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

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

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.

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........

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

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

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.

A superb image of an 'active' Sun by Simon Dawes taken from Bexleyheath. Details of how Simon took the photo are on the image.

On the evening of the 25th March 2022 there was a bright pass of the ISS.  Jim Burchell managed to capture 2 image's of the ISS pass at 19.47.51- 19.52.51. Image's taken with a pentax K70.

The 1st image shows the ISS passing the star Capella in the constellation Auriga.  F7.0  20" 18mm iso 800.

The 2nd image shows the ISS passing the constellation Ursa Major - top left. F9.0 20" 18mm iso 800.