Robin Leadbeater

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Viewing 20 posts - 441 through 460 (of 1,188 total)
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  • in reply to: Jonathan Shanklin honoured #583453
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    Quite literally (I’ll get my coat)

    Congratulations  to JS

    in reply to: Novae Cas and Per 2020 H alpha at medium resolution #583451
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    nm I can cope with (though the need to include a decimal point when defining well known lines is ugly). It is the use of Janskys for flux in optical spectra instead of the traditional (but definitely not SI) erg/cm2/sec/Angstrom that really throws me when I see it as being based on frequency, it completely changes the shape of the spectrum. 

    in reply to: Novae Cas and Per 2020 H alpha at medium resolution #583440
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    Actually I debated that briefly. The wavelength range in the images is approximate as the dispersion is non linear and it is a crop and I could not be bothered to work out the exact wavelengths to the nearest Angstrom.  I used nm as 10 Angstrom was close enough 🙂

    in reply to: Nova in Perseus #583422
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    This relatively modern paper sums it up (I did not realise before that some of these lines do not always track the dust or even each other)

    https://arxiv.org/abs/1406.7006

    in reply to: Nova in Perseus #583421
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    When I first saw it I expected it to be atomic in origin because it looks so narrow (Think NaD or K 7699 interstellar lines) but I found no matches. Apparently it is probably (I should say possibly, nothing seems very clear from the literature I have found) formed by a high molecular weight PAH molecule but exactly which one is not clear. It is fascinating that something  that is seen in so many spectra and has been known about for many decades is still a mystery

    Cheers

    Robin

    in reply to: embedded links in forum posts #583413
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    Perfect ! Thanks David.  (I had tried underlining but that did not work so did not explore further.) I have changed my recent post. I think Bold, Italic looks quite good 🙂

    Cheers

    Robin

    in reply to: Nova in Perseus #583411
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    An R~5500 LHIRES spectrum of Halpha/He I 6678 last night. 

    Lots of evolution over a day in spectra in BAA database

    The interstellar line at 6613 is strong too. (I did a bit of Googling on that last night and it seems although it is thought to be molecular in origin, the species does not seem to be known. Does anyone know more about this )

    in reply to: How useful are Video cameras for Photometry #583401
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    Long exposure astro cameras with higher dynamic range are certainly better for photometry but I played around with  8 bit camera photometry a few years back and found it was possible to do high(ish) precision photometry with 8 bit cameras (even exoplanets, just)  provided you sum many frames to get the counts. eg

    http://www.threehillsobservatory.co.uk/astro/Photometry_GO_Com.htm

    http://www.threehillsobservatory.co.uk/astro/TrES_1.htm

    One thing to watch though with these cameras is that the gamma is set to 1 so the response is linear.

    Cheers

    Robin

    in reply to: Nova in Perseus #583393
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    http://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=14224

    The confirming spectrum was taken with an ALPY600 and 10 inch telescope

    (Here it was clear earlier last night but the arrival of the alert in my in box coincided with that of the clouds)

    Robin

    in reply to: SN 2020uxz in NGC514 #583342
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    Another spectrum at ~12 days past maximum. Still bright at ~mag 14.5 but interfering moonlight reduced the SNR.  Significant evolution since the pre maximum spectrum 

    https://britastro.org/specdb/data_graph.php?obs_id=8176%2C8020&multi=yes&legend_pos=ne

    but still a good match to a typical type Ia 

    in reply to: Nova M31 #583308
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    Yes this one is against a bright background. This can be subtracted out using regions above and below the target in the slit but it does depend on this being uniform (both in brightness and spectroscopically) so you have to watch for galactic features. 

    The last time I checked the ATels  this group were suggesting the spectrum resembles that of an F star. This rather rang alarm bells with me though as that is that is what might be expected from the integrated light from the galaxy. I see now here though it has been classified as an Fe II nova. What brightness would you estimate?  (Not that I am going to be observing any time soon from the forecast. As I am writing this the hailstones are hammering on the window)  

    in reply to: Nova M31 #583309
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    These are some I have managed to tease out in the past (full scale in the attachment)

    in reply to: Nova M31 #583306
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    Hi Nick,

    Has 2020vak been positively identified as an M31 nova?  I am not saying it isn’t but it wasn’t clear from  the amateur spectrum posted on TNS

    https://wis-tns.weizmann.ac.il/object/2020vak

    Cheers

    Robin

    in reply to: IX Dra: observations requested #583291
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    Today I noticed the graphs had gone from my posts . I have put the latest back into the 26th Oct post. Any thoughts on the reasons? Are some formats preferred?”

    file size perhaps?  jpg of graphical images tend to be larger and poorer quality than png for example

    Robin

    in reply to: AT2020ydk a bright transient in ugc 2730 #583286
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    Interestingly there was another transient AT2020ftc discovered the same date 10 hours earlier at almost (but not quite) the same coordinates I wonder if it is the same object, one with incorrect coordinates or perhaps an asteroid? 

    in reply to: AT2020ydk a bright transient in ugc 2730 #583285
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    Forget it. I have just noticed although it has just been put on TNS the discovery date is 2020-04-02. A bit late for them to be announcing it !

    in reply to: Welcome to Leeds – light pollution city #583279
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000nysp

    at 22min 43sec

    Advisory –  not suitable for astronomers of a nervous disposition or those with high blood pressure  

    in reply to: AY Lac #583249
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    Another spectrum on a better night (2hr 20min exposure at mag ~15.5 The limit at this resolution).   Not much happening compared with a week ago

    https://britastro.org/specdb/data_graph.php?obs_id=8021%2C8002&multi=yes

    Robin

    in reply to: AY Lac #583243
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    Interesting. The spectrum seems consistent with a dwarf nova outburst. I managed to salvage a couple of short exposure spectra from aborted runs on the 10th and 12th. They are very noisy though so the only significant feature is the hot continuum shape.

    Robin

     

    in reply to: AY Lac #583236
    Robin Leadbeater
    Participant

    A short clear spell tonight. Not long enough to get a spectrum but off the spectrograph guider it looked about a magnitude fainter than on 8th  

Viewing 20 posts - 441 through 460 (of 1,188 total)