Using a lunar eclipse to measure the diameter of the Earth’s shadow
Lunar eclipses are often occasions for amateurs to take spectacular images of the red Moon. During a recent lunar eclipse
Read moreLunar eclipses are often occasions for amateurs to take spectacular images of the red Moon. During a recent lunar eclipse
Read moreIn Part I we described the interplay of airborne and settled dust with surface features. Here we review meteorological phenomena. Seasonal date limits for the Equatorial Cloud Band and orographic clouds were similar to past years. Despite an unfavourable value of tilt, north polar spiral clouds were witnessed during Ls = 126–153°. Frontal systems, in the form of bands of clouds inclined to the equator and moving off the N. polar region, were recorded. Observers watched to see if the near-opposition coincidence of the sub-Earth and subsolar latitudes on 2016 May 20–21 would result in ‘flashes’ from the Schiaparelli crater in Edom, as in 2001, but the +10° coincidence in the latitude fell too far north, and none were reported. The detachment of Olympia from the NPC occurred by Ls = 72°. The N. polar cap was progressively covered by the hood during Ls = 163–172°, later than in 2014, while the cap summer remnant was larger in 2016; the recession was less extensive than in 2014. Novus Mons separated from the shrin
Read moreObservations of Neptune, obtained both visually and by imaging in 2014 and 2015, are presented. In both years, long-lived bright atmospheric features on the planet were detected. For 2015, the daily drift of a major bright storm over a period of four months was determined.
Read moreThis report describes observations of Uranus made during the 2015 apparition and subsequently submitted to the Section. Throughout this apparition, specific bright zones and dark belts were recorded both visually and digitally, and some variations of detail within them were identified.
Read moreJonathan Shanklin, past Comet Section Director and Emeritus Fellow of the British Antarctic Survey, reports on the memorable George Alcock Memorial Lecture he gave to the Association this year.
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