BAA weekend Meeting, Armagh, Northern Ireland

Forums BAA Events and News BAA weekend Meeting, Armagh, Northern Ireland

Viewing 18 posts - 1 through 18 (of 18 total)
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  • #574396
    Mike Foylan
    Participant

    I would just like to thank everyone involved in organising the BAA weekend Meeting, in Armagh, Northern Ireland. Fantastic three day event with very informative and interesting talks, tours etc. Always great to meet up with old friends and indeed form new friendships. Of course the unofficial talks that continued into the early hours over many alcoholic beverages were also equally as informative and interesting!

    Thoroughly good job done!

    #581343
    Alex Pratt
    Participant

    Hi Mike,

    I fully agree with your comments. It was a great weekend, I really enjoyed the programme of talks and being able to meet up again with your good self and many other friends from all across these Misty Isles. As well as the quality talks we spent hours discussing our common interests in meteors, comets, occultations, eclipse trips, etc. This generated several ideas for cooperative projects in the months to come.

    Thanks also to the staff of Armagh Planetarium and to Tolis for a private tour of the Observatory on the Friday afternoon because I had to leave early on the Sunday.

    Clear skies,

         Alex.

    #581344
    Bill Ward
    Participant

    Indeed it was an excellent weekend! I was particularly delighted to meet up with the Armagh Observatory director Prof Michael Burton. Michael was my supervisor when I got my first student job at the Anglo Australian Observatory in 1991.

    Where does the time go….!?

    As you say, the evening sessions were most entertaining. I have no doubt that this is where the real meeting actually happens ; – ))

    I’m looking forward to the next one….

    cheers,

    Bill.

    #581345
    Nick James
    Participant

    Mike. Yes a great weekend. Good to meet up with everyone and Armagh (City and Observatory) did us proud. I agree about the discussions in the bar afterwards. They are always most productive. Many thanks to our meetings secretary, Hazel Collett, for all the organisation and to the speakers and to everyone from all over GB and Ireland who turned up.

    #581352
    Alex Pratt
    Participant

    Hi Nick,

    Prof. Mark Bailey offered the PDF of his fine talk. It would be great if this, and those of the other speakers, could be made available on the BAA website.

    Thanks,

         Alex.

    #581353
    Nick James
    Participant

    Hi Alex, If you or some other willing helper can collect the material I’ll find a way of getting it uploaded to the website. It would certainly be good to get it all in one place.

    #581356
    Dominic Ford
    Keymaster

    Alex,

    If speakers offer us copies of their slides, there’s no problem with putting them online, but be aware that many speakers are uncomfortable about this. At a recent conference I went to, less than a third of speakers were willing to share their slides.

    There can be all sorts of reasons for this: they may plan to reuse the slides at future events, they may have shown figures or images that belong to other people, they may worry that people will steal their work, and professionals may have shown results that aren’t published yet.

    If you do approach speakers about this (note that the web ops team has previously advised meeting organisers not to do so), I’d recommend going very gently, and making anything you receive accessible to members only.

    Best wishes,

    Dominic.

    #581357
    Nick James
    Participant

    I don’t see that there is any harm in asking for PDF handouts, in the same way that we always ask speakers if we can post their videos. I can understand why some pros don’t want to do this and, if the speaker doesn’t want to have anything online then fine, but I don’t see why you would recommend that we don’t even ask (that is new to me by the way).

    #581358
    Alex Pratt
    Participant

    Hi Dominic, Nick,

    After each ESOP we ask the speakers for their permission to add the PDFs of their talks to the Symposium website. For the reasons you mentioned not all are able to do this and we fully respect their wishes. At Armagh Prof. Mark Bailey set the ball rolling by offering his PDF before he started his presentation.

    Such contributions are a great resource for members, whether they attended the meeting or not.

    Clear skies,

         Alex.

    #581361
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    Alex & Nick,

    You can send me the pdf’s if you want. I can create an Armagh 2019 meeting page in the Publications -> Downloads -> Past Talks area of the website.

    Best wishes,

    Andy

    #581362
    Alex Pratt
    Participant

    Thanks Andy, we’ll be in touch if any of the speakers give permission for their PDFs to be made available in that Members Download area.

    Clear skies,

        Alex.

    #581372
    Bill Ward
    Participant

    As I don’t have her direct contact details I’d just like to let Ann D. (on the sales desk) know that the observing guide arrived safely.

    Thanks!

    Bill.

    #581373
    Peter Carson
    Participant

    I agree the weekend meeting in Armagh was excellent, thanks to the organisers and attendees. The private tour of the observatory was a highlight which I followed up with a trip south to visit Birr. (In the pouring rain!) It was very interesting to see the work that linked the two sites.

    Peter

    #581398
    Andy Wilson
    Keymaster

    I have created an page for the Armagh meeting in the Publications -> Downloads -> Past Talks area of the website.

    https://britastro.org/downloads/19324

    We have 3 talks thus far, and I shall upload anymore that I receive.

    Andy

    #581399
    Richard Miles
    Participant

    As many of us cannot attend the actual meeting, it is good to be able to see people’s presentations as a pdf. Mark Bailey’s looks to have been something of a tour de force – an excellent and comprehensive piece of work on his part.

    #581400

    Indeed, a great meeting and  many thanks for the organisers, missed out on the observitory tour ( left it too late). This was a good opertunity to have an extended 10 days travelling over the Sperrin Mountains to The Barn in Larne situated some 4 away miles with dark skies. Our cottage was well situated to visit the Giants Causeway, the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge and the Glenariff Nature Reserve with cascading water falls.  Tollymore Forest Park via the Mountains of Morne and the silent valley plus a visit to Belfast.

    Northern Island is a great place to visit and it pays to be a member of the Nation Trust

    Many thanks Hazel for the last minute booking.

    #581401

    Indeed, a great meeting and  many thanks for the organisers, missed out on the observitory tour ( left it too late). This was a good opertunity to have an extended 10 days travelling over the Sperrin Mountains to The Barn in Larne situated some 4 away miles with dark skies. Our cottage was well situated to visit the Giants Causeway, the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge and the Glenariff Nature Reserve with cascading water falls.  Tollymore Forest Park via the Mountains of Morne and the silent valley plus a visit to Belfast.

    Northern Island is a great place to visit and it pays to be a member of the Nation Trust

    Many thanks Hazel for the last minute booking.

    #581402
    David Arditti
    Participant

    An excellent meeting that reminds people the BAA is the premier astronomical society for the whole of the UK.

    And I think a special mention is due to the member who travelled furthest to get there: Barry Adcock and his wife made the journey from Australia. He then went to Geneva for the European Planetary Science Congress, where he presented a poster, that he showed me in Armagh, of his work on multispectral IR imaging of Jupiter, done with his amazing home-built 12″ refractor.

    Congratulations to Meetings Secretary Hazel Collett, and the others involved in the organisation.

    Now we need to solve the mystery of why Armagh Observatory has an orrery that shows 5 moons of Jupiter, but doesn’t show Neptune, which was discovered long before Amalthea.

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