Andy Wilson

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Viewing 20 posts - 1 through 20 (of 431 total)
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  • in reply to: Historical Section Activity #622167
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    Hi Gary,
    I have just tested the contact the Historical Section Director form on Safari on a Mac and it worked fine. I think it must have been something in your message triggering the spam prevention.
    Best wishes,
    Andy

    in reply to: Historical Section Activity #622129
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    Hi Gary,
    I suspect I know what is going on. I just sent a couple of test messages and those appeared to work.
    The website forms have inbuilt spam protection. This was added last year as the Section Directors were receiving lots of spam, probably generated by bots activating the website form. Occasionally something in a genuine message can trigger the spam filter. Typically a link or phrase. So that would be my guess.
    The other possibility is it was browser compatibility or a momentary connection issue. If you let me know which browser you use I can give that a test.
    Best wishes,
    Andy

    • This reply was modified 2 weeks, 3 days ago by Andy Wilson.
    in reply to: The monkey’s telescope – a mystery #622057
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    At first, I too could not spot the telescope in question. Then I realised there are two monkeys in the picture, near to one another. The one holding the telescope like object is near to the monkey holding the spectacles, hidden mostly behind the painting of ships.

    in reply to: Journal index #621979
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    I now think this was a couple of mistakes I made in my searches, so the search is working as expected.
    In the search tests I did yesterday, I did not think it was finding anything. I did not take screenshots but it is possible the search returned the same page with the Journals and no detailed results. I may have thought this meant it was not working, when this meant it was finding the text in each of those Journals.
    When I did the test this morning, I copied the search term from Callum’s post and pasted it into the search. Then tried other searches with the quotes in place.
    Callum has done some investigation, and my copy and paste put forward and back quotes. This stopped the searches from working.
    Apologies for wasting Callum’s time as I think it is working as expected.
    Andy

    in reply to: Journal index #621972
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    Interesting. I am seeing some weird and inconsistent behaviour. Unless there is a simple answer I am missing, I suggest me and Callum take this offline.
    When I try the Journal search function on “patrick moore” I get no hits (first screenshot), same whether I am logged in or not.
    I tried a search on “M29” (I had left the quotation marks as I did it after my Patrick Moore search). First time I got some hits (2nd screenshot). Though this was simply the Journal, no indication of where in the Journal. So I tried a search on “Moore”, no luck. Then did a fresh search on “M29” and this second time nothing (3rd screenshot). I tried removing the quotes and no change.
    I wonder if there is more than one place where you can search the Journal and the one I tried is not working, or at least not consistently, and the one Callum tried is working.
    I went to Publications -> Journal then typed in the “Search Journals” box.
    Andy

    • This reply was modified 3 weeks, 5 days ago by Andy Wilson.
    in reply to: Journal index #621964
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    Hi Owen,
    There is an index in the February Journal for each year, but I am not sure about an overall index. Perhaps someone else will chip in if there is one?
    Another way you can search is to use the magnifying glass at the far right of the menu bar. This searches the whole website, including the Journals.
    I will add fixing the Journal search to the to do list for the website developer. I am sure it used to work but I can see it does nothing now.
    Best wishes,
    Andy

    in reply to: Photometry submission query #621863
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    Hi Kwong,
    The usual format is text with a tab delimiter. However, you do not need to concern yourself with the file type and layout. There are several software packages that can create a file in one of the BAA formats. These include MuniPack, ASTAP, AIJ or AIP4Win in combination with the BAA Photometry spreadsheet, and MetroPSF. This page has links to each of these software packages at the top of the page:
    https://britastro.org/vssdb/notes_submissions.php
    If you have a copy of MS Excel and are comfortable using it, then that might be a good option as I think you are already using AIJ. Otherwise ASTAP, MuniPack and MetroPSF are good options.
    I can’t give detailed advice on the individual packages, though I am sure there are members of this forum who can give advice on choosing which to use and how to use it.
    Best wishes,
    Andy (BAA Photometry Database Manager)

    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    Hi Les,
    Correct. Macros and other files that can execute code can be used as computer viruses, so anything like that will be blocked.
    Just to add some background to BAA members who might be able to help. I developed the initial version of the photometry spreadsheet. It was then adapted to work with AIJ. As I don’t use AIJ there is only so much I can suggest, as it appears to be either a difference in the measurements file output by AIJ, or something causing NaN (not a number) in the file.
    Best wishes,
    Andy

    in reply to: February JBAA #621732
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    Hi Paul,
    Looking in MailChimp I can see you subscribed to the Newsletter on Sunday. So I think you must have received the email asking if you wanted to resubscribe and clicked the link to resubscribe yourself?
    You won’t receive backdated Newsletters as that is not how the mailing list works. The Newsletter for the February Journal was sent last Friday. You will be sent the next Newsletter around the time the April Journal is ready to be posted.
    Does that make sense?
    If I have misunderstood, then it may be worth discussing this away from the forum and checking with the BAA Office if needed.
    Andy

    • This reply was modified 1 month, 2 weeks ago by Andy Wilson.
    in reply to: February JBAA #621715
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    My Journal also arrived today. The paper wrapper for mine was fully sealed. If anyone else notices a problem then I can pass it along to the Journal editors and Office.
    Andy

    in reply to: February JBAA #621673
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    Hi Paul,
    I have just instructed MailChimp to send you an email with a link to subscribe to the Newsletter.
    Normally the BAA Office handle subscriptions to the Newsletter. However, I just had a look and MailChump won’t let us subscribe you as you unsubscribed in 2019. This is a protection given by MailChimp, to ensure organisations can’t abuse the system by sending bulk emails to people who do not want to receive them.
    The email might end up in a junk/spam folder. Let me know how you get on.
    Best wishes,
    Andy

    • This reply was modified 1 month, 2 weeks ago by Andy Wilson.
    in reply to: February JBAA #621660
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    My Journal usually arrives a few days after the Newsletter announcing the Journal. The Newsletter went out on Friday so I am expecting my Journal sometime next week. Do you subscribe to the Newsletter?
    Best wishes,
    Andy

    in reply to: Forum oddities #621554
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    I have removed the post from someone attempting to spam the forum and hopefully blocked them from trying this again. It has been reported to the website developer to see if something can be done to prevent this in future.
    Andy

    in reply to: JBAA Feb 2024 out now? #621446
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    But ‘Astronomy Now’ are advertising the 2004 BAA Deep Sky section annual meeting…!!! It must have been a good one.
    Astronomy Now, February 2024 page. 69.

    Ha! This happens to all of us.

    I am not sure if the post was updated, but along those lines I updated a 2024 meeting today when someone pointed out the text within the webpage stated 2023.

    in reply to: JBAA Feb 2024 out now? #621439
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    Might it have been the thread on the BAA song? That mentions the February Journal from 1924 rather than 2024.

    https://britastro.org/forums/topic/baa-song

    in reply to: Deep Sky Webinar #621329
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    Both the Celestron Origin and Unistellar eVscope 2 are advertised at around £4,000. A lot more than the ZWO SeeStar S50 and DWARF II which are just over £500. Not too surprising given the Celestron and Unistellar have significantly larger apertures.

    in reply to: Deep Sky Webinar #621311
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    The Celestron Origin is another interesting entrant to the market. I wonder if they might offer a B&W version of the camera in future as it has a filter drawer. The filter is for light pollution filters.
    Richard Berry is trying the Origin out for variable star photometry. There is the opportunity to use the green channel as with DSLRs, or all the light, depending on the goal of the observation.
    The HOYS Citizen Science Project are accepting observations from ZWO Seestar 50mm telescopes, these use a colour CMOS chip. This is a research project run by Dirk Froebrich at the University of Kent, to monitor young stars.
    Both of these approaches use the raw files saved by these smart-telescopes, rather than the processed images displayed on smartphones and tablets.
    Andy

    • This reply was modified 2 months, 1 week ago by Andy Wilson.
    in reply to: Deep Sky Webinar #621296
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    I found Mark Stuart’s “Exploring the cosmic tapestry” very entertaining. Chris Lee’s talk on Electronically Assisted Astronomy wetted my appetite for giving this a go. I like the idea of a telescope that can be quickly and easily setup and controlled from indoors.
    Andy

    in reply to: Does anyone need iTelescope points for a project? #621291
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    You can contact a member by clicking their name/image next to their forum post. This takes you to their profile page and then you can press “Contact” in the lower left.
    This sends an email, so it enables contact without sharing email addresses publicly.
    Cheers,
    Andy

    in reply to: Radio Astronomy Meetings #621172
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    Hi Mike,
    The Radio Astronomy Group holds lots of online meetings. They have their own page where they list them all.
    https://britastro.org/section_information_/radio-astronomy-section-overview/razoom-programme
    It could be useful for someone to add these to the main events page. Each meeting takes a bit of work to setup, so it is a non-trivial task to set them all up and maintain them. There is also a minor issue that as there are so many, setting them up would knock some other upcoming meetings off the list on the homepage. Something for the Web Ops Group to think about.
    Best wishes,
    Andy

Viewing 20 posts - 1 through 20 (of 431 total)