The Sun & Moon – 25th August 2024

NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely.

Jim Burchell, Simon Dawes & Dr Mike Rushton imaged the Sun in white light on the 25th August 2024 and below are their splendid results.  As you can see the Sun was very active.

Mike used his Dwarf II smart scope to acquire his image below.

 

Jim used a Pentax KP body attached to 102mm Altair Astro F11 refractor fitted with a Solar filter.  The mage of the Sun is a single shot and then processed in Snapseed. 

Below is an image of the Sun taken from Spaceweather.com on the same day with the sunspots numbered.

 

Simon's images are of the Sunspots and as you will see some of the sunspots are rather stunning.  Details of how Simon acquired his images are on the photos.

 

Later that day Jim captured this super image of a Waning Gibbous Moon.  The moon was 20.65 days old and 62.92% illuminated.  Details of how Jim acquired his image are on the photo. This is a single shot image and then processed in Snapseed.

Astro-images from the 28th and a little bit of the 29th June 2024

NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely.

A lovely selection of images from Society members.

First two superb images are of the Sun and Moon taken by Jim Burchell on the 28th.

 

Next are a selection of fantastic images of the Noctilucent Cloud that put in an appearance during the night of the 28th/29th June.  It turned out to be quite a stunning display as you will see :-)

First set of images are from our Chairman John Archer whilst in Northumberland on the 28th June.  The 1st 3 images show the NLC developing over the North Sea.

Taken at 10.46pm.

Taken at 10.55pm.

Taken at 11.04pm.

Taken at 11.20pm.

 

The next 2 images are from Diane Clarke taken from Belvedere.  The 2nd image is absolutely stunning.

Taken at 10.53pm.

Taken at 11.15pm.

 

The next 2 superb images were taken by Honor Wheeler from Dartford.

Taken at 10.10pm.

Taken at 11.14pm.

 

This super image was taken by John Howarth from Bexley.

Taken at 11.10pm

 

This dramatic NLC image was taken by Bob Bryne from Dartford.

Taken at 11.27pm.

 

These lovely NLC images were taken by Sonia Rubie from Bexley.

Taken at 11.06pm.

Taken at 11.12pm.

 

These last 2 superb images were taken by Jim Burchell from Dartford just after midnight, so on the 29th June 2024 at 12.06am and 12.07am.

 

Crescent Moon & Mercury – 7th July 2024

A super collection of images by members of a Waxing Crescent Moon and Mercury taken on the 7th July 2024. The Moon had an illumination of 3%, which is the percentage of the moon that is illuminated by the Sun and an age of 1.6 days old, which is how many days it has been since the last New Moon.

 

John Howarth - Bexley

 

 

Honor Wheeler - Dartford

Mercury is just above the 'M' on the label Mercury in the photo.

  

 

Jim Burchell - Dartford

 

Richard Bohner - Arizona, USA.

Image taken 6 hours after Honor and Jim's images in the UK.  Notice how the Moon position has changed relative to Mercury.

The Moon – 15th May 2024

A super image of the Moon taken by member Diane Clarke on the 15th May 2024. During this day the phase of the Moon is First Quarter.  The Moon is 49.91% illuminated; which is the percentage of the moon that is illuminated by the Sun. The Moon was 7.37 days old, which shows how many days it has been since the last New Moon.

Diane's image is a stacked image from a 10 min AVI file.  Taken with a Seestar s50, using Autostakkert, with slight colour correction using Affinity Photo.

You should also be able to make out the clair-obscur effects on the Moon known as the Lunar X and V in this image too. 

Lunar X and V are famous optical features on the Moon, visible for several hours around the time of the First Quarter through a telescope.  When the Moon’s terminator; the line between light and dark on the Moon is just in the right place, you can see a letter X and a letter V on the Moon’s surface.

Lunar X and V are examples of how lighting and topography can combine to produce a pattern that seems familiar to the human eye.  The X is formed when parts of the rims of the craters La Caille (68km wide), Blanchinus (68km) and Purbach (118km) catch the Sun’s light. The V is caused by Sun light illuminating the Moon close to the crater Ukert along with several smaller craters.

For more information check out https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/skills/lunar-x-v and https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/what-is-lunar-x/

The Moon – 12th May 2024

A stunning collection of photos of the Moon taken on the 12th May 2024 by Neil Webster.  The Moon was 25.1% illuminated and 4.71 days old.

AA115mm APO EQ6 R, ZWO ASI290MM, R/IR filter

4 frames stitched in Microsoft ICE: each 90sx33fps. Best 20% stacked in AutoStakkert.

Acquisition: firecapture
Processing: AutoStakkert & Photoshop

For higher resolution photos of the above; check out Neils flickr page at https://www.flickr.com/photos/137388222@N05/

Crescent Moon

Two lovely images of a 32 hour old Moon with Earthshine taken by member Richard Bohner from Arizona on the 9th April 2024.

The 1st image of the crescent moon with Jupiter (top left) was taken with an iPhone.  The dot to the right of the Moon was an aeroplane.

The 2nd photo of the crescent moon was taken at 7:30 pm using a Canon 6D with 200mm telephoto lens f2.8, 1/20 sec exposure at ISO 3200.

The Worm Moon by Honor Wheeler

Three fantastic Full Moon images taken by CMHASD member Honor Wheeler on the 24th March 2024 from North Kent. 

This is the first Full Moon of the spring season and appeared on the night of Sunday 24th March and Monday 25th March reaching its peak illumination in the early hours of Monday 25th March 2024. 

In March, the Full Moon is also known as the Worm Moon and if it occurs on or after 21st March it is also known as the Paschal Moon, which is used to determine the date of Easter. In some years the Paschal Moon is the Worm Moon as in this year 2024; in others, it's the Pink Moon (Full Moon in April). The dates for the Paschal Moon range from the 21st March to the 18th April.

Moonrise half risen

Honor used a Canon M6II, Tamron 18-400mm lens set to 400mm, F8.0, exp1/640s and ISO400.

Full Moonrise

Honor used a Canon M6II, Tamron 18-400mm lens set to 400mm, F8.0, exp1/640s and ISO400.

 

Full Moon and Blossom

The image below is a composite photo of the moon through an Apricot tree in bloom. The first photo was focused on the moon the second focused on the tree then overlayed using snapseed.

Honor used a Canon M6 II, Tamron 18-400mm lens and Tripod.
For the Moon exposure the settings were; lens set to 400mm,  F8.0, exp1/3200s and ISO800.

For the tree exposure the settings were; lens set to 400mm, F8.0, exp1.1/3sec and ISO800.

For more information about the March Full Moon check out https://www.almanac.com/content/full-moon-march and https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/moon/worm.html

The Moon by Neil Webster

A super selection of Moon images taken by member Neil Webster in March 2024.

22nd March 2024

A Waxing Gibbous Moon, 94.7% illuminated and 12.47days old.

7 frames each 90s x 32fps. Best 20% aligned and stacked in Autostakkert. Processed in PhotoShop.

Neil captured the Moon using an AA115 triplet APO, EQ6 R, ZWO 290MM and Astronomik R/IR filter (642-840nm).

 

24th March 2024

A Waxing Gibbous Moon, 99.9% illuminated and 14.53 days old.

Check out Neil's flickr page for higher resolution images at https://www.flickr.com/photos/137388222@N05/

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