Awayday 2023

By Sjef Coolegem

From Tuesday, 19 to Thursday 21 September the Association had its Away Days at the Masia La Torre Hotel in Mora de Rubielos, Teruel. The organization was in the most capable hands of our President and Secretary.

Unfortunately, the weather had different plans than we had as the sky was cloudy the first evening. You could see more telescopes on the terrace, than stars in the sky ………… But the President had prepared a plan B and that was a discussion about whether it makes sense to send men and women to the Moon and/or Mars?

David gave a most informative introduction to the subject in which he emphasized the political aspect of the race to go the moon in the sixties in the last century.

Some of the participants were of the opinion that mankind will always try to explore its environment and the world around him/her. Others were of the opinion that we would be better focusing on the problems we have on the earth itself: climate change and overpopulation. But there were also participants that feared that our civilization here on earth would not survive and that we had to explore settlements on other places in the universe.

On Wednesday morning every participant or couple went their own way. Some went shopping, others discovered a nearby golf course or went for a walk around one of the reservoirs (Spanish: embalses) in the area, went to visit Teruel or a village in the area.

Embalsa de los Tosquillas

View over Cabra de Mora

In the afternoon we looked at the sun spots and other phenomena on the sun, using a Coronada telescope especially designed for viewing the sun, and a normal telescope fitted with a special sun filter.

After dinner the second evening the sky was very clear. We observed stars, clusters, planets and galaxies.

The later the evening the clearer the sky. A variety of instruments were used. We had 3 astro photographers. I played with my new toy, the Unistellar telescope that doesn’t have a conventional eyepiece, but collects the light of the target object and allows any number of people using their phones or tablets to see the image at the same time. We also had available a pair of binoculars in combination with a mirror to sit comfortably at a table and avoid getting a pain in your neck for the sometimes difficult positions one has to take to see the stars through an eyepiece or with hand held binoculars.

We counted the moons of Saturn, and saw the bands on Jupiter. The Unistellar telescope showed nice pictures of the Ring Nebula, the Dumbell galaxy and the Cigar galaxy.

But by lying in a lounge chair one did not need a telescope or binoculars to be amazed, impressed and enjoy the wonderful view of the sky above us. As someone remarked: our eyes are receiving the photons of the stars and galaxies that were sent to us many years ago. Some from the time we were at elementary school, some when Napoleon conquered Europe and others when the earth was just born.

It makes you realize that when watching the millions of stars and galaxies there might be other civilizations on the many exoplanets that there are in the cosmos.

As usual the meals were excellent and the staff of the hotel and restaurant were most pleasant. The meals always provide a good opportunity to socialize and to get to know the other participants better. Stargazing is always a rewarding thing to do, but to do it in a group of like-minded enthusiastic friends gives it an extra dimension.