Who heard Sputnik first?

The story of how Jodrell Bank secured its future by detecting and tracking Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, is fairly well known. Sir Bernard Lovell and his telescope attracted world-wide publicity which helped bring in private funding. However, a local Cambridge magazine carries a story describing how 'boffins' at Lords Bridge used an improvised antenna looking like a washing line to detect and track Sputnik. The magazine claims they were the first to do so. Does anyone know whether it was Jodrell or Lords Bridge that 'heard' Sputnik first?

MySky could help you navigate Your Sky

The long-awaited MySky from Meade Corporation has arrived at last and first impressions are that it's a great product. It looks like a pistol drill that you point at the sky to identify objects or find them. It uses GPS and a range of sensors to determine its orientation and hence the precise point in the sky that it's pointing at.

And it really does work. Not only that, it comes with a large database and multimedia presentations that will tell you about the object you're pointing at. Plug in the supplied earpiece to listen while you watch the video on its colour screen.

MySky is a big step forward in helping people understand the night sky and find their way around. We recommend it strongly and expect it to feature on many Christmas wish lists. Click here for further details.

Star Parties

Just a reminder that our first Star Party of the season will be held on Wednesday 31st October to celebrate our 9th birthday. We'll be offering lots of goods at crazy prices on the day as well as auctioning some items in the evening. There's a pumpkin carving competition for kids, a quiz for adults and hopefully the opportunity to try some telescopes and MySky. As October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month we will have a raffle and collection to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Star Parties on alternate Tuesdays will start on November 6th. All are welcome; there's no need to book and there is no charge. Full details are on our web site.

Astronomy for Absolute Beginners

Places are still available on Jeffrey's course on Saturday 20th September 2007. Please call Wendy on 01954 211288 if you would like more details or to book a place. Again, details are on our web site.

If you can't make this date then Lee will be giving his beginners' course on Saturday 3rd November.

Coming Soon

On Saturday December 1st Lee will be giving courses on astrophotography. Details are still being finalised but will appear soon on our web site. The likely format is a half day on imaging planets and the Moon using a web cam and a half day on deep sky imaging.

Green Witch Web Site

We're carrying out a series of changes to our web site which hopefully will improve its performance and profile. The first steps were taken this week and were intended to be transparent to users as they concerned some of the background infrastructure. Unfortunately, our web hosts gave us some misleading information and for a brief period www.green-witch.com brought up a default page which made it look as though our site had disappeared. This has now been fixed but I apologise if this affected you.

RGO Society

The RGO Society was set up so that former staff and friends of the Royal Greenwich Observatory could keep in contact. It has more than 400 members and over 140 of them met on Sunday 30th September for a reunion at Herstmonceux Castle and enjoyed a lovely afternoon. Lunch and tea were served in the ballroom, the Sun shone and we were able to visit the Observatory Science Centre in the old Equatorial Telescope Group as well as the Space Geodesy Facility.

Many members had travelled considerable distances to be there with representatives from Australia, South Africa, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands and La Palma. We were delighted that Sir Patrick Moore, always a staunch supporter of the RGO, was able to be there as well.

The Observatory Science Centre has expanded since my last visit and it was good to see it thriving and the grounds and castle so well looked after. I thoroughly recommend it for a family day out. See these sites for further details:

Herstmonceux Castle

The Observatory Science Centre

Postal Strike

The strike has affected some of our deliveries so we apologise to anyone whose purchases have not arrived as soon as they ought. Our couriers, in common with most others, have found themselves overloaded so it has affected these deliveries as well as the normal post. Let's hope for a swift solution.

Looking South at 10 pm

The Square of Pegasus straddles the meridian at 10 pm and is an easy, distinctive shape to identify. It's quite high in the sky and the sides of the 'square' are between 13 and 16 degrees across. The distance between the tips of your index and little fingers when held at arm's length is about 15 degrees which is a useful guide to help you identify the square.

Only three of the stars at the square's corners are actually in Pegasus, the top-left one being Alpha Andromedae. Pegasus was the magical flying horse of Greek mythology who carried Perseus to the resue of Andromeda. We'll meet Perseus later in the year as he moves over from the east.

Below Pegasus lies the head of Pisces made up of five stars in the shape of a slightly irregular pentagon. The rest of Pisces stretches away to our left and it should be possible to make out a large and curved V lying across the ecliptic. Most of the stars making up the V are around 4th magnitude so need a reasonably dark sky.

Uranus is just to the right of the meridian and a little below the head of Pisces. It should be easier to see than Neptune which I mentioned in the last newsletter. At magnitude 5.7 it may be possible to find it with the naked eye on a really good night. However, binoculars make it much easier and a good telescope will show that it is a tiny disc and not a point-like star. You will need a star chart or something like MySky to help you identify it.

Moving further down you may be able to see the bright star Fomalhaut if you have a low and clear horizon. This is alpha Piscis Austrini and is well into the southern hemisphere. Its visual magnitude is 1.7 so it should appear quite bright.

5th Kielder Star Camp

Lee will be at the 5th Kielder Forest Star Camp this Saturday with a Green Witch trade stand. If you are able to get there he will be pleased to see you. The web site says the event is fully booked but I believe that you can still attend the main day on Saturday without booking.

And finally...

Welcome to all the new subscribers to the newsletter. I hope you find it interesting and useful. If you have any comments on what you'd like to see in it please let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Clear Skies and Best wishes

Neil