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SUMMER
OUTING 2002 |
| For this year's trip we headed east to
Edinburgh to visit two venues: the Camera Obscura and Dynamic Earth. The
sun shone as we walked up the Royal Mile to the Outlook Tower, the black
and white hexagonal turret of the Camera Obscura clearly visible at its
apex. This optical device has been entertaining visitors for over 150 years
and reaching it involved a climb up 100 steps. Fortunately, there were three
floors of exhibits en route including photographs of old Edinburgh, pinhole
cameras, some very impressive holograms and various fun optical illusions
such as distorting lenses and mirrors. There was even a morphing machine
where you could turn yourself into a chimpanzee!
Shortly before noon, we were ushered into the Camera Obscura by our guide, who explained briefly how it worked before demonstrating how she could lift up people and buses on a piece of white card. She then took us on a panoramic tour of the capital, entertaining us with amusing stories along the way. After the show, members enjoyed the sunny weather outside on the rooftop area, taking advantage of the free viewing telescopes to examine Edinburgh's landmarks or look across the Firth of Forth to the coastline of Fife, visible for once due to the absence of east coast haar. After lunch, our party met up again in the amphitheatre of Dynamic Earth, its white tented roof picked out nicely by the afternoon sunshine against the dramatic backdrop of Salisbury Crags. Inside, we entered the first of eleven 'earthscapes' - a sort of environmental monitoring station. Soon we were called to board the Time Machine, a souped-up lift that took us back 15,000 million years, accompanied by some clever mirrorwork to give the impression of moving through starfields. The lift doors parted and we emerged into the neon-lit semi-darkness of the deck of a spaceship. Through viewing windows we witnessed the awesome Big Bang, galaxies forming and the birth of our Solar System and planet Earth. Continuing our journey forward through time, we were all shaken by a simulated earthquake as two tectonic plates collided, throwing up mountain ranges and lava-spewing volcanoes. Later, we flew over mountain glaciers and river valleys before crossing a bridge over the bubbling, primeval soup that spawned the first primitive life-forms on Earth. We followed a timeline through to the age of the dinosaurs and the emergence of our earliest ancestors. There was also the ocean to be explored in a yellow submarine and then the coolness of the polar zone with its tangible glacier. As we neared the end of our journey, we experienced the thunderstorm and real rain shower of the tropical rainforest before going into the showdome to watch footage of natural phenomena from around the world. A brief look round Dynamic Earth's gift shop rounded off an excellent day - and an added bonus was that the rain stayed away until around 5.30 p.m. by which time most were on the train back to Glasgow. Thanks to Brian Stark
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SUMMER OUTING REPORT 2001 |
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The inspiration for this year’s trip was a lecture given to the ASG in 1999 by Dr Ken Mackay about the Old Stirling High School Telescope. This fine instrument was restored in the 1970s and remains in its original location, although the building is now the Stirling Highland Hotel. Thus it was that the merry band of ASG members converged on Stirling by train and car on Saturday 16th June. Assembling in the appropriately-named History Room of the hotel, we met our hosts for the day: Dr Ken Mackay and other members of Stirling Astronomical Society. Fire regulations necessitated the splitting of our party into groups for viewing the telescope. Douglas Cooper displayed his hydrogen alpha filter with which he had taken many impressive digital photographs of the Sun, although cloudy skies precluded the planned practical demonstration. He then showed slides from the Armagh Planetarium, some video footage he had taken of the Moon and planets, as well as Dr Mackay’s video of his trip to Germany to see the 1999 total solar eclipse. Stirling A.S. had also mounted a small exhibition in the room showcasing their members’ astrophotographs. After a delicious buffet lunch downstairs in Rizzio’s Restaurant, Dr Mackay took the remaining groups up the winding staircase to the observatory at the top of the hotel. The restored 1889 13.5 inch Newtonian reflector was an impressive sight with its polished oak tube and gleaming brass fixtures. Dr Mackay recounted the saga of how it had been painstakingly returned to its former glory and everyone got the chance to view a distant building through the telescope and experience firsthand the clarity of its optics. Back in the History Room, Robert Hughes gave a vote of thanks to Dr Mackay and his colleagues for organising such an excellent day before we all headed home after a very enjoyable outing - and having managed to avoid a single reference to Braveheart! Thanks to Brian Stark |
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MEMBERS' NIGHT 2001 |
| Our traditional annual Members' Night took place on 15th February.
ASG President Charles Cavanagh introduced the speakers, noting that the
failure of the video projector meant that Brian Stark's video of January's
lunar eclispe and the video of the Summer Outing to Machrie Moor, last June,
could not be shown. However there would be more time for the other
items. (Members were able to see the videos at the following meeting
on 15th March 2001). ROBERT HUGHES began the proceedings with a talk called The King and the Little Barker on the life of Sergi Korolev - from the Russian for "king" - (1906 - 1966). He formed a group that studied the fundamentals of rocket science but was detained during Stalin's purges in a gulag where conditions were sever. However, Korolev later lead the the USSR to put the first artificial satelite into space (Sputnik) and living creatures into orbit (Laika the dog - the "little barker") culminating in the first man in space, Uri Gagarin. Korolev's death in 1966, during routine surgery, dealt a fatal blow to the Russian Space Programme. WILLIAM CLOW shared some of his 30 years, travel experiences of Tenerife, to which he had returned on holiday many times. Some parts of the island reach over 12,000 feet offering excellent viewing conditions - some of the world's largest telescopes are located on La Palma. He showed a map of tyhe locale, to which a visit was highly recommended. TONY THOMSON was able to give the current state of development of his right ascention clock. He showed a prototype casing which would have a digital time readout and two timers; Tony had designed the electronics himself. The device could be used to guide a radio telescope according to sidereal time. NIGEL BRYANT shared with us some of his photographic observations in the form of a slide show. The theme was comets and included Comets Levy, IRAS-Iraki-Alcock and Hale-Bopp. Nigel uses a fast slide film (Fugi 1600 ASA) but has experimented with CCD imaging. During the break, ED BUCKLEY displayed some of his space art and BIG BANG POSTERS plied their wares. ERIC TOMNEY deserves special mention for providing the refreshments. EILEEN McLAUGHLIN ended the
evening by showing stunning slides she had taken of the great aurora of
April 6th 2000, demonstrating the vivid colours and forms present in the
display. Thanks to Sean MacKay |
| SCOTTISH ASTRONOMY WEEKEND 15-17 SEPTEMBER 2000 |
| The annual Scottish Astronomy weekend was held in Glasgow
from Friday 15th to Sunday 17th September and was an unqualified success,
given the fuel crisis in the week leading up to it. Over 40 people
from as far afield as Ullapool and Leeds, converged on the University of
Glasgow's Kelvin Conference centre, situated within the pleasant surroundings
of the West of Scotland Science Park. The main event on Friday evening was a talk by Dr David Clarke, Director of Acre Road Observatory, on recent research he had undertaken on the stars of the Pleiades, including the fascinating revelation that prehistoric cave paintings seem to depict the cluster and that the people who painted them had apparently incorporated the bull into their mythology thousands of years before the Greeks. After the talk, some accompanied Dr Clarke across to Acre Road where they used the 12" telescope to observe the Star Vega, the Ring Nebula in Lyra (M57), the globular cluster in Hercules (M13), the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), not to mention Jupiter and Saturn - a faint aurora was even glimpsed in the north-eastern sky en route to the dome! Saturday Morning opened with an excellent, video illustrated talk from Dr David Kerridge of the British Geological Survey on Space weather. Following this, Dr David Gavine of the Astronomical Society of Edinburgh outlined the contribution to astronomy made by James Nasmyth, inventor of the steam hammer. After lunch, delegates were treated to a thought-provoking talk from Dr Francisco Diego of University College, London, on the importance of astronomy in human culture, during which he appealed for more people to appreciate the beauty and scale of the Universe. However, arguably the highlight of the weekend was the Saturday evening lecture by Dr Allan Chapman of Oxford University on amateur astronomers of the Victorian Age. He discussed how observations were often carried out by well-to-do gentlemen who had the time and financial security to pursue their interest and related his quest for more "working class" amateur astronomers of the period. Dr Chapman kept the audience entertained throughout - even when the slide projector went into spasms at one point! On the Sunday morning, the ASG's very own Dr Alastair Simmons gave a splendid talk detailing the two auroral types seen from Scotland and showed beautiful slides to illustrate his points, including one of the zodiacal light. This was followed by a series of short talks from Ron Livesey, John Fitzgerald and Dr Ken Mackay, as well as reports from member societies, with Charles Cavanagh giving the ASG's report. Finally, Dr Simmons brought proceedings to a close by thanking all involved in the organisation of the weekend and making is such a resounding success. Thanks to Brian Stark |
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SUMMER OUTING 2000 REPORT |
| This year's Summer outing took us to Machrie Moor and
a complex of stone circles, standing stones, chambered cairns and hut circles
situated on the western side of the Isle of Arran. The Society had
visited the area once before in the early 1960's, when Professor Archie
Roy had joined the excursion.
Our trip - some 35 years later - started very early on Saturday 3rd June with a gathering of members at Central Station to catch the early morning train to Ardrossan - at a far too uncivilised hour if you ask me! The weather bode well, with Blue skies and fine sunshine streaming through the station's glass roof. Having reached Ardrossan, we caught the ferry to Brodick. After a very smooth crossing of about 50 minutes, we caught our bus to Machrie Moor. The journey round the northern end of the island took us past Goat Fell and towards the picturesque distillery town of Lochranza. By this time, a strong wind had got up and clouds were beginning to race in. However, this did not dampen our enthusiasm as we ate lunch on the bus and sped onwards to Machrie itself. Arriving at the site of the stones, we walked along a well-defined path, past the Mesolithic site of Balnagore and later a 4000 year old cairn. The weather had now turned dull and a chill wind had struck up. After wandering round the various sites at our leisure, we made for the main attraction - three large and spectacular sandstone uprights. It has been theorised that these uprights, along with two other stone circles, were sited for observation of the sun at midsummer and the rising northern winter full moon. Did these ancient people possess a keen knowledge of astronomy despite their primitive technology? The ageless silence of the Moor gave no answer ... After the ancient ritual of revivification known as a cup of tea, we set off for the bus and the return journey to Brodick along the route known locally as the String Road. Arriving in Brodick, a few of our party went to some of Arran's finest watering holes to continue the discussion of its astro-archaeology over a pint! After a thoroughly enjoyable day, it was time to board the ferry for the journey home and, as the island dwindled into the distance under a forlorn and cold sky, we could only guess at the purpose that had driven our ancient kinsmen to raise these fingers of solid rock to the heavens ... Thanks to Robert Hughes |
| © 2000 Astronomical Society of Glasgow - All rights reserved 16 September 2002 |