It's high time we had an open evening in the observatory. I would therefore like to invite any members of the ISSP group from March 2013, or any members of the Bootham community to join me in the observatory from 8pm on Tuesday 22nd October.
Planets are rather scarce in the evening at present, with Jupiter and Mars both well-positioned in the pre-dawn sky, and Saturn heading off to the deep south, from where it won't be returning until late in the next decade! However, before the Moon rises, we should be able to have a look for the great Andromeda nebula and learn the key constellations of the autumn sky. There are a few open clusters that would be fun to see as well, and with a low ISS pass at 20:59 to mark the end of the session, there should be plenty to do. We have several telescopes to try out, and we might try a little astrophotography with the school's Nikon D700 as well.
At 18:56 that evening, there will be a brightish iridium flare just near Aquila, so if the sky is clear, see if you can spot it by looking south, and about half-way up the sky.
I WILL BE GIVING LIVE UPDATES ON TWITTER before the session, just to let you know if it is going to happen. Please follow me using the button on this site, and then you will have very up-to-date information, including the irdium flare and an earlier pass of the ISS at about 18:30.
Click to go to the main Bootham page
Thursday 17 October 2013
SpotTheStation
Time: Thu Oct 17 8:10 PM, Visible: 2 min, Max Height: 55 degrees, Appears: WSW, Disappears: SSW
SpotTheStation
Time: Thu Oct 17 6:34 PM, Visible: 5 min, Max Height: 40 degrees, Appears: SW, Disappears: E
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