New Dark Site Report

It was planned to visit our new dark site at Broad Acres Fisheries on the evening of Friday 12^th August 2011 to observe the Perseids Meteor Shower, however conditions were cloudy and text messages were exchanged between Mick and Derek and it was decided to stand down on this occasion, but to review the situation on Saturday evening.

Whilst conditions for observing on Saturday were far from ideal, we decided to visit the dark site and check it out anyway. Three of us set out around 21.15 and headed towards Elcocks Brook, no, on this occasion the pull of the dark was greater than the bright lights of the pub.

Arriving at the site via a twisty, narrow route, after about ten minutes or so and not knowing exactly what we would find, we were pleasantly surprised to find loads of hard standing for parking and tripods, a 270 deg of virtually clear horizon, and if you moved further south, the northern skies would open up also. There is also a red light (which we estimated could be the same one that we always used) for setting up finder scopes or red dot finders. We were not alone however, there was one caravan c/w hawning so obviously by arrangement, and a couple of anglers by one of the pools, however no interaction took place between us.

There was a full moon on Saturday, but round about ten o’clock stars started to appear, and we were blessed with a clear patch of sky, and the Plough, Casiopea, Cygnus, and even one meteor was spotted by Mick, and we got rather excited speculating on what could be visible on a truly dark winter night.

Comments that I received on Sunday:

“What did ya think of the new dark site? I thought it was really good, the southern horizon was brilliant, and it looks like there is going to be no light pollution. In about November, December time the sky will be pitch black there I reckon.

The bright star we thought might be Jupiter was Capella” .

“I thought it was a brilliant place, we are going to see a lot more objects in the sky”
mick

My own view is that we are in for some excellent observing, and well done to the team for sorting this one out for us.

Derek

RAS at Think Tank Birmingham

A party of seven members from Redditch Astronomical Society accepted the invitation of Rugby Astronomical Society to join them for a private session in the Planetarium at The think Tank Birmingham.

Below is a report on the visit by Dominic Gribbin:

After introductions, we all went upstairs to the planetarium, it was fairly big, but the chairs could have lent back slightly more. We were told about finding different star constellations. Most of them included Polaris, the North Star, and Orion’s belt.

We talked about the size of some stars, basically casually we learned that they can be HUGE. But I think that most people thought that the stuff about the radio-dome was the most fascinating. The fact that the first ever radio broadcast, still out there, it has been transmitted over 79 light-years, that’s amazing.

There was a great analogy said during this, if a man dipped a glass into the sea, and filled it with some of the water and there are no fish, he wouldn’t assume that there were no fish in the sea, that is just like the dome. To assume that there are no aliens, just because we haven’t found any is completely idiotic.

At the end there was a joke song about the summer triangle, and someone made a comment at the end, saying that’s what happens when you put a physicist, an astronomer, and a musician together in a room, catastrophe.

Overall, I highly suggest, if you happen to be at the Thinktank, or are planning a day out there, go to the planetarium, you learn a lot, and it’s very easy to understand, I’m 12, and I understood all of it.

Star Party Report

It’s not every day that one is invited to a Saturday Star Party. A Star Party with carefully prepared food and drink, in the open air and countryside and with music being the music of the spheres and a party where the company is mercifully short on A-listers and B-listers, being a group of enthusiastic astronomers on a biannual bash.

Rolling up to the designated ‘dark site’ on the outskirts of Redditch with my two- year-old-but-never-used-until-2 days-before Dobsonian telescope in the boot, I expected to see only a couple of keen astronomers gazing upwards

I was surprised to see that the car park was packed full, allowing me just to squeeze between 2 vehicles, the owners of which had already set up their telescopes and were now enjoying fortifying themselves with sausages and burgers, ready for a long evening.

Though Ron and Derek from Redditch Astronomical Society had set up the telescope in my garden on the previous Wednesday – an act of sheer supportive kindness and generosity of spirit – I feared that I would struggle to do this alone now and, even worse, before an audience of some 50 people in broad, though diminishing, daylight.

In one respect I was right to be concerned. Having heaved the ‘Dob’, as I would learn to call it, out of the car, I started to set it up, trying to look utterly professional and unfazed. When Ron came running towards me commenting “You haven’t turned it towards the sun have you?”, I realized then that I had very much to learn (I had just inadvertently risked blindness), but also that this community of enthusiasts would not let me fail, and the whole evening confirmed this.

It wasn’t just the stars, the many detailed views of the moon or even my first opportunity to see Saturn and her rings that impressed that night. It was the community. Whether Derek and his lenses or Mick and his ‘Barlows’ (and I learned so much about equipment), Karen and her encouragement, or all the other friendly astronomers who were truly delighted to have an ageing starstruck newbie look through their telescopes (even providing a box to stand on when necessary) and who would explain, fix, discuss, educate and enthuse and never patronize, I found nothing but welcoming helpfulness. The only aim was to share their love of looking at the universe and their knowledge to help others do this too.

As darkness crept in, though sadly the distant and apparently increasing urban orange impaired ideal viewing, talk was muted, head-torches glowed red, to preserve ‘night vision’, and those with computer trackers and I-Phone Apps consulted their equipment, talk turned to other evenings and other sights, of Perseid showers and meteors, of deep space and the opportunities for photography. And Ron, of course, made sure everyone was set up and all was well.

Without any Science qualification at all (though I might now embark on the GCSE Astronomy currently available at St Augustine’s!), with no experience with telescopes and with no knowledge of the stars, I am now a member of this amazing group and I look forward to learning more.

As I drove away that night, with no headlights on to preserve the dark, I felt grateful for a remarkable time and I silently promised to:

Buy my own Barlow

Get a head torch (for the professional look!)

And never, ever…. to point my telescope at the sun.

Val the Newbie

Redditch Astronomy Society Star Party

A few memories from our April Star Party

Dr David Evans at Redditch Astronomical Society

On Monday 7th March Dr David Evans of Birmingham University came to the Redditch Astronomical Society at St Augustine's School to talk to us about his work on the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)







Throwing Health and safety concerns to the wind he proceeded to demonstrate the properties of super cooled materials with the aid of some liquid Nitrogen.





Levitation of magnets by super cooling other materials:



And finally some magic tricks!

BBC Stargazing Live

Having registered our events with the B.B.C., the day of our first event was approaching, and the B.B.C. Stargazing Live t.v. programmes had been affected by cloud cover so that no live observations could take place, and the weather forecast was not good for astronomers as still more cloud was forecast.
The day of our first event, 7th January an observing evening was upon us and yes, more cloud. The committee had however made a decision that no matter what, we must have representation at our dark site just in case anyone should be keen enough to turn up.
Our chairman called for me and asked if I would put my telescope in the car, just in case. I questioned the wisdom of this, but bowed to his seniority and dutifully loaded my scope, a pair of binoculars and spare tripod and off we set for our dark site.
When we arrived there, we were preceded by two other club members and a small number of people who had found out about our event, and had come for various reasons to find out more about astronomy.
The first lesson we gave them was on meteorology i.e. listen to weather forecasts, watch the skies and fir cone and seaweed and then ignore it all and ‘get out there’ anyway.
Whilst delivering an impromptu talk on astronomy, having distributed the Stargazing Live Star Guide, some one spotted a hole in the cloud, with Jupiter peeping through, so the only scope on site was hastily assembled but only in time to look at the underside of cloud again. Then for a while that’s how it was a hole, cloud a hole etc. with brief glimpses of Jupiter and her four Galilean Moons.
Eventually the skies cleared, to reveal all of the familiar constellations and more, with an excellent observing session being enjoyed, taking in star clusters, nebulae, galaxies double stars and so on to the amazement of newcomers, and eternal gratitude of seasoned astronomers.
People with younger children started to drift away about nine o clock in the evening, and yes, the cloud did return so it was all over by about nine forty five.
Relieved and exhilarated, we returned home around ten o clock, some two hours later than anticipated.

Event two: Monday 10th Jan 20011.
Venue: St Augustines High School Hunt End Redditch
Programme: Talk on Jupiter and Uranus by Dr. Johanna Jarvis, followed by observing and telescope workshop.
This was Johanna’s second visit to R.A.S, having given an excellent talk on the Sun last year, she once again delivered an excellent presentation which was appreciated by the phenomenal 53 people (25 members and 28 visitors) whose interest was held for some 45 minutes, then some very good questions were forthcoming from the floor with good and valid replies from the speaker.
The observing session was cancelled due to (you’ve guessed) cloud and rain, but the telescope workshop was an outstanding success with many people having their problems solved by club members, and others enjoying a talk on what to look for in the night sky in January by Richard Hendy who also has taken the evening G.C.S.E. astronomy course at the school for the last three years..
Another observing evening is planned for 14th January……… Watch this space!