In October 2019 we detected a total of 138 meteors associated with 29 different showers.
We observed 18 Orionids, which was the most active shower in October, the brightest being of visual magnitude -2.8, however sporadic meteors dominated our detections.
Overall we detected fewer meteors this year than in October 2018.
KELT-16b is an exo-planet in Cygnus, member Martin Crow measured the brightness of the parent star (KELT48) in order to capture the small drop in brightness when the planet transits the face of the star, this is a very subtle observation that requires a lot of attention to detail in order to capture such a small change in brightness.
Exo-Planet WASP 48b is a planet discovered around star WASB 48 in the constellation of Cygnus. Member, Martin Crow measured the brightness of WASP 48, using the same techniques used for variable star observations - although the changed in brightness are very small, in order to detect the drop in brightness of the star as the exo-planet transits across the face of the star.
HD 189733 b is an extrasolar planet, in the constellation of Vulpecula. According to Wikipedia it is 64.5 light years away. Member, Martin Crow, used the same techniques used for observing variable stars to detect the drop in light from the parent star as the planet crossed in front of it. If you have data you want to share please contact the webmaster.
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.
A huge number of meteors were detected in August 2019. August continues to be a bumper month for Meteors, dominated by the Perseid's, but there are many other minor showers contributing to the number detected.
We also had our brightest meteor yet, a magnitude -5.5 sporadic meteor.
If you look at the surface plot (bottom Right) it looks like there were three independent peaks in August.
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.
As the nights start to draw in we have started to see an uplift in the number of Meteors detected. Interestingly the Perseid's - a well known broadly dispersed shower (peaks on 13th August) were the highest proportion of meteors from known showers.
