Whitby & District Astronomical Society

If you have not already done so, would members please find time to sign the online petition – re light pollution, set up by Wakefield Astronomical Society.  This should have been sent via email to you already.  Here's a link.

Ten thousand signatures are required for the Government to take note, and 100,000 for them to ‘really take note’.  The closing deadline is July 22^nd.  If you know anyone else who would be inclined to sympathise with the cause, get them to sign it too. [Read more about Light Pollution Petition]

Well, would you believe it, a transit untroubled by the weather?  Yes, it was true, you weren’t dreaming, for all 7 and a bit hours, Mercury remained visible against the Sun’s disk, as hardly a cloud dared show its face in the sky.  Mark ventured up to the Whitby Youth Hostel with a couple of refractors, setting up in the rear garden in ‘most agreeable’ surroundings and a backdrop probably unmatched anywhere in the country, ie the Abbey. [Read more about Mercury Transits in Style]

The official start of summer in the northern hemisphere commences on June 21st – the date of the summer solstice this year, when the Sun reaches its greatest altitude on the ecliptic; the path it takes across the sky during a year.  From our latitude this equates to almost 59 degrees above the southern horizon at midday. 

The word ‘solstice’ is derived from the Greek for ‘Sun’ and ‘stoppage’.  From our perspective the Sun stops moving north in the sky and starts to retreat southwards once again as the axial tilt of Earth begins to shift away from the direction of the Sun. [Read more about The Summer Solstice]