CMHASD Christmas Quiz – 2023

Congratulations to team Dalek for winning this years CMHASD Christmas Quiz.   

Team Dalek

Member’s Rita Whiting and Debra Holton pulled out all the stops to provide a night of head scratching, puzzlement and fun.  Thank you Rita & Debra for all your hard work & effort creating the quiz.  It was a great night and we are all looking forward to the next one!

The Moon – 19th Dec 2023

A stunning 10 frame image of the Moon taken by member Neil Webster on the 19th Dec 2023.  The Moon was in the First Quarter phase, 47% illuminated, 7.07 days old and in the constellation Pisces.

The First Quarter phase comes roughly 7 days after the New Moon and is when the moon has completed one quarter of its orbit around the Earth hence the name First Quarter.  The Moon in this phase is also referred to as a Half Moon too.

Neil acquired is image using a R/IR filter, ZWO ASI 290MM, EQ6 R, AA 115 triplet APO, and Firecapture. 10 frames stitched in Microsoft ICE. Each 90s x 33fps. 20% stacked in AutoStakkert. Post processed in Photoshop.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/137388222@N05/53409456667/

Below are a couple of individual frames from the above image.

To see more of Neil's brilliant images check out his flickr page at https://www.flickr.com/photos/137388222@N05/with/53409456667/

Venus, Spica & Moon – 8th Dec 2023

Two super images by member Jim Burchell taken on the 8th Dec 2023. The 1st image shows Venus, the star Spica and the Moon going lower left to top right.  Spica is the brightest star in the constellation of Virgo and one of the 20 brightest stars in the night sky. The 2nd image is of the Moon with Earthshine.

The Moon on the 8th December 2023 was 24.88 days old, 22.05% illuminated and in the Waning Crescent phase. This is the phase where the moon is less than 50% illuminated but has not yet reached 0% illumination which would be a New Moon.

Jupiter using a red filter – 5th Dec 2023

A great image of Jupiter taken by member and trustee Simon Dawes.

The image was taken on the 5th Dec 2023 using a Celestron EDGE11HD, with a red filter, f2800mm (f10), Rising Cam CMOS sensor and Mesu e200 mount. Sharpcap Pro, 2 min of video, stacked in AutoStakkert, processed in Registax 6 and Photoshop.

For more member images of Jupiter check out the Jupiter section on our website.

For more information about using filters for visual observing of the Moon and planets https://britastro.org/2018/filters-for-visual-observing-of-the-moon-and-planets

Moon – 28th Nov 2023

Two lovely images of the Moon taken by members Jim Burchell & Kevin Langford on the 28th Nov 2023.

On this day, the moon was 14.57 days old, 99.58% illuminated and so in the Waning Gibbous phase and found in the constellation Gemini. The Waning Gibbous phase is the first phase after the Full Moon.  It lasts roughly 7 days with the Moon’s illumination growing smaller each day until the Moon becomes a Last Quarter Moon with an illumination of 50%, sometimes referred to has a half moon.

Gibbous has its origins in the Late Latin word gibbosus, meaning 'humpbacked' and the Latin word gibbus, meaning "hump." It was adopted into Middle English to describe rounded, convex things.

Kevin Langford's image taken using a Cannon 750D and a 150 to 600 mm Sigma lens.

Jim Burchell's image taken using a Pentax KP,  F8.0, 1/400 sec, 300mm, iso 800 and cropped in Snapseed.

Lunar Halo – 25th Nov 2023

A stunning example of a Lunar Halo captured by 3 members of the society - Leigh Slomer, Honor Wheeler and Simon Dawes on the evening of the 25th Nov 2023.  The white dot at the 4 o'clock position from the Moon is the planet Jupiter.

The ring around the Moon - or 'lunar halo' is caused by the refraction of moonlight from ice crystals in the upper atmosphere. For more information check out https://atoptics.co.uk/blog/moon-halo/

Leigh Slomer

 

Honor Wheeler

 

Simon Dawes

 

The Sun by Jim Burchell – 23rd Nov 2023

NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely.
 
A superb single image of the Sun in white light showing sunspot groups 3489-3498 taken on the  23/11/2023 by member Jim Burchell.
 
The image was taken with a Pentax KP body attached to 102mm Altair Astro refractor fitted with a solar filter (baader solar film) then processed in Snapseed.  Jim said that seeing wasn't particularly good and it was also quite windy.
 

Shears Green Junior School – Cosmic Camp 2023

Several society members attended Shears Green Junior School on Friday 15th September 2023 with their own or a society telescope to take part in the school’s ‘Cosmic Camp’.  The Society would like to say a big thank you to all the members who helped make this event a success.

Member Diane Clarke who attended the event wrote ''Earlier in the year the CMHASD was again invited to the Shears Green Junior School Cosmic Camp.  So we took our telescopes along to offer views of various stella sights.

In the evening Jupiter & 3 of its Galilean moons appeared above the horizon and was again greeted with awe & wonder by all who viewed them. There was also views of Cygnus & the planet Saturn with its largest moon Triton.

The double star Mizar (Alcor) in Ursa Major also proved a great hit when the children discovered that 1 star was actually 2 stars.

As well as showing the children the night sky we also had some classroom presentations and a display of members images along with an image from the JWST on show.    

The members who went along had an extremely enjoyable and rewarding time due to the enthusiasm of all the children & teachers at the camp.  Lots of questions were asked by a very inquisitive & enthusiastic young audience and as they looked through the telescopes we heard were phrases such as “wow”, “is that real?” & “is it a hologram?”

One of the teachers from the school wrote in a thank you email to us “We all had such a fantastic time last Friday and the children didn't stop talking about it for days.”

We look forward to next year 🙂''

The Society did not take any photos of the event as there were too many safeguarding issues.

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