No, not from the society, but from work (lucky so-and-so) Keith has worked for the last 41 years as a science technician at what was Whitby School, then Whitby College and finally Caedmon College. Most of us still refer to it as the former.
You can almost say Keith has worked there ‘man and boy’... [Read more about Keith Retires (...escapes?)]
Think back to July 2018, when during a long heat wave with the majority of evening’s fine, it was greatly frustrating to have apocalyptic weather for the total lunar eclipse on July 27th 2018.
Almost a year on (July 16th 2019) another lunar eclipse would grace our skies and again would already be underway as the moon rose. Not a total, but a partial eclipse. This time however prospects looked encouraging with clear skies forecast... [Read more about Partial Lunar Eclipse]
Unsurprisingly, our star party events in June all fell victim to the poor weather conditions, either cloud or rain ...or both. It’s a quite a few years since we last endured a soggy June, but it was bound to happen sooner or later. Let’s be philosophical; better June than late July, August or September, when we need fine evenings. Hope things buck up during July. [Read more about Society News/Events]
Not a great deal to tell, the college has the estimate of the work involved, the methods of how this will be tackled has been somewhat amended since the last update. [Read more about Observatory News]
After skies cleared quite late for our scheduled star party on the May11th, (and having not erected any placards as a result), we decided to utilise the conditions by trying out the LX 200 and power pack for a pre-season shakedown run.
Keith, John, Phil and Elaine all came up to the college where we hoped to have a good shakedown test of the Meade scope. Initially, things did not look promising, problems with the power station/power cable, locking/motor synch mechanism and hand controller, gave some cause for concern.... [Read more about Society News: Recent and Coming Events.]
If the Moon had been at a better phase, (ie. pre Full Moon), we could have almost started the outdoor star party season at Easter, with the weather being as good as it was. But it was rising just a little too late, and with no planets visible – (Mars being well passed its best) the spring sky is not ideally suited to the passing public... [Read more about Star Party season]
We are currently awaiting news from the college regarding the estimate submitted for the proposed work on the observatory, plus any subsequent developments on their part. However some preparations will commence at the next bank holiday (May Day weekend).
A proposal has been made to utilise the Sunday evening observing slot (now in abeyance until after the summer period) to carry out preparatory and remedial work within the observatory. This will be discussed at the final monthly meeting for this season in May. [Read more about Observatory Work]
Staying at the Whitby Youth Hostel, this year’s outward bounds party from Ayresome Primary school in Middlesbrough once again brought fine weather with them, even though the forecast originally had been for light or low cloud for much of the week.
This turned out to be somewhat off the mark, with our preferred evening (Wednesday 10th) being clear and still. Actually some cloud did come in off the sea, but not enough to really hamper our observations. [Read more about Ayresome Primary School visit - Whitby Youth Hostel]
We are currently in the process of booking Paul for a talk, however due to various factors this is most likely to be later in the year rather than May.
Information will be posted in the notes or on the website as and when we have some. [Read more about Paul Money Lecture]
During our March meeting, it was agreed that the best method of weather proofing the observatory dome and roof was the one put forward by Saul, ie. by applying a new fibre glass surface over coated directly onto the existing felt. Following the generous donation by Norman Wright and perhaps other monies forthcoming from the college, we should have enough funds to carry out the necessary work for the refurbishment... [Read more about Observatory News]