[vsnet-chat 2499] Year 2000

["William S G Walker" <astroman@voyager.co.nz>]

Greetings, All,

Well, we've had the millenium fireworks and this morning my computer thinks
it's the first of January, 2000! Reassurance! And since we're out in the
country and use solar panels for power and pump our own water no other
problems!  Disappointing that we missed the last sunset and the first
sunrise - most of the country is suffering from a very damp patch of
weather which drifted down and across from the Coral Sea - one of the few
things the Aussies give us for nothing! But we now have sunshine, even if
it's a few hours late.

It's great to watch the excitement over the QY Persei event - reminiscent
of the early days of superhumps in the 1970s, only then we used
conventional pep with those terrible focal plane apertures. Centering
invisible stars in almost non-existent apertures was hard work.
Congratulations to all - I was tempted to try but then realised that at 13
degrees at the meridian above the horizon this star is under the northern
edge of my observatory's roof. Still, there must be a few southern CVs of
interest still waiting with pleasant surprises.

Best wishes for the next thousand years! (I've still reserved my position
on the Millenium)

Regards,
Stan

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