Welcome to the WDAS monthly newsletter for July 2020: a digest of the month's latest contributions to our website. Below you'll find Society News: including Moon photos from our Members, and Mark's valient attempts to capture the occultation of Venus by The Moon. And as well as that, of course your Sky Notes for the month.
Society News
Lockdown measures continue to eased, but I think that July is still too early and impractical to host a star party. It will actually be rather light anyway until the end of July. I think therefore we shall revisit the situation in a month’s time as it may be possible to host a few star parties in August.
Social distance measures would have to be observed and eyepieces and other parts of the telescope touched by hand would have to be wiped over with suitable antibacterial cloths etc after each person. Of course any star parties planned would require the consent of other members likely to attend. It will be difficult, but not impossible. Of course, if there were signs of infection rates rising again, local hotspots or lockdowns, we would have to postpone.
If members have any images they would like to share please send them in to Mark.
Think this may have always been a challenge to view Venus’ occultation by the waning moon. And so it proved. The day itself was much improved on the previous 8 or 9 days and I had some optimism that something would be viewed. The start of the occultation occurred at 08:38h from Whitby, so with compass, tape measure, binoculars and camera on hand, the plan was to first locate the moon using the compass, tape and binoculars and then to use a telescope and camera for the egress of Venus from behind the moon an hour later. It seemed a good plan, but had one major flaw, actually locating the crescent moon.
For a start, and right on cue, light cloud appeared, obscuring the area of sky where the moon would be located. Then, higher wispy cloud hardly noticeable to the naked eye but visible through binoculars seemed to thwart any attempt to glimpse the slim crescent moon. The real drawback however, was the relative proximity of the Sun, just a hands span to the left, causing the sky within this area to appear much brighter than sky further away, which appeared a deeper shade of blue in hue.
I tried various binoculars; 7x50, 7x35, 15 x 70, but to no avail. Then intermittent, thicker cloud, again rolled across the target area. This cleared and after one more attempt, reluctantly I gave up. A GOTO telescope would have zeroed in on the moon, but whether or not anything would have been readily visible is for others to testify.
19-Jun-2020 at 08:47h+24 seconds: Cloud appears for start of Venus-Moon occultation
19-Jun-2020 at 08:47h+39 seconds: Venus and Crescent Moon still in Cloud at start of Occultation.
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19-Jun-2020 at 08:47h+55 seconds: Venus |
19-Jun-2020 at 09:12h: |
19-Jun-2020 at 09:13h: no cloud but no moon either.
19-Jun-2020 at 09:12h: 'Honest guv, it should be right here in the middle'.
Events
Whitby Regatta events:
- Afternoon solar viewing from West Cliff near trampoline & Go-Karts. 13:00-16:15-ish.
- Evening star party at the Pitch 'n' Put area – behind new skateboard park. From 21:15hrs.
Whitby Regatta events:
- Afternoon solar viewing from West Cliff near trampolines and Go-Karts. 13:00-16:15-ish.
- Evening star party at the Pitch 'n' Put area – behind new skateboard park. From 21:15hrs.
Public Star Party including a laser point tour and observations, Weather permitting, pitch-and-put area behind the skate park on West Cliff. From 21:15hrs. (Set-up around 20:45hrs.)
For parking and loading purposes, we shall be using the narrower parking area (behind the convent) adjacent to the upper pitch and putt area. All welcome.
Public Star Party including a laser point tour and observations, Weather permitting, pitch-and-put area behind the skate park on West Cliff. From 21:15hrs. (Set-up around 20:45hrs.)
For parking and loading purposes, we shall be using the narrower parking area (behind the convent) adjacent to the upper pitch and putt area. All welcome.
A Public Star Party, weather permitting, near the Captain Cook monument on West Cliff (setting-up from 21:00hrs). Planetary & night sky Observations.
Planetary & night sky Observations.
A Public Star Party, weather permitting, near the Captain Cook monument on West Cliff (setting-up from 21:00hrs). Planetary & night sky Observations.
Planetary & night sky Observations.
One of the observing highlights on the WDAS calendar.
Hook’s House is an excellent dark site location situated on the B1447 overlooking Robin Hood’s Bay. If the weather is fine the campsite should be full and as long as skies are clear, or clear enough, we should have a cracking evening.
We shall be setting up scopes around 20:00h - weather permitting. A map of the location can be found on the web site.