Keith and Mark hosted a star party for pupils and staff at Fylinghall School on Oct 2nd.

Once again the weather played ball and although some wispy cloud developed, it soon dispersed allowing fine views of various objects through the LX 200 and Keith’s reflector.  Intended to last a couple of hours, the event went on until after 10pm, with a host of questions to answer.  The pupils certainly enjoyed the evening and from the reaction of the staff more astro related material may in future pop up in science lessons! [Read more about Event write-up: Fyling Hall School Star Party]

Leeds Astromeet 2015

Leeds Astromeet 2015 is on Saturday 7th November, and as always WDAS Members will be taking transport over.  This year's speakers:

  • Prof Tom Marsh (Warwick University)
    "Astronomy at High-Speed: delving the depths of white dwarfs, neutron stars and black-holes"
  • Dr Richard Massey (Durham University)
    "What's the (Dark) Matter?"
  • Dr Melvin Hoare (Leeds University)
    "Developments in Radio Astronomy"
  • Dr Alan Chapman (Oxford University)
    "The Life of Sir Patrick Moore"

It's going to be a busy month for WDAS.  Star Parties arranged for:

  • Students and Staff of Fyling Hall School
  • School students in Westerdale
  • A special Hallowe'en event at the Danby Moors Centre...

September Star Parties

Clear skies, sometimes plucked from the jaws of a dismal daytime, gave a full month of star parties:

  • Second Hook's House event of the season
  • West Cliff events
  • Westerdale visit

Catering was laid on for some of the events, and for Hooks House Farm there was something close to a banquet... [Read more about September Star Parties]

A succession of star parties coinciding with the run up to the full moon were held on the west cliff at our usual location during Folk Week.

Skies were pretty clear and as always the folk week crowd were eager to view, stay and listen. Thursday 27th proved interesting with a faint aurora visible to the north: a distinct green glow with a hint of rays and bands moving within this. [Read more about Bank Holiday and Folk Week Star Parties]

Tantalizing glimpses of a sunspot grouping in brief cloud breaks on Saturday were realised on Sunday when we enjoyed an interrupted view of the solar surface.

Star parties on Saturday and Sunday evenings with clear skies, an ISS passing, and Mark's sky tours.

  [Read more about 2015 Regatta Events: Solar Viewing & Star Parties]

A better-than-average display, with the best action late on.  One brilliant Perseid left an ionized trail which was visible for several seconds afterwards... [Read more about Perseid Meteor Shower Star Party]

We shall once again be travelling over to Westerdale to host a star party on Saturday Sept 19th from 20:00h (scopes set-up 15-30m ahead of time)... [Read more about Westerdale Star Party ]

Sausage rolls, scale solar system and some star viewing against the backdrop of a lightning show courtesy of nature: the first of our two visits to Hooks House this proved to be an interesting affair... [Read more about First Hook’s House Event, 2015]

Certainly one of our observing highlights on the WDAS calendar, we are hoping to host two events at Hook’s House this year; one on Aug 22nd and another on Sept 5th.

The Aug 22nd event will coincide with a quater phase moon, whilst the 5th will be a dark sky event. Should the first two dates fall victim to the weather, we shall try again on Sept 12th... [Read more about Hooks House Farm Events 2015]

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