April 2025 – News
26th April
Open Day Observing: Following a cloudy morning, there were enough gaps in the cloud and thin haze to allow GKWJ to set up the Solar Observing station in Court during the Open Day lunch. At least 100 children and parents enjoyed views of the hazy Sun through eclipse specs, and a close-up view through the 8-inch in white light. 12 sunspot groups were seen dotted across the disk. As the session ended, the clouds closed up and the Sun disappeared!
1st April
Friends Annual Outing: This year the Friends Outing was to The Observatory Science Centre, Herstmonceux. 18 intrepid Friends met at the centre on a perfectly sunny afternoon with not a cloud in the sky. The visit started with a wander around the famous historical ‘Equatorial Group’ site with its five large old copper domes enticing us in. Dome F, home to the no longer used 38″ Congo Schmidt telescope had a fascinating exhibition about astronomy, the Royal Observatory Greenwich and the Herstmonceux site. We enjoyed a picnic in the grounds before being taken on a guided tour of the domes and instruments. We started in Dome A, with the 1896 Thompson 30-inch reflector and its unusual Coude focus, then on to Dome B and the 1932 36-inch Yapp reflector, and Dome C with the 1950’s Hewitt wide field camera. Clear and darkening skies allowed observing to commence in Dome D, home to the 1890 13-inch Astrographic refractor, but we used its 10-inch refractor guiding telescope to observe the Waxing Crescent Moon and Jupiter with 4 Galilean Moons. We then moved to our main observing location for the night, Dome E, which houses the huge 1896 26-inch Thompson refractor and its 12.8-inch Merz guiding refractor. Dome E is particularly unusual as it employs a moving floor to give observers access to the two eyepieces, wherever they may be! We observed Jupiter, M42, Mars, M37, NGC 2419 (the Intergalactic Wanderer at 270,000 lightyears away), finishing with two of the Leo Triplet, M65 and M66. A superb outing to this absolutely fascinating site, only made better by the fabulous clear skies.