Search found 503 matches
- Mon Nov 20, 2017 1:23 pm
- Forum: General chat
- Topic: SPA News Reports
- Replies: 2
- Views: 1965
Re: SPA News Reports
Thanks, Brian.
- Sat Nov 18, 2017 9:11 am
- Forum: General chat
- Topic: SPA News Reports
- Replies: 2
- Views: 1965
SPA News Reports
I have just changed my email address, but I would like to continue getting the SPA news reports. Do I need to do anything here, or will they be automatically sent to my new email address?
- Wed Aug 31, 2016 3:20 pm
- Forum: General chat
- Topic: Peter Grego
- Replies: 13
- Views: 4405
Re: Peter Grego
I remember when he asked me to write an article for Popular Astronomy (on satellite observing) many years ago, and that was followed by a handful of book reviews. Very sad news 

- Thu Jun 23, 2016 7:50 am
- Forum: Space exploration
- Topic: Fast micro-probes to alpha Centauri ?
- Replies: 7
- Views: 3534
Re: Fast micro-probes to alpha Centauri ?
Seriously though, why at this point in time does Stephen Hawking regard interstellar travel as an urgent matter? Surely, along with other prominent people in the scientific community, he should be urging an end to the fouling of the nest. The first priority is to treat our planet with respect. Mayb...
- Tue May 10, 2016 10:21 am
- Forum: Observing
- Topic: Mercury in Transit
- Replies: 13
- Views: 3739
Re: Mercury in Transit
I managed to see the sunspot, but with no support for my 8x30 monocular, the image of the Sun was dancing around too much for me to see Mercury 

- Wed Apr 27, 2016 9:31 am
- Forum: General chat
- Topic: Mercury transit
- Replies: 8
- Views: 2593
Re: Mercury transit
I simply used a Solar Eclipse viewer (a decent CE certified one), and the "black dot" was very easy to see.Everything went well in the North-West for the Venus transit. A small refractor was used, capped with a BAADER solar filter.
- Tue Apr 26, 2016 8:47 am
- Forum: General chat
- Topic: Mercury transit
- Replies: 8
- Views: 2593
Re: Mercury transit
I have never seen Mercury, so this would be a good time to correct that. The transit of Venus on 2004 June 8 was easily observed from my home town of Ulverston.
- Mon Feb 15, 2016 4:23 pm
- Forum: General chat
- Topic: Case made for 9th planet in Solar System say astronomers
- Replies: 12
- Views: 3419
Re: Case made for 9th planet in Solar System say astronomers
Did anyone see the Sky at Night episode "Planet 9 from Outer Space"? That was really interesting. I knew about the similarity between the alignment and inclination of the orbits of Sedna, 2012 VP113 etc, but I wasn't aware that the complex simulations also predicted another set of orbits i...
- Mon Jan 25, 2016 12:32 pm
- Forum: General chat
- Topic: Case made for 9th planet in Solar System say astronomers
- Replies: 12
- Views: 3419
Re: Case made for 9th planet in Solar System say astronomers
It's quite interesting to note that current simulations seem to indicate that there was a fifth giant planet that was ejected from the Solar System (probably by Jupiter) soon after planetary formation. I had assumed that it was gravitationally kicked from the Sun's grasp completely, but that might n...
- Thu Jan 21, 2016 11:42 am
- Forum: General chat
- Topic: Case made for 9th planet in Solar System say astronomers
- Replies: 12
- Views: 3419
Re: Case made for 9th planet in Solar System say astronomers
Very interesting news indeed. IMO, the discovery of a new major planet in the Solar System would be the astronomical find of the century!
- Wed Sep 09, 2015 8:04 am
- Forum: Astrophysics
- Topic: Europa's orbit
- Replies: 3
- Views: 2566
Re: Europa's orbit
The density of Europa (3.01) is less than Earth's Moon (3.34). With respect to the four Galilean satellites, only Io (3.50) has a density greater than our Moon.
- Tue May 05, 2015 1:19 pm
- Forum: Computers and astronomy
- Topic: Halley - Electronic Catalogue of Comets
- Replies: 9
- Views: 9752
Re: Halley - Electronic Catalogue of Comets
Does anyone know if Yuri is still actively developing Halley? I tried to contact him a month ago by sending a message on the Halley website, but I have not had a response. It has been three years since he updated the software....
- Fri Mar 20, 2015 12:47 pm
- Forum: Observing
- Topic: Solar Eclipse Report
- Replies: 1
- Views: 1151
Re: Solar Eclipse Report
It was cloudy in Ulverston, but amazingly the cloud thinned several times at the exact location of the Sun and Moon! If I was a religious man, I would say that God was doing me a favour!! :) I first saw it at around 8:45 AM when the Moon had taken a small chunk out of the Sun. This was followed by 9...
- Sat Mar 07, 2015 1:03 pm
- Forum: General chat
- Topic: Solar eclipse March 20th
- Replies: 12
- Views: 2734
Re: Solar eclipse March 20th
The two filters I have are CE Stanford Solar Viewers, with an optical density of 5.5.
- Wed Mar 04, 2015 11:43 am
- Forum: General chat
- Topic: Solar eclipse March 20th
- Replies: 12
- Views: 2734
Re: Solar eclipse March 20th
I still have two solar viewers (dark strips of plastic to safely observe the Sun through) that were given to us by the hotel where we were staying for the 1999 August 11 eclipse. Sadly, I never got to see the totally eclipsed Sun in the sky (due to cloud), but being completely immersed in the Moon's...