Whitby & District Astronomical Society

Given the very unsettled conditions the UK has experienced throughout much of October, just occasionally Mother Nature dishes out a slice of good fortune, in the guise of timing, enabling the planned star party at Westerdale go ahead on the right side of a change in the weather. 

Friday13th Oct, perhaps not a date to choose to host a cherished star party event if you were superstitious, but with cloud and rain forecast, only then slowly clearing, it seemed that might be the case.  By mid-afternoon however the rain had relented, and overcast skies fragmented, the forecast changing to give clear skies moving in by evening.   

Mark had asked for vehicles to meet at his place, Brian, Lee, and Richard made good on that call assisting with loading up the equipment before picking up Keith and John L.  A convoy of four vehicles then made the journey up to Westerdale with Mark at the helm arriving at the village hall in decent time for once.  It was a relief to see that John McCue and his friend Steve had also located the Hall and was busy setting up his SCT scope. The event had been widely publicised by Amy Farmer and as the scopes were erected on suitable ground, more people began to arrive.    

After much to-ing and fro-ing, the assembled crowd in the village hall was informed of the intended schedule that evening, observe first, have refreshments and a short presentation, then back out for more observing - rounding off proceedings.  As this was being done John McCue came rushing in with news that Elon Musk's satellite star link train was visible.  The audience (35+) rapidly vacated the hall, staring up at the train of satellites passing overhead, amazed, but also somewhat shocked at the sight! All then headed for the array of scopes.  

This consisted of 12", 10" & 6" dosonian’s, Lee's 6" Newtonian, John L's 90mm SCT and John McCue’s 5" SCT.  The telescopes had been erected as far from the hall as possible, not only to minimise the impact of light pollution, but also so that we could observe Saturn above the hall rooftop. 

Most of the scopes targeted Saturn, views of which were excellent delighting those queuing at the eyepieces.  Delighted to see that John Randles – village elder and WDAS stalwart had made it along, Mark gave a laser pointer tour of the constellations visible whilst John, John, Lee, Keith and Brian were all gainfully employed observing various objects.  

Aside from Saturn, these included the Ring nebula (M57), Andromeda galaxy,  M13 globular cluster, Dumbbell nebula (M27)  together with numerous double and primary stars. 

Refreshments in the hall (tea and coffee etc) were in great demand, people alternating from these and the eyepieces. The formal refreshment interval was utilised by Mark to break out the projector, pop-up screen and IT programs to show in more detail some of the objects viewed.  Meteorites were passed around, questions asked, time seemed to fly by leaving only a short window for observation after.  Outside, people had continued to observe, making the most of the opportunity to view Jupiter which by then had cleared the treeline to the east. The repositioned scopes assisting in this.   

By 21:30hrs the event was officially over, although the wonderful sight of Jupiter did delay several departures!  The vehicles were reloaded, final goodbyes said, and rough dates pencilled in for next year.  It had been a thoroughly enjoyable evening, great viewing, good interaction with those attending and no need to thaw out afterwards.  Many thanks to Amy and the volunteers at the village hall, and to society members for their time and assistance without which such events would not be possible.