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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
Hi Robin,
Both Sections may be interested. When I did photometry of AGN I had contact both the VSS and DSS.
Cheers,
Andy
Hi Bill,
The BAA Office forwarded me your email and I replied this afternoon. This was a typo introduced when I created the email in EventBrite. It tried to automatically work out the link and unfortunately it added “.)” from the end of the sentence corrupting the link. Apologies I didn’t spot this in my checks of the email before sending. The correct link is:
https://test-for-coronavirus.service.gov.uk/collect-lateral-flow-kits
The IOP updated their guidance and requirements for the AGM after we had advertised it, so it seemed prudent to email attendees with the updated information. They have relaxed their original requirements to be more inline with other public buildings, for example COVID passes are no longer required.
These are the free lateral flow tests you can get from your local pharmacy, though now you have to provide a code. This link allows you to get a code. This is what I have to do when I go to university. I am required to take these tests twice a week when I visit campus regardless of vaccination status. Note the IOP are not requiring these tests, simply encouraging their use.
As venues get back to in-person events they are all faced with tricky decisions about where to draw the line. The virus has not gone away and so they are doing their best to tread a line between doing nothing and risking spread at their venue, or doing so much that it discourages anyone from attending. The IOP allow the BAA to use their venue and provide their staff on a Saturday all for free.
Best wishes,
Andy
Fantastic spectra Robin!
It is an intriguing method for learning about other planetary systems.
Andy
Robin, that is an interesting analysis of the AAVSO data.
I’ve taken a brief look at a couple of the papers and there is mention of different durations of totality. For the 1997-98 Graczyk et al (1999) found totality lasted 450d in U-B and 477d in B-V. While for the 1976-78 Saito et al (1980) found totality lasted just 300d, and Saito note this is “shorter than those estimated during earlier eclipses“.
I’ve not read them in detail, though I wonder if this is a clue to what is happening..
The duration Hugh found is closer to 300d than 450d, at 332d using H-beta. This appears similar to the AAVSO data analysed by Robin, where by eye it looks to be just over 300d.
Cheers,
Andy
Indeed an excellent paper by Hugh. Great to see spectra from multiple observers contributing to Hugh’s research on VV Cep.
The shift in central eclipse timing without an apparent long term change in period is a puzzle. It would be interesting to know how accurate the various central timings were over the past hundred years. I wondered whether there was any possibility that different spectral features were used to estimate the central eclipse in early work compared to modern work of the 1990’s and onwards, resulting in a systematic shift in observed in the central time.
Cheers,
Andy
Hi Tor,
The detail of the theory explains both of these problems. Indeed I believe that the Earth and Moon have similar surface compositions is one of the key lines of evidence for the theory.
First, this happened during the formation of the solar system, when there may have been more planets than we find in the solar system today. The proto-Earth and its impactor, another protoplanet probably of similar size to Mars, would have been in similar orbits. The planets would interact gravitationally which could shift them into different orbits, eject one of the protoplanets out of the solar system, or as in this theory the protoplanets collided. The merged planet and moon would follow a similar orbit around the Sun to the original protoplanets. It is worth noting this orbit isn’t necessarily exactly where the Earth and Moon are found today as gravitational interactions between the planets were common in the early solar system, before the planets settled into the orbits we find today.
In the massive impact, the outer surface of the proto-Earth and the impactor would get mixed together. Some of this material would be ejected into space, settle into an orbit around the Earth and coalesce to form the Moon. Hence the surface of the Earth and Moon are similar compositions, a blend of the proto-Earth’s surface and the impactor. You can get a better idea from this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoU9OA92trA
Best wishes,
Andy
I had a secondary mirror recoated by them about 3 years ago. They did a good job of it, though of course this was much simpler than a heavy curved mirror.
Andy
Hi John,
Glad to help.
I’ve cleared the formatting data from your post. There hidden text formatting present in word processors such as Word. I copied and pasted it into a pure text editor to remove the formatting. On Windows I use Notepad, and I forget the name of the standard one on Macs as I use Sublime Text.
Cheers,
Andy
Hi John,
Thanks for pointing out those missing Journals. I’ve added Volume 110, Numbers 1 – 3. There are changes in the pipeline so it isn’t worth doing a check of all Journals at this time. Though if any are missing that anyone needs access to sooner rather than later, let me know and I’ll get them added.
Best wishes,
Andy
Hi John,
Brief update as I’m having internet problems.
I now understand different the Journals may have been created with different security permissions. So the one you are attempting to print must have the printing option prevented.
Am I correct in thinking you have already found a work around, but this is a pain? Are you wishing to print lots of Journals/Articles or have you printed what you need.
Best wishes,
Andy
Hi John,
All of the Journals are also available in pdf format on the BAA website. You could try printing these instead.
You need to be logged in, and then you can access them at one of the following locations.
The older Journals are accessible via Publications -> Downloads -> Journal Archive.
https://britastro.org/downloads/3844
The newer Journals can be accessed via Publications -> Journals.
I was able to print pages from the August 2007 Journal without a password. This was using Acrobate DC on Windows 10.
Best wishes,
Andy
Hi Alla,
Hopefully someone with specific knowledge of your setup will respond, but I thought I’d give a few general pointers.
You’ve not mentioned whether you have been able to polar align your mount. With that type of telescope mounting the first step is to get the polar axis aligned. From the look of it, that mounting has a polar scope to help get good alignment.
Then you typically go through a one or two star alignment, where you need to know a few bright stars.
I’ve found even with aligned GoTo telscopes, they won’t always get your selected object in the eyepiece. Sometimes they are spot on, but otherwise they’ll get it close and you then need to look around a bit, usually with the help of the finderscope.
If you don’t find someone to visit, then you may have a local astronomy society who can help. Looking on our page of Local Societies affiliated to the BAA, I see there is a North Essex Society.
https://britastro.org/links_affiliated
https://www.northessexastro.co.uk
I’m not sure how far they are from you. During normal times, some local societies hold telescope workshops or star parties, where you could get some help.
Best wishes,
Andy
Hi Stan,
I have just sent you an email about changing your name on the website.
Best wishes,
Andy (BAA Systems Administrator)
There are also the Celestron Starsense and Meade Starlock. The drawback is that I think these only work with their products, but sound a lot like what you describe.
A few years ago I got the equivalent 50mm guide scope and camera, currently selling for £235 on this page. I think it was more expensive when I bought it and prices have come down. They do various options, including the telescope guider body with a non-rotating helical focuser on which you could put your own camera of choice for £109.
https://www.altairastro.com/guide-scopes-97-c.asp
Of course the main purpose of this setup is as a guide camera rather than a digital finder, but I found it worked perfectly for my purpose. A GoTo mount that wasn’t quite good enough to always put the target in the small field of view of the guide camera on a spectrograph.
Best wishes,
Andy
I’ve now merged V1405 Cas and Nova Cas 2021 into a single object. Either id can be used to upload data, and they will both show in the V1405 Cas light curve.
Cheers,
Andy (BAA Photometry Database Manager)
Another couple of thoughts. Fundamentally, even with a “perfect” telescope a star is a disc due to diffraction in the optics, and you rarely see performance at the diffraction limit as atmospheric turbulence blurs this disc.
Cheers,
Andy
Hi Lars,
I’m afraid there is nothing in the BAA Spectroscopy Database. It is on the faint side for most spectroscopists at around 14th magnitude, but there are some who can go that faint.
Best wishes,
Andy
Hi Mike,
Hopefully one of our current AIP4Win users will jump in. If not then I can offer you some help by reviewing your spreadsheet results. I have a little knowledge of AIP4in though I’ve not used it in many years. I manage the BAA VSS/Photometry database and did a lot of the work to create the spreadsheet. I’ll also be the person to set you up with a login.
You can contact me via my official BAA email address photdbm@britastro.org.
As you’ve already got AIP4Win and the spreadsheet working, you are well on the way to submitting observations!
Best wishes,
Andy
