On Saturday evening HCO welcomed our first small group of residents from Hanwell village, our next step to bringing the 30″ reflecting telescope into greater public use.

The weather was kind with a clear sky overhead and the group were able to enjoy fine views of the Moon, Jupiter and the Orion Nebula, over a couple of hours, with pleasing views of each but with most of the “Wow” moments reserved for Jupiter. 

Thank you to our visitors for taking part and our HCO volunteer hosts. We hope everyone enjoyed their evening and we look forward to welcoming our next group of visitors before too long.

The images of the moon and Jupiter were taken by Amy Charles, one of our visitors at the eyepiece. The photos of the telescope and visitors were taken by Derek Adams.

This photograph shows the HCO 30 inch telescope bathed in a gentle red glow. This comes from a series of red LED lights placed around the telescope because the naked eye is not sensitive to red light, unlike white light which damages the essential dark adaption for star gazing. It also addresses the safety of viewers on the site.  Member Rob Sayer made and fitted the lights.

The photograph was taken by Dave Rose, on Sunday 22 February 2026 using a long exposure feature on his mobile phone.

Hanwell Community Observatory (HCO) wants to say a huge thank you to all those who visited for the re-launch of our annual Stars and Snowdrops event. It was great to welcome back those who have waited patiently for the reopening and to meet those who had never been before. We hope that you enjoyed all aspects of the visit.

It is, of course, a lot of work to put these events on but it is entirely worth while thanks to all of you. It was, personally, very hard to do this for the first time without Christopher but I know that he would have been thrilled by the turnout. And the funds raised will be used to support the work of the observatory and of the Archaeology. Do let us know if you are interested either in joining the HCO group and its outreach work or in arranging your own star gazing party – minimum of ten visitors. 

We shall be open again the 19^th and 20^th September when we shall be playing host to the Sealed Knot and the seventeenth century Living History event. There will be craft stalls all the way up the drive, another pop up museum and music from the period, as well as tea and cake. The garden looks very different of course in the early autumn but you may be interested to enjoy it at another time of year.

On behalf of us all, we look forward to welcoming you again.

Rowena E Taylor