Stargazing
in Surrey
Surrey Life - June 2009
Conditions are right says the message on the website, the meet is on. I pull on my hoodie, print off the directions and make my
way to the rendezvous point on Albury Heath. Switching to
sidelights for my final approach, I inch my car towards the
red beams that are weaving between the trees ahead.
An illegal rave? Actually, it's a Guildford Astronomical
Society (GAS) observing session and the only dancing I'm
anticipating will be to keep my feet warm.
The UN has designated 2009 the International Year of Astronomy,
to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the invention of the
telescope, so there's never been a better time to feed
my curiosity about the night sky - and, as visitors
are welcome to GAS stargazing meets, no better
place to start.
Having parked the car, I walk towards a row of impressive-looking
telescopes, somewhat embarrassed by my own equipment -
a torch with the red cellophane from a box of
Jaffa Cakes taped over the lens. I've been told Albury
Heath is relatively free from light pollution and using red
torches (the spectrum affects night vision less than white)
helps keep it that way.
A tour of the sky
I'm greeted by Julia Gaudelli who starts by giving
me a guided tour of the sky using a laser pointer. My recognition
founders after Orion so I'm delighted when she shows
me Leo, Gemini, Taurus and more.
Julia works as a data manager at the Mullard Space Science
Laboratory in Holmbury St Mary but says it was a GAS member's
invitation to view Jupiter through the society's 20.5
inch telescope there that rekindled her childhood passion
for stargazing.
"He said, 'come and look through this eyepiece',
and then it clicked!" she says. "There and then
I fell in love with it and I've astronomised every single
clear night since.
"He should have said, 'if you look through this
eyepiece, it will cost you an arm and a leg and many cold
nights'!" she laughs.
But as GAS's outreach officer, Julia is more than happy
to get others hooked. Among several special events for the
Year of Astronomy, Julia plans to set up telescopes in Surrey
streets, "so that people get to have that
'wow' moment."
She introduces me to recent astronomy convert Andy Lee. About
a year ago, he used an overtime payout to buy his first telescope.
"It was a case of go down the pub or do something decent,"
he explains. "I think I've always been one of
those people who looked up and wondered what was out there.
"I didn't really know what I was doing but the
first thing I saw was Saturn and I thought, 'wow'!"
That night, I was about three or four hours looking at Saturn;
I couldn't believe you could see it in such detail."
Andy works as an anaesthetic technician at Guildford's
Royal Surrey County Hospital and lives on site. He sets up
his telescope there after long hours in theatre.
"This is a good way of de-stressing," he says,
"but people think I'm mad!"
Ribbing from colleagues about his nights in the cold prompted
him to start photographing what he could see and, when they
saw his pictures, they were suitably impressed.
He shows me some stunning images of Orion's Nebula
he has just taken through his telescope's eyepiece.
Peering through his scope, I see the real thing for myself
- a pretty star-filled gas cloud, invisible to the naked
eye, which sits within Orion's sword. I'm even
more charmed when I learn it's a 'nursery'
where stars are born.
In total, there are more than 60 constellations above us
and astronomers use charts to help them navigate. Andy also
has a GPS device, a sort of sat nav to the stars. On this
hand-held pad, attached to his scope, he keys in the date,
time and the feature or 'object' he's after
and points his telescope to face the Pole Star. The gadget
does the rest, whirring his scope to face precisely the right
angle and adjusting it slightly throughout the night to compensate
for the movement of the earth.
Nearby, John Axtell, the society's secretary and a
semi-retired lecturer in business analysis by day, appears
to be pointing a cannon at the sky. In fact, it's a
'reflector', which uses a large mirror to capture
extra light, and it's through this that I get my Saturn
moment.
"It looks just like its picture!" I exclaim,
somewhat incredulous. The distinctive ringed planet is instantly
recognisable from classroom wall charts of the solar system.
Spring is the best time to see Saturn, John says, though
it is also visible in summer. He adds that all stars and planets
are ideally viewed when highest in the sky.
"When they're higher, there's not so much
atmosphere between us and them," he explains. "I
think my favourite is the great globular cluster in Hercules
- that's stunning. Globular clusters are dense
balls of about half a million stars in one small condensed
area, and they're wonderful."
The beauty of the night sky seems to unite the enthusiasm of GAS members. Julia shows me some detailed sketches of the moon's craters she made on another evening. "I had to defrost the paper with a hairdryer!" she says.
I think she's joking until, approaching midnight, the astronomers plug hairdryers into battery packs to de-mist the lenses of their scopes. The grass is now crunchy with frost and I have to grab my own weather protection, an extra pair of hiking socks, from my car.
When I return, I discover I've lost my old friend Orion. "He was there a minute ago" I say, pointing to the left of the clearing. Then I realise four hours have passed and he's now behind a tree to my right.
Before I leave the all-nighters to it, Chris Loran, a software consultant from West Byfleet, shows me just how far the earth has moved during the evening with a time lapse photography sequence he has created on his laptop. The stars appear to make arcs of light above the row of scopes.
"Astronomy is a very peaceful break from the humdrum reality of office life. It's no substitute for a social life but I like the tranquillity of it all, " says Chris.
"The way I look at it, people pay more on a cruise to get a cabin with a view of the ocean and yet you can get a view of the universe for free but most people walk around with their heads down."
Guildford Astronomical Society has several events planned for International Year of Astronomy including public observing sessions. See the Outreach Section and Diary Dates of www.guildfordas.org for details.
For more on International Year of Astronomy see www.astronomy2009.co.uk.
Buying your first telescope
Neil Phillipson, owner of Astronomia astronomy shop in Dorking High Street, gives some tips on buying a telescope:
There are three main types of telescope available. Refractors, invented by Galileo, have objective lenses which gather and focus the light on the eye, reflectors, invented by Newton, use mirrors instead and catadioptrics, invented around ten years ago, combine both. Reflectors often offer best value for money for beginners, but each type of scope has different advantages.
We recommend people start with a telescope with a diameter of at least three inches (75mm up).
Expect to invest £100-150 in a decent starter telescope or £250-£300 for a computerised one that will automatically track the object you're observing.
Try out different scopes at public sessions run by local astronomical societies or Astronomia (see our Facebook page).
If you have a pair of decent binoculars with objective lenses around 50mm and a magnification around 10x you can use these to view some larger objects like the moon and Orion's nebula.
You can convert a telescope for safe sun viewing with filters from around £30 up. Never look at the sun through a standard telescope!
For safety, don't take your telescope out alone.
www.astronomia.co.uk
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