| The society's observatory is situated to the north-west of Letchworth at the Standalone Farm Centre, Wilbury Road, SG6 4JN. You can see the location in
Google Maps, and you can find out more on our observatory page.
We have a programme of observing sessions for our members through the year, and we also hold special events when we invite the public to come and use our facilities.
Our Public Star Parties are our major outreach events, offering everyone an opportunity to see some of the wonders of the night sky. As well as the main telescope in the observatory itself, we have several other instruments, and society members bring along their own equipment for visitors to use.
Visitors are also encouraged to bring their own telescopes. If you have scope that you use, or one that's in a box in the loft, then bring it along!
Obviously we are dependent on the weather, but an advantage of our site at Standalone is that we have the use of two of the barns. One is used for refreshments and sales; in the other, we have a display about our activities, and society chairman Jerry Stone gives presentations about astronomy, so we can entertain our visitors whatever the condition of the sky.
Here are the details for our events in 2010.
| Date |
What's on view |
|
Saturday, March 6
Deep-sky objects:
Star clusters, nebulae, etc
Mars
Saturn |
This is a dark-sky event, without the glare of the Moon to drown out fainter objects in the sky.
Mars will be high in the sky towards the south
Saturn rises at 19:10 and will have reachd 10º into the sky by 20:25
Meanwhile there will be various deep-sky objects on view, including the Pleiades and the Orion Nebula.
You may also get a chance to see the asteroid Vesta. |
|
Saturday, April 17
The Moon
Venus
Mars
Saturn |
This event is to highlight the Moon and planets. The sun sets just before 8pm and the sky will be getting dark by 9pm.
The Moon will show as a beautiful thin crescent, just 3 days after New Moon. At 19:30 it is 24º high towards the West. It will set a little after 23:30, though after about 22:00 you will have to go up to the gate at the end of the path to see it over the other side of the trees.
This is also where you can see the planet Venus, which sets at 21:01
Meanwhile, following a talk on astronomy in the barn, you will be able to see the planets Mars and Saturn. |
Saturday, September 18
The Moon
Jupiter
Uranus |
This is another Moon-and-planet event.
The sky darkens a little after 8pm, and the Moon will aready be visible. Four days past First Quarter, it will be visible through the evening.
The planet Jupiter should be high enough for viewing by 20:20, when its moon Io will appear from behind the planet.
It may also be possible to see the distant planet Uranus. |
Saturday, October 16
The Moon
Jupiter
Uranus |
This is also a Moon-and-planet event.
The Moon is a couple of days past First Quarter and will be visible through the evening.
The planet Jupiter will also be visible and you will be able to see its moons. Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system, crosses in front of Jupiter between 18:30 and 21:30. During the pass, its shadow will be visible on Jupiter's cloud-tops.
Once again, the planet Uranus may also be visible. |
Here are some of the various types of deep-sky objects:
- Variable stars change their brightness over a period of time. This ranges from star to star.
- Double-stars may be two stars that appear to be close together, but may be actually separated by huge distances, whereas Binary stars are pairs of stars that actually orbit each other.
- Star clusters are groups of stars, ranging from just a few up to thousands!
- A nebula is a cloud of interstellar gas. Sometimes they are the result of a supernova - an exploding star - whilst others are vast clouds of gas out in space. They have all kinds of shapes, and names!
- Our local galaxy, of which our sun is one of 300 billion stars, can be seen stretching acros a dark sky as the Milky Way. The Andromeda Galaxy is the furthest object that can be seen with the naked eye, 2.5 million light-years away.
There is no charge for these events. You can arrive at whatever time is convenient and stay as long as you wish. Bring the family for an evening out with a difference!
Don't forget to wear warm clothing!
If you would like to bring a group to this or any other LDAS event, please contact us at events-at-ldas.org.uk (Replace "-at-" with "@")
You can also arrange for a special group to visit the observatory. Contact us for details.
Here are some images from previous events. Click on the pictures for larger versions.
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