We’ve wanted to hold a winter-time Observing Session for some time – something to parallel our annual
Perseids Picnic. And with the sky full of planets just now and a whole raft of enquiries from outside the
Society to come and view them, we were lucky with the weather, not once but twice in one week.
Our first session was on 25th January. Though we were all set up to go at around 6:00 pm unfortunately it
was still cloudy – so we missed Venus and Saturn. However, by 9:00 pm the skies had cleared and
Jupiter and Mars shone brightly high in the sky.
About 20 members were present, but our numbers were swelled considerably by about 10 visitors to
the Society and also by a number of youngsters attending a London Youth residential course. Maybe
about 45 people altogether.
We had a second session five days later, though only a few folk came along – a shame really, because
the skies were much clearer and this time we could see Venus (just beginning to be a crescent, and
Saturn (whose rings are almost edge-on now and barely visible). Jupiter’s red spot was clearly displayed
and you could readily make out Mars’s polar ice cap.
The Observatory has recently enjoyed some tender-loving care – the dome has been painted, the
rotation mechanism repaired and the bushes around the building radically trimmed back – so the
Society’s 11” Celestron scope was put to great use.
Finally, some ZWO Seestars were in action so some deep sky images were also captured.
We’d love to hold more of these gatherings – if only the weather would cooperate!
Sandy Giles
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