Supporting amateur astronomers since 1890
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.
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Jeremy Shears and Theresa Hull look at the life of one of the BAA’s lesser known early observers.
Read moreJonathan Shanklin reviews the comets of 2002.
Read moreRon Arbour presents a novel technique he has developed for cleaning the front of Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes.
Read moreThe results from dual-station observations of the 2012 Taurid showers are presented and discussed.
Read moreA 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.
Read moreThis 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.
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