Formal Society meetings have now recommenced for the autumn/winter/spring period.  The venue is Caedmon College - Normanby Campus (formerly Whitby College) - room H1 starting from 7:30pm.

If you are new to the area and would like to join the society or have become interested in the night sky and want to take 'one small step', please do come along, you will be very welcome. 

Meetings normally follow the format of a revue of the night sky that month, upcoming celestial events, coupled with a talk or presentation on astronomical aspects or associated with space. Meetings end by 9:30pm at latest, although usually it's around 9:15pm. 

The meeting on November 7th will be given by Mark who will be talking about a load of Bull - Taurus!  The next two meetings have guest speakers, Phil Richards (who is a WDAS member) will be giving a presentation on the superb restoration of the Watson Refractor for the December meeting on the 5th. 

For the meeting on January 9th we really do have a guest speaker - Richard Darn who will giving a talk on ‘North York Moors Dark Night Survey’ a very important topic as the findings allowed the North York Moors Parks to push for Dark Sky Reserve status, Should be good.  

We are looking for more guest speakers into the New year (watch this space).

Sunday evening open nights at the Bruce Observatory have also recommenced starting from 7:15pm throughout November. Open nights are on paper, every Sunday (barring one or two exceptions) until well into April.  They are weather dependant, so if you are intending on coming along, please contact Mark on the day, the conditions at Whitby can be very different to inland, or further up or down the coast!  The observatory is also located at the Normanby Campus, at the bottom of the drive (the conical domed building). 

Please be at the College top carpark for 7:15pm if possible as the security gate for the drive is operated via secret keycode and closes automatically after being opened.  Anyone arriving late will need to attract our attention within the observatory (flash car lights or shout).