Radcliffe Society Report
This year has seen the new programme for pupils in the
evening, with clear Tuesday nights being open to all College
pupils from 8.30pm as usual (with an expectation of
attendance, if free, from GCSE Remove and Hundred
Astronomers) and Thursday night, whether clear or not, being
used for the planned House visits for all the Shell. Bar a
few individuals, all 14 Houses were able to attend an
introduction to the Observatory, Astronomy, the Observatory
web-site (www.blackettobservatory.org) and if lucky to
observe (this year only NC, MM and LI had clear skies). As
sometimes happens, Tuesday nights seemed particularly plagued
by poor weather, and only 7 nights were available from
September till March, pushing many GCSE coursework
observation projects up to the deadline. Major events, the
Orionid, Taurid, Leonid and Geminid meteor shower peak nights
and the total Lunar eclipse in October were also clouded out.
Nevertheless old favourites, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and
Jupiter were observed with the classic Messier objects
including some seen for the first time (M: 2, 6, 38, 41 and
52) The most unusual target was a beautiful Comet (Machholz)
which we followed across the sky from late November till
early March. There was also the excitement of a very rare
glimpse of Auroral activity (green glow of the Northern
Lights) following a major Solar storm on 9th November. As
more pupils become aware of the facility on offer at the
Dome, it is hoped that the Society can grow, weather
permitting. Apart from the meteor showers, next academic year
we have a close approach of Mars and 2 partial Solar eclipses
to look forward to, not to mention a number of significant
Lectures by outside speakers.
CURRENT MOON


