Whitby & District Astronomical Society

As nights grow lighter it’s always going to be challenging to hold public star parties at this time of year, and with all the planets hiding in the dawn sky, only the Sun and Moon are available to observe for the time being.  That said, given decent conditions, a favourable Moon phase can be just as pleasing in the public’s eye as a remote deep sky object and with the Sun active, sunspot observations can be especially fascinating given recent aurora displays.  So, we try to plan events accordingly.

The first scheduled event of the summer recess should really have been far more than it was - but we were duped by the weather!  Low cloud had plagued the north-east coast in the days leading up to May 18th, and with similar wind patterns, this situation looked to continue.

Saturday 18th did indeed start like this, but by the afternoon the mist and low cloud began to break - or retreat out to sea. Perhaps we would be lucky after all! Early evening and following a shopping trip Mark became aware that the sea fret was sneaking back, lapping the cliffs, extensions and piers in John carpenter’s 'The Fog' style. Investigating further, to his disbelief Mark found that the West Cliff, our venue, was totally blanketed, dark, dank, chilly, with the sky totally obscured and the fog creeping inland. And yet 200 meters inland brilliant sunshine bathed the town and a quarter Moon hung in the sky.

This was the reality literally 30 mins before our start time. Phone calls were made, heads and chins scratched and thinking the worst we decided not to go ahead but would go up to the cliff to take a few photos of the general eeriness. Mark joined Keith and John at our usual location Cpt Cook headland now bathed in sunshine with the Moon high to the south....AAAAHH! The fret was still there, but lurked off the coast, occasionally making forays to cover the cliffs and our vantage point.  It was bizarre, reminiscent of the Whitby Regatta two years ago.  As the Sun dropped into the fret pictures were taken, we chatted, talked to a very optimistic, but unlucky person who had come along, and generally wailed in despair! We made peace with our decision and after a while departed.

As expected, and forecast, the low cloud did role back in later - around 23:00hrs, a couple of hours after we'd vacated the cliff!  We should have known, but just occasionally the conditions can completely wrong foot the observers!