Amateur Astronomy in Berkshire, UK
News
Asteroid (229255) Andrewelliott
0Andrew lived in Lower Earley and was a member of the society for some years before his retirement to the banks of the Ribble in Lancashire. Following on from this we have been invited to send a party of Andrew’s old friends to the Aug 3rd meeting of Blackpool and District Astronomical Society.
— On Fri, 20/5/11, BAA electronic bulletins service <baa-ebulletin
britastro
org> wrote:
From: BAA electronic bulletins service <baa-ebulletinbritastroorg>
Subject: [BAA-ebulletin 00581] Asteroid (229255) Andrewelliott
To: “BAA e-bulletin list” <baa-ebulletinbritastroorg>
Date: Friday, 20 May, 2011, 0:39
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BAA electronic bulletin
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I am very pleased to announce that an asteroid, discovered by Peter
Birtwhistle in 2005, has now been named in posthumous recognition of Andrew
Elliott’s contributions to amateur astronomy.
The citation, published in the Minor Planet Circular MPC 75105 on May 17,
reads as follows:
(229255) Andrewelliott = 2005 AJ
Discovered 2005 Jan. 4 by P. Birtwhistle at Great Shefford.
Andrew John Elliott (1946-2010) was a British observer who pioneered the
use of low-light devices, precision timing and video methods in observing
short-lived phenomena. Assistant director for occultations of the British
Astronomical Association Lunar and Asteroids Sections, he lectured widely
in the UK and Europe.
Andrew sadly passed away on 2010 November 28. The announcement nicely
coincides with the publication in the next few days of the June issue of the
Journal of the British Astronomical Association where you can read Andrew’s
obituary on pages 176-178.
Rest in peace dear friend.
Richard Miles
Director, Asteroids and Remote Planets Section
arps [at] britastro.org
2011 May 19
The Dinton Pastures Era
0The Dinton Pastures Era appears to be over: Welcome to St Peter’s Church Hall for the BASICS section future development.
The final evening’s BASICS session at Dinton Pastures was well attended. No more are planned at that location and we wait to see if the local authority want to invite us for official events in the future.
Brian’s Bounce – otherwise known as the Brian Cox Effect – is still in full swing as we had 33 attenders tonight and a small forest of hands declared attending for the first time. It will be interesting to see how meeting at St Peter’s hall changes things. It should be better on cold winter’s nights and much more accessible. So it is a good moment to thank our helpers and the members who attend to chat with the guests after the talk. This is very important and often solves technical problems or just breaks the ice socially and encourages joining the society.
We must also thank Dinton Pastures’ staff for the past 20 years of events of one sort or another. The park is still available to the public and amateur astronomy in its simplest form is just somewhere to stand and something to look at. In fact it must be the only activity which could be engaged in by half the entire population of the world simultaneously without causing traffic jams or a run on the banks 
Clear skies!
Gerry, Peter, Malcolm, Alun et al.
Observing with Newbury AAS in Wilcot
0The weather precluded the possibility of observing 25/26th March 2011 but our thanks go to our friends at Newbury for the organization. Nothing is currently planned.
Here is info on the site for future reference.
1. The 5-day local weather.
2. Camping is possible at the Golden Swan .
Thanks are due to the Newbury Astronomical Society as the organizers.
Map for Wilcot Village Hall. The Golden Swan is further south on same street.
Telescope Night and British Science Association Exhibition
0
Pointing the Way
Although it clouded over during the evening all the guests had good views of the planet Mars and other sky objects. Many thanks to the volunteers of the British Science Association for the exhibition and the tea and coffee provided and the welcome shelter from the cold.
The cloud cover helped the large attendance for the astronomy slide show in the Emmbrook Room later. As always it was the Hubble Deep-Field image that sent everyone home impressed.
Before the clouds there were several telescopes pointing at sky objects. We also had the excitement of seeing the ISS pass overhead and disappearing into the Earth’s shadow.
The evening was part of Reading Science Week 2010.