From October to April on Sunday evenings the dome of the Bruce Observatory is opened for public observing sessions - conditions allowing. Located in the grounds of Whitby School (Prospect Hill site) the observatory houses an f15 - 5" Cooke refractor from the late 19th century, an instrument ideally suited for lunar, planetary and multiple star observations.  On paper observations are possible every Sunday, however, living in the UK we must accept that weather conditions are far from perfect and in practice 70-75% of Sunday dates over the last two years have been unsuitable for observing. Nevertheless, we persist in our efforts.

The Bruce Observatory. (Click for larger image)

To highlight this rather unfortunate statistic, since the beginning of the new year, we have visited the observatory and observed celestial objects on only two occasions: once at the start of February and again on March 9th. Even this date was not plain sailing, Mother nature summoning up fog from nowhere, blotting out all but Jupiter, Mars and Moon. This soon deteriorated to just lunar observations. Nevertheless, those present saw some fine detail the mist affording great contrasting images of Jupiter and Galilean moons. Frustratingly, the clock weight drive refused to spin into action at all and the scope had to be used in 'manual' mode only, an issue we still have to resolve.  

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

With fog persisting as it turned 20:45hrs, we decided to close the dome, with only the veiled Moon visible. Although our viewing session was brief, we were very satisfied with the observations of Jupiter and the Moon. The subsequent Sunday was marked by cloud cover, as was Sunday, the 23rd. On the final Sunday of March, despite clearer skies, key members were unable to attend, and with a later scheduled start time of 20:00hrs, we opted not to proceed.

'Night vision mode'. (Click for larger image)

Please be aware that the school drive gate is now equipped with an electric key code system accessible exclusively to designated WDAS members. We kindly ask that you aim to arrive at the top car park by start time, or make prior arrangements with Mark. Should this not be possible, you may need to use your car horn, headlights, or vocally alert us to gain access, as the gates will be closed.  The final scheduled open night is on April 6th from 20:00hrs.