Astronomers in the U.K.

[Morris Jones]

Hi all!  Jane and I are visiting London and Dublin for the next two 
weeks, but sidewalk astronomy goes on!

Dave Hasenauer and our other intrepid sidewalk astronomers will be in 
Monrovia at Myrtle and Lime this Saturday, September 30.  They should 
have a lovely first quarter Moon to show; the giant planets Jupiter and 
Saturn won't be in the evening sky again 'til next year.

Last night we had dinner and an overnight visit at the home of Sir 
Patrick Moore in the south England coastal town of Selsey.  At 83, he's 
still doing his show "Sky at Night" for the BBC!  He doesn't get around 
so well these days, but he's as talkative as ever.  This morning the BBC 
crew arrived to tape an episode of his program.

We got to explore his fine old thatched-roof home, talk lunar astronomy, 
look through his amazing collection of astronomical writings and 
sketches, and meet his beloved cats.  We were joined by astronomer and 
Patrick's co-author Chris Sinnot and local astrophotographer Ian Sharp. 
  We tried using Patrick's 15-inch fork-mount newtonian to observe, but 
the early evening sucker holes gave way to an overcast sky.

The "Sky at Night" crew from BBC is planning a trip to the States in 
early December, and they plan to join us in Monrovia along with John 
Dobson for our regular sidewalk astronomy night.  I'll send an update 
when there are more details.

Tomorrow we visit Stonehenge, and Wednesday we're off to Dublin then 
Birr Castle for the Whirlpool Star Party.

More updates later ...

Reporting from London,
Mojo
-- 
Morris Jones
Monrovia, CA
http://www.whiteoaks.com
Old Town Astronomers:  http://www.otastro.org