The IOM Astronomical Society held a public stargazing event at Onchan Park, Onchan Isle of Man on three nights 8th,9th and 10th January from 7.00pm. The first two nights were crystal clear and we had a steady stream of visitors and a great number of children with their parents viewing Jupiter, the Pleiades and M 42 and other things through the selection of telescopes brought by members. Mike Kelly gave a wonderful live commentary of all the stars and constellations on view. The Third night, 10th January was clouded out and it started to drizzle, but still about 20 of the public showed up to chat for a short while about the Society. We are grateful to Mark Henthorne and James Martin for organising the event and to Andrea Dentith from Onchan Commissioners for getting permission to use the Park and obligingly arranging to have some of the lighting turned off. This venue offers great possibilities for future events. We have had lots of positive feedback from the public about how much they enjoyed the event and the children are now surfing the internet to find out more about the stars and planets.
(from James Martin, Secteary of IOM AS)

Patrick’s own enthusiasm for astronomy was ignited at the age of six when health problems forced him to be home educated and his mother gave him a copy of GF Chambers’ book, The Story of the Solar System.

Patrick authored more than 70 books, served as director of the Armagh Planetarium, President of the British Astronomical Association, co-founder and President of the Society for Popular Astronomy.  His detailed moon maps were used by NASA to prepare for the Apollo moon missions which he would cover for the BBC, and of course Patrick will be known to millions as presenter of the  Sky AT Night since its first broadcast in 1957 (missing only one episode in July 2004).

Patrick’s contribution to our hobby is immeasurable, he will be sorely missed.

As astronomers based in Britain we are used to a bit of adversity in our events, but in Church Lawford we had to contend with cloudy skies and the closure of the main road into the village where we hold our meetings-and despite the closure having been in place for the day no diversionary routes were signposted, meaning members and guests arrived over the course of two hours.

Despite this we had nearly a dozen new faces along to find out about the association and it’s activities. Some had come from adult education courses run by Jo Jarvis, our chair, and others from Sarah Meek and David Morris’ leafleting of the village, the leaflets being paid for by a grant from the Federation Of Astronomical Societies.

We had some displays showing the basic and advanced equipment available, slideshows of astronomical images and most importantly the tea, coffee and donuts.

Chris Longthorn kicked off the talks with Sky Notes and images from the members, then Jo Jarvis gave her introduction to stellar evolution ‘The Life Of A Star’, followed by David Morris with a talk he wasn’t planning to give; a quick look at the history of astroimaging, some of which involved needlepoint, then Roger Jackson wrapped things up with the trials and tribulations of photographing the Northern Lights with a bit of dog sledging thrown in.

After the main talks visitors were free to talk to the speakers and ask questions about what R&DAS get up to and astronomy in general. We signed up two new members on the night with more promising to come back. We hope to arrange some clear skies and unblocked roads in the near future.