Archives

This report is the first of a new series that will describe and analyse observations of the brighter or more interesting comets discovered or at perihelion during the year.

A brief history of the Hansen hypothesis, its effect on the literary imagination, and a short account of some pre-Lunik conjectures about the physiography of the Moon’s far side.

The Revd Walter Bidlake was vicar of Crewe in Cheshire for some 21 years at the start of the 20th century. He was a keen amateur astronomer with an interest in celestial photography, and took photographs of the night sky in support of T. H. E. C. Espin’s search for dark nebulae in the Milky Way. This paper describes Bidlake’s astronomical activities and life, including a high profile libel case he brought.

In her 2014 Presidential Address, Hazel McGee describes the story of the Journal of the BAA, and introduces some of the editors who have guided the publication through its first 124 years.

Jonathan Shanklin reviews the comets of 2002.

Ron Arbour presents a novel technique he has developed for cleaning the front of Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes.

The results from dual-station observations of the 2012 Taurid showers are presented and discussed.

A series of spectra of the RV Tauri star R Scuti taken as it rose from a deep minimum to a bright maximum during 2013 October and November reveals major changes taking place in the photosphere and outer atmosphere of the star. This may be the first such series of spectra and demonstrates the capability of amateur spectroscopy for studying these complex stars.

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.