Are you fascinated by the stars, meteors, the aurora borealis? The Orwell Astronomical Society founded in the late 1960s at the height of the ‘space-race’ offers an opportunity to develop a passion for astronomy. As a registered charity (no. 271313) it exists to promote the science of astronomy in Suffolk. This is done by organising meetings and running occasional night, and sometimes day, observing sessions.
The society has done a great deal of work to uncover the astronomical history of Suffolk and the work of a number of amateur astronomers whose influence on science has been profound.
The Orwell Park Observatory
Thanks to the eccentric Colonel George Tomline (1813–1889), Ipswich has an observatory.
Tomline was elected to Parliament for the constituency of Sudbury (Suffolk) in 1840. During a period out of office, Tomline purchased Orwell Park estate from Sir Robert Harland for £102,500 in 1848. He subsequently demolished part of the mansion house and replaced it with the beautiful red-brick structure that stands nowadays. A bachelor his whole life, Tomline liked to entertain weekend guests at Orwell Park and kept a steam yacht moored at the bottom of the gardens for their use. He was fabulously wealthy and built the Felixstowe branch railway entirely from his own pocket.
His interest in the sciences encompassed astronomy, which was at the time was a very fashionable and a rapidly advancing science. In the early 1870s, during a major extension to Orwell Park mansion, he indulged his interest by commissioning the Orwell Park Observatory. His enormous wealth enabled him to demand the best, including employing a professional astronomer, John Isaac Plummer (1845–1925).
The telescope
Central to the Grade II Listed observatory is a refracting telescope that dates from 1874. It was impressive for its age, boasting a ten-inch (250mm) aperture and a 3.9m focal length. The telescope sits on a German equatorial mount. This means it can reach all points of the sky and needs only a single motor to drive it as it tracks objects as they move across the sky.
The society assists Orwell Park School (the current owners) in maintaining and operating its historic observatory. Much of our early work was in renovating the telescope after a period of several decades of neglect.
Suffolk’s amateur astronomers
The society continues to encourage astronomers to follow in the footsteps of past influential Suffolk astronomers. Alice Grace Cook (1877–1958), a lady of leisure, discovered Nova Aquilae in 1918 and was one of the first women to be made a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. So accomplished an amateur astronomer was Cook that she taught John Philip Manning Prentice (1903–81) astronomy. Prentice, another amateur, was a key member of Sir Bernard Lovell’s team of (professional) scientists. Their work together led to Lovell building Jodrell Bank – in its day, the largest radio telescope on earth.
Roland Clarkson (1889–1954) ‘the Trimley Moon Man’ is another. Clarkson had a particular interest in the Moon and was a prolific contributor to lunar studies and mapping the surface.
The Orwell Astronomical Society
In addition to weekly meetings at Orwell Park Observatory, the society meets in the Village Hall in Newbourne twice a month. Membership is open to all. We have around one hundred paid-up members, whose annual subscriptions help fund our activities.
Members’ images of deep sky and solar system objects are published both on our website and in an emailed monthly newsletter. We have a library and a collection of instruments available for loan to members.
One of our members has a slot on a local community radio station where he discusses what can be seen in the night sky each month. Our WhatsApp and Facebook groups enable the rapid dissemination of information, for instance when there is a display of the aurora borealis (northern lights). This has been particularly useful over the past year or so, when, due to significant activity on the Sun, these displays have been unusually strong and numerous.
We have an ‘eclipse chaser’ in our midst who regularly travels the world to record total solar eclipses. These spectacular events, which occur when our Moon completely obscures the Sun, are still the only chance ground-based astronomers get to observe the Sun’s corona or atmosphere.
The corona image shows the Sun’s “atmosphere”, which cannot normally be seen because of the glare form the photosphere. The ray structure that can be seen in the corona is caused by the solar magnetic field lines attracting the charged material or plasma being emitted by the Sun. The diamond ring image shows the last vestige of sunlight before it is totally masked by the Moon. You can also see some activity in the the Sun’s chromosphere around the “diamond and opposite it. These are flares or eruptions on the solar surface.
Want to know more?
Our lecture meetings are open to the public, with nationally known amateur and professional astronomer speakers.
During the winter months we hold monthly ‘taster evenings’. Visitors are invited to tour the Orwell Park Observatory and learn about the various forms of telescope available. If the weather is clear you may even have a chance to view a celestial object using Colonel Tomline’s Telescope.
More information about The Orwell Astronomical Society’s event may be found here. All are welcome.
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