Helen

1 hour ago, AstroMuni said:

I thought most software can figure out the location based on your Wifi (assuming you are at home)??

Hi Marcel,

I would say that if your broadband is anything like mine it suggests my location moves between London, Kent, Home fairly randomly! and so I would not rely on it for astro set up.  That said, your phone will provide GPS accuracy (that wasn't an option for most of us when this thread was opened in 2012 😉 ).  I haven't used EQMOD since 2014 when I changed mounts, but I seem to remember that I just plugged the gps dongle into a usb port, told EQMOD the comport number (vaguely remember having to check the baud rate..) and there was a button in EQMOD to press to fetch the data.  It worked really well 🙂 

I still wish my Mesu mount could be controlled by EQMOD - its fantastic software!

Hope you get it working

Best wishes

Helen

1 minute ago, davew said:

Done.

Thank you for your patience as it does make a difference,

Dave.

Thank you for being interested enough to comment here constructively, rather than just giving up, as the changes we've made as a result will undobtedly also allow others to participate 🙂 

Helen

Thanks John, I'll feed that back too 🙂.

(It has been a tricky one to draft sensitively)

Ok, after @davew Dave's helpful feedback, we've made most questions optional, so you should now be able to proceed through the survey.  We do just want honest answers 🙂 

Thanks all!

Helen

9 minutes ago, davew said:

Hi Helen,

I'd like to say I completed the survey but I need a few " No idea " tick boxes along the way if that's possible. As a for instance, I have no idea if a woman feels welcome, nor someone who is in a minority group and don't even know what the QIA+  in LGBTQIA+ actually means. The problem I now have is that I can't progress beyond that page so I'm guessing that this makes me the type one needs to avoid ? ( That bit is light hearted ) I could make up my answers and say what I think you want to hear but I guess you'd not want that.

The sad part is that I'm being absolutely serious with no agendas whatsoever. It may turn out that I'm the only SGL member who can't answer a simple question but you can PM me to investigate my ignorance in more detail if you need to.

As soon as I've posted I will look up what the QIA+ means and then I'll be more informed. 

Dave.

Thanks for the helpful feedback Dave - I'll talk to the others and hopefully get the questions to be non compulsory so we can gather all views 🙂

Thanks

Helen

3 hours ago, Gfamily said:

Do you want us to resubmit or can you use our original responses? 

And am I ok to share with my club members (we're a physical group with a Facebook group page)?

Yes, share away 😁. Thanks 👍

3 hours ago, Gfamily said:

 I suggest you edit your initial post to include the correct URL as people are more likely to click on the first one they see (I know I did ! )

Yes, all the links now go to the right place 🙂. (so I'll delete my panicked replies 🤭)

Helen

You are all stars 🤩

I'm currently involved in some work to try to understand why the demographic of the amateur astronomy community is so different to the demogarphics of UK society (obvious when one attends any sort of astro event in the UK!).  

We want to start a conversation about experiences, and barriers to involvement.  But to do so we need some data from everyone in the astronomy community.  That way we can see whether different groups face different barriers, and can start to try to remove those barriers.

We've put together a short survey, a pilot study, about how different demographic groups perceive they are received within the UK amateur community (we think this is the first time this has been done).   

Preliminary results will be presented at the Europlanet Science Congress in September, and we hope this will stimulate further submissions to the survey, as well as starting a debate about future actions.  We hope to formally publish the research.

So please can you fill in the survey   https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfzkMvyhSfXHVCDODgHnj7mnATyFIkQy12iD_jnX2gMrldJ6A/formResponse and share with your astro friends - and also with anyone who perhaps has an interest but is not actively involved in astronomy (that way we can start to understand what keeps people out of active engagement).  You can keep your response completely anonymous.

Thanks!

Helen

So, to quote the survey covering note:

We believe astronomy should be accessible and enjoyable for everyone. What limited statistics are available suggest that the demographic balance in astronomy does not reflect that of the UK society. This survey aims to gauge how people from different demographics feel in amateur astronomy communities in the UK. We want to hear from amateur astronomers about your experiences in different  communities, how you got involved, and what you think can be made better and how. 

We hope that this survey will provide a better understanding of the UK amateur astronomy community and promote inclusion. This is the first study that looks at the way different demographics participate in UK amateur astronomy and we would be very grateful for your participation. Please feel free to share the survey with your friends and colleagues involved in amateur astronomy. 

If you have any further questions, you are very welcome to contact us at theinclusivetelescope@gmail.com.

10 minutes ago, Gfamily said:

There's an interesting discussion to be had on sensitivity to language and how it may impact on different communities - including the dominant community and how it feels when things like this happen. 

But probably not here.

Indeed 🙂 

This year's Europlanet Science Congress (the largest European planetary science conference) is going virtual (mid Sept-early Oct).  This gives extra opportunities (as well as challenges!).  

The Lecturers without Borders group, in collaboration with Early Career Researchers (PhD students and post docs), are curating content for schools use and also doing a weekly Q&A for students to ask their own questions fo the researchers.  More details here

https://www.europlanet-society.org/epsc-2020-goes-live-for-schools/

Helen

Just a nudge to keep this respectful everyone 😉 

For the planetary imagers some options.... 

Junocam:

https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam/ 

PVOL

http://pvol2.ehu.eus/pvol2/ - particularly Venus project at the moment in support of Parker Solar Probe (NASA) and BepiColombo (ESA) missions 

Helen

Great talk - thanks Chris!  So many projects, need more clear skies!!

Helen 

16 minutes ago, Gfamily said:

The line of text immediately above the link for the zoom meeting says it's on 5th Aug, rather than 9th.

Can you confirm the day? 

Also, is there a limit to how many can attend?

It is tonight 🙂   And no limit on  attendance, so bring your friends 😉 

Helen

Free training in October 🙂 

http://www.faulkes-telescope.com/2020/08/participate-in-online-teacher-training-in-october-with-the-european-space-agency-its-free/

I have a friend in Spain with a clamshell observatory.  He's getting less mobile/agile.  His clamshell has developed some issues and the effort of manhandling it at the end of the night is now too difficult/risky.  He'd like to automate it.  He has seen people use RPi for control of other types of observatory, but can't quite see how that could be adapted for a clamshell. 

I assured him someone on here would be able to help!  So.... any suggestions?

Thanks 

Helen

I recently saw a good quote 'when you are juggling many balls it is important to work out which ones bounce when you drop them and which ones shatter'  I think astronomy would generally fall into the bounce category - there's usually another night....

Helen

No worries @Gina I'll tidy up 🤭

6 minutes ago, Ouroboros said:

I’d like to read that. 

OK, thanks.  So am I right in thinking SGL was started by FLO and is moderated by good folks in the community?  Is it still owned by FLO? 

Sorry, I hope all this isn’t considered inappropriate to ask. I’m just curious. 

No, SGL was set up by Ant, Rob and Russ in mid 2005.  Steve was an early member.  Steve started FLO a bit later.  But then FLO's financial support allowed the forum to grow and thrive 😎

Helen

I've been here 14 years!!! 

When I started the forum was small enough that you could read all the posts every day., and it was purely UK.  But look how we've grown into a 'truly international'  forum (sorry, @daz )!  I couldn't imagine how much this place would enrich my astronomy, influence my life,  make me so many good friends, and empty my bank account!

Here's to the next 14....

Helen

At last a sunspot 🙂 

Solarscope 70mm Ha filter on Megrez 72, celestron skyris 274m.  Stacked in ASi2, sharpened ed in imppg, coloured in CS2.

I'm going to get Gary's tutorial on youtube and see if I can now do better...

Makes a change from a comet shot 😉 

Helen

Nice ion tail too Michael 😎

Yes, a friend did that, and someone did Caerphilly castle as the foreground.

It's probably worth doing sooner rather than later as the comet will fade and the tail get smaller.

Helen