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In addition to new observing opportunities, another option might be to write that paper, or other contribution, for the Journal that you’ve been intending to do, but haven’t quite got round to next…..
Paul, another place to look at is Stargazers Lounge for sale.
I think you need to be logged in to actually reply.
Thanks for that Denis.
Actually I was thinking what other opportunities being forced to spend more time at home might bring.
I’ve decided to do a bit more visual observing, for example. Yesterday afternoon I set up a portable 10 cm refractor to look at Venus (which was excellent, but the way). But I left it out so that when I took a break from CCD photometry in the obsy later in the evening, I was able to take in some of the brighter galaxies in Leo and Virgo. It must be years since I’ve seen the likes of M65, 66 and 104. And I’d forgotten just how pleasurable it could be.
Is anyone else making different observing plans in the current situation?
Dear Richard,
excellent blog and thanks for the info about the dust storm.
Might we tempt you to speculate on how the dust storm might progress, if indeed it’s confirmed? I hope you have arranged for there not to be a major dust storm around opposition, unlike last time?
Jeremy
PS: well done to Clyde on his stunning images!!
Hello David,
Good to hear about your interest in DSLR photometry of variable stars. One major application of this technique is in the observation of Eclipsing Binary (EB) stars, especially to measure their times of minimum accurately. The Variable Star Section’s EB Secretary is Des Loughney, so a good place to start is Des’s Journal paper on the subject. Des also contributed to the AAVSO handbook on DSLR photometry, so do contact him if you need to know more. He has a column in every VSS Circular, the latest of which is here (also includes his contact details).
Also, do have a look at James Screech’s members page as it has many examples of DSLR observations.
Hope this helps. And good luck with your DSLR photometry.
Jeremy
Sounds a really interesting and worthwhile project, Eric. I hope you’ll document it and share how you get on with members.
Good luck!
Jeremy
A couple of weeks ago I shared some thinking from Constantino Sigismondi about the current fade of Betelgeuse. He’s written a piece on the recent events from both a professional and an amateur perspective. You can read it in the March edition of AGB News, lower half of page 1 to page 2.
There is an excellent article by Mark on “Supernova Betelgeuse?” on page 10 of the current VSS Circular. Well worth a read!
The star has been gradually brightening since mid Feb and is currently magnitude 1.4. Do keep on observing it until the end of the season.
Constantino Sigismondi has sent me the link to the international workshop on Betelgeuse.
This is a “virtual” workshop in which Most of the speakers are beamed in via telecon, so the quality is a bit variable….
Constantino Sigismondi has sent me the link to the international workshop on Betelgeuse.
This is a “virtual” workshop in which Most of the speakers are beamed in via telecon, so the quality is a bit variable….
Indeed, it’s sloppy calling aurorae “auroras”. I wonder if it has anything to do with the Latin motto being dropped from the new RAS logo.
On the other hand, it’s gratifying to see astronomy featured on Royal Mail stamps.
A workshop was organised by Prof. Costantino Sigismondi in Italy a couple of weeks ago to discuss Betelgeuse’s dimming. I’m told that a video of the event will be posted on its website, but it’s not there yet. Worth keeping an eye out for. In the meantime I have asked Constantino for more info…
According to a very recent paper by Constantino Sigismondi, his analyses of its light curve variously predict minimum sometime between Jan 22 and Feb 1. Time will tell whether reality bares this out.
Paul, I shall be seeking photometry that has the best possible SNR with a suitable time resolution (mutually exclusive!) to refine the ca 3.2 h period. To do, this I will be combining your data with other observers to get as long a baseline as possible. So please process your photometry with this in mind. If this is not suitable for the database (bearing in mind Andy’s guidance), then please send the data to me directly.
The upshot of all this is that 30 sec exposures are not really long enough, so stacking will help. But the real answer is to get your autoguider on line; I wish you luck with that. I have used 120 sec integrations with a C11, but which are not really long enough. Another observer is using 240 sec integrations.
A new BAA VSS visual chart for Betelgeuse has been prepared by John Toone and is available in the original article on the fading of this star. Unusually, this is an 80 degree chart, which includes many of the bright stars in the winter sky. You can also download the chart directly from the VSS website.
The latest observation in the BAA VSS database has the star a mag 1.6 (Gary Poyner, Jan 28, visual).
Further observations are encouraged to see whether the fade is actually bottoming out.
Good to hear you are getting CV data on U Leo, Paul. Hopefully you will be able to continue to get some runs during Feb.
Jeremy
Indeed, David. Variable stars are of course fascinating and I am hoping the Beeb will now make a New Year’s Resolution to make this a weekly event…..
I enjoy hearing about what other’s make of star patterns. There is a lovely chapter in Skylight Nights where the young Leslie Peltier gets up in the small hours to view an unfamiliar region of the night sky. He makes up his own constellations, but none coincide with the “standard” ones.
I tried to find Orion’s Arrow the other night, but even knowing what to look for, I struggled. Clearly I lack Mrs Basey’s imagination! Or perhaps it was that I was distracted by Betelgeuse’s faintness and that it might go supernova.
…I had it at CV = 16.0 last evening (Dec 23).
It’s getting harder for me to observe: if I don’t get it shortly after dusk it’s slipped below my local obstructions. I hope others will be able to follow into Jan so we can keep track on the recovery.
This paper by Arne Henden outlines how you can determine the faint limit of a CCD image (see page 75 for Arne’s paper). As Arne points out: “the devil is in the detail”.
This is for special projects. In other cases one should stick with the sequence for the reasons Gary gives.
