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Flamsteed Astronomy Society |
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Observing report — Romney, February 10, 2008 by Roger Geeson |
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On a crisp and clear but, mercifully, not bitterly cold evening a full complement of six ‘Flamsteeders’ enjoyed the now legendary hospitality of Jane and Martin. We were there to savour and revel in the beautiful panoply of that now rarest of sights – a really dark sky and to study just a choice selection of its splendours through the eyepiece of Martin’s fantastic Meade 14” SCT! Despite just the occasional intrusion of passing headlamps from the adjacent road reflected on the background trees, we were also able to enjoy the sight of something which, apart from artificial Planetarium projections, some of us have not seen for years - the Milky Way. We were prompted to take a few moments to adjust our eyes to the unaccustomed total darkness, punctuated only occasionally by David Waugh playing with his newly ‘Astrofest acquired’ and very effective green laser pointer which was later put to excellent use as Martin highlighted various stellar sites of interest. During this period of adjustment Jane delivered, principally for the benefit of first timers, the now obligatory ‘elf ‘n’ safety’ talk – “Do stick to the white chipping path (brilliant idea), mind your heads on the timber rails, try not to guillotine yourselves on the telegraph pole stay wires and please don’t tread on my newly planted daffodils”, following which we were ushered into Martin’s large garden shed observatory from which the roof had been slid aside exposing the awesome Meade which sat broodingly on its permanent pedestal and aiming at the skies like a threatening howitzer.
During a fascinating two hours or so, David W, Angela & Tony, Dr Darren Baskill, David Williams, a new member from Maidstone and myself, took turns at the eyepiece as Martin expertly drove the ‘Go To’ around the heavens and gave a learned running commentary of what was being imaged whilst we all ‘oohed and arrhed’ like kids at a firework display. The skies were so clear and still, which Martin explained was likely to be due to low atmospheric humidity, that it was easily possible to count individual stars in the Pleiades (M45) and other clusters, with the naked eye. We visited the Orion Nebula (M42), Mars and Saturn, displaying her beautiful ring formation (soon to be denied us as they present ‘edge on’) together with Titan and three smaller moons on offer as a bonus. We saw NGC 4565, the Spindle nebula, which excited Darren considerably as he was able to discern the central dust ‘lane’ and which can be seen in all its glory on www.astroimages.com/NGC4565a.jpg. Martin then skilfully navigated us to, among others, the Eskimo and Rosette nebulae, M51 the Whirlpool galaxy, the M35 cluster in Taurus and the binary Castor A in Gemini, the Twins. Wonderful images on the 14 inch! We were unable to see the Andromeda galaxy which was too low in the sky and, perhaps the only real disappointment of the evening, the exquisite crescent moon which we had been admiring all the way down from Greenwich and which would have provided fantastic detail along its shadow line. It had set early and was unfortunately well below the artificial horizon of Martin’s observatory roof line by the time we were all assembled and ready to go. Maybe next time……. Effusive thanks were expressed by all to Jane and Martin for their time and hospitality, which they offer to Society members on a generously regular basis. I think that we all left, not only reluctantly but each wishing that we not only owned a 14” ‘scope but that we could decamp permanently to Romney or somewhere similar offering such magnificent skies. Planetaria are all well and good but you just can’t beat the real thing! If you get the chance to be a guest of Jane and Martin, don’t hesitate. It is well worth the drive down and I for one can’t wait for another look.
Roger |
