Since the beginning the BAA has encouraged amateurs to make scientifically valuable observations, often in collaboration with professional colleagues. In the twentieth century, this spirit of scientific observation of the night sky was championed by George Alcock, who discovered five comets and five novae using nothing more than a pair of binoculars. Today, that tradition lives on in the BAA. Among our members are Tom Boles, who has discovered more than 150 supernovae from his observatory in Suffolk, and Damian Peach who produces some of the best planetary images in the world. Amateurs using imaging equipment have also detected fireballs on Jupiter caused by small asteroids or comets entering its atmosphere. It is staggering how technological developments in recent times now allow amateurs to produce better quality images than captured by professional telescopes just a few decades ago" (from the 'About us' section of the British Astronomical Association website). All 3 of these yearly