- OMG Mommy 🔭 I just Saw An Alien: Stargazing & Wine With Telescopes👽Camden Town, London
Ever glanced up at the sky and marvelled with insatiable curiosity at the wonder of the universe - our place in it, how life began on our planet, what else is out there, how insignificant Earth is (in the pic - each is a real galaxy eqv to a sand grain capture of the sky by JWST), and where in the cosmos other civilizations might live?
Then RSVP to view the breath taking rings of Saturn, the international space station fly by, the potential life harbouring moons of Jupiter, the Tau Ceti star system with 2 Earth like planets orbiting in the habitable zone that may support life as we know it plus a range of other fascinating celestial wonderments (star systems, galaxies, asteroids) over drinks and conversation this March.
I'm able to take a limited number of people (please only RSVP if you can make it) to join my friendly informal relaxed London amateur astronomers' group that I have been a member of for over a decade with their regulars made up of to about 100 people.
Over the years we have enjoyed numerous evenings of stargazing and chatter with people of all ages and varying levels of astronomy knowledge - so complete beginners that are genuinely curious are very welcome! The world renowed famous BBC Television Sky at Night also attended events pre covid and interviewed some of the key regulars for it's show that aired on BBC1 in Feb 2019. BBC **Radio London (**94.9 FM or digital) were there Aug 2023 at the meteor shower broadcasting live to millions of Londoners for 3 hours!
You don't need a telescope as you will be able to view through scopes belonging to me and other club members (as long as you behave responsibily and don't temper with fragile equipment). If you have your own telescope/binoculars feel free to bring along and I can help you with setting up if you're a newbie.
In between observing we'll have a drinks and engaging chats on all astronomy related topics for those inclined (astrobiology, SETI/Femi Paradox, astrophysics, cosmology etc.) as well as everyday non space topics and banter. No doubt we'll hear the usual jokes I've heard hundreds of times before!
As there will be people from the Astronomers group so total attendies will be far higher than what you see here! In combination with the Astronomers group we expect about 100 people but we need to confine numbers to this ball point.
Alcoholic beverage (wine, beer, cider only), hot drinks and food/snacks will be available to purchase at the observation point/warm indoor cafe with seating area and outside (glass) view of the park.
====ITINERARY=====
Meet outside Camden Station, on the high street side (not Kentish Town) After a short wait for anyone delayed, I will escort everyone to the observation point in the park 5 minutes away.===What Can You Expect To See (this time of year)? ====
- Orion Nebula
- Jupiter and 4 moons
- Geminid Meteor Shower
- Andromedia Galaxy
- Saturn & rings
- Star clusters such as The Owl Cluster, pleiades etc
- International Space station fly by
- Venus & Mercury
- Binary & tripple star systems (think planet Tatooine in Starwars!),
- Neptune
- Uranuus
- Mars
- Our moon
More here from Jodrell Bank Observatory/Astrophysics Centre:
http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/astronomy/nightsky/Guide to viewing the cosmos for beginners:
https://phys.org/news/2018-05-universe-distant-starstips-cosmology-backyard.html#jCp===Weather=====
The event is subject to clear skies forecasts on the night so if on the actual afternoon of the event the weather forecasts looks unsuitable beyond doubt then I will postpone so please check the event status on the day of the event . If this event is still listed here at 5PM on the day, it will be going ahead at the designated day and time!Happy Stargazing!
Lucas Skywalker (Amateur Astronomer)