Weather report said it would be only partly cloudy!
On Friday 20 October 2023, we had the Orionid meteor shower watch on the AstroTurf, at William Perkin. The Orionids are dust grains derived from no other than Haileys comet! As the dust grains burn into the upper layers of our atmosphere, in real time, we see a streak of light! It was set to be a partly clear night, so that we could see lots of meteors, however it ended up being cloudy with a few gaps in the cloud. We saw Jupiter, positioned Uranus nearby (which was not visible without a telescope), and some stars.
Once the astronomy lesson was over, the students then laid down to watch the sky, to spot any Orionid meteors. A few students ( and Ms, Kapila) said they saw a meteor, When the clouds gather, you can still see some flashes of light behind the clouds at times, which indicates the fact that meteors are actually shooting through the sky, but you can't always see the actual meteors themselves. During the middle of the watch, we gave out some Christmas hot chocolate to the students (which was not everyone's cup of tea!), but they all seemed to enjoy themselves. Thank you to Mr Aldridge, Ms.Krishnan and Reverend Christopher Ramsay (WP's first Chair of Governors), for their time and support, accompanying us on the trip, I couldn't do it without them. Can't wait for next year!!!
Clear Skies everyone!
Ms Kapila
Science Teacher and Leader of Elite Scientists
