Announcements

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.

Face-to-Face Meetings Every Thursday

Face to face meetings every Thursday plus we are live on Zoom*

As a courtesy to others please stay at home  and attend via the zoom if  you are feeling unwell – coughs, sniffs and sneezes etc.

* zoom will only be available with the lecturer’s consent.

Gallery

 

Society News

Our Sun by Honor Wheeler

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

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

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 located in the constellation Cepheus; about 2,400 light years away from Earth. The Elephant’s Trunk Nebula is a small part of the much larger IC 1396 emission nebula and can be found on the Western side of the main object.

Neil acquired the image by using a WO GT71 Apo, EQ6 R, ZWO ASI 294MC, Optolong L Enhance filter, Astro Essentials 50mm Guide Scope, and ZWO ASI290MM guide camera.  Processed using APT, PHD, Nebulosity, PS (Camera Raw), and Star X Terminator.

22 x 240s Subs, 12 x Darks, 45 x Flats/Bias.

 

ELEPHANTS TRUNK IC1396 Oct 12th 2024

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 clearing of cloud as they set up. It took about 25 minutes looking but in the end they spotted the comet nucleus with a pair of 8×42 binoculars in the orange glow of the sunset i.e. in the Western sky approx 10 to 20° above the horizon 🙂

Below are some fantastic images of the comet taken by Honor.  These images were also the 1st ones of the comet to be put on the British Astronomical Association (BAA) website – well done Honor!

 

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 showing a small tail….

C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) is a comet from the Oort cloud and was discovered by the Purple Mountain Observatory in China on 9 January 2023 and independently found by ATLAS South Africa on 22 February 2023.

Jim was the 1st member of CMHASD to image the comet – Well done Jim!

Image acquired using a Seestar S50: 48 X 10 second stacked images.

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 sunspot AR3842. The 2nd photo has the sunspots labelled.

Jim wrote ”The images show Sunspot AR3842 which released two X-class solar flares (X7.1 and X9.1) and a series of M-class flares.” 

This means Sunspot AR3842 has produced the strongest solar flare of Solar Cycle 25 so far. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the X9.1-category blast.

Jim acquired his image using a Pentax KP body attached to a 102 mm F11 refactor; 1/320 sec; iso 100 and a Baader Astrosolar Safety film was used.

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 kilometers) per second, according to NASA.  The Perseids result from Earth passing through debris (bits of ice and rock) left behind by the Comet Swift-Tuttle.

Comet Swift-Tuttle was discovered independently by two astronomers, Lewis Swift and Horace Tuttle, in 1862.  Comet Swift-Tuttle is the largest object known to repeatedly pass by Earth; its nucleus is about 16 miles (26 kilometers) wide. It last passed near Earth during its orbit around the sun in 1992, and the next time will be in 2126. 

In 2024 the Perseid meteor shower was active between 17 July and 24 August, with the number of meteors (also known as shooting stars) increasing every night until it reached its peak, after which it then tailed off.  This year the peak was on the night of the 12th and before dawn on 13 August when Earth travelled through the densest and dustiest part of this debris.

So not wanting to miss this annual meteor shower several CMHASD members met at the Pavilion on the night of the 10th/11th August to watch the Perseid meteor shower (The night of the 12th/13th was not chosen simply because of members work commitments on the morning of the 13th).  Members stayed at the pavilion for around 3 1/2 hours (9.30pm to 1am) and during that time around 17 visual sightings were spotted by members.  

Below are some photos taken by member Honor Wheeler of the meteors she caught on camera that night, with another member helping her out by pointing to the 1st meteor that was spotted!

It was a very good night, not too cold, great company and lots of banter & chit chat amongst members.  Some members even took the opportunity to do some deep sky imaging too.

 

There’s one……..

Camera settings:  Canon M6II, Rokinon 14mm lens, ISO1000, f/2.8, exposure between 4sec and 10sec.

Plus; while we were busy watching the meteors at the pavilion the meteor camera was busy too and below is a summary of the meteors the camera picked up on the night of the 10th/11th Aug 2024 which you can download.

Perseids Night of 10-11 August 2024 (1)

For more information about the Perseid Meteor Shower check out https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/perseid-meteor-shower-guide-uk-when-where-to-see

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 again we attended Cosmic Camp at Shears Green Junior School and were greeted by an enthusiastic audience, most of whom managed to observe Saturn, as well as a number of deep sky objects. There were indoor activities run by Rita and Debra, and the pupils were treated to our slideshow of members’ aurora images. Outside there were a range of scopes – Dob’s, a refractor and also Smartscopes, ably demonstrated by our hardy team including Steve, Dave, Andy, Diane, Mike, Jim & co – thank you all so much for giving up your time and getting involved – it was a wonderful and eventually clear night”.

Below are 2 of the images taken by members whilst at the school that the children saw.

M31 by Dr Mike Rushton using a Dwarf II smartscope with no processing.  Stacked image of 200 x 10s exposures at gain 80.

M31 is a barred spiral galaxy and is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way. It is also known as The Andromeda Galaxy, Messier 31 and NGC 224. The galaxy is approximately 765 kpc (2.5 million light-years) from Earth. The galaxy’s name stems from the area of Earth’s sky in which it appears, the constellation of Andromeda. Ref:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andromeda_Galaxy.

 

M27 by Diane Clarke (with the help of Jim Burchell) taken using a Seestar S50. Stacked image of 224 x 10s exposures. Processed using Affinity Photo.

M27 (also known as the Dumbbell Nebula, Apple Core Nebula, Messier 27, and NGC 6853) is a planetary nebula (nebulosity surrounding a white dwarf) in the constellation Vulpecula, at a distance of about 1360 light-years. It was the first such nebula to be discovered, by Charles Messier in 1764. Ref:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumbbell_Nebula.

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 closest to Earth.  A perigee full Moon appears a little brighter and larger than an average full Moon, and is known by some as a ‘supermoon’.  The technical name for a ‘supermoon’ is a perigee syzygy Moon.” Ref:https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/supermoon-what-when-next

Plus Full Moon names reflect the time of year they happen and the Harvest Moon graces the skies in the harvest season in the Northern Hemisphere. The Harvest Moon is also the Full Moon nearest the autumn equinox, which happens around September 22, depending on the year and time zone.

 

Fly me to the Moon by Honor Wheeler

Image taken using a Canon M6II camera, 400mm lens, ISO800, F7.1 and EXP1/800s.

 

Moon with Saturn (Composite image) by Honor Wheeler

Images taken using a Canon M6II camera, 177mm lens, ISO800, F7.1 and EXP1/3s.

 

Super Harvest Moon by Honor Wheeler

Image taken using Canon M6II camera, 400mm lens, ISO800, F7.1 and EXP1/8s.

 

Super Harvest Moon taken by Jim Burchell

This image was taken using a Pentax KP body attached to a 102 mm refactor, F11, 1/80 sec and iso 100.

 

 

Moon & Cloud by Jim Burchell

This is a cropped image. taken using a Pentax KP, F11, 1/125 sec, 300 mm and ISO 100

 

For more information check out https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/supermoon-what-when-next  and https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/moon/harvest.html

The next Supermoon is on Thursday 17th October.

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, USA.

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 Nebula (NGC 7000 or Caldwell 20) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, close to the star Deneb.  It is named the North America Nebula because its shape resembles North America.

”The Pelican Nebula (also known as IC 5070) is an H II region associated with the North America Nebula in the constellation Cygnus. The gaseous contortions of this emission nebula bear a resemblance to a pelican, giving rise to its name. The Pelican Nebula is located nearby first magnitude star Deneb, and is divided from its more prominent neighbour, the North America Nebula, by a foreground molecular cloud filled with dark dust.” Ref:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelican_Nebula

Neil acquired his image on the 27th Sept 2024 using a WO GT71 apo, EQ6-R, ZWO ASI 294MC Pro, Optolong L-Enhance filter, Astro Essentials 50mm guide scope & ZWO ASI 290MM guide camera.

Processed in APT, PHD, Nebulosity, Photoshop and Star Xterminator

38 x 240s Subs, 12 x darks, 45 x flats/bias

For a more detailed view of Neil’s image check out his flicker page at https://www.flickr.com/photos/137388222@N05/54032311437/

The Fireworks Galaxy by Terry Miles

A superb image of the Fireworks Galaxy also known as NGC6946 taken by member Terry Miles on the 10th Sept 2024 using his Seestar S50 smartscope despite some very annoying high thin clouds that would not just go away.  ”The Fireworks Galaxy, is a face-on...

read more

Stunning Sun dogs by Kevin Smith

NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely.   A stunning example of 2 Sun dogs captured by member Kevin Smith whilst on an early morning walk on the 10th Sept 2024. A sun dog is also called a...

read more

The Veil Nebula by Kevin Langford

An absolutely stunning mosaic image of the Veil Nebula taken by member Kevin Langford from Bexley on the nights of the 11th & 12th August 2024. The Veil Nebula is a cloud of heated, ionized gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus. It constitutes the...

read more

Moon with Earthshine – 29th August 2024

A fantastic image of the Moon with Earthshine taken by member Jim Burchell on the 29th August 2024.  This is a single shot image which was processed in Snapseed.  Details of how Jim acquired his image are on the...

read more

The Sun & Moon – 25th August 2024

NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely. Jim Burchell, Simon Dawes & Dr Mike Rushton imaged the Sun in white light on the 25th August 2024 and below are their splendid results.  As you can see the Sun was very...

read more

CMHASD BBQ – 31st August 2024

On Saturday 31st August 2024 CMHASD held a BBQ for its members.  Below are a selection of photos & videos of the BBQ shared by members and an account of the event written by member Gary Hunt.   ”In the closing days of the summer of 2024, and...

read more

Our Sun by Jim Burchell – 23rd August 2024

NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely. A fantastic white light image of the Sun taken by member Jim Burchell on the 23rd August 2024 from Dartford.  As you can see the Sun was very active with lots of huge...

read more

M31 by Kevin Langford – 19th August 2024

Messier 31 The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) taken by member Kevin Langford on the 19th August 2024 from Bexley.  Kevin said ”This is just a 30mins of exposure as I was packing up for the night.  I know it is very grainy, it needs a lot more time spent on...

read more

Congratulations to Simon Dawes

NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely. The Society would like to congratulate Simon Dawes for having his sunspot image (see below) published in the British Astronomical Association journal – August 2024...

read more

Sunspots by Simon Dawes – 11th August 2024

NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely. A collection of stunning sunspot images taken by member Simon Dawes on the 11th August 2024.  Details of how Simon acquired his images are on the...

read more
TOP