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Impressions of Hardraw, October 27 - 29, 2006 ...
It was cloudy, very cloudy, on the Friday night. However, this meant
that we could linger over an excellent meal at Simonstone Hall. To celebrate
Halloween, Stephen and I had brought along a hollowed out, home grown
pumpkin. At 15.8kg, it took 3 candles to produce enough light.
Saturday was wet, very wet. Even the hardened walkers decided to stay
indoors. We only ventured out to the nearby ‘Green Dragon’
for a pint at lunchtime. Andrew Greenwood was on the internet checking
the weather forecasts and saying it was going to clear up. It did not
look like it. It looked set in. Richard Jackson arrived in the afternoon
and said that it was fine back home.
Anyway, it did clear up, after our visit to the Chippy. We all went outside
to look for Comet Swan. Andrew was telling us where to look in Hercules.
Stephen produced a laser pen to help. This was a new toy. Most of the
group had a go with the Laser pen. Andrew was trying to shoot the Comet
down with the light beam! It is an extremely good teaching aid, especially
with beginners. ‘The Sword Handle’, Alpha Persei, Auriga,
Hercules etc: were all pointed out.
Richard helped me take several shots of the Pleiades with my Canon 20D
attached to his 90mm Takahashi refractor. It was interesting to realise
that I needed to pay much more attention to some basic issues. As always,
we do not get a clear sky for long enough. The cloud crept in making the
viewing area smaller and smaller. And so to bed.
Richard woke up in the early hours and saw that the sky was crystal clear.
He got up and woke Andrew, Andrew, Jason and Patricia. Saturn was beautiful
and it was Patricia’s first sighting. Wow! Orion was visible and
Richard got some shots of the Orion Nebula. Meanwhile the rest of us were
enjoying our sleep. This is the first time that there have been two observing
sessions in one night. When we did get up we saw that Richard was busy
processing his images and Derek and Angela were showing their picture
of the Crab nebula (M1), taken that morning. Quite a few of us were had.
They had taken the picture all right – from a poster on the back
on the door.
Another successful visit had come to an end.
Diana Willcox
Click on an image to see a larger version.
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Keep up-to-date with Society events and subscribe to the electronic version of our newsletter - 'What's Up?' ... Click
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 July and August updates ...
The bright twilight nights are slowly giving way to darker skies and the prospect of revealing a little-known nightly sight. Away from the towns and cities, the Milky Way will soon be glimpsed meandering through the constellation of Cygnus. This river of stars was worshipped by the ancient Egyptians ... Nowadays, especially when we approach the end of Summer, it's astronomers that turn their gaze skyward and praise the sight of a myriad of stars arching high above them.
The following sections have been updated: This month's night sky and observations.
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Would you like to join our newly formed visual observing group? We will now be holding regular observing sessions at some of our dark-sky sites across Macclesfield. If you would llike to be added to our contact list, don't delay ... Click
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For information on our observing
field trips to Hardraw, Yorkshire ... Click
here. |
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Our Workshops continue to be a
great success. As a result we are looking for more of you
to participate and give your own short presentations to Society
members. Let us know if you'd like to get involved ... Click
here. |
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