Club Monthly Meeting – August 4th 2025
Meeting since September 2025 have been clouded over. But tonight there were breaks in the cloud.
A very pleasant night, warm and while cloudy there were significant breaks in the cloud for most of the night. The clouds rolled in almost fully just after 10pm.
We briefly met in the hall to discuss plans to visit the Sherwood Observatory near Mansfield – delayed now until February 2026.
As soon as possible we all went outside.
The moon was almost full. Saturn was also visible, but most dark sky objects were washed out in the moonlight.
- Saturn’s rings are nearly edge on and not prominent at the moment.
- Phil’s 15 x 70 binoculars showed good wide angle views such as the double cluster.
- Terry’s highly transportable ‘heritage’ scope showed us how lovely things can look with modest apertures.
Club telescopes in use included the 20″, 10″ and 6″ dobsonians. Club committee members Mark G and Terry brought along there own scopes so there was plenty to go around.
Lee displayed the plywood parts for his 14″ dobsonian build fresh from the CNC machine.
There seemed a willingness for a meteor observing night at Woodmansey for the Orionid meteor shower. So, I’ll try to book us in over 3 nights with the intention of picking the best forecast evening as we get closer. Pencil in Oct 21-23rd if you can. Being flexible has paid dividends in the past.
Some of the more complicated telescopes/mounts are only available to members to use during Club meetings, such as these three 8″ SCTs.
Several Club telescopes are available to borrow from one meeting to the next. These range from our 60mm Coronado solar scope to our 250mm Dobsonian Mounted Newtonian Telescope.
There is a lending fee of £5 per telescope pre period. Telescopes are only available for loan to full Club members.
To arrange to borrow a telescope simply contact a committee member.