We finally manage to host a scheduled star party on July 6th. Conditions were not, shall we say ‘summery’ but at least there was enough clear sky to view the crescent Moon and fortuitously, Jupiter, in a slender gap. It has to be said public were a little scarce on the ground, but those who did venture over were impressed with the lunar views, and really wowed by Jupiter and attendant Galilean moons... [Read more about Star Party: 6th July 2019]
No, not from the society, but from work (lucky so-and-so) Keith has worked for the last 41 years as a science technician at what was Whitby School, then Whitby College and finally Caedmon College. Most of us still refer to it as the former.
You can almost say Keith has worked there ‘man and boy’... [Read more about Keith Retires (...escapes?)]
Think back to July 2018, when during a long heat wave with the majority of evening’s fine, it was greatly frustrating to have apocalyptic weather for the total lunar eclipse on July 27th 2018.
Almost a year on (July 16th 2019) another lunar eclipse would grace our skies and again would already be underway as the moon rose. Not a total, but a partial eclipse. This time however prospects looked encouraging with clear skies forecast... [Read more about Partial Lunar Eclipse]
In this month's edition:
July sees the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing, quite an alarming fact for many over a certain age, whilst for many more it is just a milestone event in the annals of the history books, which barely relates today.
For those who can remember, we watched in awe when Apollo 11 blasted off from Cape Canaveral on July 16th 1969. Four days later the world held its collective breath as the lunar lander 'Eagle' touched down on the Sea of Tranquillity with just a few seconds of fuel left to burn... [Read more about 'One Small Step': one large anniversary]
Unsurprisingly, our star party events in June all fell victim to the poor weather conditions, either cloud or rain ...or both. It’s a quite a few years since we last endured a soggy June, but it was bound to happen sooner or later. Let’s be philosophical; better June than late July, August or September, when we need fine evenings. Hope things buck up during July. [Read more about Society News/Events]
In this month's edition:
Next month sees the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing, which I shall be covering in greater detail in July’s notes, but for this month I thought perhaps to take a look at The Moon from an observing standpoint, especially as June ‘nights’ are so short... [Read more about Our Neighbour in Space: The Moon]
After skies cleared quite late for our scheduled star party on the May11th, (and having not erected any placards as a result), we decided to utilise the conditions by trying out the LX 200 and power pack for a pre-season shakedown run.
Keith, John, Phil and Elaine all came up to the college where we hoped to have a good shakedown test of the Meade scope. Initially, things did not look promising, problems with the power station/power cable, locking/motor synch mechanism and hand controller, gave some cause for concern.... [Read more about Society News: Recent and Coming Events.]
In this month's edition:
If the Moon had been at a better phase, (ie. pre Full Moon), we could have almost started the outdoor star party season at Easter, with the weather being as good as it was. But it was rising just a little too late, and with no planets visible – (Mars being well passed its best) the spring sky is not ideally suited to the passing public... [Read more about Star Party season]
We are currently awaiting news from the college regarding the estimate submitted for the proposed work on the observatory, plus any subsequent developments on their part. However some preparations will commence at the next bank holiday (May Day weekend).
A proposal has been made to utilise the Sunday evening observing slot (now in abeyance until after the summer period) to carry out preparatory and remedial work within the observatory. This will be discussed at the final monthly meeting for this season in May. [Read more about Observatory Work]
Chief star in Hydra - the traditional name Alphard is from the Arabic (al-fard), "The Solitary One", no doubt because there are no other bright stars in Alphard’s immediate vicinity. The European astronomer Tycho Brahe dubbed it Cor Hydrae, Latin for 'the heart of Hydra'. At magnitude +1.8 Alphard is a ‘bright’ second magnitude star and lies approximately 177 light years away. [Read more about Crossing the Line: objects of the month]
Staying at the Whitby Youth Hostel, this year’s outward bounds party from Ayresome Primary school in Middlesbrough once again brought fine weather with them, even though the forecast originally had been for light or low cloud for much of the week.
This turned out to be somewhat off the mark, with our preferred evening (Wednesday 10th) being clear and still. Actually some cloud did come in off the sea, but not enough to really hamper our observations. [Read more about Ayresome Primary School visit - Whitby Youth Hostel]
In this month's edition:
| Sun | Rise | Set |
|---|---|---|
| Actual | 05:53 | 20:10 |
| Civil Twilight | 05:14 | 20:49 |
| Nautical Twilight | 04:25 | 21:38 |
| Astronomical Twilight | 03:25 | 22:38 |
| Moon | Rise | Set |
|---|---|---|
| 08:17 | 01:11 |
