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Impressions of Hardraw, September 07 - 09, 2007 ...
What would the penultimate trip to Harris House be like? Well, a little
unexpected to be honest ...
It will be no surprise for you to learn that on arrival at Harris House
we found the skies to be rather cloudy - not at all conducive to the star-gazing
we craved. It seemed that 2007 really was going to be a wash-out.
After a late night talking about astronomy and nervously fiddling with
telescopes, it was a pleasure to awake to a lovely sunny day. Not wishing
to waste any of the warm Autumn sunshine, I saw Stephen preparing the
lawn mower ready to tackle the long grass. Now, I'm not normally too pushy,
but I took it upon myself to relieve Stephen of his duties and take over
the task - I was that desperate to be under the Sun!
It was whilst inhaling the noxious fumes from the mower and gazing at
the blue sky that I had a great idea ... 'Who needs a night sky?', I thought.
So after finishing the lawn I quietly got my telescope out, mounted and
ready. After quickly checking the position and elevation of Venus using
StarryNight, I set about finding it in the daytime sky. It took about
20 seconds. The traditional method of measuring angular separations within
the sky using no more than an outstretched hand worked perfectly. And
what a beautiful sight! Venus's graceful, silver crescent was wonderful
to see.
At this point there were stirrings at the windows as people started to
wonder what I was up to. 'Come and look at Venus', I said, and after many
eager eyes peered through my eyepiece, out came a flood of telescopes
- all wanting to see our sister planet for themselves. Teamwork ensued
and along with their owners, I soon had six 'scopes all gazing skyward.
Later, I managed to sweep-up a slender, waxing crescent Moon out of the
blue too, with six other telescopes in hot pursuit!
My thoughts then turned to Mercury. As it was becoming a little cloudy
I used my GoTo system to roughly point me in the right direction. After
a careful search (ensuring I avoided the Sun) the fleeting planet was
captured. A tiny, tiny gibbous phase skirting between the clouds. I never
cease to be amazed how small it is. I was very pleased with this observation
as we never get to see Mercury as much as we should.
How crazy could this observing session get? Could I locate stars in the
daytime?
It was nearly 1800. I asked the telescope to move to Spica in Virgo. At
magnitude 0.95 it isn't the brightest star in the sky, but it is certainly
one of the brightest. Sure enough, after adjusting my vision to look 'into'
the sky within the eyepiece, the finest pin-prick of silver light revealed
itself to me. I was amazed! I had never seen a star in daylight before.
Jason Woolley who was nearby came to look too. Initially frustrated in
trying to see the star (and using a range of eyepieces in an attempt to
help), finally saw it at 1840. It was useful to have an independent set
of eyes verify what I could see as being real.
Well, we were presented with a number of observational opportunities and
we certainly took them all. It is times such as this, which remind us
that astronomy is an very rewarding hobby.
Andrew Greenwood
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
here. |
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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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