Nice to see some sunspots on the Sun and there are quite a few visible at the moment as Simon Dawes shows in his recent images taken of the Sun on the 20th & 21st April 2022. NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely.

Sunspot complex AR2993-94 is crackling away with M-class solar flares and did directly face Earth a day later. They are 'big' sunspots too. The two dark cores are as large as Earth and a magnetic filament attached to one of the cores is more than 100,000 km long.

Sun on 20th April 2022

Sun on 21st April 2022

Sunspots are caused by magnetic disruptions of the visible photosphere of the sun which exposes the relatively cooler layers underneath - appearing as a black spot.

The sun’s magnetic entanglements and disentanglement happen in 11-year cycles with each solar cycle having phases of low and high activity. Solar activity cycles have been numbered since 1775, when extensive recording of sunspot activity began.

We are currently in Solar Cycle 25, which has yet to reach its peak. The current cycle is expected to reach its maximum activity in late 2024 or early 2025, this means we may see more and bigger sunspots.

BAA Picture of the Week – Diane Clarke

22nd April 2022

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| 11:04 pm

Congratulations to member Diane Clarke for one of her images being selected for 'Picture of the Week' by the BAA (British Astronomical Association).

The image that was chosen is called 'Eclipsed Moon Rising' and is a composite of 14 images taken between 8.17 - 8.26pm of the full Moon as it was rising above a distant horizon - see below. There was a band of cloud that drifted across as Diane waited and as the Moon started to rise the cloud bank obscured parts of the moon as it climbed into the sky.

Absolutely stunning.........

Click the following link to be taken to the BAA Picture of the Week page of their website where you will find more detail about Diane's image. https://britastro.org/observations/observation.php?id=20220415_141246_3339ce105b39a7a8

Pink Moon – 16th April 2022

17th April 2022

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| 2:11 pm

On the night before Easter, the sky will look a little more "pink" due to the full Moon.

This is because the 1st full moon of the spring season is known as the Pink Moon and the name derives from a pink flower called phlox subulata that blooms in spring in North America.

While the moon itself won’t actually be pink, you might notice a slight change in its colour, depending on what time you viewed it on the 16th April 2022.

Members Jim Burchell, Diane Clarke and John Howarth all captured the full Moon last night on the 16th April 2022 as it rose, which appeared as a glorious 'pink' colour due to taking the photos whilst the Sun was still setting.

All photos were taken from locations in North Kent.

Below is the Pink Moon rising by Jim Burchell

Photo below is by Diane Clarke

Photo below is by John Howarth

For more information about the Pink Moon, click on the link and you will be taken to a new site https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/moon/pink.html

Winchester 2022

17th April 2022

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| 1:40 pm

BAA Winchester Weekend

2022 Apr 8 - 2022 Apr 10

A grand total of 16 members from CMHASD attended the weekend and a good time was had by all. There was observing on both nights too and a superb presentation to the BAA by 2 CMHASD members.

Below is some information about the weekend from the BAA website, followed by a slideshow of the first submission of photos taken by members as well as Marc Gray & Pauline Philips of the BAA.

Programme of the weekend

Friday April 8

15.00 – 18.00 Reception – book in at Westley Court
19.00 Dinner
20.15 Welcome and Introduction – Alan Dowdell
Multi-messenger Astronomy – Dr Matthew Malek (University of Sheffield)
21.30 Observing if clear or adjourn to the bar

Saturday April 9

07.30 – 09.00 Breakfast
09.15 Pete and Paul’s Astronomical Challenges 2022 – Dr Paul Abel & Pete Lawrence (BAA)
10.00 Measuring Comets – Nick James (BAA Comet Section Director)
10.30 Observing Mercury – Chris Hooker (BAA Mercury Coordinator)
11.15 Coffee/Tea break
11.45 BAA Archives: Past, Present and Future – John Chuter (BAA Archivist)
12.30 Break – time to visit sales stands
13.00 Lunch
14.15 Lunar Section meeting (Organiser: Dr Tony Cook, BAA Lunar Section Director)
14:15 Overview of the BAA Lunar Section’s Activities – Dr Tony Cook (Lunar Section Acting Director)
14:30 Lunar Impact Flashes and How to Observe Them – Dr Tony Cook
15:00 Lunar Geology – Old Lunar Questions Revisited? – Barry Fitz Gerald (Lunar Circulars Editor)
15:30 Tea break
16:00 Lunar Occultations from a Personal Perspective – Tim Haymes (Lunar Occultations Coordinator)
16:30 New Space Missions and the Prospect for Future Low Cost Lunar Exploration – Nick James
17:00 Question Panel Session
17:15 End
18.00 Dinner
19.30 The Alfred Curtis Lecture
Exploring the Universe with the James Webb Space Telescope
Dr Stephen Wilkins (Sussex University)
21.00 Observing if clear or adjourn to the bar

Sunday April 10

07.30 – 09.00 Breakfast
09.15 Can you successfully 3D print a Spectrograph? – Tony Rodda (BAA)
10.00 Observing the aurorae of the giant planets with the James Webb Space Telescope
Dr Henrik Melin (Leicester University)
10.45 Coffee/Tea break
11.30 Monsters in the dark: the formation of the first stars in the Universe
Dr Paul Clark (Cardiff University)
12.30 Break – please return room keys to the reception desk
13.00 Lunch
14.15 Members’ session
Your opportunity to talk briefly about what you’ve been doing during the past year
16.00 Coffee/Tea and Goodbyes

We will not be able to live stream or record the lectures.

Organiser: Ann Davies

Venue

Sparsholt College, Westley Lane, Sparsholt, Hampshire, S021 2NF

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Sunrise & Sunset by Jim Burchell

17th April 2022

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| 12:59 pm

I could not resist posting these 3 beautiful photos taken by Jim Burchell of our Sun. They were taken on the 16th April 2022 from Dartford and show our glorious Sun rising and setting.

A Sun rising............

A Sun setting, so beautiful........

Dick Chambers & Malcom Gough 2006

17th April 2022

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| 12:47 pm

A lovely photograph of Dick Chambers with Malcom Gough taken at Winchester back in 2006 by Keith Rickard.

The Moon by Neil Webster

17th April 2022

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| 11:45 am

Neil has been busy and produced these two beautiful images of the Moon.

The image below was taken on the 8th April 2022 from Kent.

The image below was taken on the 13th April 2022 from Kent.

For a more detailed view of these images and more photos of the Moon see Neil’s flickr page at https://www.flickr.com/photos/137388222@N05

WASP-113b by Simon Dawes

17th April 2022

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| 11:27 am

The latest exoplanet transit from Simon Dawes for the ExoClock project. WASP 113 is a 11.7 magnitude star and Exoplanet WASP- 113b orbits it every 4.5days with a drop of 10/1000ths of a magnitude. WASP 113 is a G type star of 1.3 Solar Masses and the exoplanet WASP-113b is half the mass of Jupiter.

Crayford members have now contributed 110 light curves.