Friday night’s “Jupiter Watch” down at Abbot Hall Park was a great success, and I think we showed around 40 people the planet Jupiter and its 4 largest moons through our telescopes between 19.00 and 21.15 when thickening mist and increasing damp sent us packing. There were some very interested people – many of whom had some very strange ideas about what stars are and what is going on “up there” but that’s what we’re here for, to educate and inform – and we even had a visit from a friendly and fascinated chav-hunting police officer (who got a gold star in my book for turning his bright, dark-adaption ruining torch off when I asked him!).
We had four different telescopes down on the field, all providing pleasingly different views of Jupiter. Once my trusty 4.5″ scope’s tube had cooled down I was rewarded with very pleasing views of Jupiter and the 4 “Galileans” and two dark cloud bands cutting across Jupiter’s disc, too.
Rather than me write-up the full thing here, I’ll ask you to take a look at Philip Stobbart’s report (with pics) over on his blog.
Coming next: our official IYA 2009 Autumn “MoonWatch”..!
I think we’re going to get a pretty big turn-out for this event, not just because we have fantastic support from the local media, but because this event is featured on the official IYA 2009 website, so it will attract visitors from outside our usual area.
And the view of the Moon will be GORGEOUS…
… with Copernicus bang on the terminator (which will make it look exceptionally stunning) and many of the most attractive large craters also on view. Plato, for example, will look just beautiful…
So, fingers crossed for a clear night on Tuesday October 27th! 🙂
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Cumbrian Sky 