Stars in their eyes: members of the Croydon Astronomical Society have relished the past few clear nights, when they have been able to open the observatory at Kenley to visitors, keen to see the crescent moon and Venus above it
The bitterly cold January nights, with favourable clear skies, have seen the star gazers at the Croydon Astronomical Society especially busy this week, with a special public open session at the Kenley observatory to observe and photograph the waxing Moon with Venus shining brightly, and Saturn nearby, too.
There was also a major meteor shower, called the Quadrantids, on Thursday and Friday nights.
The Croydon Astronomical Society stages free public talks at Trinity School once or twice each month, as well as managing the observatory at Kenley.
“We try to open the observatory for the public to visit any Saturday night when the skies are clear. It’s free and no need to book,” says Graham Cluer, the society’s secretary.
“We started with a good run of clear Saturdays but, since October, the weather has been against us. We were frustrated that we had not managed to do a public opening for almost three months.
“But we decided that the forecasts for the end of this week were encouraging so we opened on Thursday. Despite the short notice, and it being work day, we had about 60 visitors.
Busy week: the observatory at Kenley, a little-known Croydon treasure
“The skies were good and clear and we all saw the constellation of Orion and then turned our telescopes on the Orion Nebula, which is a cloud of gas where stars are forming.
“We also looked at Jupiter (very nicely placed), Venus (until it set at about 8pm) and Mars. With some of the ‘Electronically Assisted Astronomy’ setups we were able to show live pictures of some galaxies and nebula that you wouldn’t normally be able to see, even with a telescope.”
The outlook for tonight and tomorrow – a bit more overcast – is not so good, and there were no plans to open the observatory.
Cluer says that the public can follow the society on Facebook to get notified when the observatory is open for visits, or visit their website www.croydonastro.org.uk.
Read more: Kenley astronomers capture the Northern Lights gone south
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