The Trials and Tribulations of an English Amateur Astronomer

[Jeff the Brit]

2003 onwards
Look forward to transit of Venus. Rare event, last one was in 1882, next one visible in England is 2117.

Monday 7th June 2004
Weather forecast for tomorrow is clear and sunny in the north of England.
Bung camera batteries in the charger for the morning.
Clean off ton of spyware and porn diallers for two customers who knock on my door.
Go to bed far too late considering the alarm is set for the unholy hour of 5.30am.

Tuesday 5.30am
Alarm goes off (massed ranks of ghetto blasters on timer switch, tuned to Radio 1, not my cup of tea, especially at 5.30am)
Surface from beer induced slumbers. Decide that 5.30am is not just unholy, but downright EVIL !
Stagger to kitchen, put kettle on, glug orange juice, nosh cereal while waiting for super-strength caffeine potion to brew.
Near lethal dose of caffeine gets the eyelids properly open.
Look out of window.
Observe that weather forecast bears about the same relationship to reality as a politicians's election promises.
Utter vile oaths and expletives directed at the clouds I can see covering most of the sky.

6.10am
Gather up telescope, tripod, eyepieces, Barlow tubes, binoculars, camera, piece of paper for projection viewing and go down 3 flights of stairs.
Think "Oh bugger, I forgot to put the batteries in the camera"
Enjoy bit of cardio-vascular workout running up stairs and returning with batteries.

6.15
Arrive at chosen observation site with excellent view of the eastern sky.
Unfortunately eastern sky is about 9/10 cloud cover.
Set up telescope and aim at vague bright patch in the clouds.


Setting up

6.20 am
Transit of Venus begins. At least, I assume it does, can't see a flipping thing.



A lovely British summer morning

7.15am
Cloud thins to the point where I can see a faint image projected onto paper. Feverish grab for camera, flick switches and buttons and fire off a pic ... just as heavy cloud covers the sun again.
Refrain from cursing audibly as elderly lady is walking dog nearby. Friendly dog comes over to say hello, nudges tripod out of alignment with sweep of wagging tail.
Make friends with dog and chat with elderly lady while waiting for a glimpse of the sun.

7.25am
Sun emerges briefly. Elderly lady gets to see Venus silhouetted against the Sun. I miss chance of pic. Elderly lady leaves, impressed but slightly bemused, no doubt thinking there's some weird folk hanging round the town these days.









Hi-tech, this astronomy stuff!

7.30 - 9.00am
Manage to grab several shots. Pick up binoculars and watch rabbits hopping and sheep grazing across the valley, with thousands of kittiwakes in distance, flying round their breeding colony on 400ft high cliff face.



The sheep and rabbits are there, really!

9.30am

Cloud cover increasing. Decide bugger this for a game of soldiers, more coffee required. Head home. Get stared at by curious passers-by. After all, seeing a bloke with a 60mm refractor and tripod under his arm is an everyday occurrence round these parts. Ponder chances of being arrested for going equipped for Peeping Tommery.



Damn clouds!


9.40 - 11.15am
Watch streaming video of transit from parts of world favoured with unclouded skies. Ain't teh Interweb wonderful?
Muse on why Isaac Newton bothered inventing the reflector telescope, considering the British climate. I can just see his pals in the Royal Society ... "Give up, Isaac, you'll never be able to use it here".

11.15
Hit the shops to replenish coffee supplies. Sun emerges from clouds as I return home. Grab passing friend off street ... "You gotta see this, man, it's a once in a lifetime thing". Poke telescope out of back window. Friend most impressed by sight of clouds scudding across the sun, with Venus visible occasionally. Shoot several more pics.

12 - 12.30pm
Drag another friend in to see the sights (yes, I do have more than one friend )
Manage to get some more pics. Aim to catch the final moments of transit, especially the "black drop" effect. Fail miserably as cloud sweeps over the sun. Minutes after the transit finishes, a bloody great patch of blue sky heaves into view.





Almost got the end as well

It's no wonder Brit astronomers go in for radio and infra-red astronomy. If Galileo had lived in England instead of Italy, nobody would EVER have heard of him, he'd have to have settled for looking at passing ships and naked ladies through bedroom windows !

[gazzak]

Clear skys all morning near Watford, sorry to p*ss you off!

Thanks for the pics and story though, enjoyed it very much

(isn't it possible that this will occur again in 8 years?)

[Jeff the Brit]

Yes, 8 years from now, but you'll need to see it from the US west coast across the Pacific to Australia. We Brits get to miss out

[TripleRLtd]

Good story Jeff.
From here:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...ansit_of_venus

The Royal Observatory, beside the Thames in southeast London, has a historic connection to the transit, which occurs twice — eight years apart — about every century. In 1716, Edmond Halley of comet fame observed the transit at Greenwich to calculate the distance between the Earth and the sun.

A key viewing location in Britain was Carr House in Much Hoole in northwest England. A telescope was set up in the bedroom where astronomer Jeremiah Horrocks observed the transit for the first time on Nov. 24, 1639.

So, it's a darn good thing you Brit's enjoy a cloudless sky every couple of centuries, huh?

[paraflyer]

I know the feeling, seems every time I get a free evening to go stargazing, the clouds show up....especially when I booked time on one of the big scopes at the local society (look up www.lvaas.org for info)

It's a real pisser.

How long have you been doing the amateur astronomy?

[Jeff the Brit]

I caught the space bug when Gagarin went up in 1961. I was quite the science nerd, even at 7 years old

[paraflyer]

I caught the space bug when Gagarin went up in 1961. I was quite the science nerd, even at 7 years old

Well, let's see....I don't think I was even a gleam in my daddy's eye then.

We landed on the Moon when I was 3.

My time to become interested fell around the time of Skylab.

Researched space and astronomical history, did the astronomy club gig in High School; have done the amateur thing in the backyard ever since (70mm rrefractor, Meade Autostar system, hooked up to an old Compaq laptop running Starry Night Backyard edition).

Found out about LVAAS about a year or so ago, go up there every so often (US $70 for a full year's membership, full use of facilities, not a bad deal).



AKA, one of many expensive hobbies!