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April 27th - Mystery London Astro Tour |
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 On Sunday 27th April the long awaited Magical London Astro Tour got under way. At about 10am, about thirty members of Society gathered at Hayes Station to embark it. First stop was the Library at Hayes. It was once the Rectory, and home to T. J. Hussey who built an observatory and made part of a star map published by the Berlin Academy in 1832.
 The route to our next stop took us through Bromley, and past the site of the Wray Optics factory. Along the way we heard about John Lubbock, William Steavenson and William and Margaret Huggins. We took a short detour past the one time home of William Steavenson. The concrete base (for his fine Wray refractor) is still in the garden there. At Wandsworth Common we visited the place where John Craig's 85 foot long 24 inch refractor once stood. It was for a time after it was erected in 1852 the largest refractor in the world, though it was not as successful as John Craig had hoped it would be.
 As the coach took us north of the Thames we heard about King George's observatory at Kew and Ainslie Common's at Ealing; about the Crystal Palace and the Great Exhibition, James South, and John Russell Hind. We passed the London Planetarium, and stopped next at The Monument, Wren's memorial to the Great Fire, and of astronomical interest because it once housed a zenith telescope. From there we headed south past the South Bank Complex on the site previously occupied by the Festival of Britain towards Blackheath, hearing, on the way, about James Buckingham, George Biddell Airy and John Harrison.
 At Blackheath we passed the homes of Stephen Groombridge and John Wrottesley before visiting Edmund Halley's tomb. Our final stop was to see the meridian mark in the pedestrian tunnel under Hither Green Station. It was a fascinating day's exploring that revealed much about the astronomical observation, discovery and engineering that has taken place over several hundred years in and around London.
Many thanks to Greg, Gilbert, Anton, Lyulph and Paul for all the research that went into finding the locations, preparing the excellent hand-outs, guiding the coach, and telling us all about the various people and events along the way, and to the coach driver for putting up with our strange route. |
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May 10th - Bromley Adult Learners' Day |
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 Bromley Council, through their Adult Learners Programme invited the OAS to put on a display at Bromley Central Library on Saturday 10th May. Always keen to follow up on any form of promotion, the committee decided to take a table, ask for volunteers to man (or is that person) the stand and despite the very short notice, take up the challenge to put on a small exhibition of what is the Orpington Astronomical Society does.
Jeff Harries, Paul Whitmarsh and Greg were first on the scene, setting up the table with promotional material, 3D pictures, the all important membership forms and of course telescopes. Greg and Delphine had had experience of this type of request from the local council before, so it was expected that the day would pass more or less without incident - no many people would stop or pause at the stand and move on. However things did not turn out that way at all. The table was positioned at the top of the main stairs coming into the library - a very good position indeed! Within only a short time after the doors had opened visitors to the library were pausing and stopping and best of all chatting to the various OAS volunteers that had joined the stand during the day. Tom Meecham and Sean Mulcahy were on hand to give advice and indeed rarely sat down before there was another inquiry.  Viewing 3-D images
There was one noteworthy incident at the very beginning, shortly after the doors to the library had been opened to the public. A slightly scruffy man in his mid to late twenties came up to the table asking if we could answer a simple scientific question about "what size lens dose it require to see the mess that David Beckham fans had left in Bromley". It was an interesting question OAS members thought. Unfortunately, they were unable to provide an answer as the man began to rant. Within a very short time his attitude had become almost violent and his voice had gotten so loud that there was an echo off the far side of the cavernous Bromley library. He then left...
...now back to the question "what size lens does it require to see the mess that David Beckham fans had left in Bromley". If any members wish to pursue this as a valid point, then there is always the forum.... |
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June 15th - The Herschel Museum in Bath, and Stonehenge |
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Delphine writes: The bus picked us up at the Orpington War Memorial early [I mean really early] on a beautiful Sunday morning. First we visited the Herschel museum where due to its small size we were split into 2 groups. The museum is unusual in that it is the actual Georgian town-house where William Herschel lived and worked. His workshop is as he left it complete with the cracked and shattered flagstones due to a spillage from a mirror making mould.  We learned that as well as discovering Uranus, William Herschel was also responsible for discovering the satellites of Saturn and other planets, the rotation of Saturn's rings as well as the motion of binary stars.
In the afternoon we visited Stonehenge where we could amble around or relax on the grass and ponder on how the stones got there. All in all a very pleasant day. Joe adds: Our scheduled outing to Bath and Stonehenge brought out the Sun when we all assembled in the vicinity of the war memorial at Orpington awaiting our coach which soon arrived and whisked ius on our way. After a pleasant journey during which we were given a very interesting talk by Gilbert on the salient points of the life of the man who was the cause of our outing, William Herschel, we arrived at our destination. Leaving the coach we proceeded on foot to the William Herschel Museum, his home, workshop, and observatory during his time in Bath. An ordinary town house, kept in the same manner as it was when he resided there. A conducted tour would have been appreciated but shortage of staff precluded this. However, we were provided with tape recorders which gave the story of all the rooms in the building where we could wander freely. Having done so, it was time for lunch and a wander around the town, then meeting up for the return journey and a stop off at that awesome structure of Stonehenge. A truly memorable sight, where again we were provided with audio assistance which gave excellent information. We then boarded the coach for the remainder of our journey having has a thoroughly enjoyable and informative day. A special word of thanks to all involved in the organising of this worthwhile trip. Hurry on with the next one. 
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July 5th - Starbecue 2003 |
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 Cristina Ramos, Mike McRoberts, Jeff and Miriam Harries and Frank Witham enjoy a joke during the afternoon. The early comers were made most welcome and by mid afternoon, the garden was packed. There were the usual faces, such as Gilbert Satterthwaite - our President, Sue Peters and her husband, Brian Mellors, Malcolm Pullan and his family and some some welcome new ones as well - Bob and Yvonne Merrison to name but a few. Ray Hemming had thoughtfully put out a small television to show the womens finals at Wimbledon, although not many took up the kind offer as the day rolled by. It was anidillic English summer afternoon. Some of the last members to leave helped with the clearing up. Everyone in the Society that came enjoyed the day immensely and it is hoped that this tradition can continue. |
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August 23rd to 30th - National Astronomy Week |
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 Saturday 23rd August - The Bromley Library Display openened. Throughout National Astronomy Week the O.A.S. had a display in cabinets at the library, showing various aspects of the Society's activities.
Thursday 28th August - The public evening Meeting at High Elms Nature Centre was well attended, despite the bad weather and the power cut in south-east London. The clouds and rain did however prevent us from doing any observing. Saturday 30th August - Bromley Day. This was held at Bromley Central Library. Along with all the displays there were members of the Society discussing astronomical matters with the interested public. Between the clouds, there was also a live relay of images of the Sun's disk from a telescope on the library's roof. Saturday 30th August - The Public Observing Session at the High Elms Nature Centre was very successful, with a clear sky and plenty of enthusiastic visitors who were shown Mars and other celestial sights through a selection of members' telescopes.  Ian Tonks took this wonderful picture of Mars
As announced in the Press, on Radio, on the website and in the library, there was to be a public open meeting on the Thursday 28th August. Entitle The Planet Mars, this was extremely well attended. However the weather was not behaving so NO observing was achieved after the talk. But assurances were given to those that attended, that every effort would be made to see Mars on the coming Saturday.
Saturday started with many members of the Society turning up at Bromley Central library to help put out the tables and plug in all the equipment. So along with the filled cabinets, we now had computer displays, demonstrations a prize draw quiz and even one member fully dressed in a Russian cosmonaut spacesuit! There was a huge amount of interest, especially by mid afternoon. Certainly ALL of our membership application forms had been taken! There was also a great take up on the quiz, with lots of people eager to get their hands on the magnificent astronomy book prize.
In the evening, we had once again arranged a talk on Mars plus another on the mechanics of why this particular "opposition" was so special. We also showed what they were expected to "see" through the telescopes - NO, not a beautifully clear picture of a huge Martian disk, but a very small delicate pinky orange globe being slowly manipulated by the Earth's turbulent atmosphere.
Everyone in the audience could wait no longer and made their way up to the observing site. The sky was clear, even the Milky Way put on a show. Then as the evening drew on, Mars made its entry onto the celestial vault. What a sight. Onlookers stayed - almost welded to the eyepieces. In the dark, you could hear lots of excited chat. The public stayed well into the late evening.
NAW has been good to us and we trust it has been good to itself.
For further information see www.astronomyweek.org.uk
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October 24th to 27th - Deep Sky Camp |
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The Deep Sky Camp was a fantastic success. All the members that came had a really enjoyable time. Even though the weather was quite cold, nothing could dampen the spirits. 
On the Friday night Mike & Chris, Paul, Jeff and Miriam and Jim were the first to arrive. Greg, Rachel and the kids were delayed by one night. The sky was unbelievably clear - only 50 minutes from Orpington. The downside was that the temperature was good and sharp also, although no-one minded. For some reason not yet fully understood, the camp fire was NOT lit until the Saturday lunchtime. By Saturday more had arrived including Greg's bunch and even Chris and Karen put in a visit. Rick's car had decided that staying at home (ed. It's going to the garage on Thursday for a severe talking-to.) was the better option (where is John Cleese when you want him). Although the sky on Saturday night did not perform quite as expected there was about an hour's worth of very deep clear observing - then quickly back round the camp fire. Sunday night equalled Friday, giving everyone plenty to look at - Andromeda, M13 and M15, the Ring, the Dumbell even the "Coathanger" all came under close inspection. The party was so good 2 more dates have been set for next year!! |
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Read more...
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On Tuesday 6th May 2003, the society had arranged an all-night observing session culminating the following morning with a transit of Mercury - assuming the weather stayed clear!
It was never going to be an easy task to find the remains of the Craig Telescope that once stood on the Wandsworth Common. Greg Smye-Rumsby's initial studies revealed tantalising evidence for the siting of the telescope in 1852.
The Annual Society Dinner at Ferrari's in East Street, Bromley, was a very enjoyable evening. The already excellent menu had been augmented with some excellent Christmas fayre - turkey and Christmas pudding.
After the meal, Greg, dressed smartly in a black suit (now there's a rare sight) gave a very short address - mainly thanking people for coming, before Gilbert told a wonderful story, calling on references and prompts from a celestial resevoir to embellish the most amusing script...