[BAA-ebulletin 00953] Aurora Alert

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BAA electronic bulletin
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Aurora Alert

A coronal hole has started to impact earth from 11:00UT 31st December 2016.

The field is unstable both positive and negative however the wind speed has increased to over 550kps.

It is only affecting Northern Scotland at the moment but could go further. It is showing on http://www.shetland.org/60n/webcams/cliff-cam-3


Any reports please to - sandra-b@hotmail.co.uk<mailto:sandra-b@hotmail.co.uk>


Cheers & clear skies and a Happy New Year to all my readers.


Sandra Brantingham

Aurora and NLC Director
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BAA-ebulletin mailing list visit:
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(c) 2016 British Astronomical Association    http://www.britastro.org/
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Good Clear Skies

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Astrocomet

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Colin James Watling

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Various Voluntary work-Litter Picking for Parish Council (Daytime) and also a friend of Kessingland Beach (Watchman)

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Profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/astrocomera

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Real Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)

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Lyra Main Website: http://www.lyra-astro.co.uk/

[BAA-ebulletin 00950] Invitation to Exoplanet Observation Workshop in support of the TWINKLE and ARIEL space missions

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BAA electronic bulletin
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Dear BAA Member,

We would like to invite interested observers to a workshop at the Royal Astronomical Society on the afternoon of Monday, 9th January 2017 to explore amateur involvement in support of the proposed TWINKLE and ARIEL space missions. The workshop will be held in the Council Room of the Royal Astronomical Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1J 0BQ.

The aim of the workshop is to take the first steps in setting up a worldwide group of amateur observers able to provide ground-based support for measuring photometric variability of space mission target stars, including exoplanet transits.

TWINKLE is an independent mission to characterise the atmospheres of around 100 hot, bright exoplanets observed from Earth-orbit. The mission is led by University College London and Blue Skies Space Ltd. It will be built by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd involving a consortium of over 15 institutions across the UK, and scheduled for launch in 2019. ARIEL is a more ambitious exoplanet mission in which observations are planned from the L2 position in space, due for launch about 2026.

EXOPLANET WORKSHOP Agenda - Monday 9th January

1:30 - Coffee / tea on arrival
2:00 - 2:15 - Welcome, introduction to the Twinkle mission  (Jonathan Tennyson, Twinkle Senior Advisor)
2:15 - 2:25 - Twinkle's target list  (Giovanna Tinetti, Twinkle Science Lead)
2:25 - 2:40 - Twinkle's instrumentation and ground-based/amateur observations required in support of the mission  (Giorgio Savini, Twinkle Payload Lead)
2:40 - 2:50 - Groundbased support via the BAA Observing Sections  (Richard Miles, Roger Pickard, BAA)
2:50 - 2:55 - Europlanet workshops and ground-based campaign in support of Rosetta  (Anita Heward)
2:55 - 3:05 - Connected Telescope Project  (Marco Rocchetto, Konica Minolta)
3:05 - 4:45 - Discussion on next steps
           - Mechanisms for communicating and sharing data
           - Further groups to involve
           - Roles and responsibilities
           - Planning for Europlanet workshop
4:45 - 5:00 - Summary

As a follow-up to this initial UK-focused workshop, the plan is to submit a proposal to the Europlanet organisation for funding a 2-day international workshop (most probably to be held in London) to progress amateur observational support of TWINKLE, ARIEL, Gaia and other exoplanet missions.

Despite the rather short notice, we hope that a good number of interested observers will be able to participate in this first workshop. If you are planning to attend then do please let us know in advance by e-mailing the undersigned (R. Miles). Many thanks.


Richard Miles, BAA Asteroids and Remote Planets Section Director
rmiles [at] baa [dot] u-net [dot] com

pp.
Roger Pickard, BAA Variable Star Section Director
Anita Heward, Communications Manager, Twinkle Space Mission
Giovanna Tinetti, Twinkle Science Lead
Giorgio Savini, Twinkle Payload Lead
Jonathan Tennyson, Twinkle Senior Advisor


Message sent on:  2016 December 16 18:28UT ======================================================================
BAA-ebulletin mailing list visit:
http://lists.britastro.org/mailman/listinfo/baa-ebulletin
(c) 2016 British Astronomical Association    http://www.britastro.org/
======================================================================

--

Good Clear Skies

--

Astrocomet

--

Colin James Watling

--

Various Voluntary work-Litter Picking for Parish Council (Daytime) and also a friend of Kessingland Beach (Watchman)

--

Profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/astrocomera

--

Real Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)

--

Lyra Main Website: http://www.lyra-astro.co.uk/