Volume 113, No.4: 2003 August
On this page: Notes and News / Articles / Observers' Forum / Letters / Reviews / Meetings / BAA Update
Top row: Drawings of Mars by the Mars Section Director, Richard McKim, in May and June 2003. Full details and article available here. The main image is a computer simulation of how the Beagle 2 craft will appear on the surface of Mars in December this year if all goes well. (All rights reserved Beagle 2)
From the President (Guy Hurst) / Mars in 2003: Second interim report (Richard McKim) / Solar Section (Geoff Elston) / Aurora Section (R. J. Livesey) / Campaign for Dark Skies (Bob Mizon et al.) I: Fighting light pollution in the corridors of power; II: Campaigning worldwide for dark skies; III: Local successes from Aberdeen to Bath
Mars at its nearest: E. A. L. Attkins on Madeira, 1924... Richard McKim
The 'bicoloured aspect' of Saturn's A ring: shedding new light on an old mystery Observations of the superoutburst of BC UMa in February 2003 ... David Boyd
Venus and the Journal of André Gide ... Robert Steele & Peter Fawcett (Copies of any of these articles may be ordered from the BAA office.)
The Journal of the British Astronomical Association
Contents
On the cover
Notes and News
Main articles
For northern temperate astronomers generally, and for UK observers especially, the very closest oppositions of Mars are always a disappointment on account of the planet's extreme southern declination and consequent low altitude and poor seeing conditions. Such was the case with the recent perihelic opposition of 2001, when most of the observations received by the Section were made in more southern latitudes. Indeed, in 1907 the planet's declination was so far south that no observations were contributed from the UK to the then Director, E. M. Antoniadi. The only solution for British astronomers has been to 'go south'. (5 pp)
Thomas Dobbins, Alan Heath & Valeri Dikarev
Reviews
(Here is a new easy way to obtain your astronomy books, and help the BAA at the same time! Any books or other goods ordered from Amazon after following a link from this site - not just books reviewed here - will generate a small commission for the BAA.)
The University of Arizona Press, 2002. ISBN 0-8165-2281-2. Pp xviii + 785, $110.00 (hbk).
reviewed by Richard Miles
Search for all your reading needs at
We extend our warm congratulations to Mario. His contributions highlight the very principle upon which the BAA was founded. It is also worthy of notice that it was a countryman of his, Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli (1835-1910), who in 1889 became the first to map Mercury, though on a false premise. Previous recipients of the Haas Award include Charles Capen, Tom Cave, Dr Jean Dragesco, Dr Donald Parker and Alan W. Heath, former Director of the BAA Saturn Section. Richard Baum
Diffuse planetary nebula the 'Helix', NGC 7273, is always low and difficult in British skies. CCD image by Nik Szymanek.
A copy of this or any recent issue of the Journal may be ordered from the BAA office. Back to top of page Letters
Observers' Forum
Meeting reports
BAA Update
BAA member Mario Frassati of Crescentino (VC), Italy, Coordinator of the Mercury programme of the Planetary Section of the Unione Astrofili Italiani (UAI), is the 2003 recipient of the Walter H. Haas Award of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers (ALPO) (USA). The award, instituted in 1986 by Walter Haas who founded ALPO in 1947, is given solely for amateur astronomy and takes the form of an engraved plaque. It is bestowed for excellence in observational studies of solar system objects. Mario was chosen on the basis of his long continued direct visual examination of the albedo appearance of Mercury. His results are encapsulated in a new optical map of the regolith albedo of the planet (JBAA 112(3), 125-129, 2002), a work now recognised by professional workers. Currently he is seeking to correlate the white spots reported by visual observers of the planet, with the ejecta blankets of bright rayed craters (JBAA 112(4), 158-159, 2002)).
Sky notes for 2003 August and September
  by Neil Bone