Supporting amateur astronomers since 1890
This report is the thirteenth in the annual series which gives for each comet: the discovery details, orbital data and general information, magnitude parameters and BAA Comet Section observations. The year was somewhat unusual with several bright comets.
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Crater timings are made during a total or partial lunar eclipse as the Moon slowly glides through the Earth’s central shadow cone, or umbra. We have gathered 22,539 observations made at 94 lunar eclipses since 1842 – the largest collection of crater and contact timings ever compiled. In this paper we analyse these timings to derive an improved characterisation of the umbra’s size, shape, and stability over time.
Read moreSN 2014J was discovered on 2014 January 21, but prediscovery images suggest the supernova may have exploded several days earlier.
Read moreThe Ashen Light, a feeble glowing or colouration of the night-side of Venus, has been discussed ever since Riccioli reported it in 1643.
Read moreThis paper describes a series of ‘sprites’ serendipitusly recorded by video cameras operated by members of the BAA meteor section
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In 1851 Jean Leon Foucault demonstrated a proof that the Earth turns on its axis, by swinging a long (67m) free pendulum from the roof of the Pantheon in Paris. This paper describes attempts started in 2009 in a rural Cheshire church to repeat that experiment, and what those attempts revealed.
Read moreMarking the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, this paper considers the effect of the war on the BAA and pays tribute to some of its members who were involved in the conflict.
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Arthur Neville Brown, MA, FRAS (1864−1934) was a prolific variable star observer and served for many years as Secretary of the BAA Variable Star Section.
Read moreWhat is the maximum duration of a total solar eclipse as a function of the latitude?
Read moreBAA observations from 1994 April to 1995 January are reviewed.
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