September 2025 – News
26th September
Friends Drinks Party: Around 40 Friends joined GKWJ at the Dome to celebrate the 21st Anniversary of the Friends and the 90th Anniversary of the Blackett Observatory. Drinks and nibbles were enjoyed by all, and even a couple of stars were evident through gaps in the cloud towards the end of the party!
25th September
Radcliffe Society and Staff Observing: Continuing clear skies allowed GKWJ to invite the Radcliffe Society and members of Common Room to the Observatory for some time under the stars. A total of 10 pupils and 4 staff attended. The session started with a view of M31, the Andromeda Galaxy outside in the 8-inch and binoculars, while inside we had M13, the Great Hercules Cluster in the 10-inch. The group enjoyed a Sky Tour, before returning to the 10-inch to slew to Saturn, with multiple moons visible, and the final target of the session, double star, Almach.
23rd September
GCSE Observing: A second clear night in a row led GKWJ to invite the Hundred Astronomers to the Dome. All four pupils attended, starting off with a revision session of asterisms, pointers and invisible lines across the sky. We considered Hour Angle and then our current topic, magnitudes, with estimates of star magnitudes using Vega as our magnitude zero reference. A band of cloud forced us into the warm room for a delicious cup of hot chocolate, before the clearing sky gave us a fabulous view of Saturn and six moons (Titan, Rhea, Tethys, Dione, Iapetus and Phoebe) in the 10-inch.
22nd September
GCSE Observing: The new Remove Astronomers enjoyed their first session under the stars on a cold and clear night. Three pupils joined GKWJ, who showed them around the sky. They then observed Saturn through the 10-inch, with three moons clearly visible: Titan, Tethys and Iapetus. The group returned outside to make sketches of the main asterisms: the Plough, Cassiopeia, the Summer Triangle and the Great Square of Pegasus. The session ended with a restorative cup of hot chocolate!
20th September
Open Day: The second College Open Day was inflicted with cloud yet again, so GKWJ occupied a table in the ‘learning zone’ to share the Wetton Meteorite Collection with prospective parents and pupils. A constant stream of people visited through the session, enjoying the large Campo del Cielo iron meteorite and NWA Chondrite, both with slices to show their internal structure. Those who showed most interest were given the chance to ‘hold a piece of the Moon’ with the new lunar meteorite and inspect the new Brahin pallasite.
13th September
Open Day: The first Open Day of the academic year saw mixed weather conditions. Large gaps with blue sky tempted GKWJ to set up the solar observing station in Court and a few prospective pupils enjoyed a view of the Sun in white light with two large sunspot groups visible. The clouds soon closed, so observing was aborted. GKWJ moved into the marquee with the Wetton Meteorite collection, including new lunar meteorites, and a number of parents and pupils enjoyed discovering the world of space rocks.