The Journal
of the British Astronomical Association
Volume 121, No.1: 2011 February
Summary
contents page
Detailed contents: Notes and News / Articles / Observers' Forum /
Reviews / Letters / Meetings / BAA Update
On the cover
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the eruption
of a huge filament above the Sun on 2010 December 6 at around 15:35 UT.
The filament occupied a full solar radius, measuring more than
700,000km from the centre of the disk to the southeastern (lower left)
limb.
From the President (David Boyd)
/ A possible collision involving the large main-belt
asteroid (596) Schiela (Richard
Miles)
/ A bright storm on Saturn: an interim report of the 2010/2011
opposition (Mike Foulkes) / A new Director for
the Aurora Section (Dave Gavine) / Brilliant
storm cloud initiates the revival of Jupiter’s belt (John H. Rogers)
/ Solar Section (Lyn Smith)
/ CfDS award for sugar processing plant (Bob
Mizon) / What’s observable tonight? (Graham Relf) / Two more supernova
discoveries for Tom Boles(Stewart L.
Moore)
Refereed
papers
The Hampstead Observatory 1910-2010:
a century of service to the public ... Douglas G. Daniels & Julia V. Daniels
The Hampstead Scientific Society celebrated its centenary in 1999, and
in 2010 it celebrated the centenary of its Observatory and
Meteorological Station. This establishment has been in continuous use
since it opened in April 1910, the Observatory providing regular public
open nights and the Met. station providing continuous daily
observations from the same site spanning a century.
Jupiter’s
high-latitude storms: a Little Red Spot tracked through a Jovian year ... John H. Rogers et al.
As well as the Great Red Spot,
Jupiter sometimes presents one or more Little Red Spots (LRSs) in
various latitudes. A LRS is often seen in the North North Temperate
Zone (NNTZ), but the frequency and properties of these ovals have never
been studied in detail. Here we review all our records of the red,
white, and methane-bright anticyclonic ovals in the NNTZ.
Where have all the aurorae gone? ... R. J. Livesey
Nocturnal occultations of Venus ... Jean Meeus & Joe Rao
During the early evening hours of
2008 December 1, an occultation of Venus by the Moon was visible across
much of western and central Europe, as well as a part of northern
Algeria and Tunisia. As viewed from Greenwich, the planet’s immersion
(disappearance) took place near the time of sunset, while the emersion
(reappearance) occurred more than one hour later in a dark sky. The
event was seen in northwestern England and in Northern Ireland, but the
weather was patchy. What is the mean frequency of such events for a
given location?
VSX J003909.7+611233: a new Slowly
Pulsating B (SPB) star in Cassiopeia? ... David Boyd et al.
We report the
discovery of a new 13th magnitude variable star in Cassiopeia close to
the variable KP Cas. Analysis of 6 days of intensive photometry shows a
regular, near sinusoidal modulation with an amplitude of 0.024 mag and
a period of 0.43815(31)d. Although its colour indicates a spectral type
around F0 the star probably suffers up to 2-2.5 magnitudes of
extinction so could be an A- or B-type star. Given the period, the low
amplitude, the shape of the light curve and the probable spectral type
we consider it most likely to be a slowly pulsating B-type (SPB) star.
The variable has been registered in the International Variable Star
Index with the identifier VSX J003909.7+611233.
Superoutbursts of the SU UMa-type dwarf
nova CP Draconis ... Jeremy Shears et al.
Analysis of
observations of the SU UMa-type dwarf nova, CP Dra, between February
2001 and April 2009 has revealed 15 outbursts, at least eight of which
were superoutbursts. The supercycle length is 230+/-56 d. We report
photometry of the 2001 and 2009 superoutbursts which shows that they
were remarkably similar to each other in terms of the profile of the
outburst light curve and the evolution of the superhumps.
Click here to obtain a PDF file of
any of these articles
Index
to Volume 120 (2010) ... R. A. Marriott
- Ordinary Meeting, 2010
May 26, held at
the Royal Astronomical Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1
... David Arditti
Why not join us at a BAA meeting near you? Meetings are open
to all and you will be made very welcome. Click here for
the latest Meetings Diary
- News from Hanwell Community
Observatory ... Christopher Jones
- WZ Cassiopeiae
... R. F. Griffin
- Maximum elongations for Mercury
and Venus... John C.
Vetterlein
- William Maximilian Lindley
... Jeremy Shears
Reviews
Cometography: a catalog of comets. Vol.5: 1690-1982 by
Gary W. Kronk & Maik Meyer
Cambridge University Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0521-872263. pp xi + 820, £130.00 (hbk).
Reviewed
by Jonathan Shanklin
Europa by R. T. Pappalardo et al.
University of Arizona Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-816-528448. pp 720, £65.00 (hbk).
Reviewed
by John Rogers
CLICK HERE to read scores more authoritative book reviews from the BAA Journal
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BAA Update
BAA Council, 2009–2010 ... Photo by Mike Maunder
The BAA Awards and Medals, 2011 ... Ron Johnson
Obituary: Cmdr Henry R. Hatfield, 1921-2010 ... Patrick Moore
Obituary: Brian Geoffrey Marsden, 1937-2010 ... Guy M. Hurst
Two challenging galaxies in Leo ... Stewart
Moore
Total eclipse of the Moon, 2010 December 21 ... Bill Leatherbarrow
Join the CfDS and the CPRE in Orion Star Count Week
The UK daylight fireball of 2009 December 19 ... Len Entwisle
Deep Sky Section Meeting, 2011 ... Stewart L. Moore
Lunar eclipse of 2010 Dec 21 imaged by Damian Peach, Selsey, UK.
Sky
notes for 2011 February & March by Callum Potter
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