News Letter #13

It has been a mixed winter with several lovely clear nights, but few coinciding with planned or unusual events. When the evenings did cool, we then suffered from high winds and fog. The relative lack of good evenings has been evidenced by the growing pressure on the GCSE Astronomers to complete their coursework drawings, thankfully these are now finished.

The highlight for me was undoubtedly the Geminid meteor shower. Between the large group present we saw 120 meteors in 90 minutes; the best display in terms of numbers I have seen, though there were relatively few bright ones. Sadly none of the 2008 showers are well placed with regards the Moon's phases.

The most unusual event was certainly Comet Holmes exploding at the end of October and many were able to view this by eye and for the first few days to see it noticeably expanding in the 10 " was amazing.

Roger Davies' Blackett lecture was well attended and well received, opening up our minds to the vast expanses of the intergalactic Universe.

The Q&A session on Extra Terrestrial Life was also popular and despite its advertised timing, went on late into the night with livelier discussion than any other topic so far, perhaps not surprisingly.

The Total Lunar eclipse (the last night time eclipse till 2015) on 21st February was totally obscured, though 'witnessed' by a couple of dedicated Friends.

The Sun has remained almost totally blank throughout the winter period, and though the spot polarity has reversed, showing signs of a new cycle, there is no evidence of growing activity.

The acquisition of a new, top of the range, wide-angle eyepiece has allowed unparalleled views of Saturn and up to 6 of its moons, back in our evening sky with Rings now almost edge on.

The last minute withdrawal by the National Lottery board of the Wroughton Science Museum £50M Bid from their pre Christmas competition was a great surprise and disappointment. It seemed politically motivated and as the front runner, must have. However, the National Science Library is now accessible at Wroughton and well worth a visit (0870 870 4868 for Reference access)

The New Year has been marked also with a potentially devastating withdrawal of funding from frontline Astronomy and Physics research, threatening the UK's participation in for example Gemini and La Palma (just at a time when the Government are again emphasising the importance of Science and need for this Country to recruit and hold Scientists at all levels)

Please note that the planned Spring Sky Tour has had to be postponed and will not be on Wednesday 19th March. I will hope to run this instead on Saturday 29th March.

The next event will be the 6th Sun-Earth Day Lecture. This will take place as usual in the Ellis Theatre at 6pm on Maundy Thursday (20th March).

The theme is as always Sun-Earth interactions and this year is titled 'Space Weather around the World'.

I hope many of you will be able to attend. Easter is as early as it can ever be this year, with the Full Moon falling on the Vernal Equinox itself.

All comments relating to the Friends' programme are most welcome and as ever do ring 07792 311 371 if you wish to check my availability. Any queries or suggestions please email me at ceb@marlboroughcollege.org.