Events
Observing Sessions for 2010
The Society continues to organise observing sessions at Shipley Country Park, usually on Saturday eveneings and at very short notice. Interested members wishing to join our "ring-around" system should contact Russell King. See the contact page for more details.
Shipley Park Oserving Session: January 30th, 2010
Our first observing session for 2010 was against the backdrop of the full moon but this did not detract from the good seeing conditions. Mars was visible all evening and was a perfect observational target.
The movie below shows a rotation of about 1 hour 30 minutes and then the end frame is held still to show surface detail.
This movie was made from 7 individual images themselves each created from 1,500 frames of an avi movie. These movies were captured using a web cam attached to a 250mm Newtonian telescope with an additional 5x barlow giving an overall focal ratio of f25.
IDAS Visit to AstroAdventures: April 25th - 28th, 2009
Our first weekend trip of 2009 takes place between April 25th and 28th, when several members will be travelling down to the ever-popular AstroAdventures in North Devon, for a shorrt break of astronomy and sight-seeing. This will be the second year that members have gone on this trip a little later in the year than previously. Even though the Sun sets a little later in the evening, the weather should be much improved (and warmer!), and as a bonus most of the local attractions will be open for business. Members will be able to enjoy using AstroAdventures' half metre Dobsonian reflector for observing "faint fuzzies", while the fully equipped observatory will cater for those members who want to undertake astro-imaging. Should be a good trip.
IDAS Spring Display & Open Day: May 2009
To coincide with the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009), we are organising a Spring Astronomy Display and Open Day, which will take place at the Shipley Park Visitor Centre, Slack Lane, Heanor, Derbyshire. Our static display of drawings and photographs will last throughout the whole of May, while our main informal Open Day will take place on Saturday May 16th. At the event we hope to show off examples of various telescopes to the public, and weather permitting we may be able to do some solar observing as well. We also hope to organise several slide/powerpoint presentations during the day, and in additon to these we'll be hosting the popular chilrdren's star trail event as well - should be good fun.
Equinox Sky Camp: September 17th to 21st 2009
Several members will be attending the Autumn Equinox Sky Camp from September 17th to 21st 2009. The Society has already booked a large holiday chalet and tent pitch for the weekend, and this will allow members to live in a nice comfortable environment, while having the benefit of a tent pitch which will be used as a meeting point during the day, and where telescopes can be set up during the evening. There's already a "buzz" from members about the event, so no doubt it will be as good as usual.
Lincoln A.S. Visit: March 28th 2009
Our visit to the Lincoln Astronomical Society (LAS) and their impressive observatory complex took place on the evening of March 28th, and it turned out to be an enjoyable night out. Members all met up at the observatory for 8pm, and we were greeted by David Swaby and other members of LAS. We were shown around their observatory and 12 inch reflecting telescope, both of which had just had a major overhaul. We were also treated to some refreshments, and during the break we were given a short slide show of astronomical images taken by LAS members. Afterwards, and with a clearing sky we were invited to use the telescope. Alas, a very attractive crescent Moon was just a little too low down on the horizon to be seen from the telescope, but instead members managed to spend some quality time in observing some wonderful views of Saturn. In addition to this, a couple of galaxies in Leo were seen, along with several other deep sky objects - which was nice.
Unfortuntately, time was not on our side, and so our visit ended late in the evening. It was nice to have had a clear sky for once, and the opportunity to look through LAS's excellent telescope. We wish to thank members of LAS for their hospitality and for showing us around their great facilties.
Wollaton Park SkyWatch: March 14th 2009
The very first Wollaton Park SkyWatch event took place on the evening of March 14th, and was deemed to be a great success. The event was jointly organised by the Mansfield & Sutton Astronomical Society and Wollaton Park, and was supported by the Nottingham Astronomical Society, the University of Nottingham, and ourselves. We were given a marquee with tables and chairs, and space to set up our own display boards, and this allowed us to show off our excellent set of member's photographs and drawings. Mark Thomas used his laptop to show off some video of Society events, along with astronomical images, and this helped to attract members of the public to the stand. John and Neil Cuthbertson, Chris Wilson and Russell King kindly brought along their telescopes, and due to the relatively clear skies they were able to show members of the public some of the astronomical gems of the season. Robin Gray, Jeff Smeeton and Andy White also helped out at the marquee during the event, and took on the role of "floaters" for other members. It was estimated that about a hundred people came along to the event which considering the cold weather was not a bad turnout at all. Overall, an excellent evening which hopefully will turn out to be an annual event.