Author Archives: TerryG

March 2025 – Partial Solar Eclipse

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Saturday 29th saw a partial solar eclipse, starting at 10:06 in High Legh. Luckily, the clouds were not too heavy and we had sight of most of the eclipse.  Many thanks to those who turned out to share the experience.

Getting ready
The event in full swing

We had solar spectacles for our visitors and there were several telescopes observing the event. Here are a few shots taken on the day.

The first set were taken by Terry using a mobile phone camera to capture the images from the solar projection telescope.

10:10 Just after the start
11:12 Just after mid-eclipse
11:44 Towards the end – with sunspot!

The second set were taken by Mark with a SeeStar S50 telescope. The images are unprocessed.

10:08 Just after the start
11:12 Mid-eclipse
11:48 towards the end

Eric was using a Dwarf II telescope with solar filters. This image was captured at 10:16, soon after the start.

Auto exposure, processed in Affinity with upscale in Topaz.

COSMOS (our sister site on St. Martin’s, Isles of Scilly) had no trouble with clouds.

This image was taken with a mobile phone attached to an130 Altair EDT APO refractor using a 20mm 68° explore scientific eyepiece.
It’s a single shot taken at 10:19:52 am, aperture F1.75, exposure 1/500 sec, ISO125 with some minor processing to bring out the details.

February 2025 – Observing Planets

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We opened exceptionally early at 18:30 on Friday 28th to take advantage of the clear skies and 4 naked-eye planets. Thanks to all for coming along to support our efforts to share the wonders of the night sky; though we were somewhat overwhelmed by the numbers turning out for the ‘planets parade’!

Sadly, Saturn had already set but Mercury was still visible above the trees for half an hour. Venus was the brightest object in the sky for the whole session. Jupiter and Mars appeared out of the dusk before 19:00 so that, at one point, all 4 were visible at the same time.
Later on, as the sky darkened, we did some constellation spotting in the field outside the compound and used binoculars for spectacular views of the Pleiades and the Orion nebula.
Later still Uranus was visible with a telescope, as was a beautiful crescent Venus. Meanwhile, in the compound, some imaging was done with the SeeStar.

We can only apologise for the problems we had with the two larger telescopes, noting that things are in a much better place for future openings…please feel free to come back and take a closer look!

Messier 31, the great Andromeda Galaxy, a remarkable object sitting 2.5 Million light-years away from our Milky Way.

The image was created from 5-minutes’ data collection, with much longer times being the norm.

Messier 42, the great Orion Nebula, a vast collection of gas and dust slowly creating new stars.

The image was created from 5-minutes’ data collection, with much longer times being the norm.

Jupiter, showing the four Galilean Moons, taken with the little robot telescope

Jupiter, taken with the main telescope once this was brought into service.

December 2024 – Storm Darragh

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The strom caused considerable damage to the dome and compound. Fortunately, the warm room (subject of major renovations over the summer) survived intact.

With more sterling work by our construction wizards Eric and Chris, repairs to the dome were completed in days.

Repairs to the compound fence will start in February.

April 10th 2025 – 2 talks

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The Parker Solar probe – ‘touching’ the Sun

John Anderson will start our evening by outlining the story of this remarkable spacecraft and the discoveries it has made.

Launched in 2018 and having already completed several close approaches, the probe came within 3.8 million miles of the Sun’s surface on December 24th, 2024… and survived!

The Sun and the aurora

Terry Griffiths will then continue her account of the aurora (started in December) with a description of the processes within the Sun that cause charged particles to reach Earth and produce that dazzling show.

March 13th 2025

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Cosmic Rays

We welcome back Dr. Steve Barrett from the University of Liverpool for another of his mind-blowing and fascinating talks.

High-energy charged particles are continually raining down on the Earth. Where do they come from and how do they gain so much energy?

This talk includes a demonstration of a cloud chamber that allows cosmic rays to be seen

UDATE Following his excellent talk, Steve has been in touch say he’d be happy to take questions by email. He’s also offered more information:

If anyone missed grabbing a handout of the slides of my talk, they can be downloaded here:
https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/~sdb/Talks/Cosmic-Rays-HLCO.pdf
and a video recording of the talk is here:
https://youtu.be/P6wmB0Ae9UU

For anyone interested in building a cloud chamber for themselves this is the article in the journal ‘Physics Education’ that started it all:
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6552/ad506c

The article in the Journal of the BAA:
https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/~sdb/CloudChamber/BAA-Cosmic-Rays.pdf

Detailed instructions describing how to build a cloud chamber for £35:
https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/~sdb/CloudChamber/Building-Cloud-Chamber.pdf

February 13th 2025

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Weights and Measures
Richard Bullock from Altrincham and District Astronomical Society will take us on a journey around the “top10” objects in our solar system.

A stylized illustration of our solar system (Image credit : NASA/JPL)

January 16th 2025 – rescheduled from 9th

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This talk was originally scheduled for January 9th BUT, due to the freezing conditions, it was postponed and has been rescheduled for January 16th.

Things that go ‘Bump’ in the Dark.
Mark Holmes will present the story behind the ‘Blaze Star’, better known perhaps as T Corona Borealis. This object is one of a family of long period variable stars which is due to brighten any time now. Its increase in magnitude will be spectacular when it finally goes off!

Image credits : Stellarium (L) and Pete Lawrence / Sky at Night Magazine (R)

December 12th 2024

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It’s all Quantum: How the Aurora get their colours.

There will be a short talk about what many of us saw earlier in the year… and some managed to photograph.

… and it will be followed by the legendary HLCO Christmas Quiz provided by Colin.

There will be a prize!

November 14th 2024

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From the Rainbow’s end to Armageddon, our relationship with Messier 31.

Mark Holmes will describe just how long our relationship with M31 (the Andromeda Galaxy) has been and, hopefully, how long it will last. He will also outline the key role that M31 has played in the development of our understanding of our place in the Universe.

October 10th 2024

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Refurbishment and Upgrade of HLCO

After standing for 10 years, the wooden elements of the observatory (the fence and warm room) have been showing signs of their age. Taking advantage of the summer break, significant refurbishments and technical upgrades have been achieved and we are now ready for the autumn season. Terry Griffiths and Chris Digata will describe the progress that has been made and show some impressive images taken with our upgraded equipment. We will also outline further upgrades that we hope to complete next year.