March 2025 – News
29th March
Partial Solar Eclipse: The good weather continued, allowing GKWJ and JAG to open the Dome for Friends to observe the Partial Solar Eclipse, which started at 10:00 GMT, with maximum eclipse of about 30% at 11:00 GMT, and last contact at 12:00 GMT. 15 Friends came to see the celestial sight. Outside observing was with eclipse specs, while inside the 10-inch gave excellent views of an active and partially eclipsed Sun through the H-alpha filter. GKWJ took photos with the 8-inch in White Light and the Lunt LS50THa in hydrogen alpha outside. Cloud tried to spoil things, but thankfully was always quick to pass by.
28th March
Friends Observing: The final observing evening of the winter was a good one! 29 Friends came to the Dome on a perfectly clear evening with GKWJ and JAG for the ‘Spring Galaxies’ observing event. The 10-inch started on Jupiter, where all 4 Galilean Moons were visible, with Io starting a transit. A slight technical hitch with the Dome rotation unit nearly ruined the evening, but thankfully a can of 3-in-1 oil from a Friend’s van sorted the problem! 10-inch targets through the evening were: M81 (Bode’s Galaxy), M82 (Cigar Galaxy), M51 (Whirlpool Galaxy), M63 (Sunflower Galaxy), M87 (Virgo A), and M104 (Sombrero Galaxy). Outside was full of interest with the 8-inch for visual, with targets: Jupiter, M51, M66 & M65, M44 and NGC 4565. Three Friends had live-stack imaging rigs in operation with two SeeStar S50s, a Dwarf 3 and a 114mm Newtonian reflector gathering data and giving more detailed views of all the visual targets. A wonderful and well attended evening.
26th March
GCSE Observing: 7 pupils from the Hundred Astronomy set joined GKWJ at the Dome for their final evening observing session of the GCSE course under hazy, but improving skies. They attempted an Astro-Observing-Quiz in two parts; in Part A GKWJ pointed out various constellations, asterisms, objects and lines in the sky that they had to identify, and in Part B they used a variety of instruments and techniques to estimate Hour Angles, coordinates and magnitudes, they had to identify an object in the 8-inch (M82, the Cigar Galaxy) and estimate the separation of double star Castor in the 10-inch at 224x magnification (5.2″).
24th March
Radcliffe Society Observing: An extra meeting of the Radcliffe Society was held on a beautiful clear evening to allow members to observe. 7 pupils joined GKWJ at the Dome where the session started with an excellent view of Jupiter, the GRS and all four Galilean moons in the 10-inch at 224x magnification. The 8-inch was set up outside for a mini-Messier-marathon with the following Messier objects observed: M81, M82, M97, M51, M35, M37, M36, M38, M78 (hard to see), M42, and M44. The Double Cluster (NGC 869 & 884) and Owl Cluster (NGC 457) were also seen in the 8-inch. Binoculars were used to scan the skies, then observe the Double Cluster and Mars. The session ended with a high magnification view of Mars in the 10-inch, where the northern polar ice cap could be made out.
20th March
Sun-Earth Day Lecture: OM Tom Cayford (LI 2011-2016), now a Spacecraft Operations Engineer with OneWeb, shared his impressive knowledge and experience of the satellite industry with an audience of over 80 Friends, pupils and staff packed into the Garnett Room for this year’s Sun-Earth Day lecture entitled ‘Satellites – Do we really need them?’. Tom looked at the history of satellites before taking us through the anatomy and deployment of a satellite. He then considered the problems of overcrowding in low Earth orbit, debris, the Kessler Syndrome, and the issue of light pollution for astronomers. He concluded that we certainly do need satellites, but there is much work to do with managing the orbital space and shared some of the projects that OneWeb is involved in with ESA. A fascinating talk that prompted many searching questions from the audience.
18th March
GCSE Observing: The 4 Remove GCSE Astronomers came to the Dome on a perfectly clear evening with GKWJ. They started with a stunning view of M42, the Orion Nebula, through the 10-inch, then moved outside to complete a worksheet. They sketched the Taurus-Orion-Gemini area of sky, making estimates of various equatorial coordinates and hour angles. They then moved to the 10-inch to estimate the angular separation of double star, Castor, observing first at 92x and then at 223x magnification. One pupil managed an estimate that was only 3 arcseconds out!
12th March
Outreach Visit: 12 Brownies from the 1st Pewsey & Upavon Brownie Pack and 4 adult leaders visited the Dome with GKWJ on a generally cloudy evening. The group arrived at sunset, with the 96% Waxing Gibbous Moon visible through occasional gaps in the cloud. Venturing inside, the Brownies started their onslaught of questions, enjoyed a brief look at Stellarium, and then GKWJ checked cloud conditions outside, only to find that there were large enough gaps to allow the group to move into the Dome and observe the Moon through the 10-inch. We went outside to check on conditions and spotted Venus low in the west, Jupiter high in the south and Mars to the southeast. Orion was pointed out before returning to the 10-inch for a view of Jupiter and its 4 Galilean moons. On departure, total cloud cover returned and it started to rain!
5th March
Outreach Visit: 18 members of the Devizes & District U3a visited the Dome with GKWJ and JAG on a perfectly clear evening. The session started outside with a Sky Tour, mainly showing the Planetary Parade, and our first planet was bagged – Mercury, low down to the western horizon. The group moved inside to the 10-inch to view Venus, seeing its beautiful crescent phase. We moved on to the Moon, which was nearly First Quarter, with great detail along the Terminator. Next up was Jupiter, with all 4 Galilean moons visible, Europa and Ganymede were both away to one side, Callisto was in an unusual location, appearing just over the north pole of Jupiter, and Io was at the eastern edge of the planet, rapidly moving towards the disk, starting its transit as we observed. Magnification was upped from 92x to 140x for a closer look, with the GRS just visible. We then moved on to the small disk of Uranus before ending the session with our fifth planet of the night, Mars.
4th March
Solar Observing: Another clear day in Wiltshire led to a busy time at the Observatory. The 4 Remove Astronomers spent their Period 1 and 2 double lesson with GKWJ exploring the Sun (safely, of course!) with a range of methods including: eclipse specs, solar scope projection, projection with the 4-inch, white light with the 8-inch and the 10-inch, and hydrogen alpha with the Lunt 2-inch. Two large sunspot groups were seen, with multiple other smaller active regions. Sketches were made and photographs taken.
Solar Project Work: The Hundred pupil returned to the Dome with GKWJ in the afternoon to take follow up observations of sunspots to add to their previous day’s observations. Methods used were projection with the 4-inch and white light in the 10-inch, making sketches and taking photographs.
GCSE Observing: By the evening there was some hazy cloud, but that did not deter 9 Hundred pupils from joining GKWJ at the Dome to finish off their Aided Observing Tasks. Photographs of star trails were taken. 10×50 binoculars were used outside to observe M45 (the Pleiades), M42 (the Orion Nebula) and the Waxing Crescent Moon. The 4-inch was used to observe M45 and the Moon. The 10-inch started on M42, then on to M82 (the Cigar Galaxy), M3 (Globular Cluster), the Moon, and finally Jupiter with only 3 Galilean moons visible.
3rd March
Solar Observing: A busy day at the Observatory started with a Hundred pupil coming to the Dome in the afternoon to make observations for their solar rotation project. GKWJ helped set up the 4-inch to give a projected view of the Sun’s disk to sketch the position of sunspots and photographs were taken through the 10-inch of the full disk in white light.
Planetary Observing: 3 pupils from the Upper Sixth requested a visit to the Observatory to admire the Planetary Parade. GKWJ welcomed the pupils, who had never visited the Observatory before, and started the session outside where the first planet was spotted: Mercury, very close to the horizon. Saturn and Neptune were below the horizon, but the rest of the Parade was observed in the 10-inch, starting with the Crescent Venus, then a bonus solar system item of the Waxing Crescent Moon, then on to Jupiter and its 4 Galilean moons, the small blue-ish disk of Uranus, and finally Mars.
GCSE Observing: 5 pupils from the Hundred came up to the Dome to finish off work on their Aided Observing Tasks with GKWJ. Cameras were set up to capture star trails. The beautiful double star, Algieba in Leo with a separation of 4 arcseconds was easily split in the 10-inch, and the Waxing Crescent Moon was observed. Finally sketches of M82, the Cigar Galaxy were made.
2nd March
Friends Observing: The beautiful run of clear skies continued and 48 Friends gathered at the Dome with GKWJ and JAG for the annual Double Stars observing session; given the current Planetary Parade, a few planets were thrown in for good measure! The session started outside with a Sky Tour, where Venus, the Waxing Crescent Moon, Jupiter and Mars were clearly seen. The main constellations and asterisms were pointed out and the first double star of the evening was spotted – Alcor and Mizar in the Plough. A bright meteor was seen by all falling to the west of the Plough just as we were looking in that area. We then moved to the 10-inch where we observed double stars Almach (9.4″ separation), Miram (30.4″), and Chi Tauri (19.4″) at 92x magnification. Magnification was increased to 140x and 280x to attempt tricky Alnitak (2.1″), which was intermittently split. We then slewed to Jupiter with all four Galilean Moons and the GRS visible, and ended the session with a lovely view of Mars at it recedes from us.