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News: 2nd February

GCSE Observing evening: Despite the Waxing Gibbous Moon, there were no Astro pitch lights and the extreme dry cold made for an excellent observing night. In below-zero temperatures outside the Dome and zero within, 41 pupils engaged in franetic activity. Binos were used for stellar density counts and Lunar feature drawings. M44 Beehive and M45 Pleiades and H and Chi Persei represented the Open Clusters. M42 was viewed and drawn in the 10 inch, though having crosssed the Meridian, the telescope had to be reversed for the latter part of the evening. Remove set up chairs behind the Dome and completed Constellation drawings

House visit: 11 pupils from SU Shell ran up to the Dome to keep warm. They were able to have a tour of the bright objects in the sky, identifying Venus and Jupiter and then viewed M44 cluster in Binos and Jupiter with its 4 moons in order strung out in a line to the side. The 10 inch gave a super view of the Orion nebula

Next House visit: Thursday 23rd February (LI)

30th January

School visit: 7 yr13 Physics pupils and 2 staff from Wootton Bassett School came to the Dome. High cloud increased during the visit as the temperature fell to 1 degree in the Dome. Jupiter was viewed in the ETX and showed Ganymede only, though Callisto emerged from behind the disc during the evening. Io and Europe were in Occultation. M45 was viewded in the Binos. The 10 inch tracked M42 and then moved to first split Castor and then view the centre of M44 Praesepe cluster

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