Robin Leadbeater

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Viewing 20 posts - 221 through 240 (of 1,154 total)
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  • in reply to: New website feedback #608001
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    Logging in every time is getting tedious and the login always taking you back to the home page instead of staying on the page you were on adds to the frustration. Definitely need a keep logged in cookie

    in reply to: New website feedback #608000
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    Forum posting form seems to be plain text only. How are images, links, attachments added ?

    in reply to: New website feedback #607999
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    On mobiles the login option is right at the bottom of a long list, neededing to scroll down several pages. Suggest bringing it to a prominent position at the top

    in reply to: New website feedback #607975
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    Another post has disappeared 🙁

    EDIT It may be related to adding complete web addresses. The post stayed when I shortened the addresses as below

    Trying again

    Some content which was free access previously is now members only. Is that a policy decision ?

    eg
    ….videos/pushing-the-limits-using-commercial-spectrographs-2
    ….videos/using-low-resolution-spectroscopy-to-confirm-supernova-discoveries-2

    which I have linked to on other forums

    Cheers
    Robin

    in reply to: New website feedback #607971
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    Just added a post here, then edited it but it has disappeared ???

    Robin

    EDIT It was about multiple wrongly directed links on
    https://britastro.org/section_information_/equipment-and-techniques-section-overview/spectroscopy
    EDIT no idea where that graphic is from I just entered the full address of the page with the wrong links

    ….section_information_/equipment-and-techniques-section-overview/spectroscopy

    in reply to: New website feedback #607969
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    Multiple wrongly directed links from
    https://britastro.org/section_information_/equipment-and-techniques-section-overview/spectroscopy

    Spectroscopy workshop at the Norman Lockyer Observatory October 2015
    Alpy 600 Spectrograph workshop, Kintbury, October 2016
    Observers’ Workshop on Variable Stars, Photometry and Spectroscopy, 29 Sep 2018
    Using low resolution spectroscopy to confirm and classify supernovae (video from BAA meeting January 2018)
    Starting in Spectroscopy (video from BAA/AAVSO joint meeting on variable stars, July 2018)
    Pushing the limits using commercial spectrographs (video from BAA/AAVSO joint meeting on variable stars, July 2018)
    Towards full automation of high resolution spectroscopy (video from BAA/AAVSO joint meeting on variable stars, July 2018)
    HST CALSPEC calibrated absolute flux spectra for converting relative intensity to FLAM units

    EDIT No idea where the graphic came from, I just entered the address of the page
    https://britastro.org/section_information_/equipment-and-techniques-section-overview/spectroscopy”

    in reply to: Logging in to the new website #607967
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    Is there a way to stay permanently logged in like on the old site ?

    Thanks
    Robin

    in reply to: Following JWST through Orion to L2 #585270
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    Even allowing for the trailing, that looks quite a bit fainter than the mag 13 Nick reported on 5th. The adjacent bright star  is  SDSS J081542.48+144838.9  at g mag 15 

    in reply to: imminent merger of supermassive black hole binary ? #585217
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    A low resolution spectrum taken last night (3 hours exposure) showing a very broad H alpha emission with velocities up  to +-12000km/s

    https://britastro.org/observations/observation.php?id=20220207_205606_9d5b2259183a3d41

    Cheers

    Robin

    in reply to: distribution of C2 #585213
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    Thanks Nick,

    I’ve found the original preprints of Comets II are available to download from the Lunar & Planetary Institute. Plenty of reading there !

    in reply to: distribution of C2 #585202
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    Hi Maxim,

    Thanks for the reference. ( I am on a steep learning curve here !) I can understand how the Swings effect could enhance or suppress the strength of the resonance emission due to the velocity relative to the sun (The distributions are normalised relative to the intensity at the coma centre so don’t show the absolute strengths) but I don’t follow how that could alter the shape of the CN distribution. Would this be due to the resulting radiation pressure sweeping the CN away from the coma into the tail,  like  Sodium in 2020 F3 ?

     That reference to parent molecules and the Haser model on your Fernandez page 68  did remind me of some comments from Jeff Morgenthaler of the IoIO team on my F3 cross sections.

     “CN is produced from a parent molecule, likely HCN.  The combination of that double process ends up extending the lifetime of CN to photodissociation (destruction by sunlight).  I have not done the conversion of angular scale to distance from the comet on your night of observation, but the characteristic scale length of CN emission when comets are at 1 AU from the sun tends to be about 20,000 km.  C2 is a little weirder in terms of parent molecules.  It seems to have two dominant ones, leading to a flat profile in the inner few thousand km of the coma.  Then it drops off with a profile slightly shorter than CN.”

    So perhaps I need to consider the effect of sunlight on both  the rate of production and destruction of CN and C2 and  follow up on the Haser model.

     

    Thanks

    Robin

    in reply to: distribution of C2 #585190
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    Is CN also broken down by sunlight, though at perhaps a slower rate than C2 ?”

    Actually, answering my own question  it looks like that cannot be the explanation as CN is seen  widely distributed in the cross section  through the tail of 2020 F3. Any ideas of what is going on? 

    in reply to: Following JWST through Orion to L2 #585170
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    So.. I went looking for what Lee Feinberg actually said in the teleconference. He did indeed say it could be seen with binoculars in Ursa Major, but…… he was talking about the target they were going to use to collimate the mirror (HD84406)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmD8pefGG2k&t=949s   39 minutes in

    in reply to: Following JWST through Orion to L2 #585169
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    To be fair, NASA do have access to some pretty large binoculars !

    in reply to: Following JWST through Orion to L2 #585106
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    Phew! Now lets hope all the 126 actuators which align the mirror segments work ok. The number of moving parts in the instruments is mind boggling too.  NIRSpec apparently has a matrix of a quarter of a million focal plane “microshutters”  

    in reply to: Awards citations #585005
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    Perhaps past citations where available could also be added as links from the list of recipients? As well as of individual interest it would reflect the overall achievements of the Association and its members as a whole.

    in reply to: Awards citations #585003
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    I don’t think they are published consistently. I remember looking for my 2019 Merlin Medal in the Journal and could not find one.  I recall it was not mentioned at the meeting when I received it either so AFAIK there is no public record of why I received it.!

    in reply to: Nova in Aries? #584993
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    I took another quick look, dodging the showers under poor conditions, this time with the very low resolution faint object setup.

    The emission lines are very narrow (which confirms it is not a classical nova) so do not show well at the lower resolution but the blue continuum is unchanged.

    in reply to: Microlensing event – Gaia21efs #584991
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    The  angular size of the lensed star could be inferred from the Gaia parallax, the apparent magnitude and the spectral classification.

    in reply to: Microlensing event – Gaia21efs #584990
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    I can’t offhand think of any way this could be determined spectroscopically. Do you have a suggestion? I am guessing that might be one of the parameters in the light curve fit  but I don’t know the details. 

    Cheers

    Robin

Viewing 20 posts - 221 through 240 (of 1,154 total)