Update Archive
Welcome to 2010!
Well, weather has certainly not been conducive to astronomy over the last couple of weeks, and I sincerely hope everyone is coping with the weather.
Needless to say, observing will be suspended until it is a little safer to travel on roads and walk on pavements, so please check here, or contact one of the committee members before setting to the observatory
Our New Year talks programme starts again with Nick Howes on 24th Jan - we hope to see as many of you there as possible. Nick's talk will be on 80mm of Sky, which could mean all manner of things! Nick's talk on Solar astronomy was very popular last year, so I am really looking forward to this
Stay safe during the cold snap, and pray for some clear skies!!
Merry Christmas!
May I take this opportunity to wish everyone associated with BAS a very Merry Christmas! Speakers, Visitors, Members and Committee all play an important role in a successful Society such as ours, and I thank everyone for their support this year. We've had great success with some of our IYA events this year - and we shall be submitting a full account of those to the IYA organisers - and we hope to do more along the same lines next year
Please take extra care in the cold and snow, and let's hope we get some clear skies over the holidays to test out those Christmas pressies!!
Darren Jehan, Chairman, BAS
Bedford Gallery Exhibition Report - Talk on Admiral Smyth and Charles Piazzi Smyth
Continuing with the Bedford Gallery Exhibition, Dave Eagle and Linton Guise delivered an excellent talk on Tuesday 8th December. A report can be found, along with some more photo's of the exhibition, in the Events Report section
Bedford Gallery Exhibition Report - Update from Linton and Dave
Comments received from Linton and Dave, and they have been put into the Event Reports page, along with a picture from Linton
A reminder that Dave and Linton will be talking on Admiral Smyth tonight. Hope to see you there!
Bedford Gallery Exhibition Report
A report from the Bedford Gallery Star Gazing Exhibition from Darren can be found in the Event Reports page
Christmas Social Update
Dave Eagle will show the latest images he has been working on, and Annabelle Walker will be doing one of her legendary entertainment shows! We look forward to seeing you all on the 16th
More December events
Stockwood Discovery Centre (Luton) are holding a Space Age Exhibition, on until 8th Feb 2010. Andy Green and his StarDome planetarium will be there until this Sunday (6th Dec) and then the last 3 days of December. More information can be found at Stockwood Discovery Centre. Of course, if anybody from the society does make it to the event, please submit a report!
Also, we are hopeful that John Thatcher will be on hand at the February AGM for an update on the James Webb Space Telescope program. John has tried several times to get to see us but his hectic work schedule means he is often pulled away at the last minute. John says "I'll be home from travels the day before the AGM, so it's unlikely I'll be again on that day..... but you never know!"!! We very much look forward to seeing John again
Gallery Update
Some more pictures have been added into the Gallery.
December Events and Activities
December is a busy month for BAS, plenty of activities going on - many of which really do rely on support from as many members as possible. So, here is a run down of the events and dates:
- Saturday 5th December: Bedford Gallery 11:00am to 4:00pm. Exhibition opens on Admiral Smyth and Local Astronomers. BAS in attendance with telescopes etc.
- Tuesday 8th December : Bedford Gallery 7:00pm. Talk on Admiral Smyth and Local Astronomers by Dave Eagle & Linton Guise
- Wednesday 9th December : Observatory. Observing and Moon sketching. Processing lunar video if time allows
- Thursday 10th December : Observatpry. 7:00pm. Museum Group 1 visiting the Observatory
- Wednesday December 16th : Bedford Gallery 1:00pm - 1:30pm. ‘A Beginners guide to Astronomy’ a talk by Peter Hudson
- Wednesday December 16th : Planetarium. 7:45pm for 8pm start. BAS Christmas Meeting, Entertainment by Annabelle and images round up by Darren. Dontations of "goodies" for the evening much appreciated!
- Wednesday December 23rd : No Observing. Restarts Wednesday 6th Jan
- Friday January 15th : Observatory 7:00pm. Museum Group 2 visiting the Observatory
More details on the Exhibition, and campaign to return Admiral Smyth's telescope to Bedford can be found at the Exhibition page
2010
The new year then kicks off with January's members evening receiving a talk from Nick Howes on "80mm of sky". February is the AGM of BAS and we will shortly issue the password for access to the Members Area where the minutes from the previous will be posted.
As always, if you are interested in becoming part of the Committee, either as an officer or as an Ordinary Member, please contact one of the Committee. We would be pleased to hear from anyone interested in joining.
Website
The web site has suffered of late due to Grant and Darren's availaibility, however, they are looking at new ways of keeping the web site updated and making use of the latest web technology to assist! They have been doing some catching up however, and have made some changes to site...
- Tidied up the menu to separate out related items - hopefully, this is a little clearer
- Updated the link to Dave Eagle's site (looks REALLY good Dave!!)
- Added a new "Event Reports" page. As the name suggests, all event reports will go into here
- Events list now up to date
- Graham Watkins excellent reports from two Saturday's of exhibitions are in the Event Reports section
- Chairman Darren Jehan's report from the IYA Event on Friday 27th November, also in the Event Reports section
- Gibbous moon phase images from Annaballe now up in the Gallery, along with a wonderful sunset image from 23rd Sept
- Added a Powerpoint presentation showing our Solar System size and comparisons with other stars - see the Links page. Makes you feel very small!!
- 7:00 - 7:15pm: Demonstration and tour of the dome and telescope
- 7:15 (or when 24 people in attendance) - Planetarium Show
- Late arrivals get the tour of the scope and dome
- 7:45pm: Second planetarium show if necessary
- 30th January - Venus, Orion and 4 day old moon
- 27th February - Saturn
- 20th March - TBA
- 9th October - Andromeda Galaxy
- 27th November - Star Clusters and Nebula
- Jupiter
- Open Clusters: M11(Wild Duck)
- Globulars: M13, M92, M56, M71 NGC 6229
- Planetaries: M57 Ring Neb, NGC7662 (Blue Snowball)
- Other Nebulae: M16 (Eagle Neb), M17 (Swan Neb)
- Galaxies: M31, NGC185 a feint outer companion to M31 (Thanks to Peter H for this, I had not seen this before. There was another one listed near by but too feint to see, though we tried!) NGC7331 Galaxy with structure.
BAA Back to Basics Workshop
BAS is pleased to be hosting a BAA Back to Basics workshop, which is open to everyone with an interest in astronomy. The day will consist of talks from speakers covering many different aspects of astronomy, and small workshops where you can really get to grips with some of the topics.
Lunch is included in the price of the ticket, and there will be opportunites to talk to the BAA and BAS, as well as browse some astronomical goodies from Green Witch.
The closing date for bookings is 25th September. BAS members should indicate this on the form, as this qualifies you for the same rate as the BAA - just £8.00.
Click here for more information from the BAA, including directions to get to Bedford School, and click here to download a booking form
We look forward to seeing you on the day! .
August Members Evening
Some images taken from the August members evening. Darren Jehan talked about building his observatory, and this was followed by a fun quiz from Annabelle! As usual, audience participation is a requirement for Annabelle's talks, and was a great success!!
September - Speaker TBA
Unfortunately Paul Roche has had to withdraw from our September speakers evening, due to an injury. We will find an alternative date next year, and in the meantime we are searching for an alternative. .
BAS Vice Chair received BAA Award
"On Saturday 27th June, Peter Hudson's long service to the BAA was honoured with the presentation of the Lydia Brown award - 'The award is for recognition of meritorous service to the Association in an honorary capacity over many years'"
Very many congratulations Peter, from everyone at BAS!
Telescope 400 celebrations - 26th July 2009
Members are invited to come along to the Telescope 400 celebrations at Syon House (west London) on 26th July. This event will commemorate Thomas Harriot, who became the first person to observe the Moon through a telescope on 26th July 1609. It includes a full day of activities in the grounds of one of London's most beautiful stately homes, and will be followed by an evening lecture and buffet reception. The details are all online at www.telescope400.org.uk.
23rd June 2009
Please note that the Members Talk on Wednesday 24th June will be held in the Science Lab at the school Jack Martin will be talking about Spectroscopy.
May Members evening
Two members of the Society gave us a great Astronomical evening at the end of May meeting.
Firstly Annabelle Walker gave us an excellent presentation on the Planet Saturn in her own enthusiastic and lively style. Who will ever forget that Saturn's atmosphere is mainly made of Hydrogen and Helium! Some great images and considerable research went into the talk, well done Annabel.
Second on for the evening was BAS stalwart Dave Eagle who presented his latest images mostly from his recent Tenerife trip. Imaging with an 80mm refractor and Nikon DSLR, Dave has produced some stunning shots, his Rosette Nebula is just fantastic. Dave has stitched his images together in a youtube video, follow this link and make certain you have your sound system switched on.
Well done to both for a great evening.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXU18fIm1xc
Linton Guise
22 May 2009
Please note that the Members Talk on Wednesday 27th May will be held in the Science Lab at the school Annabelle will be giving one her entertaining talks, this time on Saturn, and Dave Eagle will be showing his latest set of images taken in Tenerife
With immediate effect, Grant Bowskill will now take on the duties of webmaster for us. Grant is a good friend of mine, although a new member to BAS. However, trying to balance the duties of Chairman with trying to keep the website updated is proving tricky!
Grant can be contacted on the webmaster email address on the contacts page.
10th March 2009
As I write this, the near-full moon is rising over Poole in Dorset, the stars are twinkling and the lights of the boats and bouys make a very picturesque scene! Unfortunately, its also blowing a gale so I think I'll be staying in the warmth of the hotel bar!
Anyway, just a short update today - Dave Eagle has a wonderful image of Comet Lulin (below) and says:
Taken on Sunday 1st March with my Nikon D300, I took 45 images and then stacked them in Deep Sky Stacker, stacked on the comet. There are a few gaps in the star streaks due to clouds.
It's a great image Dave - thanks for sending it in!
Linton, Yvette and Phil Stone also had an impromptu visit to Daisy Banks on the 1st March, and Linton reports clear skies and some excellent views of the comet through his 10-inch dobsonian. A fuller report is en route.
A reminder that March's members evening will be in the Resource Room due to school holidays, and this month is on the history of star names
Finally, as usual, a request for images, observing reports, astronomical projects, volunteers for speakers, etc.!
3rd March 2009
Well, I'll start with my usual apology for the lack of updated over the last few weeks - a continuing project at work keeps me very busy!
I'll begin with the most recent event - that of the AGM. As you all know, Gordon Waller decided to stand down as Chairman and not having enough on my plate at the moment, I decided to put my name forward. This was proposed, seconded and voted on, in accordance with our Constitution. So it would appear that I now hold the positions of Chairman, Programme Coordinator and Webmaster!
Of course, the rest of committee will assist in finding speakers for the gaps that appear on the Events page, and I am hoping that a friend (soon to be a member) will assist with the maintenance of the web site.
The full minutes of the AGM will be available shortly, I am just collating the committee members reports and the accounts to include in them. These will be finished by Wednesday 4th and available to you.
My first duty as Chairman was to say "Thank you" to Gordon for his work over the last 3 years. We presented him with a Lunar atlas, and a bottle of something to keep the chills away!
I am also delighted to report that the rest of the Committee were voted back in, and my thanks go to them all for the excellent work they do.
20th February was the latest of the IYA Events, but unfortunatley, the weather was against us. Turnout was lower than in January, with only 10 or so members of the public - in fact, there were possibly more thab helpers than public! Still, we should keep plugging away and we now have leaflets distrubuted in Bedford Central, Kempston and Putnoe libraries. If anyone would be able to display a poster or some leaflets, this would be greatly appreciated.
Finally, please note that March's members talk on Star Names will be in the Resource Room at the Observatory
Clear skies for now, although as I write, there is a howling gale and horizontal rain. Ho Hum!!
13th January 2009
3rd February 2009
Well, despite a cloudy start to the IYA Event calendar, there was a good turn out. Linton reports:
"Around 40 members of the public attended the first of the 5 planned IYA observing evenings on Friday 30th Jan, which given that it was cloudy, showed great interest and bodes well for future evenings if clear. Numbers were large enough to require two planetarium shows and demonstrations of the Observatory and telescope. Despite not seeing anything through the scopes there were many favourable comments and promises to return in the future."
An excellent start indeed!! Linton also suggests some tweaks to the planned evenings to try and make things easier:
If it is cloudy...
Of course, if it is clear, then all hands to the telescopes and observe the chosen targets!
Linton also suggests we need to make some clear signs for visitors for the next event as some visitors went to the school, some to the observatory and some just wandering around the area!
Again, future events success rely on volunteers from the membership to assist, so, if you are free on the 27th February, your assistance will be much appreciated
January's members evening consisted of not 1, not 2 but 3 speakers!! Linton started off with a photo tour of Les Granges in France, including some wonderful images acquired there. Then Philip Merryman brought us some of the atmosphere of a Solar Eclipse, with a talk on his trip to China last year. Finally, after a well deserved tea break, Dave Eagle brought us up to speed with Comet Lulin, and his recent activities with his new mount.
Some members definitely enjoyed this type of evening, so I will endeavour to do more, however, it does really depend on members being willing to give such talks. So, again, if you are able to give a talk in May, July or August, please get in touch!
Finally, I have been doing some updates to the site over the last few days - mostly behind the scenes - but I have added the International Year of Astronomy Page to the menu and reduced the size of some of the gallery images, so they load a little quicker. If you do notice anything that doesn't work as it used to - please drop me a line.
Clear skies, Darren
26th January 2009 - Not long now...
A reminder that our first IYA Event takes place on 30th January, and the theme is Observing Venus and the 4 day old Moon. Hopefully we shall have plenty of members of the public there, so if you are able to help out on the night, that would be very much appreciated. Please speak to Linton if you are able to assist.
Cheers for now...
21st January 2009
Well, over the last couple of weeks, we have finalised the events for the International Year of Astronomy, so please mark these dates in your diary and if anyone is able to lend a hand on these dates, it would be gratefully received!
We are also very pleased to confirm that the BAA will be holding one of their popular Back to Basics Workshops at the school on 11th October. We'll have more information soon (especially on volunteers we might need!), but it is likely to be a full day, with an observing session to follow. I have been to one of these events before, and they are informative and fun, so mark this date in your diary!
During the autumn, we will hopefully be arranging a workshop with Nik Szymanek, one of the UK's top astro-imagers. Once we have confirmed details, I will of course let you know, but this is one opportunity you should not miss!
The next attempt at a dark site observing has been planned for Friday 20th February. Please contact Linton or Darren on the night to check the weather before travelling.
I've also made a couple of changes to the website itself. Firstly is a counter, just under the menus on the right - it will be interesting to see how many people visit our site over time. Secondly, you should hopefully see an animated image on the right hand menu, advertising the IYA events page. If you cannot, or it causes your browser an issue, please do let me know
A reminder that January's members evening consists of two members, Linton Guise talking about imaging from Les Granges, and Philip Merryman talking about his trip to China in 2008 for the Solar Eclipse.
As always, if you have any pictures you would like us to put on the website, please send them in to the webmaster address, or bring them to a meeting with you, and if you have observing reports that you would like us to publish in either the Newsletter or on the website, again, send them in.
Think that's it for now - clear skies!
Darren
And the updates come thick and fast!
I've entered the details of the IYA events on the main Events page (Thanks Peter!), and corrected the date of the Christmas social evening
Another short one! Clear skies...
12th January 2009
Another short update....
Firstly, the Events page is up to date - I needed to do some shuffling of dates and these are now done! Apologies to the speakers I have messed around!
Secondly, Linton has sent me an updated image of Saturn that he and Phil Stone took back in 2004. Linton was lucky enough to get a processing lesson from none other than Damien Peach! - you can see the result in the Gallery
Finally, a reminder that the AGM fast approaches and if anyone is interested in standing for the committee, or has anything they wish to raise at the AGM, please let one of us know
8th January 2009
Short update today. I have updated the Events page with the latest info on the members evenings. I have some juggling to do, and will keep the page update as soon as I know more. I'll take this opportunity to ask that if any members would like to give talks for July or August, we would be happy to accomodate you!! If you are interested, please get in touch with a committee member
One event that will be of great interest will be from Paul Roche about the Faulkes Telescope. Hopefully, we will be able to hold this in a bigger venue than the science lab, but again, I will keep you updated.
I also noticed that the date was wrong for the AGM - I have now corrected this!
Clear skies for now!
4th January 2009
Well, after a prolonged bout of 'flu, and various other things that get in the way, I am catching up with some of the website updates that are needed
Hopefully, everyone had a good Christmas a New Year, and behalf of your Committee, may I pass on the same good wishes, and hope that 2009 brings us a few more clear nights!
One of the key set of events for this year is for the International Year of Astronomy. We shall be running a series of public observing events, thus:
The following events start at 7pm
The following events start at 8pm
In case of cloudy skies, alternate dates/events will be arranged. Details of all the events will appear in the local press nearer the time. See the news section on the right for further info.
February sees the Socitie's AGM, and as is usual, the committee for the coming year will be decided. If you are interested in standing for a committee position, or even as an Ordinary Committee member, please get in touch with one of the committee members to discuss it further.
Back in September, Dave Eagle made a video of setting up his telescopes and tents at the Kelling Heath. You may remember seeing this at a recent members evening. Well, you can now enjoy the whole thing again on YouTube!! Visit here to see it again. Dave promises something bigger and better for next year!!
Member James Screech had an excellent solar prominence picture on Space Weather - on Christmas Day, no less! Visit here to see the picture.
An excellent picture James, and well done on getting it on SW!
November saw an excellent members evening with Nick Howes, one of the UKs leading Solar Imagers. He'll be back hopefully again in 2009 with a different, but no doubt just as interesting, talk!
8th November
Well, work pressures means it has been a little while since the the last website update. The main news is the report from the Astroblast day. Unfortunately, I was not able to make the day, but the pictures and reports suggests it was a great success!
I've done a little tidy up of the Latest News below and archived some of the older stuff off
Remember, there is no BAS Observing on Wednesday 19th, as the Planetarium is in use on that evening, and the we'll be hosting the next dark site session at Daisy Banks on the 24th. See the Events page for more details and a map.
As always, if you have any pictures or articles for the website, just drop me an email - clear skies for now...
ASTROBLAST COMES TO BEDFORD!!
Click on the logo to find out all about it....
16th October
Just a short update today - added a picture I took last night of the moon, a stack of 19 images taken through a William Optics 66mm telescope. Makes an ideal zoom lens!!
Not long now till Astroblast, so just a short reminder to get your 3-course lunch booked with Green Witch, but more importantly, to offer your services to BAS with helping out on the day. Please contact Linton, or any other committee member if you are able to assist in any way.
13th October
Have added some pictures from last years Astroblast event, so you can see some of what the event is all about! We hope to see plenty of you there, it should be an excellent day out! Remember, if you want to book a 3-course lunch (for the bargain price of �5), you need to do so before Monday 27th October. Contact Green Witch for more details
I've also added in the next date for Daisy Bank dark site observing, and created a map showing you where it is. No excuse for not seeing you there!!
Remember that our observing season has started again, and so far, a 100% record on clear skies! Will we get 3 out of 3??
Finally for this update, your Committe has reduced the membership fees for the 2nd half of the year. Note, that this is for NEW members only!! See the About Us page to download the form
8th October - Supplement
Final update from today.....
As some of you may know, Andrew and I were invited to Sir Patrick Moore's for the filming of the Autumn Equinox programme. As you might imagine, there were plenty of amateur astronomers at Patricks home, including Pete Lawrence, Damien Peach, Nick Howes and a guest appearance by Jon Culshaw. Andrew, using a friends telescope, took some lunar videos and produced a number of images, one of which was used in the programme! So, here is the image, and a big well done from a proud dad!!
8th October
Just a minor change today on the Lunar page - you can now view the Rise/Set times and Phase data as a PDF document, and print it out if you wish.
And a couple of pictures from Dave Eagle from Kelling have been added to the Kelling report page here. More pictures to follow at Octobers members evening.
Also, I've added the horizontal lines to hopefully make reading a little easier - as always, appreciate any feedback!
Observing tonight, and if the forecast holds, we should be in for a good evening! See you all later!!
5th October
This morning I have uploaded the "Lunar Legacy" images and data. However, it is a little sparse, so we are looking for some assistance in researching the lives of our famous astronomical forefathers. If you think you can help, please get in touch with one of the committe members - all efforts are greatly appreciated!
And I have finally written my report for the Kelling Heath Star Camp - you can read it here. As always, if anyone else has more images, please let me have them and I'll get them uploaded
Spookily, as I was uploading my report, Linton sent his over, so that has also been added to the page! Anymore reports?
Well, a busy day indeed! I have added some more data to the Lunar Page (Rise and Set data) which will automatically change as the month changes.
At least, that is the plan! If there is any more data you would like to see on these pages, please let me know.
4th October
I have finally got round to uploading Linton's and mine photo's from the day trip to the RGO - as usual, click on the thumbnails images to see the bigger versions
If anyone else has any more from the day, let me know and we'll get them uploaded as well
2nd October
As reported in previous meetings, the observing season got underway tonight, and amazingly, the sky was clear! Is this an omen?? Some nice clusters were observed (M15, M92, M13) and at least one galaxy NGC7331. Unfortunately, I needed to leave early, but several members stayed on to enjoy the night sky. Let's hope for more of the same in the coming weeks!!
A full list from Linton:
29th September
Well, back from an excellent weekend at the Kelling Autumn Equinox Star Camp. Warm, sunny days and clear nights saw a hive of activity for all the attending astronomers. Yes, you read it right! Warm days and clear nights!! I was there from Thursday to Sunday morning and had 3 clear nights! More than the last 3 months!! For more reports and pictures, see here
24th September
24th saw an excellent talk (again!) from Dr Carolin Crawford on X-Ray astronomy. As with previous talks, Dr Crawford makes it easy to understand
some of the more complex aspects of our hobby. Dr Crawford brought one of the mirror sections for us to look at and that generated a great deal of
interest and questions. 
We look forward to welcoming her back in the near future
15th September
Well, we had a great day out at the RGO on Sunday - keep your eyes open for a report coming soon! In the meantime, I have loaded a couple of images on the Past Events page
12th September
More images uploaded to the Gallery, taken by Olly Penrice and Linton Guise at Les Granges - and very nice they are too!! Olly is the proprietor of Les Granges and has kindly agreed to allow to show the images that he and Linton processed there. I feel a holiday coming on..........
I have added Les Granges on the Links page if you want more information
The October members evening will (hopefully!) be extended slightly to include a roundup of events at the Autumn Equinox Star Camp at Kelling Heath. Fingers crossed we shall be able to show images of the night sky as well as the huge range of telescopes that will be on display!
11th September
The Events page has been updated with dates for the new observing season and the first dark site evening. Come along and see what a difference getting away from the town lights makes!
As many of you will know, Dr Evens (HeadMaster of Bedford School) has retired. Your Committee sent Dr Evans a letter thanking him for his vision and efforts in promoting astronomy within the local community, and offering him and his wife an Honorary Membership of BAS. I am pleased to report that Dr Evans has accepted the invitation and looks forward to seeing BAS continue to grow and prosper. Dr Evans will be relocating to France, where we hope his weather is better than our recent spate of cloud!!
9th September
Some spectacular images have been uploaded to the Gallery tonight. Firstly, the Helix Nebula from Linton and while he did not take the image himself, he was
present at Les Granges while it was being captured, and assisted in the post processing. A stunning image with excellent detail!
Secondly, Philip Merryman was fortunate enough to be in China for the August 1st Eclipse - and a stunning set of images he has produced indeed! They really show the corona superbly, and there are lovely prominances showing as well. The "Diamond Ring" is a superb capture - very well done Phillip and many thanks for sharing them!
Again, if you have any images you would like us to display, contact Darren
Please note in your diaries that November 19th will not be available for observing, due to the school hosting a group that night. This is noted on the events page as well
8th September
The planned trip to Greenwich is this Sunday, and all those attending should now have received an email with instructions. Let's hope the weather is kind to us!
Sometime in September, we will be starting our observing programme again - keep your eye on the website for when we announce the actual date. As you will know from previous meetings, we are aiming to start two observing programmes - The Lunar 100 and Variable Star estimations. Peter Hudson has the offical Lunar 100 cards, priced at �3.00 from the BAA, and successful observers will receive a BAS Certificate and the satisfaction of completing the challange!
Variable star estimations is one area of astronomy in which amateurs can still play an important part. Our estimations will be submitted to the BAA VS Section and the more eyes we have the better!
[ Back to top ]
