Saturn Between the Clouds: Blackheath Observing - Saturday 17 October 2026
At around 9pm on Saturday, I was beginning to think the clouds might have brought our evening to an end. Two astronomy explainers from the Royal Observatory had just arrived, and I was concerned that they would leave without seeing anything.
I just about managed to show them Almach through a gap, with its golden-yellow and blue components. Then, almost out of nowhere, the sky cleared overhead and we got a wonderful view of Saturn, now higher in the south-east. Their reaction was exactly what makes these events so worthwhile.
There was considerably more cloud than forecast, with successive banks moving through and occasionally making us wonder whether to pack away. Each time, a clearer patch to the north gave us reason to continue. Over the course of the session, more than 200 people joined us, and those who stayed through the interruptions were rewarded with some excellent views.
Tim and I had been first on site at around 6.15pm, just as the showers ended. A clear band to the north was rapidly heading our way, so we were fairly confident that the predicted clear skies would arrive in time for the session.
Aston, who had found the event on Facebook, came along with his Celestron 6SE, a welcome addition to the evening. Bernie, who is becoming a regular at our events, travelled over from west London with his Celestron 8SE. With Tej turning up with his trusted 8SE, this was beginning to look like a Celestron SCT shop window!
Balance was soon restored, with Tim, Clive, Giorgio, Eddie, Richard and myself setting up refractors, Paul with a small Maksutov, and Adrian with his Vespera. Les looked as though he was preparing for the beach, putting up a windbreak around his scopes. Very wise, in all honesty, as the wind stayed with us for much of the evening, with some quite strong gusts.
It was certainly chillier than our recent sessions, and the northerly wind made it feel colder still. Tej and I commented that we actually felt quite warm. Perhaps we have been hardened by all those years of observing on the heath - sixteen years now!
The scene on Blackheath as we arrived to set up, clearing skies from the north; and telescopes and visitors during our session. Pictures by Mike Meynell
Our friends from the UCL Space Society were back again, and it was lovely to have them with us. Many visitors also mentioned seeing our events on social media, particularly TikTok. That account was only created a few weeks ago, but it is already bringing people along. We had noticeably more women attending, particularly groups of younger women, alongside our usual family groups. It was great to see our recent social media efforts helping us reach more people.
Tim had brought three telescopes, but only used one: a small 61mm refractor with a very large William Optics 40mm eyepiece, sitting on his substantial AZEQ6 mount. This prompted plenty of questions about the mount, astrophotography and how much sky could be seen through the eyepiece. Giorgio was particularly impressed by the wide field and comfortable eye relief.
Later, Tim fitted a camera, and visitors watched his laptop identify and label the star field. When the Moon cleared both the clouds and the trees, the craters on screen attracted plenty of interest, and the earthshine prompted some discussion too.
The Pleiades showed just how useful that wide field could be. One visitor mentioned that one of her children was called Maia.
Alex found it too cold to spend much time adjusting capture settings or monitoring images, so spent much of the session observing with his image-stabilised binoculars. Sharing these with visitors was a little less straightforward than using a telescope, but several people were keen to try, including a family with three children.
He admitted that he needed to spend more time with a star atlas, as visitors kept asking which star they were looking at, and he could only reply ‘no idea’!
Despite the conditions, Alex also captured M15 and IC 1795. Wind, cloud and people walking in front of his small, easily missed Dwarf Mini telescope all caused problems, and he is considering a counterweight for his tripod.
M15 and IC 1795, by Alex.
Adrian’s Vespera initialised successfully, and he hoped to continue his mosaic of the Andromeda Galaxy. Unfortunately, the cloud allowed him to collect only a handful of images.
Fortunately, he had earlier images on his phone, and these led to plenty of discussions about Andromeda and various nebulae. Visitors were excited by what could be seen and keen to ask questions. Although the imaging was frustrating, Adrian felt that the conversations made the evening well worthwhile.
His accompanying image shows the Andromeda mosaic in progress, with 56 minutes of accumulated exposure, partway through the second of four passes. It is an unprocessed JPEG straight from the telescope, with no new frames added during this session.
Saturn remained the main attraction whenever the clouds allowed. Titan was obvious early on, with Rhea becoming much easier to see after about 9.30pm, once the planet was higher.
Many visitors drifted away when the first large bank of cloud arrived, but plenty stayed and were rewarded with further clear spells. Several were still with us at nearly 11pm, which was particularly pleasing given the cold and the interruptions.
The Flamsteed Fox also put in an appearance. Tim saw it briefly, but it was around quite a lot towards the end, once the crowds had thinned. Perhaps the 200-plus visitors had been a little off-putting!
We could certainly have done with less cloud and a little less wind, but there were some excellent views between the cloud banks, and lots of interest and questions from our visitors. Thanks to everyone who came along to help, brought equipment, and sent in photographs and anecdotes afterwards.
Our next session is planned for Halloween - Saturday 31 October, so we may have some competition from the trick-or-treaters! Sunday 1 November is the weather back-up. Keep an eye on the website for confirmation.
Les may already have the windbreak packed.
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