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If anyone has any good photos or video clips from Saturday and would be willing to (potentially) have them included in the meeting video please send them to me on ndj@nickdjames.com.
It would be good to see a few thumbnails posted here too. I’ll start the ball rolling with the attached.
Nick.
Alex,
The audio and slides are loaded on my PC so the recording should be up on the site in the next few weeks or so. All the talks were very good but Allan’s stood out as he put Patrick’s life in the context of other astronomy popularisers of the past. He also did a good job of putting some of Patrick’s taller stories in context. Patrick was in a good company since apparently Galileo and Newton did the same thing…
Nick.
Those were the days when comets were real comets not the puny little fuzzballs that we have to put up with now!
Here’s a direct link to the Youtube Vid that Bill mentions. Nice NLC. I haven’t seen any myself so far this year.
Nick.
Mike,
Very nice image and that is one hell of a telescope but it certainly burns through the points! I’m planning to have a go at this object during the Webb Society meeting in a few weeks time.
Nick
Hi Cameron,
Very nice image. I observe from a light polluted site too and it can be a challenge but modern imaging equipment can do a lot even from very bright sites. Feel free to post some more images on this forum when you’re ready and if you have any questions please ask.
Nick.
Gary,
Here’s an image from tonight. I assume the SN is the brightish thing around 3 arcsec SE of the core but it is difficult to separate it from the core and I don’t have any comparison pics to check.
Nick.
Alex,
There’s a good summary of the prospects for this shower by Rob McNaught here. This is an updated version of the presentation given at the recent The Astronomer meeting. David Asher also has a very good summary on his page here.
There are some images of the parent comet (a real pygmy) in the BAA comet archive here.
Nick.
That is sad news. Dud was certainly a great character and great entertainment. His Fullerscopes telescopes really looked the part too. I had a 12-inch Newtonian on a MkIV mount for many years and it did a pretty good job although some of the mechanical engineering was novel. That was never Fullerscopes’ strong point. I also used the 18″ f/7 at Charterhouse, Somerset when I was a lad. It looked very impressive in the 1975 Handbook photo shown below and was even more impressive close up although it was a brute to use and I think Jeremy Shears had broken it before I got there…
Nick.
Robin,
Getting a spectrum with that dispersion of an object that faint is very impressive stuff. Do you know if there is a central database of amateur spectra anywhere?
Nick.
Yes, a very good meeting, well attended at an excellent venue with a nice lunch too. Thanks to everyone involved in the organisation. I’ve got recordings of the talks and the speakers’ slides so I’ll upload these soonish so that those who were not there can get a flavour of the event. In the meantime here are a couple of photos from the event.
Prof Andrew Norton talking about Gamma Ray Bursts
The OU Meade 16-inch in a Norman Walker floating dome
Hi Sheridan,
I don’t currently have any suggestions for covers but referring to Pluto as a “minor planet” is likely to get the “Pluto is a planet” supporters rather upset. It is officially a “dwarf planet” although, to me, it is just a giant, dormant, comet nucleus…
Nick.
Yes, welcome to the BAA. As Jeremy says the VSS are a very active section and they will be able to provide a lot of help and guidance with regard to variable star observing. There are lots of other sections too so have a browse around the site to see what you are interested in. Also, since you are in Walton access to London is fairly easy so come along to one of our main meetings if you can. We also have a meeting next weekend in Milton Keynes which is themed around stars. If you do make it to a meeting search me out and say hello.
Nick.
Indeed. An excellent weekend all round and I would definitely encourage people to come along. It’s a great opportunity to see excellent talks in a rural environment with very good food and plenty of time to discuss astronomy (and many other things) in the bar afterwards. All the talks were excellent but Gerry Gilmore’s talk on Gaia was outstanding and an absolute model of how to do it. You need to get your booking in early though since spaces are always limited.
Nick.
Hi James,
There has been a lot of discussion about this and it is pretty unlikely that this is a meteorite. The Minor Planets Mailing List discussion on this is worth reading. You can find it here.
Nick.
Paul,
Unfortunately not. According to the Handbook, page 10, the penumbral phase starts at 04:53 just as the moon is setting so I suppose it is possible that observers with a very clear western horizon might see some effects but it will be a difficult observation. The next TLE is October 8th (Handbook page 12) and we don’t get to see any of that either!
Nick.
