Society for Popular Astronomy

Thanks John for the correction. I can't read my own writing. The main problem is that my reading glasses are so scratched I can't see through them properly. This is because it is 3 years since I had an eye test because of Covid. I don't want to get up close to an opthalmologist. I think I'll take an...

Welders glass shades are the 7th root of 1000 or 2.6837.

square root of 7=2.6458.

e=2.7182.

magnitude steps 2.512 (2.5119).

The welders shade steps are the wierdest when I tried to find out what they were, as I thought the other three might be correct.

Regards,
David

I watched the film The Dig yesterday. I enjoyed it, with good actors. Basil Brown was an amateur astronomer also and belonged to the BAA. He wrote a book on star atlases, which was reprinted in 1968. He excavated the Sutton Hoo treasure, but was only recently credited for his work, which was hijacke...

Looking at a real time aurora watch camera in Sodankyla last night I was surprised to see Orion.

Probably because of the high latitude.

Eventually, I suppose many stars will be in the 'wrong' constellation.

Regards,
David

Hi Ash and welcome. On YouTube I looked up aurora cameras and there are many live view. There have been several bright displays the last few evenings from Utsjoki, Nuorgam and Rovaniemi. They show stars as faint as a dark sky view. There are videos of planets etc. also. Some are very good. I haven't...

There was a very bright display from the Utsjoki camera this evening, I think in live view and real time. Latitude 70 north. I went there once for a coffee on a 15 day $90 Finnnair unlimited flights special deal. If one looks up aurora cameras on Youtube there are many and some have clear skies. The...

There was an extensive fairly quiet mainly green aurora in Live view from Sodankyla last night 2021 March 3/4. On YouTube. I visited Sodankyla observatory in the 1960s and talked with the director who spoke archaic English that he learned from old scientific books. There was no visual telescope but ...

Trying to find details from a New York dealer, they say that I am not a human.

They may well be right.

I didn't try to prove that I am a human.

Perhaps a philosophical question.

Regards,
David

Ariel gives the UFOs beautifully laundered freshness and fine smelling aliens.

Regards,
David

Their eyes. The normal young Aboriginal Australian acuity range is 6/3 to 6/2 with a best of 6/1.4 using both eyes as measured by an Australian professor. However, nowadays when older they have many eye problems caused by poor conditions, poor health, poor health facilities, lifestyle etc. It was on...

My pupils still reach over 5.5mm and I got my very old person Covid jab a few days ago. So one should measure ones pupils. One can try different binoculars depending on local light pollution etc. Exit pupil is only part of the story. I use 12x56, 12x50, 12x45, 10x50, 8.5x44 (I get full use of the 5....

I have two German army monoculars that came from a damaged binocular. Hensoldt Wetzlar 8x30s. I prefer the right sided one, but it has the reticule, which is a nuisance at night as the lines can obscure stars etc. IF binoculars have dioptres on both sides. The Soviet 8x30 binoculars have eyepieces t...

I have seen Uranus numerous times with unaided eyes. It was rather easy. I have asked for reports of an unaided eyes sighting of Neptune, but no success yet. I think at the best high elevation sites it could be seen at magnitude 7.8 by someone with exceptional sight. But it has an unusual spectrum. ...

I saw an all sky halo display in Finland about 1980. It was the most beautiful sight I have ever seen observing the sky. There were numerous and some very rare forms. Complete horizontal arc. Forms opposite the Sun. There were two suns, one false. There was probably a third hidden behind a building ...

My old 123mm f/5 refractor goes from 16x with an old Kodak 38mm Eyepiece. 4.7 degree field. The drawtube is 3 inches diameter. The telescope has no finder as it doesn't need one. There are modern 3 inch eyepieces, maybe also bigger. The Yerkes refractor drawtube may be 5 inch diameter. The 123mm ref...