As astronomy fever spreads across the country, we visit a Stargazing LIVE event
Delapre Abbey London Road Northampton. Dusko Novakovic with telescope for a feature on stargazing. Dusan Novakovic aged 4.
A FEW years ago the word “astronomer” may have conjured up an image of a geeky hobbyist shut-up in his attic alone with a telescope.
But a year on from trendy-scientist Brian Cox becoming the face of the BBC’s series Stargazing LIVE, and it seems that much of the nation has a new found enthusiasm for casting their eyes upwards.
Last Sunday I joined the Northamptonshire Natural History Society, who armed with 13 telescopes and binoculars, hosted a Stargazing LIVE event in the grounds of Delapre Abbey, in Northampton.
And despite the typical January weather, around 170 people joined me, as I was guided around the planets and constellations.
“Having stargazing on TV has definitely helped to make astronomy more popular and given it a ‘cooler’ image,” said Dusko Novakovic, secretary of the astronomy section of the society.
“We did notice last year that it was bringing a lot of new people into the hobby.
“We have had around a 30 per cent increase in interest.
“Another thing that is surprising is how the questions at events like this have changed.
“You used to get asked all sorts of odd things, and have people turn up and ask about their star signs, but we get a lot more well informed questions now, from the kids too.”
So what is the appeal of staring at the stars, I ask Dusko.
“You can look up and see different worlds, you can see the nebula where stars are forming, you can see galaxies.
“The sky is constantly changing and we are always making new discoveries.
“The most amazing thing I have seen was a total eclipse, which I took an 18 hour coach trip across Libya to look at, but it was worth it.”
Fellow Northamptonshire Natural History Society member Dave Eagle did not need a TV show to instigate his love of the skies, which has been a life-long passion.
“I grew up in London, so an interest in a astronomy was a challenge there.
“But I always loved to gaze up,” he said.
“I got my first telescope, a 60mm refractor, at the age of 10.
“I am now 50 and I am still looking up almost every night.
“The light pollution here is a lot less here than it is in London, and I know there are issues with turning off street lighting, but from an astronomy point of view, where I live in Higham Ferrers is better since they were switched off.”
However, despite encouraging as many people as possible to take up astronomy, both Dusko and Dave advised people not to rush into buying a telescope.
“The best thing to do initially is to buy a pair of 10x50 binoculars, which you can buy for around £40, and a good book to learn your way around the night sky,” said Dusko.
“You can even download an app on your iPhone to help.
“If you really enjoy it then come and speak to us and start thinking about buying a telescope. You can get a good one from £150 to £180.
“You can buy cheaper, but I wouldn’t recommend them.
“Unfortunately there is no one perfect telescope.
“You need to weigh in factors such as portability (will you take it around the country with you?), Will you prefer looking at planets or deep sky objects? Will you want to do photography?
“The best solution is to look through as many different telescopes as you can before you buy and to speak to your local astronomical society.”
New to stargazing, but taking part in the event at Delapre were Jenny and Jim Scott from St James, Northampton, who brought along Emily, aged seven and Matthew, aged four,
“My husband has got really interested in astronomy since Stargazing LIVE,” said Jenny.
“He is a huge fan of Brian Cox, so when he saw this advertised in the paper we thought we would come along.
“The kids have loved it and I think it is a really good thing to encourage their interest in.
“It is nice that this generation may be more interested in learning about planets and stars than playing computer games.”
Janice Oliver, and Richard Prest, both aged 30 and from St James, Northampton, were also visiting for the first time.
Richard, said: “I got a telescope at Christmas, we have a book and the iPhone app.
“We have been watching the BBC series and find it really interesting.”
Janice added: “When we were kids there wasn’t much on television about the planets and the stars and I don’t remember being taught much about it. I think it’s good that people are becoming more interested in it.”
Another free Stargazing LIVE event with members of the Northamptonshire Natural History Society’s Astronomy department takes place at Salcey Forest, near Hartwell, on Saturday night from 6pm to 8pm.
Meet at the Forest Cafe in warm clothes.
A further event will take place at the Humfrey Rooms, Northampton at 7.30pm on Monday.
For further information on both these events, and the society’s bi-monthly meetings which include visits from experts, visit: www.nnhs.info
What I saw that night: DARKNESS had only just descended when I arrived at Delapre Abbey, but as soon as I arrived two planets were promptly pointed out to me . . . Jupiter and Venus.
Previously, I have to admit, I wouldn’t have realised these were planets and would probably have assumed they were just bright stars, but Dave explained how to tell the two apart.
“The easiest way to tell the difference between a planet and a star, is planets don’t twinkle and stars do,” he said.
“You can find planets like Jupiter and Venus in daylight.
“But I wouldn’t recommend staring into the sky too much when the sun is out as you can damage your eyes.
“You can see all of the planets except for Pluto, which is so small it has been declassified.”
Without the telescopes I could make out the two planets quite clearly, even though there was a bit of cloud over Venus, but with the telescope the details I could view were quite incredible.
“You can see the streaks across its surface and its moons, and a few hours you will be able to see how quickly the sky changes by looking at the different positions of the Galilean moons .
“You can’t actually see movement unless it is a comet or a supernova,” said Dave, “but you can definitely notice how the positions change if you are looking at the sky for a few hours.”
Dave was right, after a brief break warming up in the Delapre Cafe, I returned to a very different sky.
Not only had the later hour, and the dispersion of some clouds, given a much brighter vista of stars over the southern view from Delapre, but a second look through the telescope revealed that the moons had moved to notably different positions.
He was also now able to point out the Seven Sisters, a cluster of stars with a blue tint.
“The blue stars are actually much hotter than the red stars or white stars, as they are newer,” said Dave.
“The Seven sisters, which have been formed in the last few million years, are considered really young stars.”
Using a laser pen Dusko then guided me through the visible constellations.
Starting by pointing out Orion, often referred to as The Hunter, he pointed out the top right star of the constellation, which is called Betelgeuse (sometimes pronounced Beetlejuice.)
“It’s very likely that Betelgeuse will soon explode and become a supernova,” said Dusko.
“But by soon I mean it could be any time or it could be within the next 100 years.”
The names of the stars make interesting learning, and Harry Potter fans may find many of their favourite characters in the constellations.
Dusko managed to point Sirius, also known as the Dog Star out to me, although we didn’t see Draco.
We did however see the brightest stars of the Gemini constellation Castor and Pollux and Cassiopeia, a W-shaped constellation representing the wife of King Cepheus who sits nearby.
“The names come from all sorts of places, some come from the Greeks.
“Stars can also be given different names in different places, so the Seven Sisters is Subaru in Japan, which is why the car’s symbol is seven stars.”
I was also able to glimpse the Orion Nebula, where stars are formed, which is a red patch of gas just below Orion’s belt of three stars and looks at bit like an hour glass.
Just a few hours looking at the sky on what wasn’t even a particularly clear night revealed so much.
I’m convinced whether astronomy is fronted by a rock-star scientist or not, it’s an infinitely “cool” hobby.
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Thursday 23 February 2012
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Comments
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graeme maughan
Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 11:19 PMI enjoyed reading this article, and I'm glad that you are covering astronomy and stargazing in some detail. The night sky, the stars above us and the constellations they form, have inspired us for thousands of years. I wonder if you're aware of the petition now in front of government to take action on light pollution and climate change, to bring back the night sky in all its glory, to our towns and cities? You can view it here: http:epetitions.direct.gov.ukpetitions27603 It has over 1,100 signatures already. The astronomy community has thrown its collective tweeting power behind it (search #stargazing, #darkskies or @nickastronomer). Perhaps it would be a useful follow-up piece for any of your readers who wish to do something after enjoy the BBC programme?
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