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There are several other choice publications on today’s ArXiv listing. I like:
“I’m in AGNi: A new standard for AGN pluralisation”
and
“Multi-Messenger Astrology“Hello Stewart,
I was looking at Mazin Younis’s fine image of the nova (https://britastro.org/observations/observation.php?id=20240316_060436_8e8e3dc829f92b9d) and noticed it was a busy field, yet the VSP chart shows no bright stars that might contaminate the photometry aperture. The nearest is 113, but that’s still a fair distance. What does a visual sense check of the image suggest relative to the comps: 12 or 13.5?
The most recent obs at 13.2V on March 16.792, though that observer seems to report almost a mag brighter than others. What is the time of your observation compare? And just to confirm you deployed a V filter (the nova is much brighter in R).
JS
Here is the relevant part of the painting, from the paper
Attachments:
yes, its a different painting. Apparently monkeys like optics.
Here’s a direct link to the paper: https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/2403/2403.02857.pdfCostantino Sigismondi reports Betelgeuse is dimming and is now as faint as it has been for two years:
https://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=16501whilst nothing like as faint as it got during the great dimming of a few years ago, it’s worth keeping an eye on as Orion dips towards the west.
As part of the project, the organising team has prepared an educational package for children about Mary’s life and astronomical interest: https://outsidearts.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/MB-Teaching-Resource-Final-Version.pdf
I note from the Historical Section newsletter that Mike Frost will be speaking at the Cheadle event on Friday March 29 at 4pm on “Cheadle Moon, BAA Pioneering Women”.
I’ve not seen any recent imaging or photometry, which I think is why Tom Killestein is calling for observations.
It is located 15″.8 west and 0″.3 south of the center of NGC 6004.
This is a pretty faint SN (mag 17.4 at discovery), so you will need a fairly large telescope and long exposures (minutes). The London skies won’t help, but give it a try – you never know what you might turn up.My Journal arrived this morning. I suppose it might have been delivered earlier, but this is the first Royal Mail delivery in my area this week. We have been lucky to get 3 deliveries a week for the last year. Thank goodness for the digital edition!
You wait ages and two recurrent nova remnant papers come up in the same week!
This MNRAS submission is on the RN T Pyx. The title is “3D physical structure and angular expansion of the remnant of the recurrent nova T Pyx”: https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.07879
The last eruption of T Pyx was in 2011. The remnant has a bipolar structure. The expansion velocity is ~460 km/s.
Couldn’t they pick a more confusing name for the NSR? Thank you very much for the link to ArXiv, Jeremy.
Spot on Max. I tripped myself up over the name a few times!
An MNRAS preprint on ArXiv today (https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.05855) describes the discovery of a nova super-remnant (NSR) cavity surrounding RS Ophiuchi. The team from Liverpool John Moores and Royal Observatory Edinburgh used archival FIR images from IRAS.
An NSR is a vast extended shell surrounding a recurrent nova (RN) formed by the cumulative effect of eruptions sweeping up local interstellar medium. It is speculated that all RNe should result in an NSR, but the only other one confirmed so far is that associated with M31N 2008-12a, in the Andromeda Galaxy, which is the most frequently erupting RN.
It will certainly be interesting to see what new insights emerge from analysis of the occultation, Alex!
An MNRAS submission on “Images of Betelgeuse with VLTI/MATISSE across the Great Dimming” appears on ArXiv today: https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.12404
The authors present mid-infrared long-baseline spectro-interferometric measurements of Betelgeuse taken with the VLTI/MATISSE instrument before (Dec. 2018), during (Feb. 2020), and after (Dec. 2020) the Global Dimming Event. This supports the theory that the dimming was due to dust (especially SiO) being blown off by the red supergiant.
Why don’t we all try it in the bar on Saturday night? The tune is well know. Sounds like a choral hit to me, rather than a solo.
Gary
Sounds like an expensive round for Alan!
They showed a few supposed Geminids on the BBC 10 O’clock News last night (or perhaps the weather) and one of them looked more like a satellite trail.
Pity as they did such a good job the night before showing Grant Privett’s pic of a Gem over Stonehenge: https://britastro.org/observations/observation.php?id=20231214_111751_3c1da223edee8f06
I, too, am not far off my 50th anniversary. Whilst it might have been nice to have a free membership, it does seem odd in this day and age that I should pay nothing, yet people just joining would pay the full rate. It seems neither fair nor necessary. This is especially the case considering the financial deficit that the Association has been running for many years (fortunately counteracted by the benevolence of former members who have left legacies).
The BAA has been a central and constant theme of my life. I’d like to think that if you cut me in half you would read the Association’s name running though me like a stick of rock. That for me is the honour.
I actually applied for membership at Christmas 1973 (where did those 50 years go?) and was elected in early 1974. However, I was an impecunious schoolboy so had to drop out for a couple of years, rejoining in 1978. So that is when my continuous membership starts. We should indeed be making it more affordable for young people to join. In fact I wrote to the President at the time to suggestion a lower rate for young people, but it was many years before it came to pass. Which is why I proposed a motion at the 2023 SGM, seconded by Nick James, not to increase the young person’s membership rate (as reported in the current Journal).
By all means bring the motion to continue Honorary Memberships – and thanks for starting such an engaging debate – but I won’t be supporting it. But I would support Gary’s proposal for free Horlicks at meetings!
Sorry I can’t help Grant, but it makes me glad that my meteor camera laptop has been running more or less continuously for 10 years outside in the obsy in all weathers. It runs Windows XP and of course has a mechanical hard drive. I bought it second hand so it was probably already 2 years old.
Having written this I’ve probably tempted fate…..A couple of years ago I bought a brand new ThinkPad for CDD work. It’s not left in the obsy. SSD died after 9 months. Replaced under warranty.
