December 2020 – Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society Dartford

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Images by Honor Wheeler

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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Image by Honor Wheeler Skywatcher ED80 refractor, Canon M6 Mark2 camera. EQ3 synscan mount. For the full disc I used a x2 Barlow and the close up x5 Barlow. Processed using PIPP, AS!3 & PShop elements6. I could have done better but didn't have clear skies really for long enough and at the moment the sun is so darn low! Anyway happy to get these.

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Image by Honor Wheeler Skywatcher ED80 refractor, Canon M6 Mark2 camera. EQ3 synscan mount. For the full disc I used a x2 Barlow and the close up x5 Barlow. Processed using PIPP, AS!3 & PShop elements6. I could have done better but didn't have clear skies really for long enough and at the moment the sun is so darn low! Anyway happy to get these.[/caption]

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ISS transit of the Sun

30th December 2020

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6:19 pm

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Honor recently took this video of a transit of the Sun by the ISS, something she has been attempting for 10 years.

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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="782"] Image by Honor Wheeler This was taken using: Skywatcher ED80 refractor Canon 700D set in movie mode @50fps 2x Barlow EQ3 mount Date 2020.04.20 13:09UTC Transit time was 0.9 sec 16 frames extracted from the original video using PIPP and then the layers merged in Photoshop elements 6. Additional processing also done in Photoshop E6.[/caption]

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Jim’s NLC Images

23rd December 2020

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12:03 pm

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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="800"] 20200714_204856-NLC Image by Jim Burchell 11/07/20. Image's taken with a pentax K70[/caption]

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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Image by Jim Burchell 11/07/20. Image's taken with a pentax K70 comet is C/2020 F3 NEOWISE[/caption]

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Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE – The Great Comment of 2020

23rd December 2020

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11:38 am

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Comet c/2020 F3 Neowise was visible for a couple of weeks in the Northern sky, quite close to the horizon, to say it was spectacular is an understatement and the brightest comet since Hale Bopp visible from the UK.

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Images by Jim Burchell

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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Image by Jim Burchell 11/07/20. Image's taken with a Pentax K70[/caption]

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Images by Simon Dawes

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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Comer-C-2020F3NEOWISE-2020-07-12-2240UT1 Image by Simon Dawes Taken at Reculver towers, Kent. Canon 650D, single shot.[/caption]

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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="770"] Comet-C-2020F3NEOWISE-Reculver-Towers-2020-07-13_01-27UT- Image by Simon Dawes Taken at Reculver towers, Kent. Canon 650D, single shot.[/caption]

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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="617"] Comet_C-2020_F3__NEOWISE__2020-07-13_1860s Image by Simon Dawes Taken at Reculver towers, Kent. Canon 650D, single shot.[/caption]

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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="350"] 2020-07-10-135mm-F1.8-771s Image by Simon Dawes Taken at Reculver towers, Kent. Canon 650D, stack of images[/caption]

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The Great Conjunction of 2020

22nd December 2020

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9:05 am

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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 conjunction in 2080!

At its closest on 21st December Jupiter and Saturn will be 6 arc minutes apart (1/5 the diameter of the full moon) which is still easily discernable as two separate planets (some reports would have you believe the merge together into an 'elongated star')

The weather was poor on the 21st, but there was a gap in the clouds on the 20th, the images from the 20th the planets were at about 9 arc minutes vs 6 arc minutes at closest encounter.

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Images by Steve Goldson

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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Image by Steve Goldson 1/8 sec f5.6. ISO 6400. taken at 18.02. 20/12/2020. (Inset image: 1/8 sec f5.6. ISO 3200 taken at 18.07. 20/12/2020. - Note Steve captured 3 of Jupiter's moons)[/caption]

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Images by Martin Crow

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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="637"] 2020Dec20 17:06ut Equipment: 80mm equinox @ f15 and DMK41 mono video camera and an old laptop. Location: Top of Dartford Road, Hextable. Taken the day before closest approach due to likelihood of poor weather on 21st. Best views though were had through the eyepiece. Absolutely stunning.[/caption]

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Images by Simon Dawes

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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Image by Simon Dawes Skywatcher MN190 (modified), EQ6 Pro (modified) ZWO ASI 1600 MM Pro Bexleyheath England[/caption]

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Globular Cluster, Messier 5, M5

21st December 2020

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3:38 pm

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Messier 5 or M5 (also designated NGC 5904) is a globular cluster in the constellation Serpens - read more on wikipedia

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Images by Neil Webster

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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Image by Neil Webster - No Details Provided[/caption]

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Flying Horse Nebula, NGC 7380, Sh2-142

21st December 2020

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3:33 pm

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NGC 7380 is a cluster of young bright O & B stars. The red emission nebula is Sh2-142 an HII region illuminated by these stars.

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Images by Neil Webster

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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Image by Neil Webster - No Details Provided[/caption]

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The Crescent Nebula, Caldwell 27, NGC6888, Sharpless 105

21st December 2020

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3:23 pm

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The Crescent Nebula (also known as NGC 6888, Caldwell 27, Sharpless 105) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, more on wikipedia

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Images by Neil Webster

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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Image by Neil Webster No details Provided[/caption]

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EXO-Planet Paper features observations from two members

17th December 2020

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6:16 pm

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Members Simon Dawes and Martin Crow have been named as contributors on a scientific paper published this week, Martin and Simon along with other amateur and professional astronomers have been observing exo-planet transits - each observation takes between 4 and 5 hours typically so is quite a commitment. Well done Mrtin and Simon and all the other amateur astronomers who submitted observations.

Abstract

The Ariel mission will observe spectroscopically around 1000 exoplanets to further characterise their atmospheres. For the mission to be as efficient as possible, a good knowledge of the planets' ephemerides is needed before its launch in 2028. While ephemerides for some planets are being refined on a per-case basis, an organised effort to collectively verify or update them when necessary does not exist. In this study, we introduce the ExoClock project, an open, integrated and interactive platform with the purpose of producing a confirmed list of ephemerides for the planets that will be observed by Ariel. The project has been developed in a manner to make the best use of all available resources: observations reported in the literature, observations from space instruments and, mainly, observations from ground-based telescopes, including both professional and amateur observatories. To facilitate inexperienced observers and at the same time achieve homogeneity in the results, we created data collection and validation protocols, educational material and easy to use interfaces, open to everyone. ExoClock was launched in September 2019 and now counts over 140 participants from more than 15 countries around the world. In this release, we report the results of observations obtained until the 15h of April 2020 for 119 Ariel candidate targets. In total, 632 observations were used to either verify or update the ephemerides of 83 planets. Additionally, we developed the Exoplanet Characterisation Catalogue (ECC), a catalogue built in a consistent way to assist the ephemeris refinement process. So far, the collaborative open framework of the ExoClock project has proven to be highly efficient in coordinating scientific efforts involving diverse audiences. Therefore, we believe that it is a paradigm that can be applied in the future for other research purposes, too.

Full article is available here

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Two New Competitions

8th December 2020

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6:14 pm

After the success of the last competition, we have decided to run another two.

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 background)
A good story - if you have a story of how you took the image it can't hurt!

Entry criteria:

You can only enter if you are a paid up member (any tier of membership)
Entries must be to webmaster@crayfordmanorastro.com - feel free to post them on what's app as well!

Orion's Trapezium Competition

The Trapezium actually has more than 5 stars can you image them?

Rules:

Whilst the points awarding is somewhat ambiguous I'll be looking for the following...

Technically a good image (in focus)
you need to resolve at least 5 stars in the trapezium - this wil be challenging!

Entry criteria:

You can only enter if you are a paid up member (any tier of membership)
Entries must be to webmaster@crayfordmanorastro.com - feel free to post them on what's app as well!

Month: December 2020

Sun spots! 2020-12-27

Images by Honor Wheeler

ISS transit of the Sun

Jim’s NLC Images

Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE – The Great Comment of 2020

Images by Jim Burchell

Images by Simon Dawes

The Great Conjunction of 2020

Images by Steve Goldson

Images by Martin Crow

Images by Simon Dawes

Globular Cluster, Messier 5, M5

Images by Neil Webster

Flying Horse Nebula, NGC 7380, Sh2-142

Images by Neil Webster

The Crescent Nebula, Caldwell 27, NGC6888, Sharpless 105

Images by Neil Webster

EXO-Planet Paper features observations from two members

Abstract

Two New Competitions

Lunar Halo Competition

Rules:

Entry criteria:

Orion's Trapezium Competition

Rules:

Entry criteria: