British Triumph

It is reliably rumoured that for the first time since the demise of William Hershel's pet cat, a British Amateur Star Party actually occurred on a night when the sky was clear and celestial objects to as low as magnitude 3.0 were observable with the naked eye. This earth shattering event will certainly spark a special edition of New Scientist, while knighthoods for the entire staff of the weather bureau cannot be ruled out.

We are told that the event was such a sensation that several veteran amateurs had to be shown by vendors how to insert eyepieces in their telescopes, while all had to be reminded to remove the end caps from their optical tube assemblies - most had assumed the caps were some protective optical coating.

Alas, many optics were found to have totally deteriorated with time, fungus, dry rot etc. Debate is now raging on whether to wait another 142 years for like conditions, or to join similarly afflicted German amateurs in a joint star party in Namibia, or even far off Australia.

However, the shock of actually observing through their telescopes is said to have sent several amateurs temporarily blind, and to have caused them to order heavy duty neutral density filters in case of a repeat performance. Four will make a decision on whether to continue in the hobby after their release from therapy.