A GRAND DAY OUT – THE NORMAN LOCKYER OBSERVATORY
A couple of months ago I celebrated my seventieth birthday (eeek…) and my hubby suggested a special outing to mark the occasion. He had recently gone with a party to the Norman Lockyer Observatory in Sidmouth and knew I would enjoy it, so he arranged for us to go. Because this is a working observatory it is not open to the public all the time, but periodically they hold open days and you can book to go then. We had to wait a couple of months for the next available one.
It was the most fantastic afternoon out. The only fly in the ointment was the weather – by the time we got there it was foggy and pouring with rain so we had to dash between the various domes housing the telescopes. However, the weather was not enough to dampen my enthusiasm for the outing, and we were further blessed by having our lovely next-door-neighbour along. She is on her own and always enjoys a good day out if we are going somewhere fun.
We had a damp and chilly picnic lunch on the sea front at Sidmouth. What a difference a bit of sunshine would have made, but it was good to get the sea air.
Arriving at the observatory
You can see how awful the weather was! None of the more distant domes were visible at all from the entrance!
On entering we were welcomed by quite an army of volunteers who work there for the sheer love of it. They are all keen astronomers of one kind or another, and everyone was very helpful and willing to answer any questions we might have.
In the entrance foyer
I did my best with my photos, but the lighting wasn’t easy, and there were reflections to be dealt with as well.
In the foyer there was quite a display of artefacts including photographs, pieces of equipment, clocks and historical objects. Norman Lockyer was a prominent Victorian astronomer who is famous for having discovered the element helium, and also founding the now prestigious scientific journal “Nature.”
A beautiful orrery showing the movement of the planets around the sun.
In the corner behind the reception desk was a fabulous lamp surrounded by wall painting to represent the sun. It was only later that I noticed the planets! They were suspended from the ceiling in order, going outwards from the sun – you can see Mercury in this photo.
One of the display cases containing some historic artefacts, photos and literature.
Siderial clock.
Anoher display case, containing a bust of Norman Lockyer.
Bound early editions of the publication “Nature” at the bottom of the display case.
Miniature sundials.
A framed image from the Hubble telescope. The reflection was very bad in this photo, which is a shame.
Mond Astrograph Control Clock.
The legend explaining the Mond Astrograph Control Clock.
Astro compass.
The lecture theatre
After we had had a chance to look at the displays in the entrance foyer, we were invited into the lecture theatre for a talk on the observatory, illustrated by a series of slides. I photographed a selection of these.
Some biographical details of Norman Lockyer.
Our guide spoke at length about noctilucent clouds (a passion of his) – something I had not heard of before. They are visible in the summer just after sunset and are formed in the upper atmosphere around minute particles of dust. Unlike normal clouds which appear dark at this time of day, they are a beautiful electric blue.
He explained that they often form these beautiful ripple patterns, like the ripples on the sand caused by waves of the sea.
He spoke quite a bit about the amazing images produced by the Hubble Telescope, and the even more detailed and stunning images produced by the recent James Webb Telescope.
Much of what we saw and heard today refreshed my memory of all the things my dad taught me. He was a keen amateur astronomer, and when I was still living at home, he often used to get me up in the middle of the night to go star-gazing on the lawn – Mum used to wake up and tell us to be quiet!! One of the things he got me up to watch was the Perseid Meteor Shower – it must have been in the late 1960s or early 1970s. It was pretty impressive.
The final slide of the talk which lasted approximately half an hour. You can see a couple of views of the observatory campus.
The planetarium
After this, we went into the planetarium. This is the planetarium projector. It was the only photo I managed to get in there; I did try to take some when the show began but there wasn’t enough light to take a good photo, and he asked me to turn off my phone as it was producing too much light.
When we went in, he gradually dimmed the background lighting to give our eyes time to accommodate. The first part of the display was Sidmouth just after sunset; around the base of the dome was a silhouette of landmarks from where we were sitting, including a long flat area representing the sea. As the lights dimmed, we saw the moon, and Venus, before the stars began to emerge.
I remember Dad taking me to the London Planetarium many years ago, and I got the same impression here – it was so realistic that one soon completely lost any sense of a projection on the inside of a dome; the sky seemed to leap into three dimensions and it was stunningly beautiful.
On many occasions when we lived in a country village with no street lights, and were coming home after an evening out, my hubby would scuttle into the house, but I would want to stand and look up at the miriads of stars. It is the most beautiful and awe-inspiring sight in the world as one is overcome by the vastness of the universe and the majesty of God’s creation.
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. (Psalm 19:1).
During the lecture, we were told of the vast number of galaxies, each containing billions of stars, which had sprung into view with the advent of the Hubble and James Webb telescopes, hitherto completely unknown. The vastness of it is incomprehensible. In the Creation account in the Bible, in Genesis chapter 1:
Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. (Genesis 1:14-16a)…
…there follows, in the second half of verse 16, a little throw-away line:
“He made the stars also.”
This always completely blows me away. In addition, in Psalm 147 verse 4, we read:
“He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name.”
In our limited capacity, we cannnot conceive the impossible number of the stars, but God knows them all and has named each one. If He is capable of this, then surely He is more than capable of dealing with my petty little problems.
To look at the majesty of the heavens on a clear dark night, brings me to the point where I am “lost in wonder, love and praise,” to quote the old hymn.
To return to our observatory visit, the planetarium display continued with a description of the heavens in the Northern Hemisphere, with instructions on how to locate the Pole Star which remains almost motionless and has for centuries been an aid for navigation. We saw the constellations and learnt a little Greek mythology along the way. We saw the Milky Way (our own local galaxy) and saw how the panoply of stars seems to move across the heavens from our point of view, when of course it is we who are moving and not they.
He rotated us right down into the Southern Hemisphere and we saw our familiar constellations, and the North Star, vanish below the horizon, and were shown the famous constellation of the Southern Hemisphere, the Southern Cross, and how to line it up with another constallation to locate an area of space which for them is as stationary as the Pole Star, although it is not marked by any particular star. This is the aid for navigation south of the Equator.
Returning to our own hemisphere, as the show came to an end, we saw the sun rise, and then we were free to go.
The only problem was that sitting in normal seats, one got a gynormous crick in the neck trying to see all of this! I think I am right in saying that the London Planetarium now has reclining seats, which would be a lot more comfortable. Still, this was a very small price to pay for a stunning display.
The Technology Centre
After the plantetarium display, we were taken to the Technology Centre where they track meteors and other heavenly bodies.
The telescopes
After this, we were taken on a tour around the campus (in the pouring rain and hardly able to see a few feet in front of us!) to visit the various domes housing the telescopes.
The amazing structure of one of the domes.
My final telescope photo was taken looking at the length of this monster!
We were told that it weighed several tons. All of the telescopes were mounted in such a way that it was easy to manoeuvre them into position; the motion was very smooth and counter-balanced, but he said one had to handle them with care because of the inertia created by the sheer weight and bulk of them. Manipulating the domes was much harder work, he said; there were ropes and pulleys and it took a lot of effort to move them into place! He didn’t open any of the shutters for us because he said we’d be soaked with the rain if he did!
In one of the domes, there was a collection of amazing drawings of the surface of Mars from the Victorian era. (Apologies for the reflections!)
In one of the domes, someone had done a series of wall drawings depicting the various constellations. I thought this artwork was fantastic – each image was simply bursting with life!
There is a certain amount of damage to the walls, and we were told that this was going to be repaired, and somehow they would try to preserve these beautiful drawings.
At the end of the tour, our guide showed us an example of a telescope drive mechanism that they are working on. At the right-hand end of the smaller item on the left, you can see a white plastic assembly. He removed this and handed it around; it was a 3-D printed element which had extremely smooth movement. This will be made up in the original material eventually. Precision was certainly the name of the game here; this mechanism enables the telescope to track the movement of the stars to enable observation and photography. He explained that the telescopes were set at a particular angle on their mounts so that only one plane of movement would be required (side to side) – this is the equatorial mount, set at a precise angle which greatly facilitates the tracking of the stars.
On the way out, we were shown a display wall of numerous photographs taken by their members. Some really astonishing images here, taken by amateurs, often with fairly limited equipment set up in their own gardens.
Conclusion
It is a real privilege to have such an important institution virtually on our doorstep. All through the day I was thinking of Dad and how he would have absolutely loved it. Like myself, I don’t think he was aware of its existence.
I am so grateful to my hubby for recommending it after his own prior visit, and for anyone living in the area, or visiting on holiday, it is definitely worth exploring.
I have really only scratched the surface with my account of our visit. You can find more information on their website, and an image search for the Norman Lockyer Observatory will show you better photos than I was able to take.
