Whitby & District Astronomical Society

In this month's edition:

• Planetary Skylights: Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Uranus and Neptune
• Meteors: Orionids
• Comets: Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner
• October 2018 Sky Charts

Although not until October, it looks as though we shall be main hosts for the half term ‘dark sky’ star party event to be held at the Danby Moors Centre.  Unless anything crops up this will be Oct 27^th with a start time of 18:30h, perhaps 19:00h... [Read more about Danby Moors Centre events]

Next month Whitby Museum is hosting a landmark talk on astrobiology (hope you got the e-mail) Charles Cockell, Professor of Astrobiology at Edinburgh University, will be talking about his fascinating work on extra-terrestrial life.  The event is free, but you have to book tickets online... [Read more about ‘Yorkshire to Mars’ – talk]

Our annual pilgrimage to Westerdale will take place on Friday Sept 14^th.  Setting off from Mark’s (Laburnum Grove) around 19:15h  we anticipate to be at the village hall for 19:45h, allowing time to set up the telescopes should conditions allow.  [Read more about Westerdale Event]

Sept 1st (tonight) will hopefully find many of us at Hook’s House farm Campsite, weather permitting.  The event is due to commence at 20:00h, so we shall be travelling over around 19:40h... [Read more about Event Horizon - Hook’s House Farm]

On Thursday 23^rd conditions were again clear, however on this occasion the Bruce Observatory at the college served as our observing location.  John, Keith and Mark ventured up to see how Jupiter, Saturn and Mars fared in the Cooke refractor.   Proceedings were not as straight forward as hoped for... [Read more about Bruce Observatory Expedition]

Saturday 25^th proved to be a popular event, the conditions being far calmer and a bit warmer than the previous evening.  There were certainly a lot more public around, which all seemed to head in our direction once the (almost) full moon rose above the youth hostel across on the east side.  [Read more about Bank Holiday Events]

Folk Week proved to be a mixed bag, with the event on Saturday 18^th falling foul of cloud; indeed conditions were very similar to the previous week at Regatta. 

Tuesday evening turned out unexpectedly clear, and being mild an unscheduled star party proved rather successful, with the Moon, Mars and Saturn the mainstays of the evening.  The images were surprisingly steady, and much appreciated by all... [Read more about Folk Week Events]

In principle, this article will be a great deal shorter than last year’s; the weather over the Regatta weekend preventing any War and Peace length article. So here is a précis of events.

Saturday: probably the best day, did allow some observations of the sun at the solar party event. As usual now our location was adjacent to trampoline/Go carts on the West Cliff and near to our friend Marcus at Grover Optics and the bird of prey display. The new gazebo acquired last year went up like a dream and once all the poster boards, inflatable solar system and scopes were set out, our pitch looked half decent- bordering pretty good... [Read more about Regatta 2018]

On paper the prospects for this year’s Perseid shower were on the face of it as good as it gets for our society: no moonlight to interfere, a summer of seemingly endless clear nights, and for us the timing was perfect for the Regatta star parties... [Read more about Perseids Obscured]

In this month's edition:

• Planetary Skylights: Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars and Mercury.
• Meteors: a few Piscids, perhaps.
• The Autumnal Equinox
• September 2018 Sky Charts

Continuing the tour of stellar objects crossing the meridian line in August: a star and three open clusters from constellations lying in the South, currently above Mars and Saturn:

• Star: Epsilon Lyrae, in Lyra
• Cluster: NGC 6633 in Ophiuchus
• Cluster: Graff's Cluster (IC 4756) in Serpens
• Cluster: Wild Duck Cluster (M11, NGC 6705) in Scutum

The timing of this year’s event is somewhat easier to set than last year, when various factors hindered suitable dates.  So, ink in September 1^st (Saturday) from 20:00h. 

As twilight deepens we should hopefully be able to observe Jupiter, Saturn and Mars, with a waning moon not rising until 22:30h allowing plenty of time for deep sky observations... [Read more about Hook’s House Farm / Westerdale Events]

Not long before we hit the peak season (we hope) as regards star parties.

The Regatta events follow the usual route – afternoon solar viewing, on the Saturday (11^th) and Sunday (12^h), with evening star parties on both dates.  The location of the solar viewing will i assume be as per last year ie – the grassy area adjacent to the small Go carts and Royal Crescent on the West Cliff.  Time wise, we are looking at 14:00–16:30h.

The Star parties will be held on the pitch and put area, above the archery green – like last year.... [Read more about Coming Events (Regatta, et al)]

The following evening skies cleared after earlier showers, leaving just interesting cloud formations to watch carefully.

Mark, Keith, Phil and John met up on the cliff and after deciding no more rain was forthcoming, set up the scopes hoping to entice people over. It turned out to be a decent observation session, with Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars all on show... [Read more about 24hrs later (28-Aug-2018)]