BRIDGWATER
ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY: Established in 1969
Next Meeting: Wed 13th Jun 2012 The Annual General Meeting.(AGM)
Last rev 18th May 2012)
Welcome to
the Bridgwater Astronomical Society Web Site. We meet every 2nd Wed
in the month, from Sept until June, currently in room D10 at Bridgwater
College, Bath Road, Bridgwater. (Towards Main
Reception through first set of doors, turn left up stairs, turn left along
corridor at top)
Meetings are from 7-30 to 9pm .
The main talk or subject of the evening starts at around 7-45 to 8pm.
Regular
monthly Observing / Stargazing
sessions are also held on the Friday after each meeting(see
‘Observing’ below). (More)
Contact us
by email at bwastrosoc@hotmail.com
or
telephone 01278 683740
Use the links in the four
sections below;
General, Observing, Space Exploration & Cosmology.
GENERAL:
▪ Programme of Meetings Programme
▪ News items News
▪ Contact Details Contact
▪ Sites of interest Links
▪ Pictures of the night sky Photos Bwastro Members
Photo Album
▪ Library. astrosoc/library
▪ History of the Society History
OBSERVING:
▪ Observing/Stargazing Evenings. Observing
▪
Weather Forecast bbc weather weatheronline.co.uk metcheck.com accuweather.com
▪ New to
Astronomy? Some basics Beginners
▪ Setting
up a simple telescope. Setting
▪ Photography Basics Photography
▪ Viewing the Night sky: This is
a large section below:
Sky & Telescope:
skytonight ataglance Very
helpful night by night reminder of what is on view, for the week ahead.
Heavens Above. Lots
of info including a useful
night sky chart with planets & the moon. You can also change the date and time
to suit your needs to plan your observing on a future date. This chart is set for Parchey
Bridge, Chedzoy, our
observing site.
Sky Diary from the Society for Popular Astronomy…. http://www.popastro.com/skydiary/index.php
CalSKY
calsky.com Customise it to your own location, then
generate your own observing list for the evening.
BBC Science
night sky page….
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/
Astronomy Now astronomynow.com
Space.com…… NEW http://www.space.com/skywatching/ Skywatching
http://www.space.com/spaceflight/ Spaceflight
http://www.space.com/search-for-life/
Search for Life
News Now Astronomy Newsnow.co.uk/h/Science/Astronomy
Universe today
Universetoday.com/
NEW
The Milky Way Galaxy :
http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/galaxy.html Atlas of the Universe: Tip: Zoom in several
times to see the objects nearest to the Solar System in a way you’ve probably
never seen them before.
http://astronomyonline.org/OurGalaxy/Introduction.asp?Cate=OurGalaxy&SubCate=OG01 Astronomy on line .org
▪ ISS International Space Station ▪ Iridium Flares
▪ Sun: BAA Solar page
▪ Moon: Moon Map
BAA Lunar page. Virtual Atlas: http://www.astrosurf.com/avl/UK_index.html
http://www.lunar-occultations.com/iota/iotandx.htm
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/moon
▪ Planets skyandtelescope.com/observing/planets Various info on planetary observing.
▪ Asteroids(minor
planets)
S&T Asteroid page http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/asteroids
Nasa Near Earth Object Programme http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/neo.html
▪ Comets:
http://cometchasing.skyhound.com/
Skyhound comet pages
http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~jds/ BAA comet pages
http://kometen.fg-vds.de/fgk_hpe.htm
German comet pages
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/comets
▪ Meteors:
http://www.theastronomer.org/meteors.html
▪ Deep
Sky: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/deepsky
▪ Radio Astronomy: Jodrell Bank http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/
▪ SPACEFLIGHT NOW: http://spaceflightnow.com/ Shows all the latest goings on in space
▪ NASA : jpl.nasa A definitive list of and details of all
missions that are still ‘live’.
▪ MARS: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ Mars Science
Lab, launched Nov 2011, arrives Aug 2012.
Marsrovers There are 2 Mars Rovers
still on Mars, but only one still operating.
phoenix NASA’s Phoenix
mission appears to have expired.
▪ SATURN: Cassini
Various close fly by’s of Titan, other moons,
& Saturn itself.
▪ OTHERS dawn Dawn
launched Oct 2007, Dawn visits the Minor Planets Vesta
(Aug2011) & Ceres (Feb2015)
▪
Nasa site on
Cosmology http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_uni.html
▪
▪
The Official String Theory Web Site http://www.superstringtheory.com/cosmo/index.html
▪
UCLA site http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/cosmolog.htm
BAS
News: If members have other items of news to include,
write to bwastrosoc@hotmail.com
110512 Good views had at the stargazing
evening, Venus, now a thin cresent shape, Mars,
some dark markings and a polar ice cap, and Saturn with its rings. Images were
compared through the various telescopes which included 2 x 250mm reflectors and
several smaller scopes.
250312 Good views over the next few nights of the Moon
passing Jupiter & Venus. See pic taken this evening
140312 Stargazing evening. Well, we were blessed with an excellent evening and
had good views of Venus & Jupiter close together, Mars, Comet Garradd, Orion Neb.
070312 Venus & Jupiter
gradually approaching each other for a close pass around the 14th-
16th March. Also look for Mercury
low on the horizon below them, and Mars
rising in the east.
130112 The Observation session earlier this evening was treated to lovely clear
skies and a very bright meteor that broke in two as it shot through the
atmosphere to Earth.
110112 Please note the Feb 8th
meeting is now ‘A debate about the Milky Way Galaxy’, and the March 14th meeting is an Observation
Evening. This change was necessary due to the full moon falling on
Feb 7th only one day before the Feb meeting.
081111 Asteroid 2005 YU55 is
expected to pass closest to Earth at a range of about 201,700 miles (324,600
kilometers) on Tuesday(tonight) at 23-28GMT. The asteroid is about the size of
an aircraft carrier, spanning approximately 1,300 feet (400 meters), and is the
largest space rock to have a close encounter with Earth with advance notice in
35 years. The next time an asteroid of similar size will approach close to
Earth will be in 2028. During its
closest approach to Earth, asteroid 2005 YU55 will not be visible to the naked
eye, but does not pose a threat to our planet.
141011 Perfect weather allowed the Observing
evening to be a great success. Some of the objects seen were, 2
sporadic meteors, numerous orbiting earth satellites, including the degrading Rosat x ray sat, an iridium flare,
comet Garradd, M13, double double
in Lyra, Albireo in Cygnus,
and of course you couldn’t miss the moon.
160911 Observing evening went ahead despite a generous covering of fast
moving cloud. During a short gap in the clouds we did manage to see comet Garradd, through Simons 8”
reflector, but that was it!
150911 Periodic Comet 45P/Honda low in morning twilight at 04-20, just below Regulus in Leo, mag 8.3 and brightening with 15” coma.
260811 New Supernova discovered in M101, the Pinwheel Galaxy. Go to
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/home/128430288.html
170811 Comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd):
An evening comet visible in binoculars. Mag 8.2.
Look for a 9' coma. It should brighten by about 0.7 magnitudes, moving into Sagitta by month's end. Visibility
August 20: High in moonlight at 23:20hrs . Visibility
August 27 : High at 21:50hrs
Check
out the details at http://cometchasing.skyhound.com/
Finder
chart at http://cometchasing.skyhound.com/comets/2009_P1.pdf
150811 The Barbi on Sat 12th Aug went ahead despite a
variable weather forecast. The barbi itself went
well. Viewing at Dead Womans Ditch however, was
disappointing, the count being about 10 cows, the Moon, the radio mast above
Wells, then thousands of raindrops. Ah well, better luck next year perhaps!
080611 AGM: All officers re-elected, programme for 2011/2012 established (see
Programme link at top of this page)
130211 Nasa’s Stardust Spacecraft is due to fly past Comet Temple 1 on 14 02 11at 20-30PST, within 200km of its
surface.
140111 Observing evening went ahead, attended by
6 members, who viewed Jupiter with Uranus nearby, the Moon, M31, M42, Pleiades, Beehive cluster, 2 almost simultaneous
meteors and a few other odds and ends.
090111 There seem to be a number of astro events going on in the South West in January
associated with the recent BBC series ‘Stargazing Live’ presented by Prof Brian
Cox. Although as the local Society we were not asked to participate, we can
still be involved by calling our next observing evening, on Jan 14th,
Stargazing Live. So, come along and support it if the weather is ok, bring your telescopes so members of the public, if they do
appear, will be able to view the night sky.
211210 The shortest day has come & gone again. Unfortunately
the Eclipse of the Moon was not visible due to cloud cover.
171210 Finally got around to checking the voting
for the April Guest speaker subject.
The winner with 5
votes was ‘Inside Stars- Cooking Pots for the Elements’.
131010 Observing at Parchey
was blessed with perfect clear skies. The Moon & Jupiter were the first
objects to be viewed. Later, under darker skies, at around 8-45pm, Comet
Hartley was visible about one binocular field left of the bright stars of
Perseus, as a large diffuse cloud in both binoculars and telescopes.
240810 Club telescope loaned out to a
prospective new member from WSM.
120810 Barbi &
meteor watch. A good evening was spent first at the barbi
site, then on sun loungers at Dead Woman's Ditch, heads cranked awkwardly
backwards watching for Perseid meteors. Although quite
cloudy at times, we did manage a count of 30 in a little over an hour, with at
least 3 being quite spectacularly bright.
070410 If you have not yet seen Mercury,
don’t leave it much longer. Here’s a pic taken this evening.
http://www.worldisround.com/articles/336100/photo43.html
120210 7-30pm total cloud cover outside
so no observation evening, however, I popped out last night and got a quick
snap of Vesta passing through Leo. Go to http://dbown100.tripod.com/Vesta_110210.jpg Lets watch it move past gamma Leonis over the next week. DB
110210 Here’s a link to a chart to find Vesta
currently in Leo ..... http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=9117
220110 Added links to various astro sites we looked at during the Jan 2010 meeting. GoTo Links
150110 Notes changes to the Programme of meetings. Due to the heavy
snowfall Terry couldn’t get in to give his talk on processing so that has moved
back to next month. Ten minute talks has been moved to the May slot to be
combined with 10 minute answers. Check out the ‘Programme’ for details.
Go below
for a small selection of pictures to give you some ideas for your own attempts.
Some technical information is given with each
picture. Some pics are taken using ‘old’ methods with
film, whilst others are taken with digital. Whatever equipment you have, you
will be able to do something. For the
basic techniques go to Photography
Look at the following section….. Comets Stars Moon
To look at pictures taken by some of our
members……..
Go to
Terry's page Jan's
page Matt’s page DB's Pics
Is
located on Microsoft Skydrive at
http://cid-0c4da7e0d06dcff5.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/New%20album?view=thumbs
It’s your album so if you want a photo
displayed here, send it to dbown100@hotmail.com
Comet Hale Bopp
29/03/97 : 3mins with 50mm f1.8, Nikon camera guided by
10"scope.Colour corrected to remove light pollution causing a yellowish
cast caused by the town of
Comet Hale Bopp 12/04/97 20secs at f4.3(prime focus) through 250mm Aperture reflector on HP5 film uprated to 1600ASA. Photo by DB.
Orion Nebula & Horsehead.
10min @ f2.8 using
135mm telephoto on a camera, mounted piggyback on a guided telescope. As well as M42, the
Orion Nebula, you can just make out the dark shape of the
Horsehead just below the faint star below the left hand belt star .
Jupiter in Leo.(11/06/04) A 15sec unguided digital shot. ISO set at 400, exposure time
, f No, & focusing manually set.
Noise reduction set at ON. Camera used Olympus C765, set on tripod with self timer to take the photo. Photo by DB.
031208
The Moon, Venus & Jupiter, from left to right, seen across
For the technically minded, digital photo, 1
sec at F2.8, ISO 400
A
simple photo that anyone might try! Digital camera pointed into the
eyepiece of 11 x 80 binoculars
aimed at the moon. Or use an SLR
set at 1/125sec, with the lens
wide open set to infinity.
This is a digital shot at 45x through a 10”Newtonian with the camera held up to the eyepiece.
Same as previously but now at around 70x
And then some more magnification (but a different part of the moon)
Photos by DB.
Bridgwater Astronomical Society :
Programme for 2011/12:
Monthly
Meetings are always on the 2nd Wednesday in the month usually in
Room D10.
Wed 13th Jun 2012 The Annual General Meeting.(AGM)
Every
year the most difficult task is always to think of some interesting subjects
for our upcoming monthly meetings.
If
possibly volunteer to give a talk yourself, or suggest a subject that you would
like to learn more about from someone else.
Sat Aug 11th Annual Barbi
& Perseid Meteor watch. (Max is at 10hrsUt
Sun 12/08/12)
Barbeque from 8pm at Forest Trail Picnic site.
(Or meet at Barclay St car park off St John St at 7-30pm)
From about 9pm, Meteor watch from Dead Womans Ditch on the Quantock Hills above Over Stowey.
Barbeque
facilities provided, but bring your own food & drink.
Suggested
items for the meteor watch are sun loungers, so you can lie back and watch the
sky in comfort
without
getting a stiff neck, and warm clothing because it can get cold up there at
11pm.
Wed Sept 12th 2012 2012/2013 Season begins
CONTACT: For further information
write to bwastrosoc@hotmail.com
Telephone : 01278 683740
OBSERVING / STARGAZING EVENINGS Next evening. Sat August 11th at the annual Barbi & Perseid meteor watch.( see prog)
Come Stargazing with the Bridgwater
Astronomical Society:
These dates are normally the Friday after the
monthly meeting, unless stated otherwise. They are normally held at
Google map of the Parchey
site http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?oe=UTF-8&hl=en&tab=wl&q=51.13552,-2.92759
If the weather looks uncertain, ring the chairman on 01278
683740, to find out if the observing evening is going ahead. Total
cloud cover will certainly curtail the evening, but partial cover means that
some observing is usually possible. Don’t forget, that just because its cloudy
where you are, doesn’t mean it will be cloudy at the observing site, so make
that phone call.
We
usually aim to look at any planets that are visible, and then a selection of
other interesting objects such as galaxies, nebulae, double stars etc. If the
Moon is around we will also take a look at that.
You can use some of the links from the
Observing section above, to plan your viewing, such as ataglance to
check what is happening from night to night, and skychart to look at a current star chart of the night
sky.
For other information such as Directions to the observing site, Weather prospects, and Monthly Observing notes go to www.dennathorne-designs.com/astrosoc
Links to
sites of interest to the Astronomer
If you have some favourite links why not share
them with others. Please email to bwastrosoc at above
address.
Members Favourite Links:
http://www.slackerastronomy.org/wordpress/
http://www.planetary.org/home/
Pages for Observers:
This weeks night sky http://www.skypub.com/sights/sights.shtml
Comet Pages
http://www.skypub.com/sights/comets/comets.shtml
Comet Observation Pages http://encke.jpl.nasa.gov/
Satellite Observing
http://www.skypub.com/sights/satellites/satellites.shtml
Heavens above http://www.heavens-above.com/
The Astronomer http://www.theastronomer.org/index.html
BBC Science & Nature : Space http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/myspace/
Astronomy Now magazine http://www.astronomynow.com/
Sky at Night Mag
http://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/
The Society for
Popular Astronomy
http://www.popastro.com/home.htm
Telescopes & telescope making:
Skys
the limit (Chinese Imports) http://www.skysthelimit.org.uk/
Sherwoods
http://www.sherwoods-photo.com/homepage.htm
First Light Optics (Exeter) http://www.firstlightoptics.com/
MC2scopes (Frome)
www.mc2scopes.com
UK Telescopes
http://www.uk-telescopes.co.uk/index.htm
Broadhurst Clarkson & Fuller Ltd http://www.telescopehouse.com/acatalog/about_us.html
David Hinds
http://www.dhinds.co.uk/
AWR
Technology
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/awr.tech/
Beacon hill
telescopes
http://www.beaconhilltelescopes.mcmail.com/
Societies & Groups:
British Astronomical Assoc http://www.britastro.org/main/
Bristol Astronomical Society http://www.bristolastrosoc.org.uk/
Crewkerne Astro Soc
http://www.cadas.net/
South Som Astro Soc http://ssas.fateback.com/home.htm
Charterhouse Centre
http://www.charterhousecentre.org.uk/
The North Devon Astronomical Society http://www.ndastros.org/
Misc.
Hubble Heritage Gallery of Images http://heritage.stsci.edu/public/gallery/galindex.html
Hubble Space Telescope Public Pictures http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pictures.html
ESO Online Digitized Sky Survey http://arch-http.hq.eso.org/dss/dss
Cassini Huygens Mission to Saturn/Titan http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm
JPL Nasa home page http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/
Nasa home page http://www.nasa.gov/
ESA http://www.esrin.esa.it/export/esaCP/index.html
Setting up and using your telescope.
(Please note that these are brief notes relevant to simple telescopes without electronic GoTo drives etc.)
The two most common questions we get asked from someone new to astronomy are usually these
1. " I've just bought a new telescope but I can't find anything with it"
2. "I've just bought a new telescope but I don't understand how to set it up. How do I set it up so that I can find something ?"
The first question is usually associated with actually pointing the telescope at an object, and is usually to do with the finder scope not being properly aligned with the main telescope tube. In daylight, point the telescope at a distant object such as a tree or building and then without moving the main telescope, adjust the finder so that the centre of the cross hairs points at the same object that you lined the telescope up on. If you can’t understand how to do this, then forget about the finder scope and at night time try looking up along the length of the main telescope tube to line it up on the object that you want to view. Make sure that the telescope is first set up with the lowest power of eyepiece ( focal length of 20mm or more).
The second question is more complicated and is to do with lining the telescope mount up with the sky. If your telescope has an 'Equatorial mount' the polar axis should be pointing towards the Pole star Polaris. To do this look at your mounting and identify the 2 movements that it has. Each movement is around a shaft or spindle. One of these, the polar axis can usually be tilted up or down at an angle to point at the pole star. If there is a scale then it should be set at your latitude(approx +52degrees for Bridgwater). Now when you take your telescope outside, position it so that polar axis points up at the pole star, or if you can't see or identify the pole star, set that axis pointing northwards using a compass. This should be good enough for simple observing.
IMPORTANT TIPS:
a) Always start off with the lowest magnification eyepiece in the telescope. This will be the one with the longest focal length such as 20mm or 25mm, and gives a wide field of view most suitable for initially finding things
b) Check before use that the small finder telescope is still lined up with the main telescope. Use a bright star or the moon.
c) Commence viewing on a bright object so that you can get the eyepiece in focus to start with. It will then be easier when you move on to fainter objects.
d) If you have an equatorial mount, line the polar axis up with the North Star, Polaris, as best you can.
If you are still
stuck with something then send us an email bwastrosoc@hotmail.com
By far the easiest object to start with is the moon. You can just hold almost any type of camera to the
eyepiece of your telescope and try pressing the shutter. The lens of the camera
must be looking into the telescope eyepiece. Focus
the moon in the eyepiece before you take your picture, and only use a low magnification eyepiece.
If there are settings on your camera that you
can adjust, set focus to infinity or max distance,
lens ‘F’ no to lowest such as f2.8, and shutter speed to about 1/125th. Otherwise if your
camera is automatic, let the camera do the work and keep your fingers crossed.
Another interesting object to consider, but
without your telescope this time, and only if you have a camera with at least a
10x zoom facility, is to try a picture of Jupiter and
it’s moons. You will need your camera tripod mounted, zoomed in to max setting.
If possible use manual focussing, set to infinity, and manual exposure time set
at half a second to begin with. Experiment with shorter or longer times to
reveal the moons. Jupiter will be over exposed and will show no detail other than
a bright blob of light.
Other objects will not normally be possible
unless your camera shutter can be left opened for more than several seconds,
and then the camera must be securely fixed to something on the telescope, and
the telescope needs to have a motor drive running so that it keeps pace with
the star movements. With this method it is possible to take pictures of the
planets, or close ups of the moon.
If you have a tripod you may be able to have a
go at photographing the stars in the
night sky using just your camera lens and a time exposure to collect their
light.
First aim your camera
in the required direction. As before, set focus to
infinity or max distance, lens ‘F’ no to lowest such as f2.8, and shutter speed to 10 seconds or more. If automatic, make sure
the camera is set for a time exposure of at least 10 seconds if possible.
Shorter times will do but you will only capture the brighter stars in your
photo.
Now comes the tricky bit. If there is a self timer button use this to fire the shutter after you have pressed
the button. That way you will not shake the camera during the time the lens is
open. If not you will have to try and do it manually.
Depending on your camera and specifications you
should be able to photograph all stars that can be
seen with the naked eye, and possibly some fainter ones. Have a go at the
planets among the stars, minor planets, comets, etc. Good Luck.
For a detailed article on processing webcam
images of the planets go to http://www.skyandtelescope.com/howto/astrophotography/How_to_Process_Planetary_Images.html
http://www.threebuttes.com/RegistaxTutorial.htm
http://www.davesastro.co.uk/techniques/registax_tutorial/index.html
A: No not at all. In fact until you decide what
it is that interests you in the night sky it is difficult to choose which
telescope will suit you best . So to start with, use your eyes, or perhaps a
pair of binoculars if you have some, or can borrow a pair, or borrow the
Society’s 150mm reflector if you feel confident of having a go.
A: Well a whole night sky covered with stars,
constellation patterns including the constellation signs of the zodiac (Aries,
Taurus, etc)
the moon and planets including, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and
Saturn, but you will need to know where to look ( Click on the Heavens Above
link in ‘Viewing the Night sky’
to get a star chart that includes planet positions).
Then there are
shooting stars (or meteor showers as they are known to astronomers), orbiting
earth satellites such as The International Space Station Int' Space Station(ISS), Eclipses of the Sun & Moon,
Transits(events where objects pass in front of other objects such as the sun or
planets), comets…..
A; Much, much
more. Fainter stars (The bigger the binoculars or telescope lens, the fainter
are the stars that you can see), lots of details on the moon (such as its Mares
or Sea’s and the many craters that pockmark its surface), Jupiter’s 4 brightest
moons (but you will probably need to steady your binoculars on a post or a
wall), Saturn’s rings (You can just about make out the elliptical shape of the
rings in 7 x 50 binoculars), star clusters, nebulae, galaxies, minor
planets(asteroids), fainter comets, 2
more planets of the Solar System Uranus
and Neptune….
Q: And what are those funny numbers they
always show when advertising binoculars?
A: Well the numbers are usually something like
.. 7 x 35, or 10 x 50. The first number, such as 7 or 10, is the magnification, or how much closer an
object will look compared to the eye. The second number, such as 35 or 50, is
the size of the lens in millimetres (mm). Remember the answer in the question
above… The bigger the binoculars or telescope lens, the fainter are the stars
that you can see.
A: No not at all.
Some people are quite content reading about all aspects of astronomy, others like
to follow what’s happening regarding space travel and space probes, some like
to carry out calculations to prove or disprove theories, and there are many
other things that can be done without optical equipment. Take a look at some of
the Links listed on this page for ideas.
A brief History of
the Society.
1969 Spring/ Summer, Formation of the Bridgwater Astronomical Society. Five Members present.
1969 3rd Nov. There were seven members present, plus a new member Mr Buckland. This brought the total membership of the Society to 11. Mr Charles Key was the chairman, Mr K Combes the Vice Chairman, Mr Duncan Bee was the secretary and Mr Gentile was the Treasurer.
1969 Dec. The Society has 15 members.
1970 6th Jan. There were seven members present. Additional
officers elected were Mr Stone as Press Officer and Mr Livingstone as
Librarian. It was also agreed that members should pay 6d a week to cover the
cost of the clubroom.
1970 4th Feb.
A secretary’s report exists. It mentions that ‘the club has now been in
existence for just over 6 months and has added 14 members to the original 5.’
‘The last 6 months have seen a change of meeting place from the Bridgwater
Squib to the Fountain Inn’
1971 June WL Buckland becomes the secretary.
1972 Sept Mr G Jarvis makes his first appearance.
1973 Sept Mr D Bown makes his first appearance.
1973 Oct Ken Coles had been nominated as the Society’s representative to be trained in the use of the Charterhouse telescope.
1977: Oct 12th The
first Observational Evening at
1980: June
11th Mr G Jarvis becomes Treasurer after
Mr Coles relinquishes the position.
1982: June
9th Mr D Bown
replaces Mr W Earp as Deputy Chairman.
1984: June 13th Mr
D Bown succeeds Mr K Coombs as chairman.
1984: Sept
12th First meeting in room D10 at
1985: Nov
18th Mr Bown,
the chairman and provider of monthly notes, presents notes stating that
Halley's comet will be near the Pleiades in a few days time.
1987: Jan 21st Mr
Earp tells of a letter received from Mr Dowling in
1987: Oct 7th
Patrick Moore gives a lecture at the BCL Social Centre.
1998: 10th June
Walter Buckland retires as secretary after 27 years, Gordon Mackenzie takes
over the role.
1999: Aug
11th Members travel to various places to
view the Total Eclipse of the Sun.
Introduction Continued……. (Press back button< to return)
The Main
talk should finish at 8-45pm to allow members to have 15mins of informal chat
about astronomical matters before closing at 9pm
prompt.
Members have
a wide range of interest and level of knowledge, from beginner to experienced
observer, using equipment ranging from just small binoculars to quite large
telescopes. Regular monthly observing
sessions are held (Observing), where members can bring along their own
telescopes and learn how to set them up and use them,
and look through other member’s binoculars & telescopes.
The Society
also has an 6” reflecting telescope, that is sometimes
brought to observation evenings and which is available for loan to members
wanting to try out a telescope before purchasing one of their own.
Get more
info from bwastrosoc@hotmail.com
New members of all ages and abilities
are most welcome with no obligations on regular attendance.
Subscription for
2011: £2 annually, then £2 per
meeting. ( £1 annually then £1 per
meeting for juniors & seniors.)
