September 2024 | Elan Valley

Elan Valley Trust Survey

Sam Price — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 11:55:25 +0000

The Elan Valley Trust is responsible for managing a significant land holding, which includes several holiday cottages, two bothies and Cwm Clyd – a bunkhouse.

We want to hear your views on the ongoing use of Cwm Clyd as visitor accommodation.

We would be grateful if you could complete this short survey by 30th September 2024:

Elan Valley Trust Survey

The post Elan Valley Trust Survey appeared first on Elan Valley.

Peatland Restoration Project Volunteer Opportunity

Sam Price — Sat, 31 Aug 2024 10:25:27 +0000

Peatlands are wet areas of land that are essential to the Earth’s ecosystem. The waterlogged areas prevents plants from fully decomposing, creating some of the most carbon-rich areas on Earth; even more than our forests. These vital areas capture and stores CO2, cooling our ever-warming climate. Unfortunately, in the Elan Valley, most of our land comprises peat; some of it is in a bad condition and we need your help to restore this precious resource.

We are trialling a few different methods to slow water flow and trap sediment from peat erosion on two blanket bog sites where peat cutting has occurred. The idea is to see what land managers can do on a small scale with local materials, where use of machinery is impractical. The desired outcome is wetter bog areas, with colonisation of sphagnum mosses, and reduced Molinia dominance.

This project will span 5 weeks, you are welcome to join us for any or all of the volunteer days.

The sessions will all run from 10am-3pm.

The dates are:

• 12th September – Wool Bund Creation

• 19th September – Site 1 Molinia Bales Installation

•26th September – Site 1 Molinia Bales Installation

•3rd October – Site 2 Molinia Bales and Wool Bunds Installation

• 10th October – Site 2 Molinia Bales and Wool Bunds Installation

We believe that it shouldn’t cost you anything to volunteer. We pay volunteer travel expenses at 45p / mile each way and we can reimburse lunch purchases up to £5 (receipt required).

To sign up for a volunteering opportunity or for more information please contact us.

The post Peatland Restoration Project Volunteer Opportunity appeared first on Elan Valley.

Eyes on the Night Sky – September 2024

Sam Price — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 12:35:33 +0000

Welcome to this month’s update to what’s in the night sky for September.

This is a great time of year to stargaze as you don’t have to wait until very late for true darkness to fall where you can study star clusters, nebulae and galaxies at their best.

Darkness falls at around 10.10pm at the beginning of the month and 8.50pm at the end.

At 10pm, the constellations that are dominant in the southern night sky during September are Cygnus, which is well-placed, Lyra, Aquila, which lies at the eastern side of the Milky Way and Sagittarius and its famous teapot asterism, which lies low on the horizon.

Hercules and Ophiuchus marches westwards and Boötes with its bright star Arcturus begins to set.

The New Moon occurs on 3^rd September and the Full Moon on 17^th September.

Planets

Saturn will be in opposition on 8^th September, which means that if you draw an imaginary line from the Sun that runs through the Earth, Saturn is also on that line with the Earth in between. This happens about once a year as the planets orbit the Sun. Saturn is a great planet to observe during this time, as it appears at its brightest and largest.

By the end of September, Jupiter will be well placed in the night sky to study. Look for the Jovian Moons and opportunities to study the cloud bands on the surface of the planet. Take some time to observe, as there will be times when the atmosphere stills and you get a brief glimpse of whorls and the bands in great detail.

Fans of the ice giants Neptune and Uranus will get the opportunity to study them this month, as they will be also well-placed. Neptune will be at opposition on 21^st September. They will appear like steady, nebulous dots of blue/green. Anyone with larger telescopes above 10 inches of aperture may be able to spot Triton, Neptune’s largest of its 16 moons.

Partial Lunar Eclipse

On 18^th September there will be a partial lunar eclipse. The Moon will move into the penumbral shadow at around 1.41am – this is the outer shadow of the Earth as it gradually moves into a position where it is between the Moon and the Sun.

The Moon moves into the umbral shadow at around 3.13am, with the greatest point of the eclipse occurring at 3.44am. This will be visible – clear skies permitting! – as the umbral (inner shadow) is darker and the Moon will appear to have a bite taken out of it in the upper western limb. The Moon leaves the penumbral shadow at 4.16am and the penumbral at 5.47am.

Blue Snowball Nebula

RA | 23h 27m 05s
Dec | +42° 40’ 14”

This month, we have set an interesting challenge for observers to find. NGC 7662 is more commonly known as the Blue Snowball Nebula.

Located around 2500 light years from Earth, this planetary nebula is caused by a dying star that doesn’t have the mass to explode as a supernova; instead it quietly sheds its outer layers as ionised gas, causing the visually appealing nebula that can often glow bright enough to be seen though telescopes. It glows blue as the gases mostly comprise oxygen. The sketch to the right shows what this nebula could look like though an 8 inch telescope in a very dark sky. The blue hue of this pretty nebula can be seen visually.

It is thought that our own Sun will also end its life as a planetary nebula, as opposed to a spectacular supernova, as is common with much larger stars.

Image credit: Michael Vlasov of www.deepskywatch.com.

You can find this object by locating four constellations: Cassiopeia, Andromeda, Pegasus and Lacerta. Look for the star Caph in Cassiopeia and draw an imaginary line across to the star Scheat in the constellation of Pegasus – The Blue Snowball nebula lies almost in the centre of the line. If you use your finder scope to locate a mini three-star asterism: Lambda Andromedae, Kappa Andromedae and Iota Andromedae, the nebula lies near these stars but once you have used your finder scope to see these stars, you will need to look through your eyepiece to see the nebula pop into view.

The post Eyes on the Night Sky – September 2024 appeared first on Elan Valley.