Planet Mercury at the bottom & M45 (The Pleiades) above right taken on the 28th April 2022 at 2015 local time MST in Arizona, USA. Richard acquired this splendid image using a Canon 6D, 400mm tele f2.8, ISO 800 and 12 second exp.
Author: WebMistress
WASP-92b by Simon Dawes
The latest set of observations by Simon for the ExoClock project of the exoplanet WASP-92b which orbits its parent star WASP-92, an F7 star, every 2.17 days.
Deep Sky imaging by Dr. Mike Rushton
Dr. Mike Rushton took advantage of some clear skies recently (25th April 2022) and took these 3 super deepsky images using his eVscope of Messier 13, Messier 51 and the Bow Tie Nebula.
Messier 13 (M13) also designated NGC 6205 and also called the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules and the Hercules Globular Cluster, is a globular cluster of a several hundred thousand stars in the constellation of Hercules.
Messier 51, known as The Whirlpool Galaxy and as Messier 51a, M51a, and NGC 5194, is a spiral galaxy found in the constellation Canes Venatici, M51 was the first galaxy to be classified as a spiral galaxy and is 31 million light-years away from Earth.
The Bow Tie Nebula also designated NGC 40 and Caldwell 2 is a planetary nebula discovered by William Herschel in 1788. It is composed of hot gas around a dying star. The nebula gets its name from the fact it has an intriguing bow-tie shape.
Come and see us and do some Solar Observing at Hall Place & Gardens – 20th Aug 2022
Saturday 20th August 2022 @ 11:00 am – 3:00 pm
Hall Place & Gardens
Bourne Road Bexley Kent DA5 1PQ
Bourne Road Bexley Kent DA5 1PQ
On Saturday the 20th August CMHASD members will be at Hall Place & Gardens to offer safe views of our nearest visible star the Sun. Please come and see us!
https://www.hallplace.org.uk/event/solar-observing-4/
Please note this event is weather dependent.
CMHASD’s 60th Anniversary Dinner
The 30th November 2021 was Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society Dartford's 60th Anniversary however due to Covid the society was unable to celebrate at that time. Roll on to the 23rd April 2022 and we finally managed to have our 60th Anniversary celebratory dinner at The Boathouse, Danson Park, Bexleyheath.
Member Diane Clarke wrote 'From the early evening of Saturday the 23rd of April 2022, a dinner was held at the Boathouse Danson Park to belatedly celebrate the Societies 60th anniversary.
Several members and their families came along but unfortunately our numbers were somewhat depleted due to some members and their families succumbing to summer colds and Covid.
But in spite of this we had a very enjoyable evening regaling each other with memories and tales of various Society lectures, social gatherings and outings, including our last summer barbeque. There was also talk about holding another barbeque later this year.
These photos give a flavour of the evening’s events that included a presentation from the Societies president Mr John Archer that included a look back at the Societies 50th Anniversary meal.
As can be seen John gave his speech to an appreciative audience.
Eventually we had to leave so everybody got together for the group photo, and with the evening’s festivities coming to a close we left in good spirits.
With several members deciding to continue the evening‘s festivities at another establishment.'
Below is a slideshow of photos taken by Diane Clarke & John Archer of the evening.
The society would like to thank Diane Clarke, John Archer and Malcolm Gough for organising the event and to Diane & John for sharing their photos.
[ngg src="galleries" ids="60" display="basic_slideshow"]
Sunspots AR2993 & AR2994 by Kevin Langford
Superb close up of Sunspots AR2993 & AR2994 captured by member Kevin Langford on the 24th April 2022 using ASI385mc, SW 130 Reflector on a SW Adventure tracker mount. Using SharpCap, Autostakkert 2 and PS.
NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely.
Spotty Sun
More sunspots!!!!
Now up to AR2999 and counting as there is now a new very active region of sunspots appearing on the Sun as of today which have yet to be given an AR number.
This new source of solar activity has so far been of C-class explosions which have in the past 24 hours hurled at least two CMEs into space. We (Earth) are not yet in the line of fire but as the active region rotates toward facing our planet things could change......
Simon Dawes captured these 2 white light image of the Sun on the 24th & 26th April 2022.
NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely.
The Sun on the 24th April 2022
The Sun on the 26th April 2022
Active Sun
And they keep coming.........more sunspots appearing on the Sun as captured by Simon Dawes on the 23rd April 2022. Now up to sunspot AR 2996 on Simon's image below but as of 24th April - sunspot AR 2997 has put in an appearance.
NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely.
The Sun by Simon Dawes
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
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