Whitby & District Astronomical Society

Fox and Hounds - 'Evening Under the Stars'

The event at the Fox and Hounds on Oct 21st probably should have been a casualty to Storm Barbet, but miraculously went ahead in rather odd circumstances. 

This event turned out to be a real odd affair which on reflection was too close to the aftermath of storm Barbet, the time slot also clashing with the England Rugby Union semi-final.  With the aftereffects of storm Barbet still being experienced in parts of the district on Saturday 21^st.  Mark had discussed with Colin, the Fox & Hounds proprietor, whether to go ahead, however the forecast did suggest skies might clear by mid evening, but timings varied across the forecasting field and conditions remained fluid.  Following morning rain, skies began to brighten by mid-afternoon and the decision was made to go ahead.  Colin had publicised the event on various social media platforms and considering the tremendous public turn out last October, something similar was anticipated.  

Mark spent part of the afternoon replacing and aligning finder scopes for the dobsonians and was keen to test the advantages in doing so. Organisation i.e. moving equipment and personnel from A to B is remains a headache for outreach events, but once again Brian Allen came to the rescue, on hand to assist, turning up at Mark's to help load the equipment.  After picking up Keith D the two vehicles then set off for Danby, under partially broken cloud. 

As we travelled across the Moors it became evident clearer skies were heading our way and on arrival at the Fox and Hounds Colin, and a starry sky greeted us as we parked up.  Surprised, everyone agreed conditions were far better than we dared hope for, not only were skies predominantly clear, crucially given the fierce winds experienced barely 12 hours before, conditions were eerily still, excellent for minimising telescope vibration.   

It was not long after 7pm and with the event not due to start until 7:30pm we set about siting the telescopes in the Hotel's beer garden to best suit finding the intended observing objects.  A Quarter Moon was riding just above the roof of the stable block and locating the dobsonians (12" and 10") was critical in viewing this.  Aside from the two large dobsonian, the 6" dobsonian and 100mm (4") Helios were also erected.   

Whilst Colin saw to various matters within the Hotel, Brian, Keith and Mark were happy to enjoy the observing conditions, targeting not only the Moon, but Saturn, the Ring Nebula, Dumbbell Nebula, double cluster in Perseus and the Andromeda galaxy.  The ‘seeing’ was very steady and deep sky objects acquired looked exceptional, a joy to behold.  After 1/2 hour or so Jupiter broke free of departing cloud in the east, becoming a brilliant observer friendly target.  

Wispy cloud began to appear – seemingly from nowhere, but more worryingly less opaque cloud started to eat into the clear regions of the sky and within 10 minutes our observing session was stopped in its tracks.  Gazing up, we scoured the sky for signs of meaningful breaks appearing, which from time to time occurred.  Jupiter and Saturn re-appeared in fits and starts as did the summer triangle. Time had ticked by quicker than we thought and as it approached 9pm having enjoyed the observations from the quiet and still beer garden it was decided to call it a night, little sign of clouds clearing.

So, what was odd about the event?  Well, apart from cloud cutting short proceedings (certainly nothing odd in that) you may have noticed little mention of public interaction, for one good reason, there was no one (excluding Colin).  Seemingly storm Barbet had interfered with plans after all – that and the Rugby. We reloaded the vehicles, sought out Colin to say goodbye and departed. Just in time for skies to clear once again!  C'est la vie!