As well as the highly successful Solar Eclipse special event, WDAS members continued supporting the Dark Sky Station’s open-door sessions at Danby Lodge throughout August. Paul Wood covered Wednesday educational visits, while John McCue, Mark Dawson, Keith Deason and Richard Randle staffed Fridays when available.

John McCue and Mark Dawson have taken turns delivering Sunday afternoon talks, which will continue until late September. Visitor numbers have been strong, with many impressed by the facility and keen to learn about evening events as autumn approaches.

How to deflate a planetarium. John McCue and Keith instruct Mark to lie down!
Image - Richard R. (Click for full image)

Members have also been dealing with further teething problems. During the solar eclipse and Perseid event, Mark found that the Celestron EdgeHD11 scope was badly out of collimation, with stars appearing as cone-shaped smudges rather than points of light. After initial attempts to collimate the optics visually on Friday 21st and again on the 28th, Mark and Keith replaced the secondary cell adjustment screws with Bob’s Knobs. This made adjusting the secondary mirror much easier. A clear, starry sky is now needed to determine whether any further tweaks are required.

Paul Wood has also been tackling issues with the telescope mount control app, which sometimes works through the SkySafari programme and sometimes does not, with unreliable Wi-Fi connectivity the likely cause. He has also been assessing the imaging device left at the DSS, but as it is essentially a microscope camera, sharper and better-quality images will require more capable equipment.

Mark troubled by trapped air! Image - Richard R. (Click for full image)

Precise polar alignment still needs to be achieved, but we hope to complete it in the first week of September. It has been a frustrating issue, not least because it need not have been—but we will get there.

John McCue brought along an inflatable planetarium, loaned by Teesside University, to check whether it would fit in the presentation room. After folding away a couple of tables, we were relieved to find that it did—just. Inflating it was easy; deflating and packing it away was not, with Mark having to roll around on the floor to force trapped air from the folds. At least, that was his excuse!

Evening public observing drop-in events now look likely to be slightly delayed. A practical way to alert people at short notice on nights when the facility is not booked has yet to be finalised, but a suitable system is being developed. Watch this space—and the Danby Lodge Facebook page.