Category Archives: Uncategorized

This year’s spring meeting

Posted on May 26, 2015 by Gustav Holmberg

We had a great meeting in Gothenburg with the variable star group SAAF/V, our third spring meeting in four years, so it is becoming something of a tradition. Here are some pictures:

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Low sunspot stats

Posted on May 21, 2015 by Gustav Holmberg

Paradoxically as it may sound, I find observing the sun these days very exciting. Few sunspots show up – today’s lunch-break observation with the 90mm Maksutov showed 3 groups and 6 spots – and the maximum last year of solar … Continue reading →

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C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy: yet another comet

Posted on January 17, 2015 by Gustav Holmberg

I observed C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy on January 14: magnitude: 4.0 method: Sidgwick comp stars: 5 Tau (V= 4.1) and omi Tau (V=3.6). 15×70 binoculars DC=6 The comet was a very easy catch from my urban location, one of the brightest … Continue reading →

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V0446 Vul

Posted on August 25, 2014 by Gustav Holmberg

The variability of this star was discovered by Lennart Dahlmark in a photographic patrol programme, using plates exposed from 1967 and onwards. It was announced in a publication in 2001.1 Two years later it got the official designation V446 Vul. … Continue reading →

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C/2014 E2 (Jacques)

Posted on August 24, 2014 by Gustav Holmberg

I observed C/2014 E2 (Jacques) with 15×70 binoculars tonight. Magnitude was estimated to be 7.0, using the Sidgwick method and an AAVSO sequence of comparison stars for the nearby V0465 Cas, coma diameter 6′. The observation has been reported to … Continue reading →

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BRT queue

Posted on August 21, 2014 by Gustav Holmberg

Four days later, and still no images from BRT. No big deal, but the queue seems to be rather long. Update 25 August: a week after registration, the first four images came through. Quite good tempo, I think. Update nr … Continue reading →

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Bradford Robotic Telescope

Posted on August 20, 2014 by Gustav Holmberg

I like the BRT, when there’s no trailing the images are deep and I can measure down to the 16th magnitude or so. The major drawback is, I would say, that the telescope is severely oversubscribed. I’ve been off BRT … Continue reading →

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LD 323

Posted on August 5, 2014 by Gustav Holmberg

LD 323 is one of the Lennart Dahlmark variables that so far has not made it into the GCVS namelists; and lacking an official name we will have to keep calling it LD 323 for some time. I have observed … Continue reading →

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Nova Cygni 2014

Posted on July 1, 2014 by Gustav Holmberg

Nova Cygni 2014 has been behaving in an interesting way; overlayed on the general rise to max and decrease after max, are variations with an amplitude big enough to be prominent in visual observations. I have observed the nova a … Continue reading →

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Guerilla astronomy

Posted on June 6, 2014 by Gustav Holmberg

The weather forecast for the coming days shows some chances of partly clear skies at night, but the odds are not very good. As usual. My 20 cm Newton is kind of bulky, and not the type of instrument one … Continue reading →

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