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Hi Daryl,
I had thoughts along similar lines.
I have already pointed out to them it appears you can zoom in on individual houses. They responded to say the postcodes cover many houses and they don’t think anyone looking at the map would assume everyone taking part has a telescope. None the less I wonder if it might discourage those with expensive equipment from contributing.
I have not seen evidence their conclusions are rigorous. I do think it is encouraging those recording severe light pollution has fallen, though my concern is whether this might be due to differences in participation. It would take quite a detailed analysis of their results, looking at individual locations. In particular comparing locations where results are reported from the same or nearby locations over several years.
Best wishes,
AndyHi Max,
The quick answer is you should submit observations to both organisations, explanation as follows.
We periodically send the AAVSO updates with copies of new BAAVSS observations, but this is typically every 3-12 months. Where feasible we try to make it every 3 months, but my workload can lead to longer periods between updates and delays can also happen at the AAVSO. I do some manual house cleaning of the BAAVSS data before I compile the data files, and there is manual work at the AAVSO end to check the data and select which observations to add, as they don’t add the observations for every star in the BAA database. At some stage it would be nice to automate the whole process. However, due to the manual work at both ends this will be a few years away at best.
The BAAVSS records more information about the observations than the AAVSO, to allow future researchers to investigate individual observations should they wish to do so. It also enables the BAAVSS database to recalculate historical observations onto the latest sequence. While this isn’t applicable to many of the fainter stars we observe today, it is very useful where the BAAVSS has long term observations of stars covering many decades. These can appear as bumps in the AAVSO light curves, where a sequence was updated when more accurate comparison star magnitudes became available. Where a BAAVSS chart is recorded with the observations, there is an option to recalculate to remove these bumps from the BAAVSS database.
When I discussed submitting to both organisations with the AAVSO, they asked for BAAVSS members to submit their observations to both organisation. This avoids any delay in them appearing in the AAVSO database.
Best wishes,
Andy, BAAVSS Database SecretaryHi Paul,
I’ve noted this in the development log. To set expectations I suspect this functionality won’t change in the near future.
Part of this is down to different behaviour of the new WordPress site versus the old version of Drupal used in the previous website. Being logged out after a period of inactivity can be considered a security feature.
Even in the old website, when logging in your location prior to login wasn’t remembered. I agree this would be great but as there is a growing wish list of developments please be prepared it might not happen soon.
Cheers,
Andy (BAA Web Content Editor)Hi Mark,
That is great! Many thanks to you and Han for arranging this option in ASTAP. I have added ASTAP to the list of photometry packages on the Photometry database website page.
I will contact you separately with questions on the chart and filter.
Thanks,
AndyHi Sally,
I’m pleased to report this year’s challenges will be appearing on the website. A little work needs to happen to get them into a publishable form, so they aren’t quite ready but hopefully soon. Thanks for suggesting this.
AndyHi Mark,
For software to appear in the list on the BAA Photometry Database page, there needs to be a way for members to upload observation data files. Have you been able to do this with ASTAP or are you manually entering the observation data?
An explanation on how to convert the AAVSO file format into a format uploadable into the BAA database is given at this link.
https://britastro.org/photdb/help/BAA_Support_for_AAVSO_Extended_File_Format.pdf
Feel free to contact me offline or reply here if you would like any pointers on how to do this. I tested the modified AAVSO file format a while ago, but I am not sure if anyone is actually use this yet.
Best wishes,
Andy
BAAVSS Database SecretaryHi Mark,
There is no reason other than to appear on the list of photometry tools someone in the VSS needs to be successfully using it for photometry and submitting observations to the BAA online database. With a few tweaks to the AAVSO file format you can upload those files.
The reason for not adding more tools to the list and approaching developers is time. Running the photometry and spectroscopy databases are voluntary roles, so the list of tools is based on what members are using. I am happy to offer help and advice to anyone wishing to submit observations to the database.
Best wishes,
AndyHi Sally,
A wonderful idea. I am investigating whether it will be possible to publish these challenges.
Last year was special as we held a virtual Winchester with livestreams and recordings of the talks. This year we were not able to broadcast or record the talks at the venue. Hence it comes down to whether the lecturers give permission their talks to be published, noting sometimes lecture material is used for more than one event or isn’t in a suitable format to be easily published on a website.
Best wishes,
AndyHi Nick,
I remembering seeing similar behaviour in Maxim DL if I didn’t set the options to save the stretched image to the dynamic range of the output file. I think what is happening is you are displaying the image with a certain stretch applied to the image brightness, setting what is dark to light. However, what is being saved is unstretched or a different dark to light stretch. This may be more important for jpeg as I think they have a limited dynamic range of 8-bit.
Best wishes,
AndyHi John,
Thanks for pointing this out. The file of the corrected libration charts had gone missing, so I’ve added it back. Also the link in the file needed updating as it broke with the website migration. Also now fixed. It just goes to the handbook area of the website as this won’t break if individual files are replaced.
Best wishes,
AndyHi Grant,
Here is my understanding, though someone with more knowledge of how far this got may jump in.
The important point is the BAA was not engaging the programmers. This was to be an allocation of time from a commercial operation being setup by a BAA member. In other words this would not have been exclusively for the BAA, and the responsibility of how the IT worked was not with the BAA. Though obviously the BAA would have agreed a way to grant member access for this to go ahead. I just don’t think it reached that stage.
Best wishes,
AndyHi Grant,
My understanding is this was to be made possible via a generous allocation of time from a BAA Member who was setting up a commercial observatory. The BAA President gave a brief update recently, I think at the DSS Annual Meeting held as a webinar. The war in Ukraine put a hold on the project as the software developers are based in Ukraine.
I’m not sure it had got as far as working out how members would request observing time.
AndyIn case anyone is experiencing timeouts when logging in, this is to let you know we are aware of the problem.
It isn’t the BAA website causing the problem. The problem is at an authentication server used by Sheep CRM, employing standard software for single sign on authentication. They have tried upgrading the server, though as we have still experienced some timeouts they are doing further investigations.
If you experience a timeout, then I’ve found trying again a minute later usually works as it is an intermittent problem.
AndyHi Peter,
This is the expected behaviour. Your username is now your email address.
We’ve asked this to be updated in systems to state “email address” to avoid confusion, but this will take a while to implement.
Best wishes,
AndyIf you log out and then click to log back in without closing your browser, then you will not be asked to re-enter your password. If you close your browser, then you will be asked to re-enter your email address and password at login.
We are investigating whether there are ways to always require your email address and password to be entered. Otherwise please note you should close your browser after logging out if other people may use the computer.
Andy
Hi Jack,
I got myself a Celestron NexYZ adapter last year. I found it is good and stable with lots of adjustments.
https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/celestron-nexyz-3-axis-universal-smartphone-adapter.html
My mobile phone images are nowhere near as good as I get with even a cheap astro CMOS camera, but nice for a quick image without the hassle of connecting a laptop.
Best wishes,
Andy
Please note the following corrections to the Venus conjunctions on page 24 of the 2022 Handbook.
Venus Superior Conjunction
Should read “Superior Conjunction: Oct. 22” not “Superior Conjunction: -”
This is correct in the Sky Diary – page 5
Actual UT time of Venus superior conjunction – 2022 Oct 22 21:17Venus Inferior Conjunction
Should read “Inferior Conjunction: Jan. 9” not “Inferior Conjunction: Jan. 8”
This event is omitted from the Sky Diary – should be page 4
Actual UT time of Venus inferior conjunction – 2022 Jan 9 0:48I’ve created a PDF of errata on the Handbook webpage.
https://britastro.org/handbook
Andy
Hi Denis,
I just realised I was too quick in my reply as you were asking for the citations, not the list. I think they appear in the Journal, though I am checking. Could be a good thing to publish separately on the website.
Best wishes,
Andy
Hi Denis,
You can find them under the menu option About us -> Awards.
https://www.britastro.org/about-awards
Best wishes,
Andy
I must admit to having mixed feelings about the BAA setting up a remote telescope. I’m torn as I think it is a fabulous idea but could easily go horribly wrong unless you have someone experienced in setting up remote observatories running the project. If such a person or even better a group of people could be found then I’d have much more confidence in such an endeavour.
I wonder if a first step would be to partially or fully fund access to existing remote observatories for members. I think this existed in the past but I am unsure how well it was used. If that proved popular or couldn’t provide what members want such as a scientific photometry capability, then look at our own remote setup.
Another thing to consider with a remote setup. It is not just getting it up and running and serviceable onsite. It is also setting up a way for members to access the telescope including time allocation. The existing providers have solved these problems.
Unless anyone has any objections, I propose we move this into a thread on project proposals or remote observing, rather than under the heading of the “AGM Livestream”. I can have a go at sorting a switch early next week.
Best wishes,
Andy
