Announcements

Come and see us at Hall Place & Gardens for some Solar Observing – Sunday 2nd August and Sunday 23rd August 2026

NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely.

CMHASD Solar Observing at Hall Place & Gardens – Sunday 2nd August & Sunday 23rd August 2026

 

Time: 11:00 am – 3:00 pm

Come and join us for our Solar Observing events at Hall Place & Gardens where members of the Society will offer safe views of our Sun to the public.  

Please note this event is weather dependent.

 

The photo below is of CMHASD Solar Observing at Hall Place & Gardens on the 5th May 2024, click here to read about the event  🙂

 

The Dick Chambers Observatory – Status

The observatory and telescope are ready to use by members for visual observing. The telescope is fitted with an eyepiece.  Any questions please direct them to Keith, Steve, Simon and Andy.

 

Gallery

 

Society News

2nd NLC sighting by CMHASD members

Last night at around 10.55pm BST – 27th June 2026 – several members got their 2nd sighting of rare Noctilucent Clouds (NLC).

 

 

The 1st two images are from Diane Clarke taken from Bexley.

The next 3 images are by Martin Crow – taken from Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex.

This image was taken by Jim Burchell from Dartford.

The next 2 images were taken by John Archer from East Sussex.

Latest deep sky images by Tina Bishop

Two super deep sky images by member Tina Bishop. Both images taken using a Dwarf3 smart scope.

M101 (The Pinwheel Galaxy)  – 3 sessions totalling 7 hours 56 mins – mega stacked in Dwarfs Stella Studio.

Hercules Globular Cluster (M13). – 1 session of 3 hours 37mins.

The Moon in glorious detail…

Below are a super selection of 15 images of the Moon taken by Simon Dawes from Bexley.  Details of how and when Simon acquired the images are on the photos.

Vallis Alpes (Latin for “Alpine Valley”) is a lunar valley feature that bisects the Montes Alpes range. It extends 166 km from the Mare Imbrium basin, trending east-northeast to the edge of the Mare Frigoris. The valley is narrow at both ends and widens to a maximum width of about 10 km along the middle stretch. Ref:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vallis_Alpes

Centre of the image is Aristillus is a prominent lunar impact crater that lies in the eastern Mare Imbrium. To the south is the smaller crater Autolycus, while to the southwest is the large Archimedes. To the northeast are the craters Theaetetus and Cassini. Ref:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristillus_(crater)

Aristoteles is a lunar impact crater that lies near the southern edge of the Mare Frigoris and to the east of the Montes Alpes mountain range. It was officially named in 1935 after the ancient Greek philosopher and astronomer Aristotle (383-322 B.C.) by the International Astronomical Union, using the classical form of his name.

To the immediate south of Aristoteles lies the slightly smaller crater Eudoxus, and these two form a distinctive pair for a telescope observer.  An arc of mountains between these craters bends to the west before joining the walls. The smaller crater Mitchell is directly attached to the eastern rim of Aristoteles. To the west is the low, flooded feature Egede. Ref:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristoteles_(crater)

Maginus is an ancient lunar impact crater located in the southern highlands to the southeast of the prominent crater Tycho. It is a large formation almost three quarters the diameter of Clavius, which lies to the southwest. Ref:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maginus_(crater)

Ptolemaeus is an ancient lunar impact crater close to the center of the near side, named for Claudius Ptolemy, the Greco-Roman writer, mathematician, astronomer, geographer and astrologer. It measures approximately 154 kilometers in diameter.

To the south-southwest, Ptolemaeus is joined to the rim of the crater Alphonsus by a section of rugged, irregular terrain, and these form a prominent chain with Arzachel to the south. Ref:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemaeus_(lunar_crater)

Hyginus is a lunar caldera located at the east end of the Sinus Medii. It was named after ancient Roman astronomer Gaius Julius Hyginus. Its rim is split by a 220 kilometer-long rille, Rima Hyginus, that branches to the northwest and to the east-southeast. The crater is deeper than the rille, and lies at intersection of the rille’s branches. Together, the crater and the rille form a prominent feature in an otherwise flat surface. Smaller craters along the length of the rille may have been caused by the collapse of an underlying structure.

Hyginus is one of the few craters on the Moon that were not created as a result of an impact, and is instead believed to be volcanic in origin. Ref:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyginus_(crater)

On Monday, May 25, 2026 the Moon was in its Waxing Gibbous phase, with 69.3% of the visible lunar disk illuminated by the Sun. It was 9.24 days old.

Goldschmidt is a large lunar impact crater of the variety commonly termed a walled plain. Ref:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldschmidt_(crater)

Rupes Recta is a linear fault on the Moon, in the southeastern part of the Mare Nubium. The name is Latin for straight cliff, although it is more commonly called the Straight WallThis is the best-known escarpment on the Moon. Ref:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupes_Recta

Eratosthenes crater is a relatively deep lunar impact crater that lies on the boundary between the Mare Imbrium and Sinus Aestuum mare regions. It forms the western terminus of the Montes Apenninus mountain range. It is named after ancient Greek astronomer Eratosthenes of Cyrene, who estimated the circumference of the Earth, and the distance from the Earth to the Sun.

The crater has a well-defined circular rim, terraced inner wall, central mountain peaks, an irregular floor, and an outer rampart of ejecta. Ref:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eratosthenes_(crater)

Montes Apenninus are a rugged mountain range on the northern part of the Moon‘s near side. They are named after the Apennine Mountains in ItalyMontes Apenninus is the most prominent remnant of the outer ring of the Imbrium basin. Ref:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montes_Apenninus

Hesiodus is a lunar impact crater located on the southern fringes of Mare Nubium, to the northwest of the crater Pitatus. It was named after the ancient Greek poet Hesiod. Ref:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesiodus_(crater)

Moretus is a lunar impact crater located in the heavily cratered highland region near the south pole of the Moon.

South of Moretus, the crater Short is located, while to the north is Cysatus. To the northwest lies Gruemberger, and Curtius is located to the northeast. Due to the location near the lunar limb, the crater appears oblong because of foreshortening. The crater is named after the 17th-century Flemish mathematician and geometer Theodorus Moretus.

On the lunar geologic timescale, this formation dates to the Imbrian period. Ref:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moretus_(crater)

Clavius is one of the largest crater formations on the Moon and the second largest crater on the visible near side (very close in size to Deslandres).  It dates to the Nectarian period of the lunar geologic timescaleThis crater is located in the rugged southern highlands of the Moon, to the south of the prominent ray crater Tycho. It is named for the Jesuit astronomer Christopher Clavius. Ref:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clavius_(crater)

Sun Pillar

A super example of a Sun Pillar taken by Martin Crow from Burham-on-Crouch, Essex on the 14th June 2026 using an iPhone.

”A light pillar or ice pillar is an atmospheric optical phenomenon in which a vertical beam of light appears to extend above and/or below a light source. The effect is created by the reflection of light from tiny ice crystals that are suspended in the atmosphere or that compose high-altitude clouds (e.g. cirrostratus or cirrus clouds).  If the light comes from the Sun (usually when it is near or even below the horizon), the phenomenon is called a sun pillar or solar pillar. Light pillars can also be caused by the Moon or terrestrial sources, such as streetlights and erupting volcanoes.” Ref:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_pillar

The Moon

A super image of the Moon taken by George Buckberry on the 21st June 2026.  The Moon was in the First Quarter phase with 51.59% illumination and 7.53 days old.

First Noctilucent Clouds spotted by Jim Burchell

The first sighting of Noctilucent clouds (NLC) by a CMHASD member this year was by member Jim Burchell in the early hours of the 9th June 2026. Below are 2 splendid photos Jim took of the NLC around 3am from Dartford, Kent. The photo on the right shows some fine detail of the NLC.

Then later that night on the 9th June around 10.50pmish they were spotted again by 2 other CMHASD members.  Below is the photo taken of the NLC by Martin Crow from Burnham on Crouch in Essex.

Latest images from Danny Pearce

The Owl Nebula (also known as Messier 97M97 or NGC 3587) is a planetary nebula approximately 2,030 light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. Estimated to be about 8,000 years old, it is approximately circular in cross-section with a faint internal structure. Ref:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owl_Nebula

 

The Milky Way – 22nd April 2026

Taken at St Thomas Becket Church, Romney Marsh last night around 3am. It’s a tracked panorama with 9 panels each of 2 mins and 9 separate (non-tracked) panels for the foreground. Mashed together in Photoshop and Lightroom.
Camera is a Nikon Z6iii full frame with a 17-28mm Nikon f2.8 lens taken at 17mm.

Messier 13, or M13 (also designated NGC 6205 and sometimes called the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules, the Hercules Globular Cluster, or the Great Hercules Cluster), is a globular cluster of several hundred thousand stars in the constellation of Hercules.

5 hours of data using a FRA400 and PlayerOne585MC.

Markarian’s Chain – 23rd April 2026

Settling on the Astro filter; George Buckberry captured more data of the Markarian’s chain on the 23rd April 2026 using his Dwarf3 smartscope. He then stacked the new data with data already acquired on the 18th April 2026 and this is the resulting fabulous image.

Left is a labelled Markarian’s chain by Joe Renzetti from Sky & Telescope to help you identify the galaxies.

The Crescent Nebula

Only after 25 minutes of capturing data at 10 second exposures – the Crescent Nebula is appearing in Dan Stevens image that he took on the 19th April 2026 using a Seestar S30.

The Crescent Nebula (also known as NGC 6888Caldwell 27Sharpless 105) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus about 5000 light-years away.

Markarian’s Chain

Experimenting: Three images of Markarian’s Chain taken by George Buckberry using different settings on his Dwarf3 smartscope. Which one do you like the best?

 

The Moon – 22nd April 2026

The Moon taken on the 22nd April 2026 by Jim Burchell and George Buckberry.

Jim took his image using a Seestar S50 smartscope and George took his using a Dwarf3 smartscope.

On April 22, 2026, the moon was in a Waxing Crescent phase, with approximately 31 to 35% illumination and 5.5 days old after the New Moon.

The Leo Triplet

The Leo Triplet by George Buckberry taken on the 26th April 2026 using a Dwarf3 smartscope.

The Leo Triplet (also known as the M66 Group) is a small group of galaxies about 35 million light-years away in the constellation Leo.  This galaxy group consists of the spiral galaxies M65 (bottom right), M66 (bottom left) and NGC 3628 (top).

 

The Sun – 27th April 2026

WARNING: NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY.  Read the page on Solar Safety before attempting any kind of viewing of the Sun!

A super selection of Sun in white light images taken by members Jim & Simon on the 27th April 2026. The Sun was quite active with several sunspots.

The 1st image on the right was taken by Jim Burchell using a Seestar S50 smartscope.

The images below are taken by Simon Dawes. Details of how Simon took his images are on some of the photos.

Astroimages by Tina Bishop

Here is a fantastic selection of images taken by new member Tina Bishop and new to astroimaging too.

All images were taken using a Dwarf3 smartscope.

BAA Winchester Weekend 2026

BAA Winchester Astronomy Weekend: Sparsholt (April 10 – 12 2026) Celebrating 60 years of Observational Astronomy. Below is an account of the weekend written by CMHASD new member Tina Bishop. Thank you Tina. ”As a relative newcomer to the astronomy community, I...

read more

Markarian’s Chain

An absolutely fantastic image of the Markarian’s Chain taken by George Buckberry using a Dwarf 3 smart scope last night.  It was George’s 1st attempt at imaging the chain. Markarian’s Chain is stunning curved string of at least eight galaxies,...

read more

Comet C2025 R3 (Panstarrs)

The latest Comet C2025 R3 (Panstarrs) images taken on the morning of the 14th April 2026. This stunning image of the comet was taken by Jim Burchell from Dartford using a Seestar S50 smart scope. This super image of the comet was taken by Kevin Smith using a Dwarf3...

read more

The Whirlpool Galaxy

M51a – The Whirlpool Galaxy and its companion M51b by Kevin Langford from Bexley. This super image was taken using an ED102 APO, Pegasus NYX-101 mount, ZWO ASI071, and L-Pro filter. 7.5 hours over 3 nights (19/03/26 & 06-07/04/26). Link to Kevin’s...

read more

Latest deep sky images by Danny Pearce

A fantastic selection of deep sky objects taken by Danny Pearce. M101 – The Pinwheel Galaxy (also known as NGC 5457) is a face-on, counter clockwise intermediate spiral galaxy located 21 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major. Danny used...

read more

Sunspot Galore

A fabulous selection of Sunspot images taken by Simon Dawes this last week. WARNING: NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY.  Read the page on Solar Safety before attempting any kind of viewing of the...

read more

Jupiter

Two super images of Jupiter taken by Simon Dawes on the 6th & 7th April...

read more

Comet C2025 R3 (Panstarrs) – 12th April 2026

HOT OFF THE PRESS – TAKEN THIS MORNING Comet C2025 R3 (Panstarrs) by Jim Burchell. This fantastic image was taken using a Seestar S50 smart scope at 4:00 UTC 2026/04/12. 36×10 second stacked images. The comet is currently in the constellation Pegasus;...

read more

The Jellyfish Nebula

The Jellyfish Nebula IC443, taken on the 17/18th March 2026 by member Kevin Langford. Kevin acquired this stunning image using an ES102ED, with a focal reducer, L-eNhance filter on a Pegasus NYX-101. 4.8hrs of exposures. Link to Kevin’s Flickr page....

read more

Deep Sky images by Neil Webster

Two super deep sky images taken by member Neil Webster from St Mary Platt, Kent. M97 – The Owl Nebula and M108.  The Owl Nebula is on the left of the image and M108 on the right. The Owl Nebula (M97) or NGC 3587 is a faint planetary nebula in the constellation...

read more
TOP