I'm a member of the Wolverhampton AS and also run the Perton Library Astronomy Group in Staffs with my colleague Steve Wootton.
We are new to variable star observing but have access to the Faukes network through the library group. Has anyone any advice or comments other than that shown on the BAA website on VS projects that we could assist with using the capabilities of the LCGOT telescopes (we can use 2m, 1m, and 0.4m instruments).
You might find the AAVSO observing campaigns of interest. Have a look here...
https://www.aavso.org/aavso-alert-notices-for-observing-campaigns-and-di...
The one on DDE 48 is especially interesting as the UGSU-ER UMa type stars are pretty rare, and there is another UG star located just 4 arc mins away MASTER OT J204627.96+242218.0. Both are located in Vulpecula, so well placed now.
Gary
A once a month 120s shot of Gyulbudaghian's nebula would be very welcome in the Deep Sky Section I imagine....
Thanks both for the quick responses. I have a meeting at the Perton venue next week and will look at your suggestions.
Hi Doug - Very pleased to hear that your library group is interested in getting involved in using telescopes on the Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) network. There is a BAA Robotic Telescope Project that looks to encourage amateurs to pursue observing projects on remote scopes, so if you are seriously interested then there are lots of potential targets (comets and asteroids are usually very fruitful) - in some ways, the main difficulty is in deciding what is a worthwhile target to go after. Ask the Perton folk where their interests lie and let us know. We are currently setting up a small panel under the auspices of the BAA RTP to provide guidance of this kind.
Chat again soon,
Richard Miles