Andy Wilson

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  • in reply to: Winchester Weekend #617037
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    This has somewhat hi-jacked the Winchester thread, but it is good to discuss these matters.

    I suspect there may now be easier ways we can record meetings. For example, since Windows 10 an inbuilt screen recorder comes as standard. I also expect that more venues will gain the ability to record meetings for us. At Elgin the university staff kindly recorded the meeting for us without charging us extra. However, they had to work this out on the fly and we did not know if the meeting would be successfully recorded until the actual day.

    There are also occasions where the organisers as well as the presenters do not want the meeting recorded, to encourage in-person attendance.

    Whatever we do, I think finding more volunteers would help to increase the number of meetings we record.

    in reply to: Winchester Weekend #617003
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    Hi Mike,
    James has hit the proverbial nail on the head.
    The BAA is lacking volunteers. With some venues we are fortunate enough that they already have the IT equipment and staff available to make the recordings, but this is not the case at Winchester. Even then it requires a BAA volunteer or paid staff to edit the videos and put them online. It could be argued that the BAA should pay contractors to record meetings around the country. That would need to be paid out of the reserves as our annual outgoings are about twice the subscription income.
    This is a good opportunity to point out that we don’t yet have a volunteer to become the Meetings Secretary after Hazel Collett stands down a the end of this year. Noting Ann Davies rather than Hazel Collett organises the Winchester Weekend, with help from other BAA volunteers.
    The 1972 recording is 3 minutes of people walking around the venue without sound. Interesting to see that for 50 years ago but the expectations for current meeting recordings are much higher.
    Best wishes,
    Andy

    in reply to: Winchester Weekend #616974
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    Sorry but there are no videos of the Winchester talks as it is not straightforward to get them recorded. The year we had videos was when we held a webinar instead due to the lockdown.
    Andy

    in reply to: Is the Universe losing weight? #616324
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    To my understanding there is nothing to indicate a return to the Steady State theory. There is a lot of evidence for a “big bang” style to the beginning of the observable universe, or at least changes to the universe with time that are very difficult for the Steady State theory to explain, such as the increase in the abundance of heavy elements with time. Even though the JWST results don’t quite match expectations, the evolution of galaxies with time can be seen by JWST and other observations. For example, star formation rates observed in galaxies peaked a few billion years ago. Also, quasar activity is observed to decrease with age, i.e. more common in more distance galaxies.
    I believe they are still at the stage of analysing and gathering data. So it is too early to tell whether this can be resolved by adjusting model parameters rather than requiring a whole new model.

    in reply to: New website – members’ full names #615006
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    This is on a list of changes that will be going to the BAA website developer. Unfortunately I do not have a time frame but I shall ask for this to be done sooner rather than later.

    in reply to: Spectral line modelling #614897
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    I’ve not delved sufficiently deeply into this aspect of spectroscopy to properly comment. However, I can see it is a detailed and interesting model.
    Best wishes,
    Andy

    in reply to: Journal delays #614895
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    I am pleased to report my Journal arrived this morning, along with another astronomy magazine I’d been awaiting. Hopefully others are also being received.

    • This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by Andy Wilson.
    in reply to: Journal delays #614861
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    I am glad to hear some are starting to arrive. Mine still isn’t here.

    • This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by Andy Wilson.
    in reply to: Journal delays #614806
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    Just to note, opting for a digital subscription doesn’t save the BAA money, as you pay more for the printed subscriptions to cover the printing and postage costs.

    in reply to: Posts go missing after an edit #614589
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    The developer has installed some updates, including an update to the spam filter. I don’t know if this will resolve the non-spam posts being flagged as spam, but there is a chance.
    I noticed Alex Pratt had this problem in his reply on the composite images thread.
    Best wishes,
    Andy

    in reply to: Posts go missing after an edit #614587
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    Hi Steve,
    You won’t be able to “release” them from spam. The spam filter is supposed to prevent spammers from posting spam, hence it will not allow the person posting to release their own messages. The spam filter is clearly being overly aggressive. This may improve with time as it learns, though it has been flagged as an issue with those who manage the website.
    Best wishes,
    Andy

    in reply to: Posts go missing after an edit #614494
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    Hi Steve,
    I found two copies of your post in the spam folder. I released the second and deleted the first copy.
    I am about to go on a short holiday so I will raise it with one or two people who know more about the forum on my return.
    Best wishes,
    Andy

    in reply to: Mars Occultation #614413
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    It was perfectly clear when I got up just after 4am. Then as I slid back the observatory roof the first bit of cloud touched the Moon. I caught a glimpse of the Moon and Mars about a minute before the occultation, but the rest was clouded out.

    • This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by Andy Wilson.
    in reply to: Posts go missing after an edit #614411
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    The forum has a spam filter. I don’t think this is an especially useful feature for our website as only paid up BAA member accounts can post to the forum, and paying for an account is likely to deter spammers. However, it is always possible for an account to be hacked and then the spam filter could be useful.
    If the timeout was weirdly connected to the anti-spam trigger, then the change to the timeout may have resolved the problem. Another possibility is the edits contained text, a link or file not in the original post that triggered the anti-spam block on the post.
    If you see this again then report it and the website team can investigate.
    Best wishes,
    Andy

    • This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by Andy Wilson.
    in reply to: Posts go missing after an edit #614340
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    Hi Duncan,
    One of the website admins has increased the timeout for post edits to 600 minutes (I think it was set to 5 minutes). It would be weird if that was triggering the spam filter, but you never know. Let us know if you find one of your posts disappearing again and we can investigate further.
    Best wishes,
    Andy

    in reply to: Problems accessing member areas of the website #613997
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    Hi Bill,
    This is a known issue and is recorded in the bug log. Apologies I don’t have a timeframe but it is an issue I expect to be resolved.
    Best wishes,
    Andy

    in reply to: Problems accessing member areas of the website #613995
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    Hi Max,
    Being logged out each time your browser closes is how the website currently works. It is on a list of bugs and potential changes that the website developer will look at in due course. Apologies, I don’t have a timeframe or if that behaviour will definitely be changed.
    Ah, that is the first time we’ve been notified about that button. I’ve added it to the bug list for the developer to fix.
    Best wishes,
    Andy

    • This reply was modified 1 year, 12 months ago by Andy Wilson.
    in reply to: Exoplanets On-line Workshop #613582
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    This is the last chance to register for the Exoplanets Online Workshop. Registration closes on Eventbrite at 10am this morning (Saturday 12th November).

    https://baa-exoplanets-2022.eventbrite.co.uk

    Registration is required as we are holding this as a Zoom meeting, where attendees can talk or share their screen, so we will not be making the Zoom join link public.

    Andy

    in reply to: Solar Observing – Mono to Colour #613199
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    Adam,
    Good luck with the BSc. Exciting times!
    Best wishes,
    Andy

    in reply to: Solar Observing – Mono to Colour #613196
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    Hi Adam,
    Welcome to the BAA Forum! That sounds like an excellent telescope and those are great images.
    I am not sure I understand your question, but I’ll have a go at an answer.
    With colourising I would be surprised if the algorithm in Astroart does anything other than assign predetermined colour values in RGB based on intensity to make it look nice, rather than anything to do with velocities. It is possible it has a template for the Sun, and varies the colour based on the location on the solar disc. The key point is the monochrome pixel values contain no data that can be converted into a velocity. I expect the temperature has nothing to do with it, other than cooler parts of the Sun such as sunspots emit less light.
    All this said, if you are able to tune the H-alpha pass band in your telescope, then you might be able to sample different velocities relative to the H-alpha rest wavelength.
    Best wishes,
    Andy

    • This reply was modified 2 years, 1 month ago by Andy Wilson.
Viewing 20 posts - 101 through 120 (of 454 total)