Public Observing At Stow Maries Great War Aerodrome

We now have 3 dates where you can come along and observe the night sky. We have partnered with Stow Maries Great War Aerodrome to host 3 observing evenings.

https://www.stowmaries.org.uk/event-bookings/event/stargazers/

Follow the link above for further details and to book your place.

Public Observing Nights

Right oh all. At our last monthly meeting I mentioned that we might have a secure dark sky site to arrange public observing. Today I met with the CEO (how posh is that!) of the site and discussed the possible arrangements.

So I'm after volunteers to help with observing nights. There will be 3 events (thus far as a trial), one each in January, February and March next year. The site (which I'll share when all is confirmed as it can't go ahead without your help!) is about a 20 minute drive from Burnham. We will need people to control club scopes and possibly bring their own and to act as sky guides to visitors. The site has facilities (volunteers will have free teas and soup etc on the night). It is envisaged that public will arrive from 6:30, observing then from 7-8:30. No dates yet but they will be non club Saturday nights.

I'm quite keen for the club to support this as the site will do all the arranging, we just have to turn up with our equipment. We will beable to promote astronomy to the wider world and may lead to further astronomical oportunities. If nothing else it will be a good excuse to get out and observe for us all.

Please let us know if you can help, the more the merrier

Quay Day 2019

Monday 26th August was the annual Quay day in the east Essex town of Burnham on Crouch, an event that supports the week long yachting regatta that the town hosts. This year the East Essex Astronomy Club had a stand allowing the public to safely view the sun. 7 club members volunteered to help people view the sun through various telescopes. Available for use were 2 Coranado PSTs (both mounted on star adventurers), an 80mm refractor with Herschel wedge and an 8” Celestron Evolution with a Celestron solar filter.

The day was perfect for solar gazing without a cloud in the sky the temperature topped 30°C. Although the sun is (very) quite at the moment the public were able to view the sun to see limb darkening through all scopes and granulation through the club’s PST. The club was able to purchase the PST with help from the East of England Coop green token community charity scheme. Throughout the day around 150 visitors were able to view the sun for the first time through a telescope. The evolution was also trained on a waning moon visible in the daytime, with low contrast however, where Mare Crisium was just visible on the eastern limb.

Many thanks to the volunteers who made the day a success, perhaps we should have a go next year!

2020 Event Dates

Head over to the Event Dates page to view the schedule for 2020 (the rest of 2019 is still visible below).

We have a range of old and new speakers for 2020 and will again be running our Introduction To Astronomy day.

We will also be running for the first time an astrophotography workshop on Saturday 3rd October. This will be aimed at beginner and intermediate level imagers who want to know where to begin and how to improve shooting the stars and planets.

If you would like to attend either the introduction day or astrophotography workshop please email the club at eeac@essexastro.com for more information and booking forms.

Quay Day Confirmed - 26th August 2019

Hi All,

It has been confirmed that we have a place at the Quay Day in Burnham on 26th August 2020.

We will have at least 3 dedicated solar observing telescopes (one of which is a hydrogen alpha scope) for people to look through and safely observe the sun (assuming we have a nice sunny day!) free of charge.

There will be some of the club on hand to answer any astronomical questions you may have and you will also be able to sign up for the 2020 Introduction to Astronomy day on Saturday 7th March 2020.

Hope to see you all down there and any club members can come along and lend a hand if they want.

Quay Day 2019, Monday 26th August.

Hi All,

I now have details from the organising people about the Quay day in Burnham.

The main aim of the club is to promote astronomy in the area. Astronomy is open and accessible to all. We would like to have a stand at the Quay Day in Burnham which is attended by hundereds if not thousands of visitors at the end of Burnham Week.

We want to have a stand on the field to promote the club and to have solar and perhaps lunar viewing for Joe public to enjoy. The quay day people want £40 for the event, which is fair enough but before committing to paying this we want to ensure that the event is supported by the club in the way of help on the day (these things don't just happen!).

The event runs from 12 - 5pm but the stands have to be in place by 10am so I'm suggesting that help would be most welcome from about 9am to set up and upto about 6pm to take down. I'll caveat that by saying once we are set up there isn't much point in hanging around until 12 when the event starts (but if you want to hang around and chat astro obviously more than welcome.

We'll have scopes for viewing the sun in white light and our hydrogen alpha scope and possibly the moon (it will be above the horizon and away from the sun, so in theory visible. As a sweetener the club will furnish volunteers with a club shirt (just so you look the part). Afterwards we could possible visit one of the local observatories for viewing Saturn and Jupiter (hope to have mine up and running by then!).

Below I've put a suggested time table/slots for volunteers. I'm going to be around pretty much all day. Please let us know which slot(s) you'd like or even if you're around all day.

Time:                                  Task

9am - 10:30                        Set up
10:30 - 12                           Generally hanging around, playing with the toys, making sure things don't get nicked!
12 - 2pm                             Solar observing and promotion
2 - 4pm                               Solar observing and promotion
4  -6pm                               Solar observing, promotion, packing up

The only other thing that I'd ask any volunteers to commit to is a kind of training session so we are all familiar with solar observing safety, how to operate the equipment, things we'd like to include in promotion talks/material or any other ideas you may have.This could be one evening or during a weekend, only be about an hour or so.

When I've got at least 3 (preferably more) per slot (there's going to be at least 3 scopes to look after) and gazebos are easier to erect with many hands) I'll confirm with you and book the stand.

Hopefully we'll get lots who would like to help. Looking forward to hearing from you so we can make the event a success.

Regards

John
Chair EEAC

M&B Clarification

Hi everyone out there,

Just a quick clarification. The M&B have done their usual and cocked up an article about the introduction to astronomy day to be held on 9th March.

They have incorrectly stated that the day is free. The cost of the day is £15 per person with discounts available for members, under 16s and families.

Booking is mandatory as spaces are limited. Email eeac@essexastro.com for a booking form.

February Meeting

Saturday 9th February saw the EEAC's February meeting. We were due to enjoy a talk by Roy Hookway on the Antikythera mechanism, however we have had to rearrange this for a later date. We wish Cathy and Roy well and hope to see them both soon.

As a replacement John, chair of EEAC, gave a talk about the history of the Apollo moon missions to help commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing. The talk covered the early space race, development of the Apollo hardware and the missions themselves. Also included was answers to the question how did they go to the loo in space, with a surprising, low tech solution and what happens when the solution goes wrong.

We'd like to thank the local press, the Focus and the Review for carrying our events as three new visitors came to the meeting as a result of their content.

Next month we will be running the introduction to astronomy course on 9th March. The day will run from 10-3 at the village hall. We will cover astronomical terms, how to find your way around the sky, different types of telescopes and mounts and how to take pictures of astronomical objects with simple equipment. In the evening, should skies be clear, we will use some of the club and club member's equipment to observe some objects in the night sky. Contact the club for details by commenting here or emailing eeac@essexastro.com. We need bookings in by 1st March as we will be providing lunch and need to know numbers to make sure we cater for everyone.

Lunar Eclipse

For all of you that were either clouded out or tucked up in a warm bed here is a little animation I made from images taken from start to finish.

Enjoy.

John.

New Club Subscription payment method

Hi All,

Been playing and we can now take annual subscriptions on line. There is a page for club subscriptions to the right. Click on the link on the page and it will take you to a member mojo page where subscriptions can be submitted via paypal (same as credit cards and we will not see your payment details!).

But don't worry, you can still complete subscriptions in person at the meetings.

If there are any issues (the process is new to us) let us know.

Thanks

John

2019 AGM

It was our AGM last night. Not too well attended unfortunately but below is a summary of the outcomes.

Myself, Andy Hutcheon and Nicky were again installed as chair, treasurer and secretary.

We've got about £300 in the bank with no commitments other than the hall costs and membership of the FAS (this gives us public liability insurance).

We are keeping subs and entry fees the same. Subs are now due for the year ahead please.

Last year we bought a projector and a hydrogen alpha telescope for the club (£300 for this from the coop). Our assets now include the above and 2 telescopes and a small astronomy library.

Events this year will be meteor watching in August and December with other ad hoc observing nights to be arranged.

We would like to have a stand at the Quay day in Burnham at the end of August. We need help to do this so if anyone wants to help please let us know. When we have enough firm commitments we'll try to book a space.

Ruth has agreed to help out at meetings as a membership secretary to take fees at the door (many thanks Ruth Walsh).

We also ask if anyone has any suggestions for talk topics or events you would like to have the club host please let us know.

We would like to encourage members and visitors to present member's talks on club nights so if you fancy a go let us know.

That's about that. Hope to see more of you in February for a talk on the Antikythera mechanism (bonus points if you already know what that is!).