Welcome to the WDAS monthly newsletter for September 2016: a digest of the month's latest contributions to our website. Below you'll find Society News, Sky Notes and In-Focus articles printed in full. There's also future events, and trailers for other articles which appear in full on the website - just a click away!
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Society News
Stone Henge in the Autumn Equinox. (Photo credit: Stonehenge Stone Circle)
The autumn equinox falls on September 22nd, the date autumn officially commences in the northern hemisphere. For the second time this year the polar axis of our planet is at right angles to the Sun and all locations receive equal hours of daylight and darkness. Having re-crossed the celestial equator the Sun is now retreating southwards, arcing ever lower above the southern horizon, its warming rays diminishing in intensity as it does so.
No, that didn’t work either... moving Regatta to later in the month, that is. Different dates, same weather.
Saturday- clouded out both afternoon and evening. We didn’t even bother to unload any equipment for these events, squally showers and really quite strong winds do not make for ‘quality’ observing. Having said that, three people do technically qualify as a ‘party’ and we did briefly spot a couple of stars in the Plough handle, so that’s star party in my book. Regatta Sunday would be better.
Sunday was a lot more encouraging, the Sun was actually shining, whoopee!
Solar Viewing at Whitby Regatta: John with his Solar Scope. This is an entry
for the Google Deep Style competition(!) See The Gallery for original photos.
So having set up on the West Cliff next to our colleague, Marcus, from Grovers Optics, we were quite eager to count all those sunspots. 0, nowt, zilch, *** all (3*’s not 4) the cupboard was bare. On closer inspection though... no... still absolutely nothing. Luckily people seemed quite happy to view a round white disk!
However all was not lost. John L arrived with his solar scope and lo and behold there was some activity on the limb, a small solar prominence and perhaps a hint of an embryonic sunspot group forming on the surface.
At least we could console ourselves that considerable interest was being shown for that night’s star party, and furthermore conditions were looking decidedly encouraging with clear skies forecast by 9pm. 9pm arrived, and so did the cloud, obviously!
No pictures from the Regatta Star Parties, but this is from the 30th July 2016 star party, in the Edvard Munch style of Mark's silent cloudy-night screams.
Many, many silent expletives later, Mark gave one of his famous cloud party talks to the assembled gathering, who had also been taken in by all those jokers at the Met office, BBC and various other forecasting bodies. The scale solar system demo went down rather well, and just as we thought erecting the scopes had been a waste of time, Lo, a lurid orange moon rose above the hotel roofs, much to everyone’s surprise and delight. Five minutes later drops of rain began to fall, heralding a hasty departure.
The first half of Monday was similar to standing under a lukewarm power shower. By the early afternoon however, skies dried and cleared. Although nothing had been planned for the Monday, Mark wandered up to the cliff to join Marcus on the Grovers stand and perhaps utilise his Celestron refractor and Kendrick solar filter to view a ‘round white disk’. After setting up and on first inspection... hang on a minute, what’s this, two sunspot groups, now where did they emerge from. Well, that’s just typical, summing up our luck this summer.
You may have noticed that Regatta Monday evening was fine and clear, 24 hours too late for us, but one hell of a backdrop for the fireworks display and a stunning gibbous moon rising out of the sea. People would have queued for ages to view that.. Aaahhhhh!
Folk Week Event
Based on an original work by Warren: twilight at the 26th August Follk Week Star Party, 20:50h.
See The Gallery for original photos.
Cloudy conditions persisted throughout much of Folkweek- at least when it mattered on an evening. However Friday 26th saw an unscheduled event on the west cliff making the most of fine, still conditions. Skies were not totally clear, but at least there were enough people around to make it worthwhile, interested, and thrilled to observe a plethora of summer deep sky wonders. It was also the first real run out for the LX 200 this year and it’s nearly September! Saturday’s event was rained off.
We shall be making our pilgrimage over to Westerdale to host this year’s star party on the 2nd. As usual the venue will be the village hall / car park area within the village. Start time is 20:00h for the public, but will members wishing to attend (contact Mark) be therefor 19:30-19:45pm to allow time for equipment to be set up. Anyone who has been before will know the site is reasonably dark and the natives are always friendly, and it will be nice to see our friend John. Hopefully skies will be clear, but if not plan B will be initiated.
Hopefully the weather will improve for one of our observing highlights, our visit to Hook’s House Farm on the 3rd, should it be cloudy however we shall try again on Sept 10th. The Moon will only be a few days old on the 3rd, and given clear skies deep sky observing will be a delight. Mars and Saturn will also be visible over in the SW.
Hook’s House is an excellent dark site location situated on the B1447 overlooking Robin Hood’s Bay. The campsite should be still quite busy (as long as the weather hasn’t dampened enthusiasm too much) so it should be a most enjoyable evening. If last year is anything to go by, there should be some food to keep us sustained. The party starts at 20:00h, so could members try to get there for 19:45h.
Events
Observe the night sky with us at the Bruce Observatory, Caedmaon College - Normanby campus (formally Whitby College).
Observing Nights are held weather permitting: check for a relatively clear sky before leaving home. If in doubt, Mark can be reached on tel 01947 605516.
Please note the college drive gate is now operated via a electronic key code - so anyone wishing to attend must be at the car park at the top of the drive by 19:00hrs, unless an arrival time has been arranged with Mark/Keith after 19:30hrs. Otherwise shout or bip car horn - we'll hear.
Observe the night sky with us at the Bruce Observatory, Whitby School - formally Caedmon College - Normanby campus ).
Observing Nights are held weather permitting: check for a relatively clear sky before leaving home. If in doubt, Mark can be reached on tel 01947 605516.
Please note the college drive gate is now operated via a electronic key code - so anyone wishing to attend must be at the car park at the top of the drive by 19:00hrs - unless an arrival time has been arranged with Mark/Keith after 19:00hrs.
Observe the night sky with us at the Bruce Observatory, Whitby School - formally Caedmon College - Normanby campus ).
Observing Nights are held weather permitting: check for a relatively clear sky before leaving home. If in doubt, Mark can be reached on tel 01947 605516.
Please note the college drive gate is now operated via a electronic key code - so anyone wishing to attend must be at the car park at the top of the drive by 19:00hrs - unless an arrival time has been arranged with Mark/Keith after 19:00hrs.
