British Astronomical Association

BAA Out of London Weekend, Isle of Man

Outstanding weekend of astronomy on the IOM

The weekend of the 10-12 September saw what was probably the largest ever gathering of astronomical expertise on the Isle of Man, when the British Astronomical Associations (BAA) "Out of London" took place in the Isle of Man. The BAA is one of the worlds most respected astronomical groups and they were founded over 114 years ago in 1890. Over 3 years ago the Isle of Man Astronomical Society suggested to the BAA that they hold their annual "Out of Town" meeting on the Island and we were delighted that they accepted our invitation.

The weekend started with an outstanding lecture at the Manx Museum by Dr. John Mason who gave a fascinating lecture on the subject of “Cassini at Saturn, The first results”. This was a review of the first 2 months of the Cassini spacecraft, which went into orbit around Saturn on July 1st 2004. Dr Masons talk included some magnificent photographs from Cassini, and he also advised about the 120 or so present of the recently announced discoveries of a new ring and Moon around the planet announced earlier that very day.

On Saturday the lectures included such diverse subjects as Planetary nebulae, The Liverpool Telescope on Las Palma, Esoteric optics, Astronomy from Mann, and Comets of 2004. The final lecture on Saturday evening was one entitled “Songs of the Stars” by Professor Don Kurtz. Professor Kurtz’s talk was one, which introduced to the sounds that Stars make when their seismic activity is recorded. He introduced nearly all present to the subject of asteroseismology and the sounds and science of the subject were quite memorable.

On the Sunday morning the IOM Astronomical Society invited all of the BAA delegates to their observatory at Foxdale and gave all present a chance to see all of the hard work that has taken place at the site since it was built in 1999. The main attraction was of course the dome itself, which houses the 16-inch Meade telescope, which was installed last year. During the tour the BAA delegates were obviously impressed with the premises and in his concluding speech the President of the BAA Tom Boles thanked the IOMAS for their invitation to come to the Island and remarked that the IOMAS Observatory was

“one of the best amateur astronomical observatories in the British Isles and that they had been most impressed with the facilities at the Manx Museum and with the Island in general.”

Some of the visitors then took the opportunity to visit the House of Manannan in Peel to see the “Mann in space” exhibition which features one of the largest samples of moon rock that NASA permit to be loaned out.

IOMAS press officer Howard Parkin said :

"This really was a great honour for us to welcome such a prestigious group to the Island and to be able to show them the high level of interest and enthusiasm that exists for Astronomy on the Isle of Man. We sometimes find it hard to realise just how far we have come since the IOMAS was founded back in 1989"

It was a wonderful opportunity for the Isle of Man to show that it has astronomical facilities to match anywhere else, and all of the visitors expressed the intention of returning on another date to enjoy all that the Island can offer.