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MKAS AT RIVERSIDE PARK COUNTRY FARE 1st JULY 2007 |
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Ken Baker was first to arrive at 8.45am but Bob Tollervey, Graham Curtis and his grandson Tyler Curtis were already there when I arrived just after 10am at our under cover stall with Steve Bradley. Trevor Cannon, Mike Phillips and Paul Cheesman came shortly after. Our society had one stall but the non appearance of two adjacent stall holders enabled us to spread out. This was as well as the sky was leaden grey with very gusty winds. All our literature, leaflets etc had to be weighted down with stones or they would have disappeared in moments. Indeed the wind was so strong the awnings themselves almost took off. Thanks to tent pegs supplied by Bob and others this didn’t occur. If that wasn’t enough, it rained. Our stall was south facing and our equipment, - telescopes which included Trevor’s 4 inch Celestron Nexstar 4, Bob’s 40m/m Hydrogen Alpha PST and 90m/m ETX with a white light Solar Filter would have been soaked. Mike brought along some MKAS archive pictures and our laptops certainly dislike water. Luckily the north facing stall we’d commandeered was more sheltered. There were lulls in the wind and the rain became less frequent. Blue patches of sky began to appear and at 11.45am I managed to locate Venus in my Meade 10x50 binoculars. The tiny crescent is now apparent in the glasses and the planet stood out clearly against the blue backdrop. I glimpsed it fleetingly with the naked eye but then the clouds rolled in with more wind and rain. Fortunately it didn’t last. Despite the weather several other members joined us including Sarah Simmons, Sue Green, Noel Clark and Dave Aitkin and his wife Julie. We were also pleased to see Brian Van D Peer and his wife Peggy both who’ve done so much for the society in the past. There were many other stalls. These included flowers and potted plants, wood turning not to mention burgers and hot dogs. There was an exhibition of birds of prey, also a variety of farm animals. To finish it off we had a singing farmer who kept everyone entertained with Country and Western. A great many members of the public attended and quite a few including a Kent Messenger reporter stopped at our stall. Through Bobs PST, the Sun looked like a large red disc. Unusually there were no limb prominences at all but careful examination revealed several faculae, quite a few filaments (prominences silhouetted on the Sun’s disc) as well as considerable fine structural detail, probably granulation. There was a dark sunspot to the right of centre. A number of people saw this and were taken aback when I told them it was the size of our Earth. Many are unaware how vast the Sun really is. Through Bob’s ETX, the solar disc appeared pale pink and the sunspot was clear. One man viewing the Sun asked me how long would it take his holiday Easyjet to reach the Sun travelling at 500mph. I said 21 years and he was impressed. We displayed members photos that included Jupiter, Saturn and the galaxies M31 and M51. The most common question was could our telescopes see sights like this? My iron meteorite, Gibeon, classified as a fine Octahedrite- 389 grams went down well. Many were surprised at it’s weight (it comprises 89% Iron, 7% Nickel with traces of other elements). People were amazed it’s 4.6 billion years old, equal to the Solar System itself. One lady had purchased a telescope and wanted to know how to assemble it. Another seeing a bright shooting star, asked if a meteorite landed in her neighbour’s garden. A man had self focussing binoculars (7x50’s) he was unsure about. We distributed a number of programmes and hopefully some who expressed interest will attend one or more of our future meetings. We were on our feet much of the day and were grateful for the hotdog stall close by for a bite to eat. The weather became kinder and the clear blue patches of sky became larger and more frequent.
At 3.45pm I found Venus again in the 10x50’s. The planet was now clearly visible with unaided vision. Using nearby cloud wisps for reference points, others successfully saw it with the naked eye alone. These included Bob, Tyler, and Dave. We observed the planet for several minutes which with the naked eye resembled a white star like spec against the blue backdrop, following it as it appeared to approach a high band of cirrus. Everyone seeing Venus with unaided vision agreed it was not difficult to see once found. Others including Julie and Mike found the planet in binoculars. Measuring the Sun’s altitude at the same time next day, I made it 47 degrees. Soon after 4.30pm we began packing up. There was already an exodus to leave, indeed the number of cars must have been several hundred. Luckily there was the overspill car park. The weather might have been better but it could have also been much worse. All in all it was an enjoyable day.
For the record I looked at Venus much later from my garden. It was 9.30pm and just after sunset. The sky was pale pink but the planet was now very conspicuous with the naked eye. In my 10 x 50’s I could see Saturn barely a degree above it looking very subdued and dim alongside the planet of love. Being so close they were easily seen together in the same binocular field of view. However despite Saturn’s closeness it would not have been visible in binoculars when we saw Venus in mid afternoon. Venus was magnitude – 4.3. Saturn at magnitude + 0.6 was a hundred times fainter. Peter Parish
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