We will soon sadly be losing one of the stalwarts of the society shortly: Andy Lawrence. I say sadly, but for Andy and his wife, Anne, it is the start of a whole new exciting chapter in their lives as they move up to Scotland by October[...] [Read more about Andy Lawrence]
Planned as our first real outdoor ...outreach event, it was hoped conditions would play ball for our annual pilgrimage over to Hook’s house[...]
As of ‘going to keyboard’, we haven’t yet officially had a date confirmed for the annual Westerdale star party event, but it certainly will not be in September[...]
WDAS monthly meetings may also possibly re- start in October, but to be honest we won’t know whether it will be feasible until after the college goes back and settled down[...] [Read more about Coming Society Events]
No.
Cancelled earlier in the year, a casualty to the Covid 19 pandemic, this year’s Whitby Regatta (had it gone ahead) would still have been a huge disappointment weather-wise with cloudy, misty and damp conditions prevailing across the weekend. I very much doubt whether we would have even ventured onto the West Cliff at all, such were the leaden skies. Some things never change[...] [Read more about Regatta 2020 – Did we miss out?]
Eight Moons and a Sunset... [Read more about Eight Moons and a Sunset.]
Having graced our skies throughout most of July after brightening far more than predicted, comet NEOWISE is currently residing in Coma Berenices.
Discovered in late March by the Near Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, aka NEOWISE launched by NASA in 2009, comet NEOWISE became readily visible to the naked eye shortly after rounding the Sun in early July. The comet was visible low to the north during the short hours of semidarkness in the twilight skies from approximately 23:00h until 02:45h[...] [Read more about Member Images of Comet Neowise]
Think this may have always been a challenge to view Venus’ occultation by the waning moon. And so it proved. The day itself was much improved on the previous 8 or 9 days and I had some optimism that something would be viewed. The start of the occultation occurred at 08:38h from Whitby, so with compass, tape measure, binoculars and camera on hand... [Read more about Venus Occultation by The Moon (by Mark Dawson)]
Lockdown measures continue to eased, but I think that July is still too early and impractical to host a star party. It will actually be rather light anyway until the end of July. I think therefore we shall revisit the situation in a month’s time as it may be possible to host a few star parties in August... [Read more about WDAS Diary: July-August 2020]
Mercury really is particularly small and faint in the sky; particularly as it never appears in a dark sky. Try to spot Mercury in these pictures. [Read more about Venus and Mercury]
They say June's Full Moon got its name as it's the month when wild strawberries begin to ripen. ('Evidently not named by a Canary Islander!' --Andi) Be that as it may, Mark has been out in force to take some photos for you pleasure and delight. So ('Odd-one-out' round) which of these Moons is Mark's teaser?
| Sun | Rise | Set |
|---|---|---|
| Actual | 06:09 | 18:11 |
| Civil Twilight | 05:34 | 18:46 |
| Nautical Twilight | 04:52 | 19:28 |
| Astronomical Twilight | 04:08 | 20:13 |
| Moon | Rise | Set |
|---|---|---|
| 22:18 | 06:45 |
