Rain, Rain Everywhere, But Not a Drop on Us – Blackheath Observing, Sunday 12 April 2026

By 7.30pm, volunteers were gathering on Blackheath for our final session of the season, with Alec, Tej, Richard, Yvonne, Paul, Les and others soon getting set up alongside myself. It was particularly good to have Tej with us, as Sunday events are not usually possible for him.

Much of our set-up time was dominated by conversations about the weather. The scopes were covered in preparation for a downfall. At one point, we looked to be surrounded on all sides by rain, but, miraculously, we stayed dry.

Scopes under cover as the rain clouds roll in. Pictures by Mike Meynell and Alec Knox

Alec’s weather app was showing a near certainty of rain overhead, and we could plainly see it inching towards us from the south-west. What happened next caused some hilarity. From Alec’s finger movements on his smartphone, I joked that he was trying to move the rain clouds away by remote control. Some joke - they actually did move. So now we know. Alec’s smartphone is the hub of the simulation. Let’s hope he uses that power well.

The skies started to clear, but Venus was still covered in the west, while Jupiter was perfectly clear in the high southern sky. Even though it was still light, with the Sun having set just before 8pm, we could still see decent detail on the Jovian surface, and all four Galilean moons were perfectly visible - Ganymede on one side, with Io, Europa and Callisto forming a slightly wobbly line on the other. The Great Red Spot was also visible, with my old "joke" about it now being neither great nor red getting another airing. It was tricky to spot, just visible as a bulge under the south equatorial belt. As conditions darkened, other belts and zones became visible, particularly in the southern regions, with the south temperate belt easily viewable.

Jupiter was a popular target for both visual and Smart scopes. Pictures by Yvonne Jacobs and Alec Knox.

Venus, at 91% illumination, finally cleared the clouds in the west, and provided a lovely sight to the unaided eye. Not quite so spectacular through a scope, due to the high phase, but still a good target.

I spotted several passers-by, with quizzical looks on their faces, wondering what on Earth we were up to, so I called people over to join in. It almost felt like I was press-ganging them into our secret society, but none complained about the experience, and all seemed very appreciative of the chance to look through the scopes.

Whilst Alec, Tej and I focused on using traditional telescopes, there were, as ever, plenty of smartscopes in action. Richard, Yvonne, Paul and Les were all busy pointing their scopes at various objects, including M42, M67 and M99. Yvonne managed to stump me completely with the name of one object she was imaging - the Teddy Bear Nebula. Nobody nearby had heard of it, and more than a couple of people suspected she had made it up. Even the Seestar seemed unsure what it was looking at, labelling the image for a nearby star once the framing was adjusted. Yvonne herself admitted she was still struggling to see the teddy bear in it, concluding that a fairly good imagination was probably required.

More Smart scope images from the evening. M42 and M99 by Richard Summerfield, the "Teddy Bear Nebula" by Yvonne Jacobs, and M67 by Paul Merriman.

There were a few further reflections from the evening and the season as a whole. Alec commented that he had learnt a great deal this year, and had enjoyed both the traditional telescope setups and the increasing use of smartscopes and electronic capture devices. For him, standout memories included our first session of the season with the lunar eclipse, and the later evening when the fog rolled in and open clusters ended up looking like handfuls of jewels spread across the sky.

Yvonne summed up the mood of the evening well - a nice, relaxed session to end the season on. She also noted that several attendees were very engaged, and that at least a couple seemed to be seriously considering both buying smartscopes and joining the Flamsteed.

A decent attendance for a Sunday evening - around 35 people in all. Pictures by Mike Meynell and Richard Summerfield.

Paul, who only managed to make two sessions this season, still felt they had ticked all the right boxes - seeing other people’s rigs, chatting about future purchases, and sharing what knowledge he could with curious attendees. He also took this final session as a good lesson in what can be achieved despite patchy skies. In typical fashion, he packed up just as the clouds finally rolled in, only for them to disappear again as soon as his rucksack was zipped up. He also sent through an image of M67, the “Golden Eye Cluster”, from the evening.

It just remains for me to say a huge thank you to all of our visitors this season. We had over 1,000 people attend our events across the year, with 10 out of 12 sessions successfully run, despite the dreadful weather in mid-winter.

But the main thanks must go to our superb volunteers, all of whom did a spectacular job:

Matthew Ayres, Phil Benson, Eddie Cantello, Adrian Challinor, Sara Clark, Brendan Cooper, Tej Dyal, Helen Edwards, Todd Ferguson, John Harries, Simon Hurst, Clive Inglis, Yvonne Jacobs, Alec Knox, Bobby Manoo, Paul May, Paul Merriman, Mike Meynell, Tony Milon, Giorgio Negro, Manish Patel, Tim Rickard, Hayden Ridsdale, Amy Scammell, Mark Seaton, Les Stephens, Richard Summerfield, Raymond Walsh and Paul Wright.

We simply could not have run these events without you, and all of the other "unofficial" volunteers from our membership who were regular visitors and often helped out on an informal basis. Thank you for your support, your good humour, your friendship and, most importantly, your ability to engage with our visitors and share our passion for the night sky.

A special shout-out must also go to Alec, who has been a huge help to me this season. He has assisted throughout with organising the Blackheath sessions, and has been particularly invaluable when it comes to weather forecasting and helping judge whether we have actually got a workable evening or not.

So concludes the 2025/26 Blackheath observing season. We’ve had some fantastic sessions, which will live long in the memory.

Our attentions now turn to solar viewing at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, which kicks off on Friday 17 April, weather permitting.