The Journal of the British Astronomical Association

Volume 107, No.5: 1997 October

List of Contents

On this page: Notes and News / Articles / Letters / Reviews / Meetings / BAA Update / Observers' Forum


Notes and News

Mars 1996-97: fifth interim report / Acquisitions for the Library: Astronomy and fiction / The Leonids of 1996 - an interim report / Eugene Shoemaker, 1928-1997 / The dinosaurs strike back / Comet Hale-Bopp over Trinity College, Cambridge / Aurora Section /
The BAA Journal on the World Wide Web / Solar Section / Now Martin has an asteroid too

Articles

P. B. Molesworth's discovery of the great South Tropical Disturbance on Jupiter, 1901 ... Richard McKim

Combined annual solar activity report, 1980-1989 (Part I: 1980-1987) ... Bruce Hardie Adjustable slits for spectroscopes ... E. R. Cook T Cassiopeiae - a predictable variable? ... J. J. Howarth Report of the Council and Accounts for the session 1996-1997

(Copies of any of these articles may be requested from the BAA office.)


Observers' Forum

Using a Barlow lens and focal reducer by Maurice Gavin.
A telescope's fixed focal length and image scale cannot satisfy all conditions particularly when capturing images onto film or CCD. These images taken with a Meade LX200 SCT, show the application of the Barlow lens to increase the focal length to reveal fine detail, and a focal reducer (FR) to increase sky coverage.

Letters

  • Women and the BAA Council ... Dr Jacqueline Mitton
  • A database of meteorites ... Philip Bagnall
  • The National Space Science Centre ... H. J. P. Arnold

    Read the letters here (xxx Kb)


    Reviews

    Doomsday Asteroid - Can We Survive? by Donald W. Cox & James H. Chestek Prometheus Books, 1997. ISBN 1-57392-066-5. Pp 338, £23.00 (hbk).
    Reviewed by Jonathan Shanklin (xx Kb)

  • Atlas of Venus by Peter Cattermole & Patrick Moore Cambridge University Press, 1997. ISBN 0-521-49652-7. Pp ix + 143, £19.99 (hbk). Reviewed by John McCue

  • Astronomy Explained by Gerald North Springer-Verlag, 1997. ISBN 3-540-76136-5. Pp xxii + 330, £15.00 (pbk). Reviewed by Graham Young

  • Edwin Hubble - Mariner of the Nebulae by Gale E. Christianson Institute of Physics Publishing, 1997. ISBN 0-7503-0423-5. Pp x + 420, £19.50 (hbk). Reviewed by Ian Howard-Duff

  • Dictionary of Astronomy by Martin Ince Peter Collin Publishing, 1997. ISBN 0-948549-43-2. Pp. ii + 195, £10.95 (pbk.). Reviewed by Jacqueline Mitton

    Meeting reports

  • Ordinary Meeting, 1997 April 26
  • Ordinary Meeting, 1997 May 28


    Supernova 1997bq in NGC 3147, discovered by BAA member Stephen Laurie on 1997 April 7, and imaged by David Strange on 1997 April 8 at 23.19 UT. (500mm f/4 Newtonian, 4×40 sec., Starlight Xpress CCD). Shown at the April 26 meeting by Martin Mobberley.


    BAA Update

  • Obituary: Donald A. Campbell, 1902-1997
  • Council Photograph, 1996-1997
  • BAA Campaign for Dark Skies - Local officers' addresses updated
    Photocopies of articles, or a copy of any recent issue of the Journal
    may be ordered from the BAA office.

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