STADT MOERS - TUE 25 SEP 2001

POTTERY LANE

KNOWSLEY

ASTRONOMY EVENING

TUESDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2001 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM

Members of the Liverpool Astronomical Society, (founded in 1881), will display several telescopes for viewing the Moon and Mars, if clear. There will also be an illustrated talk on astronomy.

This event is free, and is open to all members of the public.

For more information contact:-

Knowsley Ranger Service – 0151 443 3682

Liverpool Astronomical Society

Geoff Regan, Observatory Director – 0151 292 7165

Dave Owen, Sidewalk Astronomers – 07778 454524

EVENT REPORT by Dave Owen

After many adventures with cramming the 16 inch Sidewalk telescope in to and on to my small Micra, Geoff Regan and I arrived at Stadt Moers Park Visitors Centre at 18:36. The Knowsley Ranger, Tony Hearn, welcomed us with a cup of tea and Geoff quickly set up the facilities inside to do a slide show. At this stage we were unsure what the weather would do. It did not take long to set up the 16 inch scope near the front entrance but Mars and the first quarter Moon proved too low down to be easily visible. A nearby lampost was used to get a rough focus for the telescope and a magpie obligingly posed for a few visitors to examine it in the 16 inch scope.

Jim Stacey arrived at about 19:20 and quickly set up his 8 inch Goto reflector. Both telescopes then waited for the first bright deep sky object or double star to become visible. At this point I noticed that the 16 inch seemed slightly too top heavy and was slipping in altitude, probably due to the extra weight of the extension tube used to focus on the nearby streetlamp. A bag of coffee and mugs, suspended off the back end of the scope, soon cured that problem.

At about 19:50, Geoff started the first of two slide shows that had an audience of 18 visitors. Me and Jim Stacy stayed outside with the scopes and 6 more visitors eventually turned up. Vega, very near the zenith, was found and focussed in the 16 inch. At this point I realised that we should have brought a bigger ladder. Although Albireo and Mizar gave pleasant views, M27 and M71 were very faint in the twilight sky. The prize obbject of the evening for me was M13, which was fully resolved with the 26 mm plossl eyepiece that once belonged to Phil Leighton, an ex president of the Liverpool Astronomical Society.

At just after 21:00 we said goodbye to our visitors and started to pack away our telescopes and other stuff. Our next Sidewalk event, hopefully with a bigger ladder, is at the Otterspool Visitors Centre in Liverpool on Friday 26 October 2001. The horizon there is quite good, right next to the River Mersey. The Otterspool Pub, next door, should ensure a reasonable, if not respectable crowd.

HOW TO FIND STADT MOERS PARK - Maps from www.multimap.com