Elan Valley Sun Fun day

Overview

This was our first outreach event for the 2022-2023 society. Planned by Physoc committee members and Aberystwyth universities physics department. In this event, President Luke Pearson brought his meteorites for a Physoc stand to show members of the public. Throughout the day members of Physoc kindly volunteered to take turns attending the stand and showing them to the public and answering their questions. A minibus arranged by Vice president Kieran Norton-Walder was driven by Shaun Thomas Edward Donnelly to take us to Elan valley for the event. We all had to be up early for this as we had to leave the university campus at 8:10am so we could get to Elan valley before the eclipse started and set up the telescopes we borrowed from the physics department.

Arriving at Elan Valley

We arrived at Elan Valley at around 9:30am. We took a quick look around the visitor centre area, most members began to play on the playground whilst Lawrence and myself attempeted to walk towards the nearby dam only to be met with a locked gate and a sign saying the footpath was closed due to a rockfall. After this we all hung around on the playground for ten minutes or so before heading inside to unpack our equipment. Incluidng telescopes and our meteorite stand. 

By this time it was around 9:55am. The solar eclipse was due to start in ten minutes and so we decided to begin our observations before we set up the meteorites. 

Picture (1) Secretary Alessandra Birch posing in front of the dam.

.

Picture (2) A river flowing through the valley.

The Partial solar eclipse

We began setting up the telescopes just when the moon began touching the suns disk. Members of Physoc (myself included) used my Solar binoculars to view the moon as it began eclipsing the sun. The area where we set up our telescopes was a car park, just next to the visitor centre. We had to climb the hills foot path located just next to these telescopes to observe the sun, due to the sun just barley being visible above an opposite hill. It was only when we reached halfway up this path that we could see the sun, with the moon taking the slightest bite from the suns disk. Our first picture taken of the eclipse was at 10:17am (8 mins into the eclipse). 

We stook around the area for a while, with the Solar binoculars being passed around members of the society and the public. Once the sun had rose up from behind the hill from the car parks viewpoint we finished setting up the borrowed Hydrogen alpha telescopes (Coronado Personal solar telescope/ PST). We managed to get around 5 minutes of observing before clouds rolled in and put a stop to our fun. In this time however, a few members of the public and Physoc were able to glimpse at the Sun in Hydrogen alpha, most likely for the first time in their life. 

Looking at the sun in hydrogen alpha allows you to see the otherwise invisible Chromosphere. This is the second layer of the Suns' atmosphere and has much more activity to see. During our short time viewing the sun, we managed to see a couple prominences opposite where the moon was. This was my first time seeing the sun in Hydrogen Alpha light and I was blown away by just how red it looked. It might sound silly, but seeing the sun so uniformaly red and smooth was definitly not what I was expecting! Knowing the prominences we saw as little spikes poking out of the sun were larger than the earth was incredibly moving for us. 

Picture (3/4) The eclipse taken with my Iphone 8 and Clestron 60mm "sunoculars" 15 minutes appart.  Picture (5) Brad Ramsey setting up the Coronado PST whilst I (red) stare into Alessandras' camera, with Physoc members in the background on the hill watching the eclipse through the binoculars.

Wondering around Elan Valley

Whilst 2 members stayed at the stand to share the meteorites with the public, other members wondered around the Valley to admire the scenery. Members seemed to love the place and admired its breathtaking views. Here are some pictures taken by Physoc member Rania:

Pictures (6,7,8) showing some amazing views of the dam and the valley. Picture (9) shows a rainbow appearing over a stone monument at the visitor centre. 

Meteorites

During this outreach event, I was invited to bring my meteorite collection in to show the public. Physoc had a stand upon which the meteorites lay, available for the public to walkpast and gaze upon. Physoc members were there to share our knowlage about how these meteorites formed and to show the public their incredible qualities, such as Olivine crystals in Pallesites and Fussion crusts on stony irons. Throughout the day we had a steady stream of public viewers gazing upon them with awe, from little children to elderly people. Everyone seemed to enjoy them and seemed very pleased with the information given to them. The crowd favorite was the Pallesite. 

Picture (10) Meteorites on dsplay. Pleasing to eveyone who came to see them!

Picture (11) The Pallesite. A crowd favourite due to the yellow Olivine crystals imbedded within the iron matrix.

Presentations 

At the end of the event, our society had a couple talks about things that interest us about Astronomy. We had two talks, given by Luke Pearson and Lawrence Pridgent. Luke gave his talk about meteorites, whereas Lawrence opted for a talk about Mars and the potential of life existing on the red planet. The talks went very well and were recived in high spirits by those who attended. 

 Picture (12) Luke Pearson giving his talk about "meteorites and their classifications". Sadly, no photos exist of Lawrences' talk, however it was amazing!

Final remarks

Overall, our first outreach event as a society this year went amazingly well! Members of the public really enjoyed seeing the eclipse through our telescopes and binoculars and they loved seeing our meteorites. I was very pleased with how well recived eveything was, the event was planned very well by our commitee and physics department. I want to thank everyone who attended the event, and everyone who helped out during the event, as well as Elan valley for hosting us!