April 2026 – News

25th April

Solar Observing: GKWJ set up the mobile solar observatory in Court to provide lunchtime entertainment for the College Open Day. A constant stream of over 60 prospective pupils and parents marvelled at the Sun through eclipse specs, the Celestron 8-inch in white light, and the double stacked Lunt 50mm in Hydrogen Alpha. Two large sunspot groups were visible in both, and in H-alpha, there were multiple prominences and filaments clearly seen.

14th April

Friends Outing: This year’s Friends Outing was a two day trip to the North for GKWJ and 15 intrepid Friends. The tour started in Preston at the University of Lancashire’s Jeremiah Horrocks Moor Park Observatory, home to an 8-inch Cooke refractor. The evening was spent at the University’s main Alston Observatory, which has a number of instruments including: the Wilfred Hall 1894 15-inch Grubb refractor and astrograph, the Moses Holden 700mm Planewave CDK telescope, and the Isabella Holden 350mm Planewave DeltaRho telescope. Dr Mark Norris hosted the visits, giving the group a wonderful tour of all the facilities, a fascinating talk on ‘Cosmological Conundrums’, and a planetarium show. On the second day, the group met at Jodrell Bank to spend the day looking around the site, home to the 76m Lovell radio telescope, the Mark II radio dish, and a range of other radio instruments. The group enjoyed the wealth of information and exhibits on display, as well as various films in the Space Dome. Astronomically content, the group headed home, but not before admiring the eleven beautiful vintage Bugatti cars that were gathered in the car park!