2014 March 18
Regent’s Park star party
We will be holding a public observing session and star party this Friday 21 March from 18:30 to 22:30 at The Hub, Regent’s Park, London NW1 4RU. This is the BAA’s and Baker Street Irregular Astronomers’ slightly delayed contribution to National Astronomy Week 2014: Target Jupiter.
Please note that this event was previously advertised for Thursday 20 March, but has been rescheduled to Friday to increase the chances of clear skies.
If the weather is good we will be observing Jupiter in the west and Mars in the east, and since the Moon will be absent until the end of the event, we should get a chance to view some of the brighter deep-sky objects such as the Orion Nebula, clusters and double stars. It really is quite surprising what can be seen from the centre of London.
Raffle tickets will be on sale for £2, with a prize, donated jointly by the BAA and The Widescreen Centre, of a Celestron Nexstar 127 SLT telescope worth £469: a perfect starter telescope. Proceeds from the raffle will go towards the cost of the Baker Street Irregular Astronomers putting on regular observing events at The Hub.
Feel free to bring your own telescopes or binoculars, or you can come and look through other peoples’.
The café will be open, serving food and drinks, until 22:00. There are toilets and the venue is disabled-accessable. From 21:00, access will be only from the illuminated path from the Monkey Gate on the Outer Circle, just west of the Zoo. Parking is free on the Outer Circle in the evening, and there is a bus, the 274 from Camden Town or Baker Street Stations. The correct stop is Wells Rise. The Hub is a five-minute walk from the Monkey Gate. You can find a map of the venue and more information here: <http://www.astronomyweek.org.uk/?event=baabsia-star-party-at-regents-park>.
If the weather is forecast to be very poor 24 hours beforehand, arrangements may be changed. The announcement will be made on the BSIA website, so check here, or the BSIA Twitter feed, @BakerStAstro, or the BAA Twitter feed, @BritAstro.
I hope to see some members along and to chat to you.
Images courtesy of the Baker Street Irregular Astronomers.
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