December 2024 – News
13th December
Friends Observing: 5 Friends met GKWJ and JAG at the Dome under cloudy skies to follow the radio meteor detector live stream to see the peak of the Geminids meteor shower. Over the two hour observing period, 280 events were seen in total, including many large and bright reflections.
10th December
Outreach Visit: The second group from Hardenhuish School consisting of 12 pupils and their teacher visited the Dome with GKWJ on a cloudy night. The meteor live stream was featured, with many events seen as the Geminid meteor shower starts to increase. They also saw the Wetton meteorite collection.
5th December
Shell Visit: 12 Shell girls from Elmhurst visited the Dome with GKWJ. Following a dreadful day of wind and rain, the session started inside with discussion, but a clearing sky soon allowed the Dome to be opened and Jupiter with its 4 Galilean moons was seen through the 10-inch. The group moved outside to enjoy a Sky Tour before moving back to the 10-inch to see Saturn and its moon Titan.
3rd December
Outreach Observing: 19 students from the Devizes & District u3a came to the Dome on a cloudy evening. GKWJ showed them the facility, pictures from the telescope, the meteor detector live stream (with many events seen) and the Wetton meteorite collection. On departure, the cloud was clearing, so a very brief Sky Tour was given.
Outreach Observing: Arriving a day earlier than expected, a group of 12 pupils and their teacher from Hardenhuish School brought clearing skies with them! The 10-inch was immediately slewed to Jupiter, seen in good detail with its four Galilean moons. The group spent time outside exploring the sky with binoculars while GKWJ hosted the Dancy Shell group. They then enjoyed a joint Sky Tour with the Dancy girls, before going inside to observe Saturn in the 10-inch.
Shell Visit: The 14 girls from the Dancy Shell visited the Dome with their tutor. The sky was clearing with gaps in the cloud. They first viewed Jupiter in the 10-inch, then asked a multitude of questions in the warm room, before going outside in the next cloud gap to enjoy a Sky Tour.
1st December
Friends Observing: 8 Friends came to the Dome for the Winter Sky observing session with GKWJ and JAG. Unfortunately, 98% cloud cover made observing impossible. Fortunately, three Friends had prepared short presentations to give to the group: first we were shown the basics of Live Stacking, then given a slide show of the 2024 total solar eclipse as seen in Mexico, and finally a detailed method for planetary imaging. Much inspiration was given and let’s just hope for clear skies soon to try out our new found skills!