News Letter #6

This is the first newsletter of the new academic year and am I very pleased to report that the Friends group goes from strength to strength with the majority of last years names continuing to support and an increasing number of new members joining.

The 1st year ended with 2 booked-out Summer school courses (we saw the Sun for only 10 minutes during the week of Solar observation again !) and Professor Davies lecture on Galaxies and Black Holes was both well attended and received. In total we had just under 1000 visitors to the Dome during the year and 120 hours of observing was carried out.

The website is now receiving an average of 20 hits per day and many of these are from far flung Societies and Schools (especially primary age groups)

The Diary has already swung into operation and hopefully you have all received a copy. The highlight so far has to be the gathering on 2nd September of Friends (who had by then rejoined) to search for Pluto. Thanks to a succession of beautiful clear Moonless nights and a favourable (planned) alignment of finder stars, the nearly 14th magnitude (some 4000 times dimmer than the normal limit of unaided vision) Planet was located and confirmed by its movement over a period of 5 days. 7 of the Group could identify the weak image, with younger eyes being the more certain. This is really a considerable achievement and pushed the telescope to the limit of its optical range.

Given the success with Pluto I guess the disappointment of the Outer Planets viewing night and especially the lack of visibility of the Partial Solar Eclipse was reduced.

The Friends anniversary drinks at the Dome was very well attended with some 70 Friends and relations braving a cool (and of course cloudy) evening to pack into the Dome itself.

Meteor watching season is upon us and given 100% were clouded out last year, there must be some hope this time round (I did manage to see 3 Draconids for the first time last night). The major non-weather dependent event is of course our Einstein Year lecture being given by Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell at 7.30pm on Tuesday November 29th in the Colleges Ellis theatre. We may need to issue free tickets nearer the time to judge numbers and it would be helpful to know in advance whether you are likely to be able to attend. Please remember that you may of course bring other family members or friends (though let me know if it will be a coach load!). I very much hope this will be well attended.

Numbers in the College have increased dramatically and we now have 40 GCSE astronomers over the 2 year groups, this has meant that we now require Tuesday and Thursday evenings to observe and carry out coursework. The Thursday House Shell (1st year) visits have started at the earlier time of 7.30pm to allow this.

Thanks to Friends support, I am purchasing (with our Presidents approval) a modern small computer controlled Meade ETX 105 reflector. This will provide another background activity, especially for Primary School groups and will be portable, when Schools prefer a visit to their own site.

I am aware that there are still a number of you who have yet to visit (some understandably are unlikely to be able to do so being at larger distances or indeed overseas). For those in this position, I am very grateful for your continued support and hope that a clear night will encourage you to call on the off chance, if you are in the area, if you cant make one of the arranged events.

Once again to reiterate the contact procedure:

The website provides a daily update of major unforeseen events and a weekly update (Whats up!) of the forecast week ahead.

Unless there is a once in a life time event, I will not call you by phone, therefore it is up to you to call if you wish to visit.

Ring 07792311371, if I am at the dome I will answer, if I am available to go to the Dome I will answer. If there is no answer (generally this means a lack of availability or indeed I might be away), leave a message and I will get back to you.

Any queries or suggestions please email me at ceb@marlboroughcollege.org.

Best wishes

Charlie