BLACKETT OBSERVATORY
Marlborough College
Welcome to the Marlborough College Blackett Observatory, home to the largest refracting telescope in Wiltshire. The Observatory is a key facility for the study of Astronomy by pupils at Marlborough College, but is also open to the public through the Friends of the Marlborough Telescope membership scheme.
What's Up!
Week of 17th January 2022
- Astronomical twilight ends at 18:30 UT at the start of the week and at 18:39 UT by the end of the week
- Try to spot Comet 19P/Borrelly in our southwestern evening sky. The comet is approaching perihelion on 1st February and lies just 1.2 AU away from Earth now. It is about magnitude +8, so binoculars or a telescope will be required. Look at an altitude of around 28° in Cetus, on the border with Pisces. A planetarium app will be useful to help locate the comet
- The Moon is Full on Monday – the Wolf Moon
- The Sun currently has eight active regions: AR 2924, 2925, 2926, 2927, 2929, 2930, 2931 & 2932. The sunspot number is 120
- There are multiple evening ISS passes this week as follows:
Tuesday: 18:50, S, max 14°
Wednesday: 18:03, SSE to SE, max 13° and 19:38, SW, max 13°
Thursday: 18:51, SW to S, max 32°
Friday: 18:04, SSW to ESE, max 27° and 19:40, WSW, max 18°
Saturday: 17:18, S to E, max 19° and 18:53, WSW to SSW, max 58°
Sunday: 18:07, SW to E, max 50° and 19:43, W, max 19°
All Sky Eye
The Latest View from the MCBO
The All Sky Camera operates from 30 minutes after sunset through the night until 30 minutes before sunrise. The latest image will be updated automatically every 5 minutes and the time lapse video is refreshed each morning at around sunrise. You can click the still image to open up a larger version, but please be aware that it will not automatically update until you return to this page – you can always manually refresh the page
Latest Still Image
Most recent time lapse video
News
18th January
Next House visit: Thursday 20th (NC)
17th January
Radcliffe Society: 16 members joined GKWJ, JAG & CEB at the Dome. A cold and clear evening allowed the meeting to take place at the Dome for the second month running. The full Wolf Moon drowned out all but the brightest targets. The Full Moon was observed through the 10-inch, including with the diagonal and eyepiece removed, allowing the Moon to be ‘held’ in the palm of the hand and its warmth felt. GKWJ set up the 8-inch outside to demonstrate how to capture stellar spectra; five bright stars (Capella, Menkalinan, Rigel, Alnitak and Betelguese) were targeted. The data were then processed on a laptop attached to a projector in the classroom, allowing members to follow along with the procedure. The spectra were calibrated and plotted together, allowing the differences between spectral classes to be clearly seen
Next meeting: 28th February
13th January
House visit: 13 Shell pupils from MO and a Tutor came up to join CEB at the Dome for the first clear Shell night in some time. The waxing Gibbous Moon made for a very light sky and prominent lunar shadows. Polaris and the Saucepan and Orion with Sirius and Betelgeuse were identified along with M32 Andromeda Galaxy just discernible with averted vision. The 10-inch tracked M42, the Orion Nebula where the Trapezium was clearly seen, though the nearby Moon made the nebulosity very faint
Next House visit: Tuesday 18th January (C1)
GCSE observing: All bar two Remove GCSE astronomers came up to the Dome to join CEB and GKWJ. Small instruments were used outside to do drawings of the 83% Moon and then high magnification (x235) drawings of the crater system Gassendi were done through the 10-inch
12th January
11th January
GCSE observing: All bar one of the Remove astronomy set came up to the Dome to join CEB and GKWJ. Sadly the sky clouded over and remained cloudy until they all left
6th January – 2022
House visit: The first Shell visit of the year took place as 13 pupils form MM joined CEB at the Dome. Small gaps in the clouds allowed brief viewing by eye of Betelgeuse and Orion, Castor and Pollux, the Pleiades, the Saucepan and Polaris.
Next House visit: 13th January (MO)
15th December
11th December