February 2025 – News
27th February
GCSE Observing: A second perfectly clear night meant the Observatory was in full swing again; 5 pupils from the Hundred and 2 from the Remove joined GKWJ at the Dome. Project work continued with two cameras set up to capture star trails and much sketching of Messier Objects was done. M45 (the Pleiades) was observed in binoculars. A fine range of objects were observed in the 10-inch starting with M42 (Orion Nebula), then M82 (Cigar Galaxy), M81 (Bode’s Galaxy), M51 (Whirlpool Galaxy), M97 (Owl Nebula), and M3 (Globular Cluster). Multiple meteors were seen during the evening.
26th February
GCSE Observing: 5 pupils from the Hundred came up to the Dome with GKWJ. Patchy cloud was clearing on a cold night finally to give a chance for the pupils to make progress with their Aided Observing Tasks. The session started with a view of Venus through the 10-inch, showing a beautiful thin crescent phase. Project work included photographs of star trails and sketches of Messier Objects M42 (Orion Nebula), M1 (Crab Nebula) and M3 (Globular Cluster) in the 10-inch, and M45 (the Pleiades) in binoculars.
12th February
Outreach Visit: The second group from the 1st Marlborough Brownies visited the Dome with GKWJ on a cloudy evening. The 15 Brownies and 5 leaders were full of questions; the session started with a tour of the night sky in Stellarium, but quickly moved to explore a whole range of astronomical topics, including when the next large asteroid impact is likely to be. Asteroid 2024 YR4, which is predicted to impact the Earth in 2032 was discussed, much to the panic of the group! However, the panic abated as GKWJ revealed that the object is ‘only’ about 60 metres wide and the chance of impact is currently calculated to be about 2% – phew!
10th February
Radcliffe Society: 13 pupils joined GKWJ and JAG for the Lent Term meeting of the Radcliffe Society. Three pupils gave presentations; the first was a round up of astronomy news ranging from JWST to ‘Quipu’ the largest known structure in the universe, the second presentation was a follow up to the Muon project, with a detailed look at muons and special relativity, and the final presentation was a deep dive into the mathematics behind the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, a challenge for even the strongest further mathematician!
9th February
Friends Observing: 11 Friends braved wet and windy weather to come to the Dome for the annual Lunar Observing session. No observing was possible, so GKWJ and JAG gave a presentation about the Moon, accompanied by much discussion across the group, and ending with various exhibits, including a piece of lunar breccia and newspapers from the days of the Apollo 11 Moon landing.
5th February
Outreach Visit: 16 girls from the 1st Marlborough Brownies and 3 adult leaders visited the Dome with GKWJ on a completely cloudy evening. They were shown around the virtual night sky in Stellarium, then looked at the Cooke 10-inch, and ended the session with a pictorial journey across our Solar System.
4th February
Shell Visit: 10 boys from the Turner Shell and their tutor joined GKWJ at the Dome under a clearing sky for the final Shell Visit of the year. The session started with a Sky Tour outside before moving inside to the 10-inch. We first observed the nearly First Quarter Moon at 92x magnification before increasing to 280x, showing fabulous detail in features along the Terminator. We then slewed to Jupiter, with 4 Galilean moons visible and the GRS. Next on to Mars, with some clear dark surface patches visible at 140x magnification. The session ended with a low magnification view of M42, the Orion Nebula, with the Trapezium Cluster clearly visible.
GCSE Observing: 2 GCSE pupils from the Hundred joined GKWJ and AL at the Dome to work on their Aided Observing Task. They set up a camera to capture star trails. While exposures were taken, the group enjoyed views through the 10-inch of Mars, Jupiter (where the GRS had rotated out of view), M42 and the Moon.
3rd February
Shell Visit: Following illness, the postponed New Court Shell visit took place on a clear, though hazy evening. The 11 girls and their tutor first enjoyed a Sky Tour outside with GKWJ. They looked at the Pleiades (M45) through the 4-inch refractor before moving inside to the Dome, where the 10-inch was pointing to Jupiter; 3 Galilean moons were visible, the 4th, Io, was in transit and not visible, but its shadow was clearly seen on the Jovian atmosphere. We then slewed to Mars, then flipped to the Crescent Moon, a fine sight, and ended with a view of double star, Almach. The girls were lucky as it clouded over as they departed!