9th January 2015
Due to unforseen circumstances the booked talk could not take place and with only a few days warning various members agreed to talk briefly on subjects that were of interest.
First was Ken Kennedy who discussed Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy and how to photograph comets. The talk was illustrated with photo's from Ken's personal collection, from his first attempts with the latest camera of the 1950's, to more recent attempts. An enjoyable and humerous talk.
Dave Patterson followed with his favourite books "Burnham's Celestial Handbook", a comprehensive, three volume tome, which covers just about everything an astronomer needs for amateur to professional obseving of the universe. He also included illustarations of the books and a brief bio of it's author Robert Burnham
Bill Samson also discussed a favourite book, "Turn Left At Orion", which he suggested was an excellent guide to 'star hopping', a method of finding your way around the night sky. He also included a few illustrations from the book showing the star hopping method in practice.
The first half of the meeting was closed by Pam Foster who showed us picturs of activities from the Blair Atholl Primary School Astronomy Club, and described the events and activities that the children and their parents take part in. This club is very active and has a large membership which covers a majority of the pupils of all ages. The included pictures admirably demonstrated the dedication and skills of the adult helpers and the enthusiasm of the children
Following a short break for refreshments and a chance to look at the books brought in by the speakers, and more importantly to relieve stiff legs and numb backsides, Tony gave a short demonstation of modifications he has made to this web site which should make navigation a little easier, and importantly simpler to update.
Ken thanked all contributors for a very lively and interesting evening.
Members Interests and Short Talks
