Bringing Astronomy to Cornwall & Africa

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To visit or stay at the Observatory see foot of page

 Based near St Stephen, Mid Cornwall PL26 7LE.  

SS Computer Services when you simply need the best - (01726) 68684

 Proud Global Sponsors of IYA 2009

  To Contact;-

  brians@roselandobservatory.com  or 0784 3287510

  BBC & Apollo A range of TV and radio programes running up to mans first landing on the Moon. Too many to list so keep checking the programme schedule. James May's contribution is on I Player.

Court Farm Camp Site - our base is listed in the July Sky at Night Magazine as one of the top places for an astronomical holiday in the UK. So check us out. None of the 20 odd sites have an Observatory bolted on!

Stargazing in Cornwall.

 The Sunday Guardian and The Observer have listed the Camp Site & Observatory as one of 50 best places to visit in the UK Check their website. "The unpolluted skies of rural Cornwall and the nine inch Newtonian reflector telescope at Court Farm, four miles west of St Austell will help you make the most of the International Year of Astronomy. The farm offers both camping and cottages and in the summer local expert Brian Sheen is on hand to navigate the solar system. Camping from £9.50 a night cottages from £334 a week. (01726) 823684; www.courtfarmcornwall.co.uk The Sunday Observer 1^st Feb 09.

Note there is a 50% discount for you to beat the Credit Crunch running at the moment.!

Work Experience;-  Sam got under way on Sunday (!) we checked out a security camera for our own version of Spring watch. It will also be used to put the Moon on a TV screen. He checked the other best camps sites in Sky at Night Magazine. Also we prepared the Polarizing Microscope for the arrival of the Moon Rocks. We also broadcast test transmissions of Roseland TV.

Ulysses;-  After more than 18 years studying the Sun, the plug is finally being pulled on the ailing spacecraft Ulysses. All good things come to an end and it was just worn out.

VOLCANIC SUNSETS: The high clouds were probably made of ash and sulfurous particles from Russia's Sarychev Peak volcano, which erupted on June 12th. Sulphur dioxide from Sarychev Peak is moving around the globe at high northern latitudes, so more special sunsets may be seen in the next few days. For more information check out www.Spaceweather.com  Eventually the sulphur dioxide will come down with the rain and become sulphuric acid - acid rain.

 

Meteor seen. Over St Agnes

hi Brian, nice to talk to you earlier.
We saw a meteor at 21.42 in the south, possibly SSE, over St.Agnes.  It was bright green /blue, very bright, and traveling really fast.  we just wondered if anyone else had reported it.
best wishes
Roger and Glenys Gibbons 15.06.09.  It is always good to receive reports like this it encourages others to look around and record their observations. The June Lyrids are about but the trajectory seems wrong - it is probably a sporadic and nice to see. It also cannot be the Green Flash as the Sun sets in the North West at this time of year.
  This seems to have been reported all along the south coast as a meteor shower, including France and the Channel Islands, as nothing major was expected  it would be good to get a complete picture - it maybe space debris? So please email in any reports. Having spoken to other Observatories and Andy Smith (radio meteor observer) we conclude that it was space debris in spite of claims it was the June Lyrids this is a minor shower that normally produces about 5 meteors an hour! Although the experts responsible for checking for incoming bits have examined the evidence they can find nothing to explain the bright lights in the sky. However it does remain the best explanation but the bits would have to be less than 10 cm across which is good news.

It is True it is a hoax; Mars can never appear the same size as the Full Moon when seen from Earth and certainly not on the 27th of August. Just press Delete.

 I have just been sent an email which contains a beautiful PowerPoint presentation telling me not to miss this wonderful event. It is a pity that the effort was not better used.

   Noctilucent Clouds; visible over British Isles so keep watching folks. It seems likely that rocket dust  and water vapour formed by rocket fuel combustion is largely responsible.  Night-time or "noctilucent" clouds are the highest in the Earth's atmosphere, forming at an altitude up to 85km. They lead to bright night skies when they are illuminated by sunlight from beyond the horizon.

 Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter; Late last night UK time (Thursday) an Atlas rocket launched taking the LRO to the Moon. Sat am it now speeding at 8000 mph towards the Moon and it is all systems go. One of its tasks will be to seek out landing sites for the next generation of astronauts going to the our only natural satellite.  This space will be updated on a regular basis.

 Herschel;-

 Image by ESA

Herschel ESA's Infra red telescope has just opened the cover to allow "light" collected by the mirror to reach the sensor - another step on the road to success.

  The International Space Station.it passed over Cornwall at 04.32.on the 23rd Is now so bright that it will flare as the Sun strikes one or two of the new solar arrays.   Given clear skies I will be investigating the chances of seeing some of the daytime passes. H-A are now giving suitable times for daylight passes. Check www.heavens-above.com for exact timings for your home sky. 

The ISS passing in front of the Sun image by Achim Schaller

see Spaceweather.

  Astronomy gets you places;  One of our young stars (pun intended) is in her 3rd year reading Physics at Oxford Uni. She has accepted a work placement for the summer to work at Diamond the countries biggest and best new science facility based at RAL near Oxford. RAL is also the home of a dedicated solar physics division that makes a whole range of kit for the space based solar observatories  eg SoHo and Stereo. Why was she so lucky - she runs star parties using her telescope at the Uni. showing flair beyond the call of duty.

New Project; Am getting involved with an Apollo project - more later , much later.

 Work Experience for Year 10 & 11 students;  This year's programme is now available just ask for a copy. Schools to recommend suitable students. 

Sam is getting organized to join us next week.

Jake made up our Micrometeorite Collection Unit which has already caught a number of visitors from "outer space", viewed under a microscope. Understood how scientists study the Sun by setting up our portable solar telescope. Checked out the new wireless weather station, helped install our hard wired Broadband. Studied the Moon and Venus in broad day light using the Celestron 15 X 70 binocular and our 6" refractor. Gave a talk to Year Five at Fowey CP school on Antony Hewish the famous Cornish Astronomer and Galileo the second man to see the Moon through a telescope. The students were able to use simple lenses to make a telescope and study a 1758 map of the Moon.  His final activity was to set up our big reflector 9.5" and our big refractor 7" and see how big St Stephen's Church looks. He also tried out the web cam in preparation for Roseland TV later in the summer.  Jake did really well and enjoyed a wide variety of work.

SUN  DAY 5th April Another successful afternoon and evening, got a number of telescopes sorted out! We also managed to see the Moon and Saturn through the cloud and tried out the Celestron SkyScout and Mike's MySpace to good effect. Many thanks to Paul & Mike for their help & support.

 A couple of images from the Open Day/Night

International Year of Astronomy 2009 is now well under way check out the official web site www.astronomy2009.co.uk   My contribution Canoe Africa, the 2000 mile five country river expedition, started well enough, to find out how it finished click on my link Canoe Africa  and visit our special Canoe Africa page. See also www.universetoday.com check out the report filed under IYA 2009. Thanks to Tammy Plotner.   See www.Cornwallscouts.net  for more information or detail ring (01726) 813602. (See purple sidebar the Scouting Trust for poster.) The main report is under News and then Canoe Africa. 

Constellations: The Summer Triangle is made up of the brightest stars in the constellations of Lyra, Cygnus and Aquila – a sure sign that summer has arrived. Due South Scorpius makes its presence felt with the bright star Antares dominant.

The Moon;  29^th - First Quarter.

The Planets; Saturn is now in the western sky but it is replaced by the biggest of them all Jupiter, in the south east. Even binoculars will show its four major moons. Earth. Throughout the month  it is possible to see a red glow in the north even at midnight.

The Sun; It has now traveled as far north as it can rising at 50 degrees in the east and setting at 310 degrees in the west.

Taken from my contribution to the Cornwall Advertisers.

Constellations: The Summer Triangle is made up of the brightest stars in the constellations of Lyra, Cygnus and Aquila – summer has arrived. Due South Scorpius makes its presence felt with the bright star Antares dominant.

The Moon; 7^th – Full; 15^th –Last Quarter; 22^nd – New; 28^th - First Quarter.. On the 7^th there is a penumbral eclipse hardly noticeable however.

The Planets; Saturn is now more difficult in the western sky but it is replaced by the biggest of them all Jupiter, in the south east visible all night. Even binoculars will show its four major moons.

The Sun;- Longest Solar Eclipse of the century centred on China 6 mins. plus. 22nd July.

International Space Station; Starts the month with a set of early morning passes on the 6^th at least two passes per day i.e plus a late night pass. On the 19^th late evening pass only and the appearances for the month finish on the 23^rd.

Apollo Landings in 1969; remembered with an Open Day at the Observatory on Saturday 18^th July as a flag raiser to the main Celebration at Goonhilly in the evening of the 20^th.

Astronomy Course; Tuesday 14^th July your opportunity to catch up with what is up there and to understand a little more about the planets and stars. Start time 7.30pm cost only £2.00 Moon rock thins to be seen.

To find out more as usual log on to www.roselandobservatory.com updated every day.

Brian Sheen.

Sunrise over Rough Tor.  A recent image taken by Catriona Burt from the Stannon Stone Circle. The Sun rises in the notch on Rough Tor provided the observer stands behind a similar shaped stone - part of the Circle. This celebrates Beltane (1st May) but is best seen a few days later due to calendar shifts. Excellent image - many thanks.

The Hurlers;-

Update;- Until recently people studying the various monuments around the country would look closely at one aspect or site and not regard those near by. The Hurlers are the focus of a much larger complex of ancient structures.

 Directly north of the Hurlers is Stowe Hill with its Neolithic enclosure and Rillaton Barrow, the Bronze Age users of the Hurlers would have recognized  that the stars directly above the Hill did not move and were therefore special. Today the star that occupies that place is the Pole Star or Polaris.  There is no doubt that the view of the Hurlers would have been very special before the Quarry removed much of the viewing area. However even today the torch lit Circles would look impressive indeed.

One question often asked is, how did the people of 2000BC know which was the shortest day of the year? It just happens that one of very few winter solstice alignments on the Moor is between the nearby Craddock Stone Circle (1 kilometer distant) and Tregarrick Tor.  There is even a raised embankment avenue between the Stone Circle and the Hurlers complex - problem solved. It so happens that the midsummer Sun rises above Stowe's Hill and sets over Brown Willy. 

Archeologists are often rightly skeptical of two point alignments and require either a Back Sight or Fore Sight to support the evidence. Extend the Hurlers SW - NE line northwards about a kilometre to arrive  at Tumuli and southward to Minions Mound with more Tumuli. (Tumuli are Bronze Age burial sites.) The line can be extended on to Long Tom Menhir. Menhirs or Long Stones predate Stone Circles and this one has had a Cross carved on it at a later date.

Clearly the Hurlers were very important in the Bronze Age and this should be more widely recognized and appreciated.

    Regular Opportunities for schools

   International Year of Astronomy Specials We are able to run sessions based on Galileo's work tailored to the year group, time of year and what is up there at the time. phone or email for details.

Key Stage One, Two and Three Astronomy. Opportunities throughout the Spring  just phone and book, more  under News page on this site.

  GCSE Astronomy. Opportunities to do the practical work on bigger kit, to see the real night sky and learn more. Opportunities throughout the Spring  just phone and book.

  This year's programme is now available just ask for a copy.  

     To stay at either the Camp Site or Farm Cottages contact;- Simon Palmer