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I see the “logged in” cookies but they are all set to expire at the end of the session (which is why I am being logged out) while others are not.
I have just edited the expiry time on these cookies to a date in the future and I stay logged in
Robin
Aha, that is cunning, Robin. I tried without success in my iPhone and iPad.
AI tells me “iOS Limitations: Apple’s iOS and Safari do not provide a user setting to alter, extend, or shorten individual cookie lifespans or session timeouts.”
But if any iOS users have a work around, let me know.
Is that a P Cyg profile in the H_alpha line in the Tessier spectrum but not from the prism?
Hi Jeremy,
I think it is probably an artefact from the spline fit I used to reduce the resolution down to match Mike’s resolution. There was a P Cygni profile at ~1500km/s in early spectra 25/26 Aug but it was soon engulfed by the emission. Here is H alpha in Francois’ spectra at full resolution. You can see the P Cygni profile in the earliest spectrum (and in my low resolution spectrum from 25th) but not after (The narrow lines are telluric water lines)
Cheers
RobinHello Robin,
ah, that makes sense. Thank you. Yes, I noticed the P Cyg profile in your earlier spectrum.
Would Mike’s prism have sufficient resolution to see the signal when present? Or a Star Analyser, for that matter? – I seem to recall you showed it with P Cyg itself, but I was wondering about novae.
Go well!
JeremyI use several devices to view the BAA web page (phone, iPad and Windows PC) and using Chrome, I’m logged out immediately I close the page. This has always been the case – and it’s really annoying. If there is something lurking behind the scenes causing a ‘time out’ then it’s doing it on all devices, and only for the BAA.
Gary
It’s an odd one, Gary. I too am logged out as soon as I move to another tab (I don’t even close tab) on iPad and iPhone in Safari. Yet other websites retained me as logged in.
But I rarely have to login in my Macbook in Chrome. Which I much prefer.
The spectroscopy database is not designed to take spectrum images and though digitisation is straightforward using freely available software
Here is a “quick and dirty” digitised spectrum off the jpg of the observation 2026-08-31 compared with one from the same night by Francois Teyssier from the ARAS database at much higher resolution so spline smoothed for this comparison.
For wavelength calibration I used a 4th order polynomial based on 8 identified emission lines and since I did not have a reference star for flux calibration, I rectified (flattened) the spectra.
Apart for the strength of the H alpha line which was saturated in the jpg image, the agreement looks good.Cheers
RobinNice work Robin. Is that a P Cyg profile in the H_alpha line in the Tessier spectrum but not from the prism?
Mike,
as I have commented before, you are always welcome to write something up for the Circular tor Journal.
On a broader point, the BAA Gallery is a place to present ones images, and it is good that you do that, but it it not the place to submit observations for analysis because it is not an observational archive. The place to submit VSS observations is the Photometry Database or the Spectroscopy Database. Submitting to these ensures the data are archived properly and available to all.
I can also add that VSS Circular articles (like JBAA papers) appear on the NASA ADS, where they are also available to all. Contributions welcome.
Jeremy
Some promising news breaking
On 27 July, as part of my asteroid occultation work with my remote telescope in Galicia, Spain, I noted an interesting feature in the lightcurve of an occultation by asteroid (8007) of the star UCAC4 354-170588.
Following subsequent analysis and peer review, CBET 5730 has now been published, reporting the discovery of a satellite of the asteroid.
http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iau/cbet/005700/CBET005730.txt
I’ve attached figures illustrating the event.
Regards,
Michael O’ConnellExcellent work, Michael!
Jim Wild, RAS President, writes:
“The Royal Astronomical Society welcomes an upcoming debate at the Houses of Parliament about cuts impacting astronomy and encourages all Fellows to contact their MPs to urge them to attend.
It will take place on Tuesday 1 September from 1-1.30pm in Westminster Hall.
Last month it emerged that measures to address a devastating funding crisis will put a wide range of UK astronomy projects, facilities and international partnerships under severe pressure.
The recent warning that astronomy at Jodrell Bank Observatory could end has attracted significant public attention, but it is only one part of a much broader picture. Other internationally important programmes are also threatened, such as UK involvement in the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) in Hawaiʻi, prompting serious concern from the RAS about the future strength and breadth of UK astronomy.
The consequences of the cuts are only just starting to emerge, and their impact will also extend well beyond astronomy, affecting other strategically important areas of UK science, including particle physics and nuclear research.
Intense lobbying from the RAS and leading scientists has undoubtedly helped soften the blow for UK astronomy, but the future is still bleak and the cuts so deep that more needs to be done to campaign for a re-think.
The latest analysis of the impact of the cuts across STFC-funded fundamental astronomy projects is 35 per cent, which sits uncomfortably against the headline figure of the 10 per cent budget reduction to projects quoted by UKRI and is much closer to the impacts originally feared at the beginning of the year.
RAS President Professor Jim Wild said: “The Westminster debate is a chance for us to continue to make our case.”
I have written to several of the Cheshire MPs, including the MP for Congleton where Jodrell Bank sits, about Jodrell and the cuts more broadly and have been assured of their support.
I urge others to write to their MPs.
Tampo-san (SAAO) writes:
“PNV J19450648+1822422 was originally discovered by the NMW-TexasTech
survey. Its position coincides with a known eclipsing binary candidate
in Gaia, with an orbital period of 9.9011 d. Thus, time-resolved
observations may reveal eclipses during its decline as the photosphere
recedes.”It turns out that there was a false signal and this is not eclipsing. Sebastian Otero has updated the VSX entry accordingly
Official name of N Sge 2026 is V488 Sge
http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iau/cbet/005700/CBET005729.txtI’ve just created an object entry for ‘Nova Sge 2026’ in the image gallery, and tagged last night’s images.
It can’t happen very often that there are two active novae at the same time, called ‘Nova Sge 2026’ and ‘Nova Sgr 2026’!
I haven’t created an entry for ‘Nova Sgr 2026’ yet as I don’t think any images have been uploaded, but I will add it if any observations appear.
Great idea, Dominic – thanks.
Yes, much going on in the field of novae right now, what with these two plus N Aql 2026 and N Tau 2026.Kevin,
Gaia measured the parallax of the precursor of the nova. The median geometric distance is 6255.57227 parsecs (ca 20,400 ly)
Jeremy
There is now a chart and sequence available from AAVSO VSP, though I had some difficulty downloading just now, so appending here (5 deg field).
The brightest star, left of centre) is delta Sagittae.
Attachments:
VSX details of precursor (g~20): https://vsx.aavso.org/index.php?view=detail.top&oid=10762522
Tampo-san (SAAO) writes:
“PNV J19450648+1822422 was originally discovered by the NMW-TexasTech
survey. Its position coincides with a known eclipsing binary candidate
in Gaia, with an orbital period of 9.9011 d. Thus, time-resolved
observations may reveal eclipses during its decline as the photosphere
recedes.”The official name is V8055 Sgr
http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iau/cbet/005700/CBET005724.txt
The official name has been announced: V1452 Tau
http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iau/cbet/005700/CBET005723.txt
I think Robin and Paul are right. Engaging via online fora is one of the best ways to show people the science side of astronomy. All 3 of us spend quite a bit of time on SGL. Robin is often posting about spectroscopy and Paul if often pointing out to imagers the interesting objects that are in the images of well known objects they post, like globulars in M31.I sometimes post about variable stars. It’s a matter of gently encouraging others to do more.
