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Hi
Recently I attended a mini starparty here in Ireland at a private observatory, it was the first event I attended since the Covid pandemic started to loose its grip on us, there were some excellent talks some of historical nature including one on the unknown Russian “Herouni Antenna” aswell as the discovery of 9 Metis at Markree Castle Observatory in the 1840’s
I was also on the bill and gave a detailed talk about John Birmingham and Millbrook Observatory. I give an insight into his amazing skill and accomplishments including his discovery of T Coronae Borealis along his many detailed celestial observations. I also delve into some of the bigger events he observed like the Leonids of 1866, the great Aurora of February 1872 and the Transit of Venus 1882, while I finish talk about his famous Red Star catalogue of 1877.
I recorded the talk I and you can view it at https://youtu.be/5pv97uM3434
Hi
Just to add to this thread, a photo of John Birmingham was actually discovered last year by accident, it was hidden amongst other family portraits..
The portrait, further information about John about its discovery can be viewed at https://milltown.galwaycommunityheritage.org/content/people/our-milltown-men/john-birmingham/john-birmingham-his-portrait-discovered.
I am currently working on an updated talk about John Birmingham and the legacy of his observatory and spent the afternoon sifting through all his historical correspondence and observations.
Thanks
Would you have a link to the Haley’s Comet Memoir as I am unable to locate it on the Publication page?
Thank you
Hi Bill
Yes an excellent event and well done to the organisers, Callum, Sandra and Lyn for making it such an enjoyable day on my first visit to Scotland.
The event was hosted by the “Inverclyde Skywatchers” Astronomy Group who actually have weekly meetings and appear to have a very strong bond among their members. Marion O’Neill gave us a short and entertaining look at the group and very inspiring look at their society. Hear Marion talking about her society and its beginnings http://www.isw.space/audio/ISW%20one%20-%20Inverclyde%20Radio%20Prog.mp3
The first two talks were very interesting especially the first by Natasha Jeffery which is close to my area of interest being the Sun and Space weather, the second talk was more of the deep sky talk by Annette Ferguson on Galaxies, not something I though would be to my liking but became more fascinating as she went further into her talk, two brilliant talks over all, For the second session I watched Callum Potter give a nice round up of the different types deep sky objects from easy to hard and online resources while Owen Brazell talked about Charts, Catalogues again with a nice bit about online apps and resources.
Finally well done to Gary Palmer on an excellent presentation on close up Solar Imaging and letting us handle some of his very expensive equipment he uses for his Solar shots, not to be left out Sandra Brantingam gave us a lasting impression on the topic of STEVE (Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement) and its association to picket-fence aurora. Looking forward to the next event
Ronan Newman
Thanks Bill, well not everything was destroyed or lost as we only recovered in the past week, most of his fine 18th century instruments were sold in an auction but in relation to his drawings and observations they were lost as mentioned in the following extract.
John left all his astronomical records and writings to Rev. Thomas Webb in Hereford, but Webb who died shortly after John handed them on to Rev. Thomas Espin. It was Espin who industriously completed John’s second edition of ‘The Red Stars’ which the Royal Irish Academy then published. When Espin, a bachelor, died in Co. Durham, angry local people set fire to the contents of his house, so all John’s material was destroyed.
Thanks
Ronan
Hi Gary
Thanks for your message, unfortunately there is no photo or portrait of the man himself, there more than likely was one somewhere but has become lost in the 130 years since his death,
Best Regards
Ronan
Well done Michael, that’s interesting data, Was out myself watching for them last night in very dark skies of (Connemara) western County Galway and not one did see in a 90 min session from 11.30 – 0100, Maybe if I waited longer I may have seen some but as you know it can be a difficult shower to observe with the low radiant. Did catch a faint aurora though 🙂
Hi to the group.
Hello again to Nick, its been a while since the Mayo Dark Sky Festival you attended and spoke twice at in 2016, thanks also for using my photo in your December Highlights talk at the IOP. Was a surprise but nice to see my photo being used in your talk. Thank again
I would be delighted to present my new and in depth talk about Noctilucent Clouds to any English Astronomy Society if asked.
Great Forum and great to be a member of the BAA.
Off now to go observing…Thanks
Ronan Newman
