Blackheath MOONday - Monday 26 January

Thanks everyone for your kind comments. Much appreciated.

I ended up leaving at midnight!

Tej, for heaven's sake... I told you to go home! Had a funny feeling you'd stick around. Great that someone managed to pick up the asteroid. I did try a few long exposures of the area, to see if there were any trailing objects, but to no avail. I must admit that I was getting pretty cold by then, having been on the heath for the best part of 5 hours, so wasn't much in the mood for persevering! Glad that somebody did, though.

I hope you feel better soon.

The first 20 seconds of this 48-second Youtube video is pretty awesome

Nice video... I wish the asteroid was moving that quickly! Would have been easy to pick up.

Difficult to judge the attendance last night, as there were lots of comings and goings. We had quite a few people turn up for half-an-hour or so, but the cold was probably a surprise to many attendees. Air temperature wasn't bad, but the wind made it feel like sub-zero.

I think we had about 20 scopes or so, at a guess, which is a great turnout. I'd estimate maybe another 30-40 attendees over the course of the evening... so 50-60 people for a Monday evening, that's pretty amazing... particularly as the weather conditions were so cold, and the sky didn't clear properly until about 7.30pm.

Thanks to everyone who came along.

I would have made a first appearance but I stumbled across the event about 3 hours late - and all I could have brought was a 1 piece suit that would have made all the shiverers jealous and some chocolate cheesecake for anyone letting me take a peek. Next time.

I would have made a first appearance but I stumbled across the event about 3 hours late... Next time.

Next public observing event will be on Friday 20 February (or Saturday 21, if the weather is poor on the Friday). We're not sure about the venue yet... keep an eye on this web page for details: http://flamsteed.info/event/observing-event-venue-tbc-friday-20-february/

Thanks - it's in my diary