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Hi Jeremy,
It wouldn’t be possible to process such a large volume of unrecorded VS observations without the tenacious commitment of these Section members. I’m aware of cases where valuable observations have been lost after members passed away, e.g. by a house clearance or by wiping their computer drives. Thankfully, Melvyn’s family gave us full access to his extensive hoard.
As I mentioned in VSS Circular 180, the BAA Memoirs contain some useful VS data, but perhaps like in the English Mechanic not all salient information is to hand. Yes, they are certainly worthwhile and rewarding projects to search for old observations and add them to the Association’s archives and databases.
I’ve promised Roger I’ll write an update for the December VSS Circular.
Alex.
Hi David,
Here’s an online article with pics taken from Whitley Bay…
I had to laugh when they wrote “Dr Robert Massey, from the Royal Astrological Society…” 🙂
Clear skies,
Alex.
Hi John,
Have a look at
http://www.theastronomer.org/post/MeteorDiary/
https://www.imo.net/files/meteor-shower/cal2020.pdf
http://www.astro.amu.edu.pl/~jopek/MDC2007/
Cheers,
Alex.
Hi Dominic,
As William commented, my lenses also have a grub screw to secure the focus of the lens. As you’ll have experienced, focussing is quite a delicate operation with most video camera/lens combinations.
My Leeds_SE camera sometimes drifts out of focus during the seasons. Often this is an acceptable amount of soft focus, then just as I’m about to shin up the drainpipe it moves back into hard focus again.
I haven’t tried the masking tape technique. I suspected its expansion and contraction might cause some focus shift. I suppose it depends on the tightness of the rotating bezel.
Cheers,
Alex.
Thanks Jeremy,
I can confirm it plays very well from there and Members will find the presentation and discussion most interesting.
Clear skies,
Alex/
Unlike previous weeks, this evening I cannot view the talk (Jeremy’s) on the YouTube feed. It is working OK for Zoom users. Is it working OK for other YouTube watchers?
Alex.
Hi Ray,
I found that instead of directly clicking on an option I did right-click and selected Open a new window. This solved my Groundhog Day login problem.
Cheers,
Alex.
I tried to edit my latest entry on my Member’s Page to update the image. On clicking ‘Edit this observation’ – ‘Remove’ I got the error message
Clear skies,
Alex.
Gordon was most helpful when I researched HMNAO’s Occultation Machine. I occasionally ‘phoned him to update him on current developments in occultation astronomy and the promise of Gaia’s astrometry.Gordon’s autobiography was published in JOA 2016-4An obituary (written by Tim Haymes) will appear in the Journal.
Alex.
My Leeds_SE video meteor camera picked up some of these peskies, one clip had 5 of them traipsing across the sky.I see that ‘improvements to mitigate the impact on astronomers’ weren’t evident last night. Hopefully the satellites will be fainter when they attain their final orbits.The Heavens Above website FAQ says:“The brightness of a spacecraft is influenced by several factors…our magnitude estimates should only be treated as a rough guide, and the actual brightness you see could be considerably more or less than this”‘Enjoy’ the show!Alex.Hi James,
Issue 2014-04 of the Journal for Occultation Astronomy (pp. 13-22) contains an article by Friedhelm Dorst on ‘Observations of Planets and Stars near the Sun’.
We deliberated for some time before deciding to publish it in JOA. We do not condone any attempts to carry out such observations. Observing near the Sun carries high risk to one’s eyesight. It only needs to go wrong once! Even if an observer uses electronic recording techniques, they can be tempted to cast a naked eye glimpse towards the Sun and incur dazzle.
Be careful out there.
Clear skies,
Alex.
Does ‘stay at home’ mean that we now shouldn’t spend any time observing from our back gardens? Automated systems are an advantage at the moment.
Alex.
Hi Denis,
Just wait until Scotland’s Spaceport is in operation and they start buzzing rocketplanes over your head… 🙂
Clear skies,
Alex.
Apart from debating “Whatever did the Romans do for us…” and the varied comments about the artwork, I agree that it’s great to see astronomy on the new stamps.
If it encourages some youngsters to take an interest in our fascinating hobby / science it will all be worthwhile.
Alex.
“He’s not an astronomer, he’s a very naughty boy…!”
Well, in my astronomical library Messrs Bone, Moore, Sidgwick et al write about aurorae, novae, and supernovae, so after decades of such usage it now grates on my ears to attend talks about ‘auroras’, etc.
I’ll say tomato…
Alex.
American media inform us that Betelgeuse is ‘fainting’, so perhaps we need some interstellar smelling salts to help it recover from its current swoon…
Hi Colin,
That’s a really nice set of radio data. During that time there is only a low level of activity from minor showers, and the ever-present sporadics, so we can assume the plots give a good approximation of Quadrantid rates.
The NEMETODE peak of 04:45 UT was derived from combining several years’ data and the individual years will have profiles that are affected by sub-peaks, brief drops in meteor flux, etc. The peaks suggested by the IMO and the BAA Handbook Meteor Diary were based on slightly later solar longitudes. The maxima derived from visual, video, radio and professional radar systems can differ in time because they can be detecting meteors from different sized meteoroid bodies and particle-sorting takes place in the stream, etc.
In some cases a bright meteor seen visually won’t have been detected on radio, and a very good radio trace wasn’t picked up by video cameras. I guess these are examples of optimal / non-optimal radio detection alignments.
We had awful conditions for visual and video work this week, so I’ll ask our radio observers to have a look at your extensive coverage.
I’m surprised we aren’t a nation of radio astronomers.
Alex.
Hi Peter,
I’m pleased that your efforts were rewarded with a good number of Quadrantid meteors. I’m sure the Meteor Section would be pleased to receive a formal report even though you observed under difficult conditions where the limiting mag and sky clarity varied so much.
Cheers,
Alex.
The two lectures and the Sky Notes were excellent presentations and the location is most convenient, adjacent to Kings Cross station.One constructive comment – the bright spotlights directed both onto the audience and the display screens detracted somewhat from my enjoyment of the talks, washing out some of the rich colours in the graphics and diluting the fine details in members’ astro images. The YouTube recording is clearer in this respect.Clear skies,Alex.
