Activities – Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society Dartford

The Societies activities are wide ranging, from our Thursday night lectures, short notice observing sessions or weekends away at star camps or BAA weekends.

“Fun Palace” event at Bexleyheath Library

As part of our public outreach, a few of us represented the Society at a “Fun Palace” event at Bexleyheath Library on Saturday. These relatively low-key events are intended to showcase small, local interest groups such as arts & crafts, therapies, lizard / snake keeping and in our case, all things Astronomy!

We had a prominent and large display which meant good foot-fall and a lot of interest from the public. Former members from the 1960’s and 1970’s came by to say hello – these gents were quite elderly as you can appreciate but knew Dick Chambers, Dr Wilkins and John Wall.

Our telescope Olivia drew in visitors as did the planet game. It was encouraging to watch young children complete the planet game with little or no help. (Ask us about the 5-year-old and 3-year-olds completing it!)

We had Saturn sketched by one of the youngsters and also imaged a planet mounted at the far end of the Fiction section!

All in all, a very positive event – we received feedback from the Library team to say that we were a hit with their customers. Likely we will pick up some future visitors or even members, so watch this space.

I want to thank the team who helped on the day – Steve, Terry, Andy and Rita – really appreciate you giving up your time. We presented the Society in a very positive light.

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Solar Observing at Hall Place Summer 2019

A big thanks to everyone who supported both of the recent Hall Place Solar Observing events which were an exciting mixture of hide and seek as far as the sun was concerned, but both in their own way very successful.

We had sideways rain at 1100 yesterday (18th August 2019), so we set displays up indoors for about half an hour, after which we relocated outside and never looked back.

Even the sun cream got an airing!

It was very encouraging to meet a couple of extremely bright 8 year olds asking / answering some great questions – future members I’m sure.

These things don’t happen by accident so for anyone who supported the two events with equipment, transport, setting up or engaging with the public, a huge thank you.

We will be back in the Winter for the pre- and post- Christmas Stargazing events and should consider any suggestions / fresh ideas to make these as engaging and informative as possible.

Once again, your support is greatly appreciated.

John (Chair)

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Observing Evening 2019-04-18

Thursday, 2019-04-18 was an informal observing evening and whilst not ideal with an almost full Moon, we had lots of telescopes out and other members learning how to use the Peter Hindle Telescope.

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Occultation of the Beehive by the Moon

On Saturday 13th April I’d hoped to go to the Observatory and image the occultation of the Beehive cluster by the Moon but alas Diane and I had forgotten that we were taking part in a local RSPB quiz. We’ve taken part on a number of other occasions with fellow member Deborah and David, her husband, who are also keen bird watchers, so we had said yes to this quiz before we knew about the events clashing.

The skies were still clear after the quiz so we headed to the observatory, we got to the Pavilion at about 22:30BST (21:30UT) to find that no one else was using it. We imaged the Moon with the Beehive cluster from the patio then imaged some lunar craters and took a tour around the sky with the 16″. The skies remained clear until 02:10BST at which time Diane and I packed up and went home.

The Moon and M44 taken by Honor Wheeler at the Pavilion on 2019-04-13

Kelling Heath Star Party Spring 2019

4 Members and 2 ex-Members travelled to the Kelling Heath Star Party, this star party has notoriously poor weather, but on this occasion we were blessed with reasonable views on Wednesday night and clear skies from dusk ’till dawn on Thursday Night, Friday Morning.

Many, many objects were observed with Keith’s 10″ Dobsonian and Simon’s 12″ Truss Dobsonian, Julian and another Simon both allowed us to view objects with their 20″ Dob’s.

Apparently the food was epic…

Auriga

no images were found

Camp Site

Campsite at night Image by Simon Dawes

Mist on Sunday

The mist closed in Saturday Night and was still around Sunday morning

Astronomy Outreach with Sutton-at-Hone School

We welcomed the Children of Sutton-at-Hone Primary school to the Dick Chambers Observatory on the 12th December 2018. They had a chance to look through the Peter Hindle telescope and from the photos it looks like they had a great time, whilst learning a bit about the science of Astronomy.

Parental permission given for all images used.

A group of children enjoying their visit to the dickchambers obsevatoryParemntalpermission#1

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A Child from Sutton-at-Hone Enjoying Astronomy- parental Permissing given#4

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A Child from Sutton-at-Hone Enjoying Astronomy- parental Permissing given#1.

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A Child from Sutton-at-Hone Enjoying Astronomy- parental Permissing given#9

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Back to Basics Workshop

We hosted The 2018 British Astronomical Association Back to Basics workshop on 6th October.

These workshops are great for beginners just starting out in astronomy and wanting to learn how to use their telescopes or get started in Astronomy and over 50 people turned up – well done and thank you to all the Crayford Members who helped out.

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Astronomy Fun Day at the Priory Centre Dartford

The Society took part in an Astronomy Fun Day on Saturday 25th August 2018 at the Priory Shopping Centre to promote Astronomy, and encourage locals to visit the shopping centre, the day was well attended and along with CMHASD was an inflatable planetarium. During the day we were promoting the BAA Back to basics workshop we are supporting in October.

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Solar Observing at Hall Place – August 2018

The Society were at Hall Place on Sunday 19 August 2018 showing members of the public the Sun using safe observing techniques and talking to people about Astronomy in general. Whilst there was a fair amount of cloud about and the Sun was playing ‘hide-and-seek’ the day was a massive success.

The Society were at Hall Place on Sunday showing members of the public the Sun using safe observing techniques and talking to people about Astronomy in general. Whilst there was a fair amount of cloud about and the Sun was playing ‘hide-and-seek’ the day was a massive success.

2018 Summer BBQ

The summer BBQ was a great hit again. About 25 members attended and we had food for about 100! The day was very relaxed. We had a few glimpses of the Sun through our Dobsonian telescope, Anita using Baader Solar Safety Film, unfortunately there were no Sun spots visible.

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More Society Activities

$Bode\'s Galaxy, taken on the 6th of April 2021 with a Skywatcher Evostar 72ed Pro and an astro modified Canon EOS 250d. Stacked grom 172 minutes worth of exposures.$

$Image by Jim Burchell A collage of NLC\'S taken last year on the 12/07/20 Pentax K70 31mm f6.3 10 sec iso 400.$

Conjunction - Moon, Venus, Sun Pillar Sun Set JB

The Sun in H-Alpha 1st attempt with ZWO ASI174MM

$This image shows, Aldebaran also known as \"the eye of Taurus\" to the far left of the 12% lit waxing crescent Moon with the Hyades to the lower left, and M45 also known as The Pleiades/ Seven Sisters in the lower right of the image, Fortunately I had a reasonably clear sky with some cloud, as well as a vantage point that enabled me to see the Pleiades as they are currently quite low in the WNW part of the sky, I was also able to capture some earthshine. Canon 750D, ISO 800, f5.6, @ 2 sec Sigma 18 - 250mm lens @ 75mm Static tripod Taken at 22.30Hrs 15.04.21 Jpeg from RAW file Diane Clarke Belvedere$

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

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

$Image by Jim Burchell 11/07/20. Image\'s taken with a pentax K70 Comet is c/2020 F3 Neowise$

$Image by Jim Burchell 11/07/20. Image\'s taken with a pentax K70$

$Image by Jim Burchell 11/07/20. Image\'s taken with a Pentax K70$

Comet_C-2020_F3__NEOWISE__2020-07-13_1860s

The-Great-Conjunction-of-Jupiter-Saturn-2020-12-20-1645

Flying-Horse-Nebula-NGC-7380-Sh2-142-Sept-2020

$Venus in the dawn Sky. By Jim Burchell Image taken in Eynsford on 20/11/20. Using Pentax K70 iso 400 f 5.0 1\"1/3s 18.00mm.$

Comet-C-2020F3NEOWISE-Reculver-Towers-2020-07-13_01-27UT-

Comer-C-2020F3NEOWISE-2020-07-12-2240UT1

$Image by Diane I took this image of Venus before the sunrise on the way back from imaging the mornings NLC\'s Canon 750D, 55mm lens ISO 500, 1/80 @ f5.6, Static Tripod, 18.06.20 @ 04.18 Diane Clarke, Crayford Kent$

$Image by Honor Wheeler finally found this image of the Milky Way taken from my back garden on the evening of the 23rd of August 2014. I\'d just got back from the cinema and the sky was amazing. As you\'ll see it was a single shot with my Canon 1100D on a tripod, no tracking! Black and White as light pollution was an issue.$

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John-Howarth-Moon-Mercury-Venus-May24_2045UT

Conjunction of the Moon Jupiter Sature and Mars

M51-60m-IDAS-LPS-D2-20m-Ha-20m-SII-20m-OIII

$M51 Whirlpool Galaxy in Canes Venatici Taken by: Keith Rickard 25 April 2020 Paddock Wood, Kent, UK 10\" Meade LX200 Classic SCT at F6.3 SBIG ST-7XME CCD 19 x 300 seconds using Luminance Filter Captured and processed using: MaxIm DL$

$Image by Kevin Langford This is one 3min sub of NGC4565 Needle Galaxy taken on the 19th April 2020 at 21:35. Photo-Boomed by Elon Musk\'s Skylink satellites.$

Iss-slipping-between-the-now-moon-and-Venus-at-20.33-2020-03-28-at-20.33.23

$Image by Simon Dawes It\'s been 11 years, 1 month and 5 days since I last imaged Venus, now I remember why...$

The-Moon-2020-03-02-1959-8bit-1500-of-3000

NGC2024 Flame Nebula + Horsehead Nebula By Kevin Langford

$Image by CMHASD Members 16\" LX200 Total of 360s unfiltered$

$After checking out spaceweather.com for any astronomy updates yesterday, Honor couldn\'t believe the Sun had finally got some sunspots. Being up early anyway to walk her Mum\'s dog, she got home and got her ED80 refractor set up on an EQ3 and took some photo\'s.$

M31_438s_from_5s_and_6s_subs_WOED80_Skywatcher_Star_Adventurer_Olympus_EPL6_ISO_8000

$A total of 243 Perseid\'s were identified, out of a total of 503 meteors analysed. The brightest being of magnitude -3.4 A graphic by Simon Dawes$

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$Image by Neil Webster Altair Astro 115mm APO EQ6 R Canon 600D, f7, ISO 800, ZWO ASI385 MC, Backyard EOS, PHD, Nebulosity, Photoshop, Astronomy Tools 9 x 270s Lights St Mary\'s Platt 2019-04-21$

Mars_Pleiades_California_Nebula_48m-50pc_resize_for_BAA

full moon_2018-01-31_20-48-05_L_ISO100_1-640s61Framesstacked

$Image by Simon Dawes 2015-02-24 5" Achromat Refractor Canon 600D (full spectrum mod) IR Pass filter$

Moon_2019-03-12_21-02-24_ISO100_1-160s_600D_stack_of_100

Rosette Nebula Caldwell 49, by Simon Dawes

Moon Venus and Jupiter in a January Morning Sky (2019)

$Images by Honor Wheeler The top image is at the beginning of Totality @ 04:41UT Middle image at mid-Totality @ 05:12UT Bottom image at the end of Totality @ 05:43UT All images were taken with a: Canon 1100D Sky-watcher ED80 Refractor Sky-watcher EQ3 Synscan mount. ISO100 20sec exposure on all images Temperature was approx -5°C :)$

LunarEclipse2019-01-21LeighSlomer_PPhoto_1548286223576

LunarEclipse2019-01-21LeighSlomer_Photo_1548286224148

LunarEclipse2019-01-21LeighSlomer_Photo_1548286223856

LunarEclipse2019-01-21LeighSlomer_Photo_1548286223273

MartinCrowBBCBreakfastNews21january2019LunarEclipse

20190122- LUnnar Eclipse Montage by Jim Burchell

$I must admit that the picture does have a certain surreal quality, which will hopefully make up for any lack of scientific weight! When I first saw the mock-sun I genuinely thought for an instant that it was the real one behind high cloud, but then realised that it was in the wrong direction and the real sun was going down behind the houses on the right! It was taken 4 January 2019 at 1427UT with an Alcatel One Touch Pixi 3 (not my choice of name, but so be it) Model 4009X and was allegedly 1680x1120 pixels before JPEG compression. It hasn\'t been processed in any way. The location was about halfway along Eastry Road, location 51deg 28\' 33\"N, 0 deg 9\' 3\"E to the nearest 100 feet or so.$

$Image by Honor Wheeler I\'ve been lucky to have imaged the comet twice myself, once on Friday 7th & again on Sunday. The seeing has been pretty poor but it was just visible in 10x50 binoculars and looked pretty good in my 72mm refractor and 40mm eyepiece.$

46PWirtanen2018-12-16_0030_cottowoodArizonaRB

46PWirtanen2018-12-13_cottowoodArizonaRB

Total Solar Eclipse Image by Andy Barber 01/08/2008 11:33

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Eclipse China Image by Andy Barber 01/08/2008 11:07

Solar Eclipse 2008 China ANdy Barber01/08/2008 10:25

$Ground map of the Orionids these show meteors that the Nemetode group have been able to triangulate. Our meteors are those associated with the \'Dartford\' Observatory.$

$Ground map of the Draconids these show meteors that the Nemetode group have been able to triangulate. Our meteors are those associated with the \'Dartford\' Observatory.$