Astronomy Every Thursday…
Announcements
Come and see us at Dartford’s Big Day Out! – 16th July 2022
We will be exhibiting at Dartford’s Big Day Out; a free event taking place in Central Park on Saturday July 16th celebrating the ‘Best of British’ from 11am to 6pm. Come and see us, have a chat & hopefully do some solar observing.
For more information about the event click here.
Come and see us and do some Solar Observing at Hall Place & Gardens – Aug 2022
Bourne Road Bexley Kent DA5 1PQ
On Sunday the 7th of August and Saturday the 20th August CMHASD members will be at Hall Place & Gardens to offer safe views of our nearest visible star the Sun. Please come and see us!
Please note this event is weather dependent.
Gallery
A selection of images, photos and observations taken by CMHASD members
Other Images
Sun | Comets | Mercury | Venus | Atmospheric Optics | Meteors | Auroa and NLC | Moon | Minor Planets | Mars | Jupiter | Saturn | Uranus | Neptune | Messier | Caldwell | All Deep Sky | Conjunctions | Transits | Solar Eclipse | Lunar Eclipse | Wide Field |ISS & Space Junk
Society News
1st sightings of NLC by member’s Jim Burchell & Diane Clarke
Whilst up early to photograph Venus and the crescent Moon on the 26th June 2022 at Dartford top road, member Jim Burchell also saw some Noctilucent Cloud too around 3am! The 1st Noctilucent Cloud (NLC) sighting for CMHASD NLC season 2022.
Jim sent out an alert via Whatsapp to members which Diane Clarke picked up and so too managed to photograph the NLC that morning from North Kent.
NLC by Jim Burchell – 26th June 2022
NLC by Diane Clarke – 26th June 2022
Venus & Crescent Moon by Jim Burchell
Two image’s of Venus in the morning sky both taken from Dartford top road by Jim Burchell on the 22nd and 26th June 2022.
Crepuscular Rays by Jim Burchell
An absolute stunning image taken by Jim Burchell just before he went to bed on the 25th June 2022 of Crepuscular Rays.
Super Strawberry Moon – by Jim Burchell on the 14th June 2022
Lunar Eclipse – 16th May 2022 by Jim Burchell & Honor Wheeler
On the 16th May 2022 the Moon passed through the Earth’s shadow between 03:28 and 06:55 BST, creating a total lunar eclipse.
It was difficult to see from North Kent. Firstly the Moon set partway through the eclipse and secondly the Moon was only 5° above the horizon when the eclipse started but this did not deter members Honor Wheeler and Jim Burchell; who got up early to photograph the event from Dartford.
Unfortunately it was rather cloudy and misty that morning too.
The first image below was taken by Jim Burchell and shows the Moon in partial eclipse. Jim used a Nikon D5100 set at F6.0, 1/2 sec and iso 640 attached to an Altair Astro refractor to acquire the image.
The next set of images below were all taken by Honor Wheeler from the same location as Jim.
The last image before the Lunar Eclipse was obscured completely by cloud.
Early Morning Planets
Members Jim Burchell, Diane Clarke and Richard Bohner were up very early on the 29th May 2022 to do a bit of planet spotting.
Jim captured the Mars & Jupiter conjunction from Dartford at 3.30am and a little bit later Saturn with Mars & Jupiter.
Mars & Jupiter
Mars, Jupiter & Saturn
Meanwhile Diane Clarke captured Jupiter & Mars and then Venus from Belvedere at 4am.
Jupiter & Mars
Venus above a cloud bank
Then 8 hours later in Arizona member Richard Bohner captured Mars & Jupiter (with Moons) too in the early morning sky. Richard said ‘It was very windy this morning and was having camera shake in some of my photos. These are 3 second images at ISO 2500.’
Mars & Jupiter from Arizona.
Richard Bohner – Milky Way – Arizona
Member Richard Bohner took the opportunity to photograph the Milky Way from his back garden on the 26th May 2022 and these are the results…….stunning! Richard said ‘Was outside last night taking a few photos. a perfect night. It was 22C, wind –...
Martin Crow – Exo Planets WASP-58b, TOI-2076b & HAT-P-57b
The latest Exo planet observations by Martin Crow for the ExoClock project. TOI-2076 b is an extrasolar planet (exoplanet) that orbits a K-type star TOI -2076 in the constellation of Bootes. An exoplanet is a planet that orbits a star other than the Sun. The star is...
Simon Dawes – Exo Planet TOI-1296b
One more for the ExoClock project by Simon Dawes. Exoplanet TOI-1296b. TOI-1296b was discovered in 2021 and observed with TESS and SOPHIE. It is a hot Saturn-mass exoplanet with an orbital period of 3.944 days. Simon said ‘Got this Friday night; 7 milli...
Informal Night & UFO – 21st April 2022
Thursday 21st April 2022 was an informal night at the pavilion and some members took the opportunity to do some observing with some members viewing a very rare sight indeed. Chairman John Archer summed the evening up in his ebulletin to members dated 27th April 2022....
Jim Burchell – The Moon – Sept 2021
This fantastic image of the Moon was taken by Jim Burchell back in September 2021. Jim used his Samsung A10 mobile phone attached to one of the society Dobsonian Telescopes called Isaac at F1.9, 1/50 sec and ISO50....
The Sun
The Sun on the 14th May 2022 taken by member & trustee Simon Dawes. NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing...
The Moon by Neil Webster – 5th & 7th May 2022
These two superb images of the Moon were captured by member Neil Webster on the 5th & 7th May 2022. Neil acquired the images using and Altair Astro 115mm triplet APO, EQ6 R mount, ZWO ASI290MM camera plus Astronomik R/IR filter. Each image consists of 3...