skywatcher EQ5 polarscope has to be a huge bonus. The Astrotrac polar scope is very poor – forever falling off its magnetic mount at the slightest touch.
https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/534333-fornax-lightrack-ii-vs-astrotrac/
Regards,
Jimmy
Nick, Delighted to have helped you find J A Baker. The author Robert Macfarlane (and others) helped rescue him from obscurity. He can explain the power of the man far better than me. In this essay Rob mentions that it inspired a musical soundtrack that can be listened to for free. Hope you enjoy the book. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/15/the-peregrine-by-ja-baker-nature-writing …… https://lawrenceenglish.bandcamp.com/album/the-peregrine
Cheers, Nick. Yes, he chose well to avoid the midges. 🙂 Your own town gave us one of the most wonderful writers of nature and landscape. J A Baker’s ‘The Peregrine’ celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2017. A truly stunning description of the Essex countryside. http://jabaker.co.uk/biography/ …… https://vimeo.com/223780570
Nick, I don’t know the temperature statistics for Tarbat Ness but my weather station at nearby Alness had 22 days in 2017 with temperature above 20°C – May (5) June (4) July (7) Aug (6) Sep (0). The average maximum in July/Aug is around 18.7°C. Straying even further off topic, Denis does have a great compensation for the cooler temperature – he lives only 50 miles from a landscape like Suilven in Sutherland….just beware of the fearsome midges. https://vimeo.com/55543462
Anyway, you’re going to Scotland.
The old country, hey, Macintyre?
Yes, sir!
Virgo is well up this time of year.
Sir?
I’m talking about the sky, Macintyre.
The constellation of Virgo
is very prominent in the sky now, in Scotland.
I want you to keep an eye on Virgo for me.
Will you do that?
Oh, sure.
This is Virgo. Find the Great Bear,
the Big Dipper, and you can’t miss.
I’m expecting something special from there. I want reports.
– Reports, sir?
– Anything unusual in Virgo.
It might be a new star
or even a shooting star.
I want reports.
Anything out of the ordinary,
you telephone me, night or day.
This is my private number.
You’ll be travelling six hours east…you’ll be ahead.
Think of that.
Do you know what I’m talking about?
I have a general…
You’ll know when you see it. And you’ll telephone me, OK?
You do know what a comet is, don’t you?
I would if I saw one.
And you’d phone me?
Yes, sir.
Good man. You got the picture.
The northern sky is a beautiful thing, Macintosh.
You’re going to have a wonderful trip.
Thank you, sir.(Local Hero – Burt Lancaster & Peter Riegert…1983)
Many of the above books.
A few not mentioned so far…
The Comets – Visitors From Space by Patrick Moore (1973) Published for the Kohoutek craze…
A Field Guide to the Stars and Planets – Donald Menzel (I marked the positions of Halley in that one)
Astronomical Objects For Southern Telescopes – E J Hartung.
New Worlds For Old – Duncan Lunan (A superb read for those wanting to relive the moon landings and the early space probes to Mercury, Venus and Mars)
The Race Into Space – Brook Bond Tea Card Album 1971 (Also had the bonus of smelling nice – wish I still had it) a google search of Flickr will allow you all to enjoy it again.
James
Hi all,
Certainly was a nice display. I left a camera on the bedroom window to record a timelapse and then went up to the local golf course to take some pictures/video. The main concern being to avoid falling into any bunkers in the half-light…left some footprints in the dew to bemuse any early golfers.
I was very fortunate to have clear skies all day at Alness, Easter Ross. Hope to have the same weather (and still be here!) on May 7th 2049 when there is a virtual repeat of this transit. I used my old Vixen Custom 90M + EOS M3 to take images.
Hi Martin,
Delighted to have helped you share this bit of BAA history with a wider audience.
True, it may lack the benefits of modern technology, but it does have something that money cannot buy – the film is about and was made by people with a warm heart.
James
Thanks to all for the comments.
At the end of 1979 Gary Hunt interviewed various space pioneers about the discoveries made in the previous decade. It was broadcast on Radio 4. My tape recording has a few wobbles at the beginning and there is a bit of a fade that lasts for a couple of minutes due to what sounds like oxide building up on the tape head! It soon returns to normal though. Some minor cuts were made by me during the recording because I was not sure that the Woolies tape would last the whole 45 minutes. Only a couple of minutes of the broadcast are missing. You can hopefully find it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ov65xOSEfE
Jimmy
