Corona Virus COVID-19 Update
We continue to meet every week on zoom, normally for a 1hr professional lecture followed by society chat/presentations. We are also active informally on email – WhatsApp – Twitter – and of course here on the website – New members welcome!
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Competition: Image the Trapezium
In this competition we are looking for images of the Trapezium at the heart of M42, the great Orion nebula. We normally think of the Trapezium as 4 stars but in large telescopes you can make out other stars, so all you need to do is submit an image of the Trapezium with more than 4 stars.
Sounds simple, but the main 4 stars of the trapezium are bright making it difficult to resolve the other stars.
This is possible in an 8″ telescope – possibly smaller.
Tips:
- use lucky imaging with short exposures.
Images by Simon Dawes
Image by Simon Dawes EQ6 Pro, MN190mm, ZWO ASI1600, 500x 0.5s exposures. THIS IMAGE IS DISQUALIFIED FROM THE COMPETITION – SIMON IS THE JUDGE!
Images by Richard Bohner
Here is a photo of Trapezium cluster I took a few weeks ago with my iPhone through my 102mm Maksutov scope. I think the magnification is about 100X. Don’t know ISO because it was taken with phone camera. You can see five stars. I plan to take out my bigger scope and try again. “Cheers”
Sir Patrick Moore Prize
Congratulations to our very own Rita Whiting for being awarded the Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Astronomy outreach, Rita does so much for our society and outreach with local groups over such a long period of time this is a well deserved award. Well done Rita!
Dartford Grammar School Astronomy Club – Virtual Observing Session
Our society currently supports the Dartford Grammar School Astronomy Club, and on the 25th January 2021 we held a virtual observing evening using Simon’s observatory.
The students really enjoyed the evening
‘The boys from last night have been on the google classroom leaving you rave reviews’
‘Last night blew their minds! They loved it.’
Image by Simon Dawes & Dartford Grammar School Astronomical Society
Image by Simon Dawes & Dartford Grammar School Astronomical Society
Image by Simon Dawes & Dartford Grammar School Astronomical Society
Lunar Halo/Corona Competition
Lunar Halo Competition As the name suggests, take an image of a Lunar Halo. Rules: Whilst the points awarding is somewhat ambiguous I’ll be looking for the following… Technically a good image (in focus) Well composed Other points of interest (foreground or...
The BAA Winchester Weekend comes to Crayford (hopefully)
Correction: It’s not a weekend (just Saturday Afternoon) and it’s not at Crayford (it’s at the Pavilion Sutton-at-Hone). The BAA are running a virtual ‘Winchester Weekend’ – and COVID Restrictions permitting (i.e. restrictions and social distancing in...
Best Meteors of 2020
Almost 2000 meteors were detected in 2020, we would have had quite a few more but for the cloudy skies in August that limited the view of the Perseid’s in...
December 2020Meteor report
December was particularly cloudy, but we still manage to detect 288 meteors, 115 from the Geminid meteor shower....
Sun spots! 2020-12-27
Images by Honor...
ISS transit of the Sun
Honor recently took this video of a transit of the Sun by the ISS, something she has been attempting for 10...
The Great Conjunction of 2020
Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions happen every 20 years (the last one in 2000.) however this particular conjunction will be especially close – the closest since 1623 and the closest observable since 1226! Don’t worry, if you miss it there is another close...