Come join us in one of the darkest village Pubs in the South East for a night of Astronomical Discovery in association with BBC Stargazing Live.
The Horns Lodge pub is turning off its lights for the evening, and hosting an extra special night for all ages. Not only will we have many telescopes setup in the back garden for you and your family to view the night sky, but also will have Amateur Astronomers on hand to answer all your questions, and introduce you to the natural wonders of the night sky.
The event will be going ahead come clear skies or not. If it is cloudy, we will use state of the art computer technology to show you what is behind the clouds.
Learn About Astronomy
Legends of the Constellations – A look at the myths and legends behind the constellations How to Travel in Time – Did you know what we see in the Heavens is also the past? The Compressed Solar System – Squashing a model Solar System down to size Nurseries in the Sky – Birth to Death - the Life of a Star Walking on the Moon – Learn about the our Satellite Viewing the Heavens –How much should it really cost?
What You Can See
(if its not cloudy!)
See the International Space Station pass overhead View Jupiter’s moons just like Galileo did 400 years ago Gaze in wonder at Saturn’s rings See if you can spot the icy poles of Mars Look in our nearest star nursery at some baby stars See some teenage stars living fast (and soon to die young!)
More Info
Contact: Richie Jarvis Telephone: 07702 705427 Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Totally off the Astronomy topic here, but I was having a think on the way home tonight.....
So here is the thought... Solar panels on roofs are becoming ubiquitous, yet they need to be south facing. Why don't we focus light onto them from others roofs with focused, moveable mirrors? An array of mirrors on the roof of each house in the area could easily focus energy from the Sun onto solar panels.
There is also another possibility here - in hotter climes, the energy could be focused onto a tank of water - I wonder how much energy would be required to boil enough water to drive a turbine?
If neighbours worked together and each roof focused a little light onto any solar collectors in the vicinity, would that capture enough energy to do anything useful?
Food for thought....
Last Updated on Thursday, 22 December 2011 19:55
Written by Richie Jarvis
Saturday, 29 October 2011 12:53
This year, I decided to volunteer at the Herstmonceux Observatory and Science Centre. I figured that this hobby has given me so much enjoyment, it was about time I tried to give something back. Of course, there is the added bonus of being able to play with some seriously impressive engineering as well!
If you haven't been to the Science Centre, I would urge you to make the trip. They hold regular open evenings, and we get 4 scopes running - The 30 inch Thompson Reflector, the 13 inch Astrographic Refractor, the 26 Thompson Refractor, and a Meade LX200 16". I will leave you to join me and compare the views when you come down. You can find out about open evenings on the website at http://www.the-observatory.org/open-evenings.
Anyway - last week, I was lucky enough to be running the Meade LX200 16" in Dome C. Jupiter is coming into opposition at the moment, so it was perfectly placed for viewing and imaging. For once, we were lucky to have clear skies, with only the occasional cloud, and we saw Io and its shadow transit Jupiters disc. The Great Red Spot also made an appearance. I've only been playing with scopes for 10 years now, and this was a rare treat for me. I've seen a shadow transit before, but never with such clarity!! The 12mm Televue Nagler eyepiece I purchased second hand really showed the planet and moons beautifully.
Once the crowds had gone when the centre closed at 23:00, I put my Skynyx 2-1c on the scope. No barlow, just running the camera at F/10. I was able to capture the end of the transit. Here is a short video showing the transit:
nebul.ae articles
