July 2025 – Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society Dartford

Two stunning photos taken on 22nd June 2025, 11:30pm local time, at the Grand Canyon Star Party, Arizona, USA by member Richard Bohner.

First photo: The area of the Teapot and Scorpius. Taken with Canon 6D with 35mm f2.8 lens at ISO 10K, exposure time 8 seconds, single frame. Intentionally under exposed image to show constellation stars without Milky Way stars covering them.

Second photo: same area and equipment but with a 20 second exposure showing the Milky Way, Tea Pot & Scorpius.

Society BBQ – 28th June 2025

3rd July 2025

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| 4:20 pm

With the support of the committee and permission of the Parish Council, a team was set up consisting of members Jo Southgate, Steve Floodgate, John Archer, Mike Rushton, James Savage and Keith Rickard to plan and arrange the Society BBQ for 2025.

On the 28th June 2025 CMHASD held it's annual BBQ and what a superb BBQ it was too - glorious weather, expertly cooked food, games galore and fantastic company all made for a great event.

The team set up from 11:45, with assembly of two gazebos (one for food/drink and the other for games), and outdoor games. Steve, Jo and John set up their respective barbecues and very soon all was ready!

After a fantastic lunch… it was time for games! Kicking off with a round of croquet, then an old school party game ‘Pass the parcel’, but with forfeits as well as prizes. It was a ‘mashup’ of charades, pass-the-parcel, film/tv/book quiz and (reverse) tag! and was enjoyed by all who played.

After tea and cakes… It was time for, pin the tail on the dinosaur! Contestants had to be blindfolded and spun around and disoriented! It was great fun and a lot of laughs were had watching members try and pin the tail on the dinosaur.

[ngg src="galleries" ids="91" display="basic_slideshow"]THANK YOU! To all the wonderful members who worked so hard to give us an amazingly enjoyable day!!! A HUGE round of applause and slaps on backs all-round! AND, thank you to all those who attended and made the BBQ so much fun… Let’s all hope there is another BBQ in 2026?

Partial Eclipse of the Sun – 29th March 2025

1st July 2025

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| 9:26 am

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

On the 29th March 2025 there was a partial eclipse of the Sun and many CMHASD members observed the event all over the UK. Below are a selection of photos and a timelapse video of the partial solar eclipse.

It was also the 1st outing of the new Society Solar Lunt telescope called Cecilia and mighty good views of the Sun were seen including a sunspot, prominences and surface detail of the Sun.

First light with Cecilia

The image below was taken pointing a phone down the eyepiece. You can see lots of prominences.

The 2 Sun images below were taken using a phone attached to a phone holder put on Cecilia and it set to the PRO setting. The lower of the 2 images was then processed in Snapseed to crop, flip, colour and processed to bring out the details. Taken at 10.37UT

The image below was taken using Cecilia after the partial eclipse had finished using an old ZWO colour camera. The image shows a lot of surface detail of the Sun and shows the possibilities for better imaging using a dedicated camera.