Astroblast

Astroblast is only a few days away and final preparations are being put in place. We hope you will be able to join us at the Institute of Astronomy from 10 am to 4 pm on Saturday 21st April 2007. If you know anyone else who might be interested please point them at the web site (http://www.astroblast.org.uk/ ) and encourage them to come along.

Don't forget that Darth Vader and the UK garrison of Storm Troopers will be there all day. The kids love having their photos taken with them.

16-inch Light Bridge

Supplies of the eagerly-awaited new telescope from Meade have now arrived in the country. Our display model and first stocks are at the Green Witch showroom and we plan to have one on display at Astroblast. Please contact us for more details if you are interested. It's a lot of telescope for the price.

International Space Station

This week is a good time to look for the International Space Station because it makes one or two visible passes each evening between about 8:45 pm and 11 pm. These last between 20 seconds and 5 minutes and the satellite is easy to spot in a clear sky. For accurate predictions go to http://www.heavens-above.com/ . You can register and set your location for future visits or you can enter anonymously and select your location each time. Either way, the site will give predictions for the ISS and several other visible satellites together with other interesting phenomena such as Iridium flares.

British Deaf Astronomical Association

I had the honour of cutting the ribbon to mark the opening of David Kettle's new observatory last Friady. David is a keen member of the BDAA and around twenty fellow members joined him at his home for a party to mark the opening. With the help of other members David had built a fibre-glass dome and mounted it on an existing brick shed to produce a very nice observatory. Currently it houses his 10-inch Revelation Dobsonian.

At the party the BDAA secretary, Derek Rowley, showed me the BDAA year book which has an interesting approach to showing what's in the night sky each month. It shows only the view looking due south and concentrates on what's there. The idea is that anyone new to astronomy doesn't get confused by trying to take in the whole sky at once. As the year progresses they notice how the stars progress from east to west and associate certain constellations with certain months. It struck me that this is an approach that anyone could take if they find the whole sky a bit overwhelming at first.

Bees and Astronomy?

I attended the Saturday morning session of the British Sundial Society's annual meeting which was held at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. I was there to meet with Leonard Honey who supplies us with our replica antique instruments. Leonard was keen to hear a talk on bees and the Sun so I joined him for a fascinating twenty minutes hearing about the way bees navigate by the Sun and communicate directions to food sources in the dark of the hive.

Listening to the radio this morning there was an article about the decline in the number of bees and what gardeners could do to reverse it. In the wildlife section of our online catalogue you will find homes for beneficial insects such as the (stingless) Red Mason Bee so why not help out your tiny fellow solar observers while bringing their benefits to your garden?

Spectroscopy

Spectroscopy is one of the most powerful techniques used by professional astronomers to analyse stars and other celestial bodies, yet very few amateur astronomers do any spectroscopy. Jack Martin will be showing how to do it and explaining why he does it at Astroblast. Come and talk to him, you may find it's another aspect of astronomy you would like to try.

And finally...

Tonight's crescent Moon was beautiful and it looks as though the Moon and Venus will be nicely aligned for tomorrow night. A good opportunity to take a photo.

Best wishes and Clear Skies

Neil
www.green-witch.com
www.arizonaskyvillage.co.uk
www.astroblast.org.uk