The Newtonian, on the dob mount
f/4.5 on a rocker box, wheeled out of the shed at dusk. This is the one that turns galaxies into structure. Ladder required above 60 degrees altitude.
Deep sky
Keyholder checkout
Public observatory
Astronomy club, est. [set year]
Sample dates throughout
Real glass, real objects, and dates you can put in a diary.
Six viewing nights are in orbit below. Choose one and we keep a chair at the eyepiece, a red torch by the gate, and someone standing next to you who knows where to look.
Night 01
Sample date
Saturn at opposition
The rings are open [set the tilt] degrees this season and the planet sits due south at local midnight. At magnitude 0.4 you can find it without a chart, and on a steady night it will hold 200x without complaint.
- Target
- Saturn
- Magnitude
- 0.4
- Date
- [set the date]
- Gate opens
- 20:30
Choose any body on the plate to read it here. Every night is also written out in full in the ground view below, whether or not the plate is turning.
02 / Almanac
How much dark you actually get
Astronomical darkness is the window when the Sun sits more than 18 degrees below the horizon. It is the only hour that matters for faint objects, and in June at this latitude there is none of it at all.
- Darkness in this month
- See the month table
- Next new moon
- [set the date]
- Limiting magnitude at the field
- [set your figure]
- Weather call
- 16:00 on the day
| Month | Dark starts | Dark ends | Window |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 18:20 | 06:10 | 11h 50m |
| February | 19:10 | 05:30 | 10h 20m |
| March | 20:00 | 04:40 | 8h 40m |
| April | 21:00 | 03:40 | 6h 40m |
| May | 22:20 | 02:40 | 4h 20m |
| June | none | none | 0h |
| July | 23:40 | 02:20 | 2h 40m |
| August | 22:10 | 03:30 | 5h 20m |
| September | 20:50 | 04:30 | 7h 40m |
| October | 19:40 | 05:20 | 9h 40m |
| November | 18:40 | 05:55 | 11h 15m |
| December | 18:10 | 06:20 | 12h 10m |
03 / Ground view
The season, in a straight line
The plate is the pretty way in. This is the same six nights with nothing moving: every target, every magnitude, every gate time. Nothing on this page is hidden behind the animation.
-
Night 01
Saturn at opposition
Sample dateThe rings are open [set the tilt] degrees this season and the planet sits due south at local midnight. At magnitude 0.4 you can find it without a chart, and on a steady night it will hold 200x without complaint.
- Target
- Saturn
- Magnitude
- 0.4
- Date
- [set the date]
- Gate opens
- 20:30
-
Night 02
The Perseid shower
Sample dateNo eyepiece, no queue. We lay ground mats out facing north east and count. Rates run [set the rate] an hour under a moonless sky, and the good hour is always the one after 01:00, so bring more warm clothing than feels sensible.
- Target
- Radiant in Perseus
- Peak
- [set the date]
- Moon
- [set the phase]
- Gate opens
- 21:00
-
Night 03
M31, the Andromeda galaxy
Sample dateTwo and a half million years of travel, finishing on your retina. Magnitude 3.4, and in the 18 inch it stops being a smudge and starts having a dust lane. Best after 22:30, once it clears the treeline on the east side of the field.
- Target
- M31
- Magnitude
- 3.4
- Date
- [set the date]
- Best after
- 22:30
-
Night 04
A walk along the lunar terminator
Sample dateA Moon at [set the illumination] per cent beats a full Moon and it is not close. Shadows run long across the floors of Theophilus and Clavius, the relief is absurd, and the view visibly changes over the two hours you stand there.
- Target
- The Moon
- Illumination
- [set the per cent]
- Date
- [set the date]
- Gate opens
- 19:45
-
Night 05
Jupiter and the four moons
Sample dateMagnitude minus 2.5, the brightest thing in the sky once the Moon has gone. Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto rearrange themselves nightly; we sketch their positions at the gate and check the sketch again at closing.
- Target
- Jupiter
- Magnitude
- -2.5
- Date
- [set the date]
- Gate opens
- 20:00
-
Night 06
M13, the great cluster in Hercules
Sample dateA few hundred thousand stars in a ball, twenty five thousand light years out. Magnitude 5.8, so a naked eye smudge on a good night, and a granular blaze the moment real aperture lands on it.
- Target
- M13
- Magnitude
- 5.8
- Date
- [set the date]
- Best after
- 22:00
04 / Instruments
What you will be looking through
Three instruments live on the field. All three come out on a viewing night, all three are pointed by a member who has been checked out on them, and none of them is precious about fingerprints.
Sample rack: replace with [set your instruments]
The apochromatic refractor
f/7 on the pier in the east bay, permanently aligned. Planets, double stars, and the lunar terminator. The view that converts people.
Planetary
Open to all members
The solar scope
Filtered at the front, checked before every session, never left unattended. Out on Saturday afternoons through [set your solar months], sunspots permitting.
Daytime
Supervised only
05 / First light
Your first night, in four moves
Nobody is tested at the gate. If you have never looked through anything bigger than a pair of binoculars, you are exactly who these nights are for.
Arrive before dark
The gate opens at the time on the entry. Park facing out so nobody gets headlights in the face at midnight.
Red light only
One white phone screen undoes twenty minutes of everyone's dark adaptation. We hand out red film at the gate.
Ask for the object
Not the telescope. Say what you want to see and someone will point something at it, or tell you which month to come back.
Stay for the last one
The final object of the night is chosen by whoever is still standing. It is reliably the best thing you will see.
06 / Charter
Membership, three depths
You do not need to join to come to a viewing night. Members get the key, the rota, and the loan library. Dues are annual and every figure below is a placeholder until you set it.
[set your dues] a year
- All six viewing nights
- The monthly sky note
- Loan library: eyepieces and charts
[set your dues] a year
- Everything in Ground
- Gate key for the field, any clear night
- The 6 inch refractor without supervision
[set your dues] a year
- Everything in Observer
- The 18 inch after checkout
- A slot in the imaging rota
07 / Reserve
Keep me a chair at the eyepiece
Places are limited by how many people fit around three telescopes. Tell us which night and how many of you there are; a person replies within [set your reply window] with the gate code and a map pin.
08 / Dispatch
Asked at the gate, most nights
We make the call by 16:00 on the day and post it here and by email. Your place moves to the next night automatically, and you keep your position in the queue.
No. Bring eyes. If you do own something and cannot get it working, bring that too and somebody will collimate it for you between objects.
Yes, from about [set your minimum age]. The field is genuinely dark and the ground is uneven, so keep them within arm's reach. Ladders are for adults only.
[set your price] for non members. Every membership tier includes all six nights, so if you are coming to more than two it is cheaper to join. Nobody is turned away for money; say so and we will sort it.
A person, not a queue robot, replies within [set your reply window] with the gate code, a map pin, and a note about what will be up that night. Nothing reaches our servers: the form composes an email from your own device, and the draft your browser keeps while you type is wiped the moment it sends.