Latest images from Danny Pearce

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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

 

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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.

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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.

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Markarian’s Chain – 23rd April 2026

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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.

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

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The Crescent Nebula

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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.

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Markarian’s Chain

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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?

 

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The Moon – 22nd April 2026

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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.

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The Leo Triplet

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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).

 

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The Sun – 27th April 2026

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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.

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Astroimages by Tina Bishop


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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.

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CMHASD Observing Evenings – April 2026

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Below are a selection of photos taken from our observing evenings during April.  

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BAA Winchester Weekend 2026

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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 was a little apprehensive that the Winchester Weekend might be too technical or "academic" for me, but I shouldn’t have worried. It was the perfect introduction as the BAA were celebrating 60 years of observational astronomy, not only that but the weekend also coincided with the completion of the Artimis II mission with Orion’s spectacularly safe splashdown!
While many of the lectures were scientific, they were accessible. It was also very useful going with other members of CMHASD, as they were on hand during and after each lecture and were, as always, happy to clarify anything I wasn’t sure of, including some of the acronyms (thank you Rita, Martin, Diane and Roger).
The whole atmosphere was very relaxed and welcoming. The food was of a high standard and plentiful! As were the tea and cakes between lectures! The campus bar also did a roaring trade!
Unfortunately, there was limited opportunity for actual observing due to cloudy skies, but some people managed to make observations of a variable star before rain stopped play. Everyone also had the opportunity during the day to observe sunlight using a spectroscopic telescope, which was amazing!
The lectures were interesting and informative. There was a packed varied programme that was well organised - from how amateur astronomers can contribute to exoplanet research, observing variable stars, control of dew and thermal management of telescopes, thermal imaging of the moon, what comets have done for us and much, much more!
The speakers were engaging and exuded enthusiasm in their chosen specialism. I particularly enjoyed the ‘Still Chasing Rainbows: A spectroscopic progress report” (Robin Leadbeater) lecture as the previous week I had attended the CMHASD own Whistlestop Introduction for Beginners to Astronomy course which had covered light and introduced me to spectroscopy!
There was a fantastic historical lecture ‘The 1896 eclipse expedition to Norway (Bill Barton) Detailed records of the meticulous planning of the expedition along with photographs were shared. A fascinating, light-hearted lecture.
Another highlight of the weekend was the keynote speaker for The Alfred Curtis Lecture on Saturday night. JWST (James Webb Space Telescope) as a New Voyager for the Giant Planets (prof Leigh Fletcher) explaining how astronomers are conducting ongoing research extending our knowledge of the Jovian planets.
On Sunday Newbury Astronomical Society presented a powerful insight into the campaign for dark skies, sharing how vitally important it is to keep our already light polluted skies dark!
In the afternoon a number of amateur astronomers shared projects they had been working on.  Dave and Steve from CMHASD presented a particularly fun slot, reflecting the whole tone of the weekend a mix of engaging scientific lectures and friendly people sharing their love and knowledge of astronomy, the whole weekend was incredibly inspiring.
A huge thank you to the BAA organizers for such a seamless and high-quality event!  I would definitely go again!!
Clear skies
Tina''

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