Dew, Doubles and a Hairdryer: Halloween Blackheath Observing - Saturday 31 October 2026
In the run-up to our Halloween session, it seemed like the odds were stacked against us.
There was no consensus in the weather forecasts, with the majority predicting disruptive cloud cover. The Blackheath Fair was much closer than normal, having moved fields to the Lewisham side of Shooters Hill Road. And preparation work for the Blackheath Fireworks the following weekend meant that ground protection mats, laid for the tractors bringing in fencing, were all over our observing spot. Much of the ground had been churned up, made worse because it was already soft and damp after the recent weather.
We had already deferred the go/no-go decision to the morning of the event. Alec, though he couldn't attend on the evening, was a great help in passing on his weather forecasting knowledge. We both agreed that we couldn't make a call in the morning, and had to wait for updated forecasts later in the day. By mid-morning, I thought we were sunk. Of the dozen or so forecast models I use, only two predicted acceptable conditions, and they were models that have proven unreliable in the past.
Alec's midday update put my mind at rest a little. Conditions were "improving", though still very variable locally. I was still really concerned about dew levels, and that concern certainly came to pass!
By 1.30pm I felt I couldn't leave the decision any longer, so called the event on, with fingers firmly crossed.
It was with some trepidation, then, that I turned up on the heath just before 6pm, to find Frederik already there. We initially decided to set up the scopes on the ground protection mats, simply to avoid the damp ground. That proved to be a big mistake. Every step taken on the mats made the image through our scopes wobble enormously, so we hastily decamped to the grass and put up with the damp.
Whilst setting up, there was another incident that made us wonder whether the event had fallen foul of a Halloween curse. Multiple motorcycles screamed through our observing area, some on the road, some on the grass, pursued by several police cars, with a police helicopter overhead. I did wonder if we'd upset the sky gods to such an extent that we'd soon form part of a major crime scene.
The drama was over within a minute or so, and it was back to setting up. By now all of our wonderful volunteers had arrived, and the public were starting to turn up in big numbers. Over the evening, somewhere between 120 and 150 people joined us.
We immediately slewed to Saturn, and what a beautiful sight it was. As it climbed higher in the sky, more moons became visible. In the end, with the help of Mark Duwe, we picked up four: the obvious Titan, then Rhea, the tricky-to-see Dione very close to the rings, and finally Tethys on the other side of the rings.
Tej wasn't satisfied with just Saturn, though. He gave our visitors views of Uranus as it rose in the east, with a distinctive pale green colour and an obvious disc, and also the elusive Neptune. No disc really visible there, but a definite blue colouration. Or, in Tej's words, "a tiny blue dot!"
Tej's evening also took in the Double Cluster, Almach, Albireo and the Andromeda Galaxy. Dew built up on his scope early on, and he realised his dew heater was set too low, so his 12V hairdryer came to the rescue. Being quite loud, it attracted a fair bit of attention, including mine. I went over and asked for "short back and sides, please".
Epsilon Lyrae, the "Double-Double", brought a great deal of interest. At high power, your first glance through the eyepiece shows two bright stars. I asked people to take their time, look at each of those stars in turn, and notice that each one is itself a double. Every person who looked reacted in exactly the same way: pause… hang on… oh yeah!… oh my god!!… that's amazing!!!
Other doubles were popular too. Miyuki was keen on seeing Albireo, with its beautiful blue and yellow stars. Once people had had their turn, I slewed onto what is, in my opinion, a much more beautiful double: Almach (Gamma Andromedae), whose yellow star is much more golden in colour, at least to my eye.
Richard used his SmartEye eyepiece on a short refractor to give live-enhanced views of M31, the Andromeda Galaxy, and also the Triangulum Galaxy. He even attempted Saturn with it, and came to the conclusion that "the SmartEye isn't for planets, but it was worth a go, just to learn that lesson." Frederik had his first look through a SmartEye: "It's very cool. Really interesting."
Meanwhile, I was using my Seestar S50 Pro to image the Witch's Broom Nebula (part of the Western Veil), a suitably appropriate target for Halloween.
Hayden used his image-stabilised binoculars to give wonderful views of the Pleiades. I'd suggest also looking at the Hyades, lower in the sky. Less spectacular, but still worthwhile. It's always great to have good quality binoculars available, and the image-stabilised models are very forgiving of even the shakiest of hands!
It was left to the Moon to complete our list of Solar System objects for the night. It rose at about 9pm, but it took until after 9.30pm to become visible above the increasing murk on the horizon. Tej described it, fittingly, as a "misty Moon rising".
The damp was really taking hold by then. Equipment was completely soaked, and I found myself wiping down eyepieces every few minutes. My finder scope eventually became unusable due to moisture build-up, and finally the objective lens on my main scope dewed over. That is very unusual with that scope. It takes very damp conditions indeed. As Frederik put it afterwards, "I think the biggest issue was dew."
As ever, there were lots of conversations at the eyepieces. As is becoming a trend this season, we had many younger people in attendance, no doubt helped by our increased use of social media, in particular Instagram and TikTok. We've also seen a marked increase in Facebook views since we started posting videos promoting our events.
We wrapped up at 10.30pm. Tej, as usual, was last to pack up, emptying the puddles of water that had built up over his gear, with a couple of local visitors kindly keeping him company. As I write, my observing equipment is still drying out!
Thank you to our volunteers, Frederik, Sara, Tej, Hayden, Miyuki, Les and Richard, plus everyone else who brought scopes along, and to Mark Duwe for his help in tracking down Saturn's moons. Thanks also to Alec for his forecasting help in the run-up.
Our next session is planned for Saturday 14 November, with Sunday 15, Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 November as weather back-ups. Keep an eye on the website for confirmation.
Tej's hairdryer is available for bookings. Short back and sides only.
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