Whitby & District Astronomical Society

The Sun reaches its lowest position in the sky on December 21^st this year; the date of the winter solstice and officially the start of winter in the northern hemisphere.  From our latitude the Sun arcs little more than 12 degrees above Southern horizon at local noon, standing before the stars of Sagittarius.  Useful daylight amounts to just 7½ hrs - ’the shortest day’... [Read more about The Winter Solstice]

In this month's edition:

• Planetary Skylights: Uranus, Neptune, Jupiter, Mars and Mercury
• Meteors: Geminids, Ursids
• December 2017 Sky Charts

Having bumped into Sean Paling, director and Senior Scientist at the Boulby Underground Laboratory the other week in a local watering hole, we briefly discussed the possibility of a visit to the facility down in the mine... [Read more about Boulby Mine – Dark Matter Facility]

We have been invited by York AS to join them for a star party at RAF Fylingdales on Jan 18^th 2018.  We are however required to furnish Martin Whillock at YAS with details of all those wishing to attend by Nov 30^th... [Read more about Fylingdales RAF base star party]

This was our second visit to the Kettleness Scout centre, which used to be the railway station back in the day.  Sleights cubs were spending the Halloween weekend camping there and had asked for a star party for evening of the 28^th.  Conditions, although very in keeping with Halloween, were not very conducive for observations, being rather cloudy and very windy, too windy for the scopes.  Use was therefore made of the activities room for an indoor show... [Read more about Kettleness – Scout /Cub Event]

In this month's edition:

• Planetary Skylights: Saturn, Mercury, Uranus, Neptune, Venus, Mars and Jupiter
• Meteors: Leonids, South Taurids
• November 2017 Sky Charts

The society meetings restart in October the date is Tuesday 3^rd (not 4^th as incorrectly stated last month). 

Apart from a roundup of our summer activities and a look at the current sky, Mark will be giving a short talk on Cassini and Andi hopes to have a talk ready too.  Hope you will be able to join us (see WDAS diary for venue and time etc )

Our open nights at the Bruce Observatory recommence on Sunday 8^th Oct starting from 19:30h.  As always if you are unsure about the weather prospects on the evening contact Mark. [Read more about Society Monthly Meetings: Recommence]

This year’s trip over to Westerdale (15^th Sept) coincided with cloud and eventually rain, preventing any observations outside.  But as we know Esk Valley folk are a hardy breed, and in spite of the weather a good turnout gathered at the village hall... [Read more about Westerdale Event]

This year’s event was early in the month in an effort to minimise the effect of moonlight.  Conditions on the evening were encouraging with cloud forecast to clear away to the south.  This turned out to be the case, but was painfully slow so that the moon and Saturn were initially obscured... [Read more about Hook’s House Farm event]

Those of you looking forward to the Leeds Astromeet this year will sadly have to keep looking, cos it’s not on, cancelled, postponed, deceased?..The comment on the Leeds website reads as follows... [Read more about Leeds Astromeet 2017]

In this month's edition:

• Planetary Skylights: Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, Mars and Mercury
• Meteors: Orionids, Piscids, Draconids
• October 2017 Sky Charts

Given that this event was organised for a bank holiday weekend, it was pleasantly surprising to plan for the evening with a high degree of confidence of clear skies. Mark, Andi and Keith made the journey over to Northcliffe holiday park at Hawsker, (Andi and Keith checking out Seaview park en-route), three scopes packed including the LX 200. Once we had negotiated the bollard and gate (don’t ask) leading to the football field, the instruments were set up and we prepared for a great evening’s observation. [Read more about Northcliffe and Seaview Event]

Unusually for Folk Week it didn’t rain every single day, in fact Wednesday (Egton show day) was the only bad day... and it was bad, and dark, very dark, sort of total eclipse dark with apocalyptic rain for several hours.  Prospects for the evening star party therefore looked encouraging... [Read more about Folk Week Events]

Astronomy fever gripped America in August, where millions were treated to a total solar eclipse.  And WDAS was also invited to join in, by a website visitor from Whitby (Ontario), wondering what events we had planned.

Although Regatta Monday was laid on in celebration, or otherwise, the 5% eclipse in Whitby (North Yorkshire) was less exciting to behold, particularly as it was hidden from view by thick cloud.

However Andi and Héctor's friend and colleague, Javier, captured this imagen evocadora from his home in Gran Canaria.  Thanks to Javier for letting us publish it here. [Read more about 2017 Solar Eclipse]

So, what did Mother Nature have in store for this year’s Regatta – the usual mixture of inclement dross, incorrect forecasts and a blank white disk to look at for hours on end! Well, at least any likely showers would fall on a new gazebo, purchased just a few days prior. The old one requires major (but not insurmountable) work to rectify various issues – particularly with the strut frame work – so we thought a new one would be the better option for now. [Read more about Regatta 2017]