Announcements
Come and join CMHASD stargazing at Hall Place & Gardens, Bexley – Wednesday, 5th February 2025 from 7pm.
Join CMHASD for some Stargazing at Hall Place & Gardens on the 5th February 2025.
Advance booking required.
Please note this is a ticket only event organised by Bexley Council.
Tickets can be purchased at: https://www.hallplace.org.uk/event/stargazing-february-2025/
We will be there from 7pm to 9pm. (Doors open from 6.45pm)
Outdoor activities are weather dependant.
Below is a selection of CMHASD photos from previous Stargazing events held at Hall Place.
Congratulations Janice McClean
A huge congratulations to our member Janice McClean on becoming the new president of the British Astronomical Association (BAA). Her appointment was confirmed at the BAA’s AGM meeting on the 30th October 2024.
Gallery
A selection of images, photos and observations taken by CMHASD members
Other Images
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Society News
Thursday 2nd Jan 2025
NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely.
Thursday 2nd January 2025 was a good day & night for Astronomy. Clear views of the Sun during the day and a fantastic clear night. It was also an informal night too for the Society and as the sky was absolutely clear; without no hesitation members got out their telescopes and spent the evening observing the night sky. Below are some of the superb images members took that day and night.
The Sun with lots of sunspots taken by Honor Wheeler
Crescent Moon in the sunset taken by Honor Wheeler
Waxing Crescent Moon & Earthshine by taken Honor Wheeler. The moon was 2.62 days old and 8.35% illuminated.
Crescent Moon by taken by John Archer
Crescent Moon taken by Dr Mike Rushton using a Dwarf II smart scope. 1/30 sec x 20 at gain 0 and no filter.
The Moon & Venus by taken Honor Wheeler (Venus is in the top left corner)
Orion, Jupiter and Mars by taken Honor Wheeler. Mars is left of Orion and Jupiter is above Orion.
Members observing at the Pavilion on the 2nd Jan 2025 taken by Honor Wheeler
The Horsehead Nebula taken by Jim Burchell using a Seestar S50 smartscope. 205 stacked images and processed using the Seestar S50 processing software. The Horsehead Nebula (also known as Barnard 33 or B33) is a small dark nebula in the constellation Orion and is located just to the south of the star Alnitak, the eastern most star of Orion’s Belt,
The Pleiades (also known as the Seven Sisters or Messier 45 is a young open star cluster in Taurus) taken by Diane Clarke taken using a Seestar S50 smartscope. 85 x 30sec exposures, Jpeg stacked using Seestar S50 internal software.
Lunar Corona by Honor Wheeler – 15th Dec 2024
Light cloud passing over the Moon; producing some rather spectacular Lunar Corona were caught on camera by Honor Wheeler on the 15th Dec 2024. One of Honor’s images also made it to the front page on spaceweather.com😁 It was the last Full Moon of 2024 too and known as the ‘Cold Moon’.
Sun & Moon – 14th Dec 2024
NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely.
A stunning set of images of the Sun by Honor Wheeler and a beautiful one of the Moon by Jim Burchell taken on the 14th Dec 2024.
The Sun by Honor Wheeler
Honor said ”I’ve had about 20 mins in-between the cloud to capture the Sun in white light with my ED80 refractor and the Sun in H-alpha. In H-alpha there is a massive prominence visible which took me by surprise when I got the camera on it. Shame I can’t follow the sun for longer as a neighbours tree and cloud are in the way.”
The combined image of the sun; with the H-alpha image inverted and then the white light disc added.
The Moon by Jim Burchell
A very atmospheric photo of a Waxing Gibbous Moon which was 13.58 days old and 99.76% illuminated.
First Quarter Moon by Neil Webster – 6th Jan 2025
A fantastic mosaic image of the Moon taken by member Neil Webster on the 6th Jan 2025. The Moon was 6.85 days old and 47.8% illuminated.
Below are the individual frames from the mosaic.
Neil acquired the images using an AA 115mm apo, EQ6 R, ZWO ASI 290MM, and a Astronomik R/IR filter.
Processed using Firecapture, AutoStakkert, PS, and Microsoft ICE.
8 frames (each 90 x 33fps). 20% selected by AS.
Check out Neil’s flickr page at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/137388222@N05/
IC 410 The Tadpole Nebula and IC 405 The Flaming Star Nebula by Neil Webster – 3rd Jan 2025
A superb image of IC 410 The Tadpole Nebula (left) and IC 405 The Flaming Star Nebula (right) by member Neil Webster taken on the 3rd Jan 2025.
”IC 410 is a cosmic cloud that looks like tadpoles swimming through the cosmos.
IC 410 is located 12,000 lightyears from Earth in the Auriga constellation, and is nicknamed the Tadpole Nebula because of the tadpole-shaped clouds of dark dust that appear to be swimming towards the centre. The Tadpole Nebula is a region of ionised hydrogen gas spanning over 100 lightyears across that’s carved and sculpted by streams of charged particles called stellar winds emanating from open star cluster NGC 1893. NGC 1893 is about 4 million years old: the blink of an eye in cosmic terms. The ‘tadpoles’ that give the nebula its nickname are dense streams of dust and gas about 10 lightyears long that may well be sites of star formation.” Ref: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/astrophotography/nebulae/tadpole-nebula-ic-410
located near the emission nebula IC 410, is IC 405 (also known as the Flaming Star Nebula, SH 2-229, or Caldwell 31). IC 405 is an emission and reflection nebula that surrounds the bluish, irregular variable star AE Aurigae.
Neil acquired his image using a WO GT71 Apo, EQ6 R, ZWO ASI 294MC Pro Optolong L Enhance filter, Astro Essentials 50mm guide scope, and a ZWO ASI 290MM guide camera.
Processed using APT, PHD, Nebulosity and Photoshop.
58 x 240s Subs, 45 x 0.015s Flats/Bias.
Note: Neil suffered a power cut just before taking the Darks so noise reduction was applied liberally.
Check out Neil’s flickr page at https://www.flickr.com/photos/137388222@N05/with/54245664968/ to see a higher resolution image.
CMHASD supporting the BAA at New Scientist Live – ExCel London, October 2024
Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan Atlas by Jim Burchell – Oct 2024
CMHASD Christmas Quiz – 2024
CMHASD members David Grist and Steve Floodgate pulled out all the stops to provide a night of head scratching, puzzlement and fun. Thank you Dave & Steve for all your hard work & effort creating the quiz. It was a great night and we are all looking forward to the next one!
Chairman John Archer wrote ”The Christmas Quiz was a great success – the men in brown coats did a splendid job and there was a very wide range of astronomy-related questions to contend with. Thank you Steve and Dave for the time you put into it, and to those who recorded the questions for those who couldn’t join us on the night.”
Congratulations to Neil Webster for winning the best Christmas jumper 🙂
Congratulations to the winning team ‘Positive Thinking’ 🙂
Aurora – 10/11th October 2024
On the night of the 10/11th October 2024 several CMHASD members all over the UK looked up at the sky and watched in amazement at another Aurora display!!!!
Below is a slideshow of a presentation that CMHASD member Sonia put together showing some of the stunning images members had taken that night. Some of the photographs taken by members show vivid colours but to most naked eye observers the colours were not so obvious due to light pollution.
CMHASD Stargazing at Hall Place, Bexley – Wed 13th Nov 2024
On Wednesday 13th November 2024, CMHASD were back at Hall Place & Gardens to hold a star gazing event from 7pm to 9pm. We had brilliant support from our members who bought along a variety of telescopes, cameras, meteorites and other displays for our guests.
CMHASD Chairman John Archer wrote ”Firstly I wanted to extend my gratitude to everyone who supported our Stargazing event last week. We were extremely lucky that it was dry and mostly clear, albeit with a bit of high level haze, but nothing to prevent observations. We had a wide range of scopes for the public to try for size. Everything from smart scopes, to refractors and a couple of the Society Dob’s. The evening was a sell-out and everyone went away happy. Pretty much everyone had a chance to observe Jupiter (and her moons), Saturn and the Moon, which was eye-wateringly bright of course. The evening went very smoothly, a couple of talks, a smashing comet-making demo (thank you Debra) and lots and lots of Stargazing which seems to be the one thing the visitors were so looking forward to. For everyone who helped – thank you so much. We go again in 2025!”
Our next Star Gazing at Hall Place event is on the 5th February 2025.
Our Sun by Honor Wheeler
NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely.
Three superb images of our active Sun by Honor Wheeler taken on the 27th October 2024 and 11th August 2024 from Dartford. All 3 images consist of a Solar H-alpha image and a White light image overlaid. The 2 images on the 27th are the same; the 1st has just been processed in colour.
27th October 2024
27.10.2024 White light settings:
Canon M6II , ISO200, exp 1/2500sec
Skywatcher ED80 Refractor with Baader White light filter & 2x Barlow.
EQ3 Synscan mount.
H-alpha prominence settings:
Canon M6II & 2x Barlow, ISO200, 1sec
Coronado PST
11th August 2024
11.08.2024 White light settings:
Canon M6II, ISO200, 1/2500sec
Skywatcher ED80 Refractor with Baader White light filter & 2x Barlow.
EQ3 Synscan mount.
H-alpha prominence settings:
Canon M6II & 2x Barlow, ISO200, 1/1sec
Coronado PST
Latest ExoClock Transits
Some more Exoplanet transits for the ExoClock project:
Hunter’s Supermoon – by Honor Wheeler
This is a lovely image of the largest and brightest Full Moon of 2024 that lit up the skies of Earth on the 17th Oct, taken by member Honor Wheeler from Dartford whilst waiting for the comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas to made an appearance. This Full Moon is also known as the Hunter’s Supermoon. October’s full Moon is called the Hunter’s Moon because it occurs when hunters would traditionally have been most active.
”People in the Northern Hemisphere spent October preparing for the coming winter by hunting, slaughtering, and preserving meats, giving this Full Moon its Anglo-Saxon name Hunter’s Moon. The name was added to the Farmer’s Almanac in North America and is used widely today.
Native Americans named this Full Moon after things that happen in the fall, including Drying Rice Moon, Falling Leaves Moon, and Freezing Moon. The Celts used Seed Fall Moon in the same way.
The names Pagan Blood Moon or Sanguine Moon have also been used for this Full Moon. However, these names should not be confused with a Blood Moon—another name for a total lunar eclipse.” Ref:https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/moon/hunters.html
October’s Full Moon was also a Supermoon too.
”Supermoons happen because the moon’s orbit isn’t a perfect circle around Earth but is instead an oval, or ellipse. That means that sometimes our lunar companion is closer to Earth, reaching its closest point to us in what is known as perigee. Other times, it is further away, during what is known as its apogee. When the Moon is close to perigee during a Full Moon, that’s a Supermoon. On Thursday 17th Oct, as the Full Moon rose, the Moon arrived at its closest point to Earth, sitting at just 221,938 miles (357,174 km) away. There have been two Supermoons in 2024 thus far, in August and September, and there will be another in November, but October’s Hunter’s Supermoon will be the biggest and brightest of 2024. That’s because this is the closest occurrence of a perigee to a Full Moon.” Ref:https://www.space.com/hunters-moon-supermoon-2024-photos
Timelapse video of Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas by Honor Wheeler
A superb timelapse video created by Honor Wheeler of Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan – Atlas on the 12th Oct 2024.
Elephant’s Trunk Nebula (IC1396A) – Oct 12th 2024 by Neil Webster
A super image of the Elephant’s Trunk Nebula (IC1396A) taken by member Neil Webster on Oct 12th 2024. The Elephant’s Trunk Nebula is a concentration of interstellar gas and dust within the much larger ionized gas region called IC 1396 which is...
Comet C2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS by Honor Wheeler – 12th Oct 2024
Four members of CMHASD; John Archer, Gary Hunt, Jo Southgate and Honor Wheeler met up at Top Dartford Road at around 18:30 to see if they could spot comet C2023 A3 Tsuchinshan – ATLAS on the 12th Oct 2024. The rain cleared just in time and the sky was...
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) by member Jim Burchell – 15th May 2024
A great image capturing Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) by member Jim Burchell from Swanley. Jim said ‘‘I took this image on the evening of 15th of May when the Comet was in the constellation of Virgo with my Seestar S50. As you see the Comet is...
The Sun by Jim Burchell on the 4th October 2024
NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely. A super image of our Sun taken by member Jim Burchell on the morning of the 4th October 2024. As you can see the Sun was very active with many sunspots including...
Perseid Meteor Watch – 10th/11thAugust 2024
When you sit back to watch the Perseid meteor shower, you’re actually seeing pieces of comet debris heat up as they enter Earth’s atmosphere and burn up in a bright burst of light, streaking a vivid path across the sky as they travel at 37 miles (59...
Shears Green Junior School Cosmic Camp – 27th Sept 2024
On Friday 27th September 2024 several CMHASD members helped out at Shears Green Junior School Cosmic Camp. Chairman John Archer wrote ”First of all I really want to thank all of the team who supported our evening of outreach last Friday 27th. Once...
Super Harvest Moon – 17th September 2024
A superb selection of images taken by members Jim Burchell and Honor Wheeler on the 17th September 2024 of the Super Harvest Moon. Why is this Full Moon called a Super Harvest Moon? ”Supermoons occur at perigee: the point in the Moon’s orbit where it’s...
Crescent Moon & Venus by Richard Bohner
A lovely photo of the crescent Moon and Venus captured by member Richard Bohner from the USA. The single shot photo was taken on 4th September 2024 with a Canon 6D camera and 135mm lens f2.8. ISO 1600 @ 1/30 second exposure from Cottonwood, Arizona,...
The North America Nebula (NGC 7000) & the Pelican Nebula (IC 5070) by Neil Webster
Neil’s first Deep Sky image for 18 months…….The North America Nebula & the Pelican Nebula and what a super image it is! The North America Nebula (NGC 7000) is at the top and the Pelican Nebula (IC 5070) is at the bottom. The North America...
NGC 6992 & NGC 891 by Jim Burchell
Two excellent deep sky images taken by Jim Burchell on the 14th Sept 2024 of NGC 6992 and NGC 891 using his Seestar S50 smartcope. The Veil Nebula is a cloud of heated, ionized gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus. It constitutes the visible portions of...