Many of our member societies got involved in the recent BBC Stargazing live by hosting events. We have had a few reports of our member societies and here is one off West Yorkshire Astronomical Society (we will include more in the next FAS newsletter)
The Rosse Observatory , run by WYAS in Pontefract, was open on all three designated nights of the 16th – 18th January 2012. In 2011 we participated and had about 150 people attend. This year was totally different and, although the event was advertised as starting at 7.30pm, people began to queue at 6pm. By 7.30pm both large car parks were full and so was the observatory. The dome was full, the meeting room with 35 seats where the talk was taking place was packed and the new large observing platform at the rear of the observatory was overflowing with people. We estimated that just over 100 people had attended on the first night. The second night also provided a clear sky and this time we were ready for the crowds with a rotation system for each area of the observatory. Even more people attended with a total of about 150. The third night was cloudy with Jupiter just visible through thin cloud. Nevertheless 60 people turned up and the same rotation system was put into practice to maximise their enjoyment. In total over 300 people enjoyed the use of the 14-inch SCT in the dome. They then used the 18-inch Dobsonian, the Televue 102 refractor and the 6-inch JMI reverse binoculars on the observing platform to view a whole host of planets, a comet and deep sky objects before retiring to the meeting room to warm up and get a hot drink.
For more on the West Yorkshire Astronomical Society see their website. If you would like to share your societies news/events with us please use FASWriteUp system and we will share this in our newsletter and online.