We often make trips out into the neighbouring countryside where conditions are better than Timperley with a limiting magnitude of 4.5 Tegg's Nose Country Park Siddington Gradbach Llyn Brenig STAR PARTY The Timperley Village Club is within the Greater Manchester conurbation and suffers from light pollution (limiting mag 4.5). As a result of this we make trips out into the neighbouring countryside where conditions are better. The trips tend to be arranged on an ‘ad hoc’ basis, due to uncertainties in the weather, but usually take place on the weekends either side of the new moon (these events will be posted on the "Upcoming Events " page and "Home " page). Brief descriptions of the various dark sky sites, including location and typical limiting magnitude, are given below. The order is in increasing distance from the Timperley Village Club. Locations Siddington Siddington Approximately 13 miles SSE of Timperley. It is located at a wide sweeping bend on a quiet country road off the A537 between Chelford and Macclesfield. There is room to set up several telescopes. ADAS members have an arrangement with a local farmer to use his adjoining field. There are good all round horizons with the darkest sky to the South. Limiting apparent magnitude ≈ +5 What3Words ///complains.broadcast.scanner Tegg's Nose Country Park Tegg's Nose Country Park Approximately 18 miles SE of Timperley and 2 miles up in the hills east of Macclesfield. The car park has a good level tarmac surface with plenty of room for twenty or more cars. Good horizons to the East and South with noticeable light pollution to the West and North. Limiting apparent magnitude ≈ +5.7 What3Words ///directly.thankful.tacky Gradbach Gradbach Approximately 28 miles SSE of Timperley and 3 miles SE of Allgreave in the Peak District. Located on some open ground to the right of a sharp left bend in the road. Careful driving needed on the road east of Allgreave during the winter. There is plenty of room for at least half a dozen cars. Significantly darker than either Siddington or Teggs Nose with good all round horizons. Limiting apparent magnitude ≈ +6.03 What3Words ///straw.cuddled.solves Llyn Brenig Llyn Brenig Approximately 72 miles West of Timperley and 13 miles SW of Denbigh. Much further than the other sites but undoubtedly the darkest. Driving time around 1 ½ hours on good roads. Located at the end of a ~1 mile cul-de-sac near to the lake with room for a dozen or more cars. When the wind is from the North, off the Irish Sea, there are often local clouds even though it is clear elsewhere. No discernible light pollution to the South or West with a little to the North East due to Denbigh/ Liverpool/ Manchester. Limiting apparent magnitude ≈ +6.3 What3Words ///searcher.cowboys.anode There is a location of an alternative site which is higher up should it be misty by the lake. This second site is more exposed and the Denbigh lights are more in evidence. What3Words ///volume.easygoing.lofts

What has been happening in the 2004 meetings can be found here. September October MINUTES | 2004 3rd September 2004 September The 399th Meeting and 39th AGM of the Altrincham and District Astronomical Society, held at Timperley Village Club on Friday 3rd September , 2004 at 8pm Those present were: Chris Suddick Don Utton Tony Aremia Ged Burbeck Graham Sinagola Lucy Rogers Colin Eaves Stuart Oldbury Sean Oldbury Mark Crossley John Tipping Colin Henshaw Nick Dixon Debbie Wilson Kevin Thurston Geoffrey Walton Paul Clark Roger Livermore Mary Stewart Gillian Cox Lionel Cox Chris Lavender Geoff Flood Fred Talbot Martin Leahy Daniel Leahy (Total 26) The chairman Paul Clark opened the meeting by welcoming everyone to the start of our new year and by announcing that business would be taken first, to be followed by refreshments and then a talk by Fred Talbot. Paul gave a brief summary of the year, mentioning that our local climate had not helped our observing, but despite that there had been some good sessions, with the transit of Venus the most notable event. We are still looking for funds to replace the metal shed at the Observatory. He then called for the Treasurer's Report. Mark Crossley reported that there is approximately £1900.00 in the bank, but we have £500.00 to pay in back rent for the Observatory. The increased Observatory rent and other routine costs bring our total annual outgoings to £600.00 and therefore he proposed that the annual subscription be increased to £20.00 with the junior rate of £1.00 remaining unchanged. This was agreed unanimously. Mark also said that he has now taken responsibility for the Web site. Some changes have been made including the option for contributions to be made by members by ‘blogging’. The following officers were then elected unopposed. Chairman Paul Clark Secretary Don Utton Treasurer & Webmaster Mark Crossley Events Officer & Observatory Director Ged Birbeck The Chairman then suggested that the presentations for the astronomical evening at Delamere Forest take the form 1) What’s on tonight 2) Earth/Moon or the solar system 3) Deep sky 4) Quiz. Total elapsed time between 60 and 90 minutes. He asked for volunteers and Chris Suddick, Mark Crossley and Graham Sinagola all said they could contribute. The Chairman also announced that we had been given a library of around 30 books which are available for loan by members. Following the break, Fred Talbot gave a talk on his memories of the ADAS early days. ADAS was started by a group of 14 year old boys who held their first meeting on 13th November 1964. What they lacked in equipment and facilities they more than made up in youthful enthusiasm and a lack of inhibition on what was possible. They went by bus to enjoy dark skies at summer camps in North Wales and to observe meteor showers etc. In 1968 a change in the law meant that they could sign a legal contract and so establish an observatory, finally settling on the present site on Grove Lane. A lucrative trade in honey raised funds to build an observatory and meeting hut. The sand for cement and concrete was dug from a hole in the ground on the site. Fred’s dominant memory is of enthusiasm and willingness to try their hands at anything. In many cases the experiences led on to other things, for example, in his case to TV presenting. He never expected ADAS to keep going for 40 years and hoped that it would continue for another 40 at least. The Chairman thanked Fred for his interesting reminiscences and reminded everyone that Ged Birbeck is organising a ‘do’ for 13th November to celebrate the 40th anniversary. He then gave a brief account of objects to look for in the coming months, including M15, M31 and NGC 7755 in Cassiopeia. He closed the meeting by thanking everyone for coming and asking them to give support at Timperley Country Fair on 18th September. Chairman Secretary 1st October 2004 October The 400th Meeting of the Altrincham and District Astronomical Society, held at Timperley Village Club on Friday 1st October , 2004 at 8pm Those present were: Paul Clark Don Utton Tony Aremia Ged Burbeck Graham Sinagola Geoff Flood Colin Eaves Mark Crossley John Tipping Colin Henshaw Nick Dixon Kevin Thurston Geoffrey Walton Roger Livermore Mary Stewart Martin Leahy Daniel Leahy (Total 17) The chairman Paul Clark opened the meeting by welcoming everyone. He announced that the talk tonight would be given by Colin Henshaw who had agreed to step in at the last minute because the original speaker was stranded in Newcastle. This would be followed by refreshments and then business. Colin’s talk was entitled ‘Historical Supernovae’ and he started that there are two distinct types; the first is caused by the self-destruction of a white dwarf in a binary system. The second is due to the gravitational collapse of a super giant. The first type occur when the white dwarf exceeds the Chandrasekhar limit of 1.44 solar masses consequently they all have a similar magnitude, and so can be used to determine the distance of their galaxies. With Type II supernovae if the super giant mass is < > in the USA, Japan and Russia, which have enabled its time to be determined within a few seconds. Colin also pointed out that nuclear fusion reactions leading up to a supernova explosion create the heavy elements which are vital to life so that we all children of the stars. He finished by speculating on possible future candidates which included rho Cassiopeia, Rigel and Betelguese. The chairman thanked Colin for an interesting and informative talk. Following the break Paul Clark pointed out that a supernova has recently been discovered in Cepheus, near to NGC 6946, its present magnitude is 12.5 – 13.0. He also reminded everyone that a lunar eclipse will occur in the early hours of 28th October, and that in January Comet Q2 Machholz will be high in the southern sky with an expected magnitude of around 4. Under business, the minutes were taken as read and correspondence noted. The ADAS stall at the Timperley Country Fair raised £147. Everyone was urged to support our presentations at Delamere Forest on 22nd October, and Ged Birbeck reminded everyone that the 40th Anniversary Party is on 13thNovember at the Altrincham Leisure Centre. The Chairman then thanked everyone for coming and closed the meeting. Chairman Secretary

Find out what child protection policy ADAS has got in place. CHILD PROTECTION POLICY Please approach any committee member of the society if you have questions or concerns regarding Child Protection issues. ADAS has adopted the Child Protection Policy from the Federation of Astronomical Societies (FAS). A copy of this policy is available for review at all our meetings and can be downloaded here: FAS Child Protection Guidelines Supplement to this policy is the additional local contact numbers for raising concerns: Trafford Council Children's Services GMP Non-emergency contact number

Look at webcams of the sky all over the world, from Iceland (for the northern lights) to the Chile (for the southern skies). Svalbard Iceland Mauna Kea Canada Roque de los Muchachs ESA Ground Station ESO Finland Sweden LIVE SKY Manua Kea Observatory Hawaii Pointing South Credit: NOIRLab/Gemini , CC BY 4.0 Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, La Palma Gran Telescopio Canarias Fish Eye Credit: © GRANTECAN S.A. European Southern Observatory, Chile Fisheye Image at Very Large Telescope Credit: ESO , CC BY 4.0 Mauna Kea Roque de los Muchachs ESO Finalnd (northern lights) Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory Credit: University College London Atmospheric Physics Laboratory Sweden (northern lights) Kiruna Esrange Optical Platform Site, Esrange, Kiruna Credit: University College London Atmospheric Physics Laboratory Sweden Finland Svalbard (northern lights) Kjell Henriksen Observatory, Breinosa, Longyearbyen Credit: University College London Atmospheric Physics Laboratory Svalbard Iceland (northern lights) Brandagil, Hrútafirði on the Hringvegur Credit: Vegagerðin Iceland Canada (northern lights) Yellowknife, AuroraMAX Credit: Canadian Space Agency Canada ESA Ground Stations New Norcia Deep Space Antenna, Australia Credit: ESA These ground stations are used by ESA to link Earth with all the space craft ESA has got in orbit at the moment, from the Rosetta mission on a comet to the Gaia mission, mapping the skies. Find out more here . ESA Ground Station Contact Us! Read our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy so you understand what will be done with your work once submitted. Got a Webcam you want to see here?

This is the bit where you find out what rights you've got, and how we use your data. Data we collect How we will use your data How we collect that data How we will store your data Emailing List Your data protection righs 3rd Party Sharing of Data Privacy Policies of Other Websites Changes to Our Privacy Policy How to Contact Us How to Contact the Appropriate Authority PRIVACY POLICY This policy will explain how Altrincham and District Astronomical Society uses the personal data which we collect from you when using this website. Please use the titles to easily navigate this policy which we strongly advise you to read. Topics: Data we collect How we collect that data How we will use your data How we will store your data Emailing List Your data protection rights 3rd party sharing of data Privacy policies of other websites How to contact us How to contact the appropriate authorities DATA WE COLLECT Data we collect The society collects the following data about users of this site: Personal identification information inputted into the site (name and email address, if provided in a contact form or via email) IP address (Internet Protocol Address) What you do on the site (pages visited) The time, location and device this is done on HOW WE COLLECT THAT DATA How we collect that data You directly deliver Altrincham and District Astronomical Society with the majority of the data that we collect. We collect and process data when you: Voluntarily complete any of the online contact forms or email us. Use or view our website, via your browser's cookies. HOW WE WILL USE YOUR DATA How we will use your data Altrincham and District Astronomical Society collects your data so that we can: Email you with updates on upcoming meetings. Make the site easier to use and navigate, for a better user experience. Post your images (if you decide to email them to us) in any part of our site (including the 'Gallery' page), our Twitter account and our Facebook account. Post other content (if you decide to email it to us) in any part of site, our Twitter account and our Facebook account. Altrincham and District Astronomical Society will not share your data with any partner companies to offer you their products and services. If you decide to opt out of your content being posted on any platforms listed, please explicitly state this in the message you send us when sending that content (for more information on how we will use your data, and how its copyright will be upheld, go to our 'Terms of Service ' page). 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However, here are the links to the privacy policies of the other websites which are associated with this site (when paying for membership or looking at hte calendar for instance). Twitter: twitter.com/en/privacy Facebook: www.facebook.com/about/privacy/ Wix: www.wix.com/about/privacy Clear Outside: clearoutside.com/page/privacy_policy/ Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO): lco.global/observatory/privacy-policy/ NASA: www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html AuroraWatch UK: aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/privacy/ Moonconnection.com: www.bluemarmot.com/privacy.phtml?ws=mc Google LLC: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en-UK Changes to Our Privacy Policy CHANGES TO THE PRIVACY POLICY Altrincham and District Astronomical Society keeps its privacy policy under regular review and will alert you to any changes to it on our home page. This privacy policy was last updated on 19 May 2021. 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What has been happening in the 2010 meetings can be found here. March April June September MINUTES | 2010 5th March 2010 March Meeting held on Friday 5th March 2010 at the 1st Timperley Scout hall. Present: Graham Sinagola Tony Aremia Steve Holt Richard Bullock Chris Suddick (Chairman) Ged Birbeck Roger Livermore Speaker The Chairman introduced the speaker, Richard Bullock to speak on “The Mechanics of (Newtonian) Gravity”. Richard explained that the Greeks were probably the first people to think about gravity. Aristotle, Galileo and Newton were mentioned. The Roche limit was touched on and Richard introduced Einstein’s theories, which presented an alternative to the Newtonian view of gravity. The Chairman thanked the speaker for his very interesting talk and those present showed their appreciation. Treasurer’s Report Richard Bullock confirmed that the Society is in funds. Chairman’s Report Chris Suddick reported that it was the Committee’s view that ADAS should change its Bank to Barclays. The Yorkshire does not open on Saturdays, whereas Barclays do, and the branch network is much wider. Members unanimously agreed to the change. Chris reported that difficulties have arisen as some cheque signatories are no longer members. AOB ADAS members will be attending a meeting of the Wythenshawe Astronomy Group. Members were invited to attend a gathering at Victoria Park, Stretford to mark Earth Hour on 27 March. The date of the next meeting has been moved to 9 April There being further business the meeting closed at 9.30.pm 9th April 2010 April Meeting held on Friday 9th April 2010 PRESENT Chris Suddick (Chairman) Geoff Flood Tony Aremia Steve Holt Geoff Walton Roger Livermore Szymon Baradweg Peter Baugh Ged Birbeck 　 The Chairman introduced The speaker for the evening, Richard Tyers. Richard’s topic was: "Herschel to Hubble - the story of Nebulae". In 1609 Galileo looking at the heavens and wondering about the complexity and variety of the night sky. He saw the nebulae of the Milky Way and tried to understand what it all meant. Over time others followed in his footsteps - Copernicus in the 18th C then Herschel (1738-1822). Herschel was an amateur astronomer and built his own telescopes some of which were quite large, resulting from these larger ‘scopes he was able to look more closely and systematically at nebulae, concluding that they were unresolved clusters of stars. In his 1784 paper “On the Construction of the Heavens” he classified nebulae into 5 different groups. He believed that the sun was part of the Milky Way. He discovered over 2500 nebulae, a great leap considering that in 1781 Messier discovered only 103. Things moved at speed and in 1865, now Sir John Herschel, counted 5709 and in 1887 J.L.E. Dreyer found 7840 - and later 9369. Astronomers did not know how far away or how big - there was no satisfactory method of measuring distance. However in 1838 the German F. W. Bessel used parallax to measure the distance of stars, other than the sun. Henrietta Leavitt identified periodic luminosity and noted that brighter stars - Cephid variables - had longer periods and the period was proportional to the brightness. Over time the measurements became more accurate Hertszprung and Russell improved matters and produced the HR diagram of luminosity v temperature and type. Harlow Shapely concluded the Milky Way was 300,000 Light Years across but measurements over time varied by a factor of 10! Hubble was also out by a factor of 2. There seemed to be some confusion about the size of the Milky Way which depended upon what was considered, at the time, to be included and whether some of the spiral galaxies were in fact part of the Milky Way. There are still plenty of things that we need to know about the Universe for instance Dark Matter, Dark Energy and it is hoped that the large Hadron Collider will reveal some answers when it gets fully up to speed. Richard took a number of questions from the audience and was thanked by Chris for his really interesting talk. Correspondence Three Astrocalendars have been received from the FAS - these were distributed amongst members. Information from the institute of Lighting Engineers with Guidance Notes for the Reduction of Light Pollution and some promotional leaflets for the Sky at Night magazine have also been received. The Treasurer was not present but it was reported that we are attempting to open an account at Barclays but some problems are arising with the form filling required. The matter is ongoing. Chris Suddick and Roger Livermore attended a meeting of the astronomy group at Wythenshawe Park. This is a group of inexperienced people who simply want to look at stars and who really need a little expert help. They meet once a month and have a limited amount of equipment. Geoff Flood and Ged Birbeck attended the Dark Hour meeting in Victoria Park, Stretford, where Graham Cliff and Christine Lavender had set up telescopes which enabled the public to look at the Moon, Mars and Saturn. The night started cloudy but cleared well later on. Unfortunately Trafford did not extinguish lights in the Borough. It is intended to repeat this event next year. A similar event is being considered to be held in Worthington Park in Sale. Graham Sinagola has been interviewed, about amateur astronomy, for a local radio station. There being no other business the Chairman closed the meeting. 4th June 2010 June Minutes of the 456th meeting on June 4th 2010 Present were :- Chris Suddick, Steve Holt, Ged Birbeck, Peter Baugh, Tony Aremia, Rachel Ormes, Stephen McHugh, Richard Bullock, Kevin Thurstan, Norman Thurstan, Colin Eaves, Szymon Baradwej. Total of 12 present. The Chairman welcomed the members and Introduced Dr Alastair Gunn as today’s speaker, with a presentation entitled “Cosmic Journey”. Dr Gunn told us he Is an astro physicist and radio astronomer who looks after the VLBI system from Jodrell Bank. He also does a lot of PR for astronomy and has put together several talks for Cunard Cruises including his Cosmic Journey. The visual journey across the universe was done on free software and is all to scale, using real astronomical data. We start with an aerial view of Jodrell Bank and are told our trip will be as close to the actual journey as possible. The view pulls back and we travel outwards through our solar system, then past other stars, nebulae, star clusters to the edge of our galaxy. As we pull out further we see our local group and see galaxy interactions, next passing through the Virgo galaxy cluster then we see how it and others come together into super clusters and on to the overall known large scale structure of the visual universe all the way to the CMB. Our return journey then retraces its path slowly back inward until we are once again hovering a few hundred meters above the Lovell radio telescope. Chris Suddick points out the problems trying to explain astronomical size & scale and how he tries to get the ideas across to groups like cubs and brownies. Alastair then discussed the creation of his presentation using free software such as Celestia. In all it took him 9 months to make and how the complex mathematics behind some of the graphics needed a large amount of computer time to plot. We then took a break. On the restart we had the treasurers report. It was decided we would not be present at this years Timperley village fair as no one wanted to take on the task. Kevin mentioned the need to make more use of the website or newsgroup site & that we needed to keep e mail addresses and phone numbers up to date. The meeting was then brought to a close. 3rd September 2010 September PRESENT Chris Suddick (Chairman), Geoff Flood, Steve Holt, Tony Aremia, Peter Baugh, Colin Eaves, Richard Bullock, Roger Livermore, Steve Leicester. Total present - 9. APOLOGIES Graham Sinagola, Geoff Walton. MINUTES Minutes of the 44th AGM were not available and thus could not be confirmed nor could arising matters be taken. The Chairman welcomed members and thanked them for their attendance. All existing Officers have agreed to remain in post and as there were no other proposals for office they were re-elected en bloc. In addition Graham Sinagola has agreed to act in a new position as “Speakers Secretary”. Thus we have: Chairman Chris Suddick Treasurer Richard Bullock Secretary Geoff Flood Minutes Secretary Graham Sinagola Speakers Secretary Graham Sinagola TREASURER Copies the accounts (attached) were circulated and Richard explained a number of points regarding them. First of all he explained that as 2 of the 3 signatories to the Yorkshire Bank account were no longer with us it has been found necessary to make some changes. An account has been opened with Barclays Bank which, unlike the Yorkshire Bank is open on Saturdays, which makes it easier for the Treasurer to transact business. Although we have completed all the paperwork we are still awaiting finalisation from Barclays – but there should be no problems! We appeared to run at a loss last year but this was due to paying the backlog on room rental. An item in the accounts “loan” is money paid out by Richard to cover payments to organisations such as the FAS (where early payment gave us a discount on membership). This money will remain outstanding until the Barclays account is operational. Room charges have still to be paid for 2010. Although they don’t appear in the accounts we have a number of pieces of equipment which have a significant nominal value. Kevin Thurstan has a list. Richard needs details of addresses and phone numbers of Trustees to comply with our charitable status. Geoff Flood and Chris Suddick were asked to supply them to him. SECRETARY A number of items have come up from the Federation of Astronomical Societies. 1. The Society need to supply a postcode for the FAS website so that ADAS can be located. Geoff will arrange this. 2. We are now covered by the FAS Public Liability Insurance Scheme, which might be important at Star Parties etc. 3. The FAS Convention will be held in Cambridge at 9:00am on 9th October 2010. A change to the constitution is proposed which involves 2 new Officers on the Executive. The next meeting of NWGAS will take place on Saturday 11th September 2010. The meeting will take place at the Pexhill Observatory, near Liverpool at 13:00 hours. We should be represented – if only to get an updated speakers list! Manchester AS will hold a meeting in the John Dalton Building of MMU at 7:30pm (e-mail if you wish to attend). Brother Dr Guy Consolmagno will speak on Trans Neptunian Objects. BBC Sky at night programme offer bonuses for promoting Sky at Night magazine subscriptions. No interest for ADAS. ANY OTHER BUSINESS It was proposed that all items of equipment be returned to the Society once a year, at the AGM, so that other members have the opportunity of seeing what is available and so that we can check on the state of the equipment. There was no other business and a break was taken for refreshments prior to a talk from Chris Suddick. MYTHOLOGY OF THE STARS There are many myths but Chris stuck to Greek & Roman mythology, pointing out that in practice they are pretty much the same as the Romans simply nicked the Greek myths and changed the names of the Gods. Starting with Uranus and Gaea through to the main Gods – which include, amongst others, Saturn Pluto Neptune and Jupiter. Then there were the Planetary Gods of Mar, Venus and Mercury You simply don’t want to know how and with whom some of these were created and who did what with whom! We heard how Gods such as Jupiter begat - by various devious means, often with his wife/sister, Io, Europa Gannymede, Callisto etc and that’s where the moons come from (allegedly). We also learned how clever Chris is, completing the Telegraph crossword with Augean stables which, of course, Hercules cleaned out by diverting a river. This was an interesting talk which mixed Ancient mythology with modern astronomy.

What has been happening in the 2005 meetings can be found here. June September October December MINUTES | 2005 3rd June 2005 June The 407th Meeting of the Altrincham and District Astronomical Society, held at Timperley Village Club on Friday 3rd June 2005 at 8pm Those present were: Paul Clark Don Utton Tony Aremia Stephen McHugh Mark Adamson Geoff Flood Colin Eaves Peter Baugh Vincent Cordron Chris Suddick Roger Livermore Geoffrey Walton Debbie Wilson Nick Dixon Alicia Dixon Kirsty Dixon David Dixon Phil Masding Ged Birbeck Colin Henshaw (Total 20) The chairman Paul Clark opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and announcing that Phil Masding would be speaking tonight about the satellite tracking software that he and Mike Tyrell have been developing. Previously they had captured ISS images by manual tracking, this was difficult and rather fraught given the rapid motion of the satellite across the sky and the narrow field of view required to observe structural details. The new software automates much of the tracking which makes for more relaxed observing sessions. He showed images obtained on 8th May using the 10" Meade LX telescope. These were then compared with what they expected to observe using a Simulator program also written by themselves. Phil noted that the Envisat also has some structure but most satellites do not. However, there is considerable (perverse) interest in imaging spy satellites whose orbital parameters are not released by the authorities but are made available by amateur astronomers from their observations. Phil and Mike were congratulated on their impressive images and their sophisticated programming skills. Following the break Paul Clark gave a sky diary. He pointed out that Jupiter's moons are frequently occulting and generating shadow transits so there is always something of interest to observe. He also pointed out that the planets Mercury and Venus have very close approach on 27th June with a separation of 8' at around 10pm. The Perseid meteor shower is due on 12th/13th August and can be impressive when the sky is clear. Colin Henshaw mentioned that gamma-Virginis is a binary which are coming to perihelion and so appear much closer together than usual. Colin also said that r- corona borealis is an interesting variable worth watching because its magnitude varies from the 14th to 6th magnitude. There was a short business session in which members were urged to support our fund raising efforts at the Gatley Fair on 4th July. There being no further business, the Chairman thanked Phil Masding again for his talk, and everyone for coming, and then closed the meeting. Chairman Secretary 2nd September 2005 September The 40th Annual General Meeting and the 408th Meeting of the Altrincham and District Astronomical Society, held at Timperley Village Club on Friday 2nd September 2005 at 8pm Those present were: Paul Clark Don Utton Tony Aremia Norman Thurstan Kevin Thurstan Geoff Flood Colin Eaves Peter Baugh Mark Crossley Chris Suddick Richard Bullock Geoffrey Walton Nick Odom Colin Bowler Nick Dixon Ged Birbeck J Coldon? (Total 17) The chairman Paul Clark opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and suggesting since the sky was clear that we mount an expedition to Gradbach immediately after the conclusion of the meeting. Because this is the AGM, business would be taken first. The Treasurer reported that we ran a deficit last year of £471 due entirely to the payment of back rent for the Observatory. On hearing this the Chairman promptly offered his unpaid subscription for last year, and Tony Aremia said that he had paid in £20 to the bank for the Timperley Fair refund. Thus the deficit was reduced to £431. Mark pointed out that members’ subscriptions just covered the Observatory and room hiring costs. Electricity cost £166, mainly in standing charges. Low user rates without standing charges are available only to residential customers. It was recommended and agreed that subscriptions should remain at £20 pa. We have yet to receive the Gift Aid tax refund on last year’s subscriptions which should be around £100. The Chairman thanked Mark for his work on maintaining the accounts, and Tony Aremia for his assistance. In the absence of the Observatory Director the Chairman said that the state of the Observatory was of some concern and that we would need to consider what should be done in the coming year. Mark Crossley, the web page master, said that it is still running and that there are pages where members can add news items etc. The Secretary acknowledged his laxity in updating the minutes on the pages. The Chairman commented that it had been a patchy year for observing with only a few successful expeditions. He then called for the election of officers. The Secretary said that he wished to stand down, and the Treasurer said that he wished to stand down next year. The following were elected unopposed Chairman Paul Clark Secretary Kevin Thurstan Treasurer & Web Master Mark Crossley Events and Obs Director Ged Birbeck The Chairman thanked the outgoing secretary for his efforts in the past. The final item of business was to have a round-up of who has what ADAS equipment Large Binoculars Paul Clark LX90 Nick Dixon 3 Eyepieces Kevin Thurstan STV imager Mark Crossley Critchley-Meade & Small Binoculars Ged Birbeck 17mm LV Eyepiece & 30mm 2” Superview Don Utton The meeting then adjourned for a coffee break. Following the break Paul Clark gave a presentation on refracting telescopes – pros, cons and characteristics. For the same sized aperture they are much more expensive than reflecting telescopes, but to offset this the image quality can be superior. 80mm short focal length telescopes are popular because they are relatively less expensive and they have a wide field of view (FOV). They are prone to chromatic abberation –the focal length varies with light wavelength. Achromat lenses reduce this but the more complex and expensive apochromat lenses are required to effectively eliminate this effect. Reflecters maintain a better quality of image away from the centre of the FOV than refractors where stellar images are no longer pin points at the edge of the FOV. The effects of chromatic abberation can be reduced by going to longer focal ratios, as was done historically in the past. This has the drawback of reducing the FOV. Paul made a final point that smaller refractors cool down more quickly than large reflectors – he thinks that his 18” Dobsonian reflector never cools down completely on a one night expedition. Following the applause for his presentation Paul suggested that all those interested adjourn to Gradbach and said that he had maps for anyone who needed them. He then closed the meeting. 7th October 2005 October The 409th Meeting of the Altrincham and District Astronomical Society, held at Timperley Village Club on Friday 7th October 2005 at 8pm Those present were: Paul Clark, Kevin Thurstan, Tony Aremia, Terry Bailey, Norman Thurstan, Geoff Flood, Graham Sinagola, Peter Baugh, Mark Crossley, Chris Suddick, Richard Bullock, Geoffrey Walton, Nick Odom, Colin Bowler, Nick Dixon, Ged Birbeck, Phil Masding, Stuart Oldbury, Roger Livermore, Mary Stewart, 1 other (Total 21) The chairman Paul Clark opened the meeting by welcoming everyone to the meeting and announcing that tonight’s speaker would be Nick Odom, who would be delivering part two of his talk on “Relativity” this time focusing on general relativity following on from his previous talk on special relativity. The Chairman also announced that Graham Sinagola had brought in a DVD of the transit of Venus on 8th June last year if anyone was interested in it. Nick Odom then started his talk on general relativity by summarising some of the points of special relativity to help as background. He stated that it took Einstein ten years from 1905 when he published his theory on special relativity before in 1915 he published his theory on general relativity. It was believed the laws of physics are the same irrespective of the speed of the observer and that the speed of light in a vacuum is constant. However Newton’s laws of gravity break down at high speed and Einstein wanted to reconcile relativity with gravity. Nick then went on to explain in more detail, how the effects of gravity must travel at the same speed as light in gravitational waves, the fact that a man falling off a roof couldn’t feel gravity led Einstein to a flash of inspiration that gravity mimics acceleration, that gravity slows down time and time runs slower for an observer on the surface of the earth than it does for a spaceman in orbit, the higher the gravity is the slower time runs. Gravity also refracts light, distorts space and that the effect of gravity is greater in general relativity as opposed to Newton’s laws. We then heard about general relativity and black holes. He finished off by explaining some of the observational conformation we have on general relativity including the perihelion of mercury, the displacement of star images during a solar eclipse, gravitational red shifting of Sirius b and radio astronomy observations of everything from the inner planets to binary pulsars and quasars. The meeting then had a break for tea. The Chairman Paul Clark then did a sky diary on the coming month concentrating mainly on the area around the constellation of Cygnus and mentioned how mars was going to be at its best over the next couple of months. In any other business the Chairman reminded us that next months talk was to be by Andrew Greenwood from Macc AS on the subject of Mars. The Secretary then reminded everyone that on the coming Friday, 14th October, the society had been invited again to Delamere Forest Park visitor Centre and would be providing several talks on astronomy, and that we still required speakers to help out, we need others to support the occasion with their presence or turning up with scopes to put on display and maybe even use if the sky was clear. Richard Bullock offered his services and said he would be able to do a talk on the moon. The meeting was then brought to a close. 2nd December 2005 December The 411th Meeting of the Altrincham and District Astronomical Society, held at Timperley Village Club on Friday 2nd December 2005 at 8pm Those present were: Paul Clark, Kevin Thurstan, Mark Crossley, Tony Aremia, Mike Tyrrell, Philip Masding, Don Utton, May Stewart, Norman Thurstan, Geoff Flood, Colin Eaves, Geoffrey Walton, Graham Sinagola, Nick Dixon, Nick Odom, Ged Birbeck, John Tipping, John Gartshore, Roger Livermore, Stuart Oldbury, Adam Oldbury (Total 21) The chairman Paul Clark opened the meeting by welcoming everyone to the meeting and announcing that tonight we would start with the club business followed by Phil Masding and Mike Tyrrell with some new software, then we would have a clips and pics quiz followed by the tea break. Finally we would have a discussion on the future of the obs site. The Business section started with the post, of which we had two pieces, one from Keele University and remittance advice from the forestry commission of £50 for our October evening at Delamere Forest Park. The Treasurer reported that subs were still trickling in. We then had an update on the Stockport sky beam and a reminder to members who wanted to object of how where and what to include in the objection. It was then the turn of Phil and Mike to show us their new software and how it turns images of mars into maps. They said that this year’s opposition of Mars has been a good one because Mars was high in the sky and there were a good number of favourable evenings to view on. They then explained how they transformed the pixels on the two dimensional picture into a set of x, y and z co-ordinates on the surface of a surface of a sphere, showing the formulae used to create latitudinal and longitudinal co-ordinates on the planet for each pixel of the original picture. They commented on the problems that arose because of the Mars’s axial tilt and position angle, which meant the latitude and longitude co-ordinates had to be transformed to compensate for this before they could finally be turned from latitude and longitude into flat map co-ordinates. They told us how they used only the central strip of many pictures to create a map of the whole planet as it made the transformation calculations simpler and that because of the Mars’s axial tilt and position angle the North Polar Region was missing from the map. The Chairman then split the room into two teams one captained by the Secretary the other by Graham Sinagola and held a quiz on various pictures, video and sound clips. The Secretary’s team won. Then we had the tea break. After the break we held a discussion on the future of the observatory site. Over the years the buildings on the site have fallen into disrepair and the observatory itself is hardly ever used these days. The main issues include: Ongoing costs. At £620 the current overheads are greater than the clubs income from members subscriptions and these costs can only rise. Maintenance. To maintain the site its self, money needs spending on new equipment, the society building and storage hut are really beyond maintenance and need replacing, the observatory roof is leaking, the telescope mount doesn’t work properly, and the telescope needs an overhaul. Security. The storage hut has again been broken into, the site can’t be made properly secure without more expenditure and it’s probably only a matter of time until the society hut is broken into and vandalised. Need. The society does need a base for our weekly and monthly meetings and to store some equipment, preferably where we can occasionally use to observe from. Comfort. At the moment to get to the obs site you have to walk across an unlit often muddy and fouled field to a cold, damp, draughty hut that has obviously seen better days. Suitability. Is the obs site still suitable for the society’s needs, At the moment we would be too embarrassed to hold a society or NWGAS meeting there and over the past few years we have had several potential members who after seeing the hut have not turned up again. The obs site its self is, at the moment, possibly holding the club back from expanding and putting its future at risk. Three options were put forward to the meeting. Do nothing. The site will just keep on decaying until it is totally beyond use for the societies needs, we would still have the same maintenance needs, the security issues would be the same and the societies costs would still continue rising well above its income. Upgrade. To upgrade we would need a large capital injection into the society of around £6000 to £7000, we would still have the maintenance needs and costs, the security issues would be the same and the societies ongoing costs would still continue rising well above its income possibly even faster. Surrender the site. The society could surrender the obs site and meeting room altogether and set up home in a more suitable single location, the Scout hut across the field from the obs has been put forward as a possible site if the costs of doing so were not prohibitive. The Scout hut has ample parking, is heated, has kitchen and toilet facilities and there is a separate car parking area to the rear suitable for observing. If we moved there we would have no maintenance, security or comfort issues and the society may be able to bring its costs more inline with its income. There was then a period of discussion on the fate of the obs site and a general consensus that we should look further into the possibility of leaving the obs site and moving to the scout hut. The Chairman, after previous talks with some of the membership, was already in discussion with Trafford Council as to where we stood with the lease on the obs site and it was decided that Stuart Oldbury would enter discussions with the committee at the Scout hut about the possibility and cost of a move there. The meeting was then brought to a close.

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