Summer Observations Part One

By Richard Harvey

As the summer equinox approaches, it brings with it the onset of long daylight hours, and short, hazy, night-time summer skies. Many amateur astronomers screw their lens caps on tightly, and their telescopes go into hibernation till the winter. I’ve always thought this a bit of a shame; the summertime night sky can deliver some lovely astronomical sights. With this in mind, I thought I’d write a little about my own observations over the 2016 summer for Lyra, some of which will hopefully be of interest to society members.

Observing site
Picture 1 – Observing site

First, a bit of background about my observation sessions & equipment. I live in Chapel Ash, which unfortunately suffers from quite severe light pollution from the nearby city. Realising I needed to get away from the city lights to do any decent deep-sky astronomy, three years ago my dad and I renovated an old shabby ten-foot caravan, which I now use primarily for music festivals and astronomy (picture 1). It’s become an invaluable companion for my observing sessions. In it, I fitted a cooker, a heater, and the dining table folds down into a comfortable bed. It’s an ideal all-year round base. In the winter, if I get cold observing, I can nip in the caravan to get warm, and have a coffee or a wee dram whilst poring over my star charts.

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The Transit of Mercury 2016 May 9th

By Ted Thurgur

Position of the planets in their orbits, May 2016
Position of the planets in their orbits, May 2016

It is well known that only two planets, Mercury and Venus, transit the Sun, as viewed from Earth because they are the two whose orbits around the Sun lie inside that of the Earth. This is clearly shown in the diagram (Image credit to Sky & Telescope) which shows the orbits of the planets and each of their movements during May 2016. The positions of the outer planets do not change significantly on this scale.

This was the second transit of Mercury that I have observed and attempted to photograph. My first attempt was on 2003 May 7th and was previously reported in Lyra. The transit of 2006 November 8th was not visible from the U.K.

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