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Post by stevyjb on Dec 29, 2006 17:04:48 GMT
HI THERE, A NEW MEMBER TO THE FORUM HERE JUST SAYING HI ALL ! WAS WONDERING IF ANYONE HERE IS IN THE BELFAST AREA?
STEVE
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Post by davey on Dec 29, 2006 17:38:19 GMT
yeah live in glengormley just outside belfast
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Post by stevyjb on Dec 29, 2006 19:21:28 GMT
hi davey, im belfast cavehill area. are you a member of the eaas ?
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Post by markdj on Dec 29, 2006 21:17:36 GMT
Hey Stevy and welcome to the forum. You are just 10 minutes down the road from our meeting place so be sure and come along to our next meeting on Monday 8th if you can. You are very welcome. Responses might be a bit slow this week as many are on holidays
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Post by eamonnpkeyes on Dec 30, 2006 1:39:40 GMT
I'm just down the road, just off Westland Road, beside the golf course, so I'm just beside you!
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Post by stevie on Dec 30, 2006 13:46:29 GMT
Hi Stevyjb, welcome to the forum. I live just off Lansdowne Road, so I'm not far from you either.
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Post by davey on Dec 30, 2006 19:34:18 GMT
yeh im a member of the eaas it is a great place the other members are great especally for a beginneror other levels with a wealth of information
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Post by stevyjb on Dec 31, 2006 11:02:06 GMT
hi , good to hear from you all. its good to know that there are so many members in the area . "some very close" hope to catch up with some of you for a quick chat
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Post by eamonnpkeyes on Dec 31, 2006 17:20:55 GMT
Feel free to ask for any info you need...
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Post by stevyjb on Jan 1, 2007 10:31:32 GMT
happy new year to you all !........ was wondering what sort of things you all get up to
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Post by eamonnpkeyes on Jan 1, 2007 19:31:17 GMT
Astronomically, we try to meet up for observing sessions whenever we get a clear night....which seems very rarely at the moment! That normally is at weekends, but some of us will have a go whenever there's an opportunity. That happens at Killylane, about 5 miles or so outside Larne....Belfast's skies are impossible, and that site only takes about a half hour to reach from Belfast. We'd have a number of scopes there, and even if it's a meteor watch, we'll find interesting stuff to view.
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Post by markdj on Jan 2, 2007 0:28:05 GMT
We are all fairly active observers woh look at the Sun and sunspots (with proper filters), look at galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, double stars, watch for meteors, aurorae, satellite passes, special conjunctions and occultations (like when Mars and Mercury are close together in the sky or when the Moon will pass in front of Saturn in a few months). Many of us also take photos either using a high quality webcam or a digital camera. We also like to talk about what NASA and ESA are doing, new discoveries, photos of Mars and Saturn (most of which are simply out of this world :-) There are lots of areas of interest for an astronomer. At first I thought that star clusters were boring, like it's just a bunch of stars close together, but when you are actually out observing it through a scope the wonderful structure and beauty of each cluster is just beautiful - even better when a long exposure photo can bring out the colour of the stars. Stevei on here is well into his double stars which can be interesting too. You can test how good your optics are by splitting 2 stars, basically resolving them in a scope. Some can be a yellow and blue double star which is quite exquisite. You learn about how different types of scope have different diffraction patterns. you learn how to navigate the night sky with your hand. There's so much to it I find it hard to get bored with any of it ! You certainly do get out of it, how much you put into it as at times it is very frustrating with the weather. I think the thing to do is to keep involved even if it is cloudy by reading up on the latest astronomy news and learning more about the subject. A great way to do that is to be on this forum ! We all enjoy the seasons and the changing weather too. I love recording thunder and nature sounds and like watching out for unusal cloud formations or sunsets which can produce sundogs, haloes and pillars. Atmospherics is another widely enjoyed area of the wider subject of the sky above us. Observing the Sun with a normal scope can be very rewarding (using proper filters) and with a specially designed H-alpha scope, you can see solar flares and prominences. The subject is wide and far reaching and we, as a society, aim to cater for all experience levels and ages. A very important issue and one that enters the environmental awareness issue is the subject of light pollution. This is the wasted 40% of light that comes from those terrible yellow streetlights and illuminates the night sky, blocking our view of the stars and washing out any chance of seeing other galaxies or even our own galaxy, the Milky Way. The wasteful use of exterior lighting is something that is concerning globally. You can find out more at www.dark-skies.org/Hope this is a useful starting point. Mark
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Post by stevyjb on Jan 3, 2007 15:10:21 GMT
thanks for the info . i will do my best to make it to the next meeting...... steve
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Post by Veronica on Jan 4, 2007 14:08:55 GMT
Hi Steve! Welcome from this ex-Belfastite and now Lisburnite.
Mark has summed it up very well.
He's also made me a bit mad as I haven't been out observing in ages due to the cr*p weather and he's just whetted my appetite!
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Post by markdj on Jan 4, 2007 19:56:36 GMT
That's probably one of my longest posts to date - I was just in the mood for typing
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