The Astronomy Centre

Spring Star Party 2008

Star Party - Saturday 12th April

The Astronomy Centre Spring Star Party was held on Saturday 12th April 2008. The event was a huge success, with 75 members and guests attending. The talks were held on the top floor of the observatory, which was completely packed out. A video and audio feed was provided down to the first floor, so that the attendees who couldn't squeeze in upstairs didn't miss out.

Everyone who came along seemed very pleased with the day. There was even a gap in the clouds just after sunset to allow a brief Lunar observing session with the 16" GOTO Meade.

The full schedule from the day is available here.

Please send any enquiries about Star Parties to starparty@astronomycentre.org.uk.

Lunar/ Mars event

After a cloudy and cold morning the dome team did witness the Lunar/Mars bypass.

Through small clear patches of the low thick cloud the event was seen for short intervals through high wispy cloud.

Comet 17/P Holmes

At the end of October 2007, comet 17/P Holmes unexpectedly brightened by many magnitudes (equivalent to about a million times!). It became a naked-eye object and was spectacular through binoculars - let alone telescopes. Astronomy Centre members made observations of Holmes whenever the weather permitted. Various images were also captured and some of these are in the Photo Gallery.

Visitors to the web site

Cyber visitors to the Web site are invited to contact the Astronomy Centre Dome (members area) on Saturday evenings after 19.30 using `Skype`, the Internet phone/conferencing service. Use `astro138` as the contact name.

Members will be pleased to answer questions about the nature of the site, its present activities/projects and future on-line resources that will be available.

Comments and suggestions for observing programmes that could be available on-line are welcome. One of our aims is to make available a range of observational data that maybe of use to like minded astronomers globally, available on-line. Observations will take place in the visual, radio and magnetic spectra.

Queries or general comments ( at any time ) to - andy@skipole.net .

Easter Star Party 2007

The Astronomy Centre Easter Star Party was held on Saturday April 7th 2007.

The speakers were:-

Dave Wylie "The Operation and Scope of the New Website"

Paul Yates "Astrofest 2007, a Memorable Occasion"

Mike Frost "Jeremiah Horocks, Samuel Foster, Nathaniel Nye - A Detective Story"

Rob Johnson "The Worm will Turn"

The usual refreshments were available and the evening was clear, allowing for observations using several of the Astronomy Centre's instruments.

Total Lunar Eclipse, Saturday March 3rd 2007

There was a Total Lunar Eclipse on the evening of Saturday March 3rd 2007. The Observatory was open to the Public as usual, with expert advice on hand. Observations of the eclipse were made using several of our instruments, including binoculars and telescopes. There was also a live video feed of the event on site, with images and notes being distributed to Members via the Internet. Plenty of visitors came up to the Observatory and the skies stayed clear for this spectacular event.

Occultation of Saturn - Friday March 2nd 2007

There was an occultation of Saturn by the Moon in the early hours of Friday March 2nd 2007.

From the Astronomy Centre Observatory, the occultation started at 02:36. Saturn disappeared for about seven minutes from here, and the whole thing was over by about 02:54. Other areas saw a grazing occultation or, from a narrow strip of the UK, a partial occultation.

Site preparing to go live

Here we go, the last few days of tickling the site up before we take it live for everyone. Stay Tuned

Internet Link Up and Running

The repaired Internet link has been stable for a few weeks now since a new ADSL router was installed. The fault with the system was tracked down to a small crater blown in one of the ADSL chips in the old router - presumably due to a nearby lightning strike in the storm!

A new Web Camera server has now been installed, running Debian Gnu/Linux 3.1, which seems to be handling the four-port video capture card much better than the previous Micros**t box. This should allow us to provide much more reliable "Live" astro-image feeds.

ADSL Down

Unfortunatly the ADSL Internet link has been down since 19th June.

The line and filters have been checked but there is no line sync.
The next step would be to test a new ADSL router in the line to check that the router is not damaged. (It went ofline during a lightning storm).

I hope to be able to get to the botom of the problem soon.

Neil