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Observing Evenings

These are organised by the Observing Co-Ordinator and his Deputy (usually for the benefit of members, vistors and guests). They provide the opportunity to view objects in the night sky through a variety of instruments, in the company of mixed-ability members ranging from the inexperienced to experts. The evenings are very informal and can introduce you to a wide variety of objects. If you already have a well-developed interest in astronomy, you are welcome to bring along any telescopes and binoculars you may own.

Routine observing evenings are held on the third Friday of every month with the Saturday as fallback in case of bad weather on the Friday. The evening starts at 9pm (in Summer, an hour or so later, in Winter an hour or so earlier), and last until midnight or so.

In case the moon is too obtrusive for that weekend, the routine observing session will be rescheduled for the weekend before or after.

Observing evenings may also be scheduled on other days throughout the year for special events, such as the appearence of bright comets, eclipses and meteor showers. Often these form part of our Outreach activities and are opened up to the general public.

If you want to come along, please check on the website Observing Tonight section. This is also linked from the website homepage. If an observing session is planned, a message to that effect is published on this page. The message will contain the location and start time - both are subject to change at extremely short notice, especially when the sky is rapidly clearing.

Current Weather Outlook

The BBC Weather is probably as good as any for a general forecast. As with most weather forecasts, the most accurate one is likely to be what you can see when you go outside.

Bernard Burton's satellite imagery website carries the latest NOAA satellite images (click on HRPT) for a detailed picture of current cloud cover over Southern England.

Another option is the Meteosat website.

The 300Mb Jet Stream Forecast provides a forecast of astronomical seeing.