This year’s foray over to Westerdale on Sept 2nd remarkably coincided with crystal clear skies once again, in fact we could not have wished for clearer ones. It was obvious on arrival at the village hall car park that a sizeable gathering was present, induced out by the fine conditions (or was it society stalwart John Randles – the Godfather of Westerdale. Whatever, we received a warm welcome as usual. Whilst John and Mark were talking a barn owl flew out across the drop next to the site, a fine start to proceedings. [Read more about Westerdale Star Party: Friday 2nd Sept 2016]
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Hopefully the weather will improve for one of our observing highlights, our visit to Hook’s House Farm on the 3rd, should it be cloudy however we shall try again on Sept 10th. The Moon will only be a few days old on the 3rd, and given clear skies deep sky observing will be a delight. Mars and Saturn will also be visible over in the South-West. 
We shall be making our pilgrimage over to Westerdale to host this year’s star party on the 2nd. As usual the venue will be the village hall / car park area within the village. Start time is 20:00h for the public... 
No, that didn’t work either... moving Regatta to later in the month, that is. Different dates, same weather. 
The autumn equinox falls on September 22nd, the date autumn officially commences in the northern hemisphere. For the second time this year the polar axis of our planet is at right angles to the Sun and all locations receive equal hours of daylight and darkness... 
It turned out to be a pleasantly warm evening on July 30th for a Star Party on West Cliff. Warren arrived just in time to photograph a rainbow dropping to the sea through the hole in a cloud, and capture a magnificent sunset a few minutes after (pictures in the main article).
This year’s event will be held on Sept 3rd (or 10th if clouded out on the 3rd) Definitely, one of our observing highlights, let’s hope skies are clear, as the moon will only be 3 days old. As you know Hook’s House is an excellent dark site location situated on the B1447 overlooking Robin Hood’s Bay. The campsite should still be busy, so we plan to get set up for 8pm. Members bringing scopes please be on site for 7:45pm if possible. If conditions are forecast to be decent, it would not surprise me to have a bit of a ‘in boot barby thing’ going on as well. Fingers crossed for a cracking evening. 
We shall once again be travelling over to Westerdale to host a star party on Friday Sept 2nd. The venue will be the village hall/car park area within the village. Start time is 20:00h for the public, but will members wishing to attend (contact Mark) be there for 19:30-45h to allow time for equipment to be set up. Anyone who has been before will know the site is reasonably dark and the natives are always friendly, and it will be nice to see our friend John. Plan B (indoors) will be initiated if cloudy. 
Finally, a star party actually that went ahead, July 15th. It was a bit last minute, but conditions were clear, a little breezy, but nevertheless observations were actually possible. With skies still quite bright, the 10 day old moon was our first target... 
It would seem that a regime change has been encouraged at Whitby Museum. Although exact details of hire charges etc, have yet to be verified, it’s looking likely these will be similar to what the society used to pay for use of the Normanby room. Better news still, food is back on the menu! Watch this space for further news on a likely date for Paul Money. 
