Drew Wagar

Alan Young with his telescope in the 1970s

One of the more interesting parts of running an Astronomical Society is the opportunities that occasionally crop up. We had exactly that last night when we returned to our neighbouring society in Cranbrook (about 25 miles west of Ashford). We hooked up with them earlier in the year.

The Alan Young Telescope in 2010

CADSAS as they are known, are in the fortunate position of having their own observatory based in Cranbrook school. Inside the observatory is a 22.5 inch reflecting telescope originally built in the 1970s by Alan Young. Alan was a race car engineer, so it’s appropriate that the telescope itself is built very much like a race car chassis, and uses Rover V8 valve springs as tensioners for the collimation adjustment!

The Laser Collimater

CADSAS have laboriously been rebuilding the scope since 2005, but had struggled to align the mirrors effectively enough to get a sharp image from the scope. This is an almost impossible job to do manually and the fact they got an image at all is credit to them. We visited the scope for a tour with our society back in March and were able to advise on modifications necessary to allow the mirror to be adjusted.

Delicate adjustments by Ted Pearson (CADSAS Chair)

Last night we went back with some special tools, as the CADSAS folk reported that they’d completed the modifications to the scope. With the aid of a laser collimator (a device for allowing us to see the alignment of the mirrors), a large wrench and a hammer, we were able to adjust the mirrors into correct alignment.

Even better we were able to point briefly at the moon in a the twilight and check the image itself. We were able to see craters and maria on the moon far more clearly. Everyone was extremely pleased with the results.

Myself adjusting the attitude of the primary mirror

This telescope should be easily able to resolve some very deep sky objects visually, and its ability with CCD imaging should be extraordinary.

Next steps will be some more imaging trials, and then extra mechanisation to automate the attitude of the telescope and allow it to be fully controlled remotely.

Can’t wait to have an extended use of the scope in dark conditions!

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Having been into Astronomy since the age of 6 – yes I know, it’s a long time ago – there aren’t that many things that I haven’t seen first hand telescopically. I’ve looked at the Sun before using filters and projection mechanisms (insert standard disclaimer about being very careful and seeking expert advice on how to do this – it’s dangerous!), seen sunspots and so on.

However, today was the first day I’ve ever seen the Sun in ‘Hydrogen’.

The basic premise is that all the interesting stuff about the Sun is actually hidden from us, mostly because of the brightness, but also because the Sun pumps out all sorts of frequencies of light from different parts of its ’surface’. The really interesting stuff is drowned out visually, even when you dampen it down. To see any real detail you need to be really discriminating about what light you look at.

To be specific you need to chuck away everything but a very narrow frequency of light – the Hydrogen Alpha frequency of 656.3 nm. Our Astronomical society has just purchased a scope able to do this. The Coronado PST. Typically it was cloudy most of the weekend, but we managed to get a view through it towards the end of the afternoon.

We could see sunspots, faculae, filaments and, most spectacularly of all, prominences – huge loops of gas rolling out of the Sun. Even better, with a bit of quick experimentation, I managed to hook my trusty SLR up to the ’scope and grab a picture. A fantastic experience – and I think they’ll be a queue of people wanting to borrow the ’scope. It’s available to reserve for members of AAS.

Enjoy the picture!

Solar Flare imaged using Coronado PST and SLR

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I’ve been especially privileged over the last couple of months to have been doing a variety of talks to groups of young people from schools, cubs, beavers and brownie organisations.

Science has often received a really poor show for youngsters in the last decade or so, leaving many with the impression that it is boring, dull and a subject only fit for the geeky, nerdy types.

One of the key cornerstones of IYA 2009 is reaching out an making Astronomy relevant to young folk. We at AAS are doing our part too.

I’m pleased to report that given the right presentation, youngsters are just as keen to learn about space and the wonders in the sky as ever they were and there are some pretty smart ones out there too! My hope is that our talks and this year in particular will really kick start the next generation of Astronomers and Astrophysicists. We’re going to need them!

I’m also pleased to see that it’s not perceived as a ‘boys’ subject either. Our talks have been equally well received by girls and boys (if not better by the girls!).

At our AAS meetings, we’re delighted to report we have more ladies than gents. This allows us to back up the other aspect of IYA which is the She is an Astronomer initiative, which aims to break down misconceptions and highlight the many high profile women currently contributing to Astronomy.

All in all, it’s a great time to be doing this. Astronomy is very interesting right now with lots of events occuring. I’m glad to be playing my part in getting more people interested in this fascinating hobby!

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Astronomy club last night and a big thanks to Dave and Monica.

Monica (our unofficial celebrity chaperone) managed to get invited to Sir Patrick Moore’s house a couple of weeks ago, not only putting us in contact with Chris Lintott (Sir Patrick’s right hand man and heir apparent), but getting Sir Patrick’s endorsement of our new society in the form of two signed books.

We also had some photos of the event showing the inside of Patrick’s house, which is a veritable cornucopia of astronomical ’stuff’ from his 84 years – amazing.

Dave then continued on the show with a talk on Mars which was up to his usual excellent standard, giving us an overview of the planet, the space probes that have been there and what we’ve found. As expected the talk included a few diversions on the way: our very own unmanned probe, ‘Beagle 3′ that almost managed to reach the other side of the room under remote control (crashed on landing unfortunately), how the colour pink is the most war-like colour there is, how we know really know nothing about dinosaurs and that science is a lot about how good you are at arguing. (Sounds like my job!)

All went down very well. A number of people commented on how they had enjoyed it, particularly some of the new folks. (We had visitors from as far away as Ramsgate and Hythe.)

Compared to where we were this time last year, I was surprised to note that we only had about 5-8 regular visitors in November 2007, whereas we must have had 30+ last night. I think our a approach of a ‘bit of structure’ blended with down to earth talks and easy familiarity has worked well. Combine that with a lot of willing and enthusiast contributors has made it what it is. I’ve been pleased (and honoured) how people have chipped in, helping with all the meetings, volunteering to do stuff and generally getting stuck in. The committee I’m working with; Dave, Jason and Steve are brill, really proactive and hardworking. Great.

We really do need to do more practical stuff as well. Folks are still talking about the observing evenings and telescope sessions – all part of the plan for next year! Then there’s the kids angle to consider… We have our first committee meeting next week to get the ball rolling.

Next meeting is on the 22nd of December!

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Managed to get out and use my new Meade ETX-105 for the first time this evening. Lousy night really, a full moon, misty air and a garden that was totally waterlogged – but it was clear and wasn’t raining!

I’m giving a talk on Saturday with this ’scope so I needed to get atleast a bit of familiarity with it beforehand. Not going to look good if the chairman of the astronomical society turns up and can’t figure out how to make his scope work…

As it turned out, this little Meade is a cracker – dead easy to use and with an excellent ‘goto’ capability. I found M31, The double cluster, M57, Uranus (yes, get the snigger out of your system…) and the Pleiades all within a few minutes. Great stuff.

We’re hoping to get something similar for the society – and it will be ideal. A great starter scope!

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Already cutting into my Christmas bonus, but I have the excuse that I do infact need (as opposed to want) a portable telescope that can handle being used during observing evenings, and talks.

I wanted something good enough that I wouldn’t be frustrated with it, a goto mechanism so the kids can learn to use it, ability to do some CCD photography, be robust enough to handle being moved around a lot and be portable enough to go in the back of the car and be set up quickly.

Ended up with a Meade ETX 105 UHTC from Ebay.

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