Backyard Sketches

Dear Member,

The Campaign for Dark Skies (CfDS) is conducting a UK-wide survey of problem lighting. If you consider yourself to be adversly affected by poorly-aimed or nuisance lighting, please look at:

http://www.britastro.org/dark-skies/survey/index.html

and submit a completed form.

This lighting nuisance survey is intended to determine the sources and types of lighting problems in the UK and whether local authorities have been able to help. The results will be published and supplied to Defra. Please note that the data you submit will be anonymised prior to use. No personal data will be retained once the survey has been completed.

Bob Mizon, the Coordinator of CfDS, tells me that he would be most grateful if you would spend a few minutes filling in the form and submitting it on-line, or alternatively you can produce a printed version of the form from the website, which you can complete and send to Bob at his home address (see inside backpage of the Journal for this).

Please only fill in the survey if you believe that you are suffering as a result of artificial lighting.

N.B. The deadline for the survey is Friday, 25th January, 2008.

Thanks for your time,

Richard Miles
BAA Vice-President

Here’s a nice interactive cartoon that helps explain Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity.

I’ve also been doing a little reading on General Relativity in a great new book I bought recently called Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You by Marcus Chown. Highly recommended if you like a bit of Physics but aren’t too keen on pages and pages of equations :)

Even Better!

I haven’t done Astronomy all year. I’ve setup my telescope(s) a few times when it was clear and by the time it was dark it was completely cloudy so I took them down again. I’ve had a SkyWatcher 4” Refractor now for over a year that has never been outside, even given breaks in the cloud.

I’d like to get out while Mars is easily observable and perhaps do an early morning and catch Venus too. I’ve done plenty of naked eye views of these two planets on my cycle ride to work at around 0530 everyday but I’d like to grab at least one telescope view. If I remember correctly, Mercury makes an appearance in the new year morning skies too, which again would be nice to view – and I thought I hated Solar System viewing!

I start another Open University course in February which is S282 – Astronomy. I’d even applied for the Residential part of the course too, but fear gripped me and I cancelled. I think hopefully I will get over myself and rebook it.

I passed my Math course and now have a grand total of 110 points – only 250 to go :D

I’ll let you read Dave P’s post but please, please, please – sign the petition.