Open to society members and public alike from October through to April, Sunday evenings are reserved for observations from the Bruce Observatory, Whitby School - weather and access permitting.  Hoping to observe on set dates and times over the winter period from the UK is always likely to be challenging and in recent years 70 - 80% of Sunday observing evenings have fallen foul of weather conditions. Still, we persevere and on those occasions the weather gods relent, evenings with the 5" f15 vintage Cooke refractor can be truly memorable.

The Bruce Observatory. (Click for larger image)

The middle of February!!! That was our first serious observing stint from the observatory in 2026, forecasts of cloud proving inaccurate on the 15th with skies predominantly clear by 7pm.  Two trips were required - for the first we were unable to unlock the observatory door resulting in a second trip to acquire the tools necessary to break in! A large screwdriver, hammer and door wiggling eventually did the trick.

Opening just the one dome flap, and without the scope drive functioning, it had been a frustrating evening until then, but observations of the Orion nebula soon made our efforts worthwhile. The nebula was stunning with the trapezium cluster obvious. 

Handheld phone camera image of Jupiter and family through eyepiece.
Image - John L. (Click for larger image)

Turning our attention to Jupiter, the 'king of the planets' looked fabulous and after changing eyepieces and consulting an App, we concluded that the visible black dot to be the shadow transit of Io.  For our final target we decided to track down Uranus, not an easy task but after locating the general field in the finder scope, it was eventually identified in the main scope, a tiny greenish disk.

A pretty good session considering all the handicaps. Closing the dome successfully and lubricating the lock with WD40, we even managed to exit without undue hindrance, rather pleased with the evening. 

WDAS members and Cooke refractor. (Click for larger image)

The following week (Sunday Feb 22nd) also yielded clear enough skies to allow another visit. Keith and Mark had already been up during the afternoon to try and sort out the top lock and fit a pull handle on the door. It had been a partly successful exercise, at least it opened first turn allowing access. 

A large crescent Moon was our first target - a spectacular sight through the scope. The crater chain of Cyrillus, Catherina and Theophilus particularly impressive, as too was the Altai Scarp, catching the sunlight. Various magnifications were employed with equally pleasing results. We decided to give the Orion nebula a miss because of cloud scudding across its vicinity and headed for Jupiter instead. The view was again magnificent with Io almost touching the disk and a hint of the GRS rotating into view. 

Just as we were about to increase magnification, drops of rain were heard and then felt, the sky clouding over in an instant. Hurriedly closing the dome as the wind whipped up, we checked outside to see whether any clearance was to follow. Just cloud. Drat! And that was us done, door locked successfully, we departed home. Of course, by then skies had cleared. Typical!  

'red light mode'. (Click for larger image)

Please note: the school drive gate operates via an electronic card/key code which only certain WDAS members can access. If conditions look promising and you are intending to come along, please be at the top of Whitby School drive for 19:00hrs, or contact Mark with a pre-arranged arrival time, otherwise you may have to use a method of attracting our attention in the observatory.

If unsure of weather conditions and observing viability, please contact Mark on 07886069339.  

March dates are scheduled on the following: 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th from 7pm