Friday 27 April 2018

Broad Haven South 21st April 2018

With several clear nights before this event we were hopeful but as the night drew in the cloud around St. Ishmaels was enough to put us off but having made the commitment we set off around 7 p.m.

When we arrived there was enough cloud and sea mist to discourage all but the valiant.
The 5 day old Moon was on show most of the time which was good as one of the objects I was hoping to show was the Theophilus chain - a particularly handsome group of three craters best seen at that time of the lunar cycle.


This is it - a stock photo not one of ours!!

We showed it to several attendees who seemed suitably impressed.

1 gentleman commented that it was the best view of the Moon he had ever seen.

Such comments make it all worthwhile.

10 members of the group provided the "expert" back-up. Along with the NT and PCNP people there was "more of us than there were of them" to quote the biblical phrase.

Around 9.00 pm Venus appeared from behind the clouds and off and on was visible for many hours.

Most members seemed to be showing something for at least part of the time so it was a worthwhile effort spoiled somewhat by the weather and lack of attendees.
Kim was enthusiastically showing Mizar A and B along with Alcor (Ursa Major) to some and even managed to find the globular cluster M13 a little later.

I heard next day that a few Lyrid meteors had been seen - Vega itself was visible around 9.30 and with the Moon in the other half of the sky the potential was certainly there.

What next?
We have been invited to Dale airfield on 29th April - a radio program with a little astronomy content, UFO's and the like. Some of the group are likely to attend weather permitting.
July 14th heralds the Letterston Carnival - we are often asked to make an appearance and if the Sun shines we have the equipment to view it and show it to the public.
In August we will have our regular annual solar event at Newgale and at the end of the year we meet up again with the NT and PCNP people - much to look forward to so keep an eye on the website/forum to keep informed.

http://preseliastronomygroup.org.uk/
http://preseliastronomy.freeforums.net/