Astronomy every Thursday
A fantastic mosaic image of the Moon taken by member Neil Webster on the 6th Jan 2025. The Moon was 6.85 days old and 47.8% illuminated.
Below are the individual frames from the mosaic.
Neil acquired the images using an AA 115mm apo, EQ6 R, ZWO ASI 290MM, and a Astronomik R/IR filter.
Processed using Firecapture, AutoStakkert, PS, and Microsoft ICE.
8 frames (each 90 x 33fps). 20% selected by AS.
Check out Neil's flickr page at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/137388222@N05/
This is a lovely image of the largest and brightest Full Moon of 2024 that lit up the skies of Earth on the 17th Oct, taken by member Honor Wheeler from Dartford whilst waiting for the comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas to made an appearance. This Full Moon is also known as the Hunter's Supermoon. October's full Moon is called the Hunter's Moon because it occurs when hunters would traditionally have been most active.
''People in the Northern Hemisphere spent October preparing for the coming winter by hunting, slaughtering, and preserving meats, giving this Full Moon its Anglo-Saxon name Hunter’s Moon. The name was added to the Farmer’s Almanac in North America and is used widely today.
Native Americans named this Full Moon after things that happen in the fall, including Drying Rice Moon, Falling Leaves Moon, and Freezing Moon. The Celts used Seed Fall Moon in the same way.
The names Pagan Blood Moon or Sanguine Moon have also been used for this Full Moon. However, these names should not be confused with a Blood Moon—another name for a total lunar eclipse.'' Ref:https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/moon/hunters.html
October's Full Moon was also a Supermoon too.
''Supermoons happen because the moon's orbit isn't a perfect circle around Earth but is instead an oval, or ellipse. That means that sometimes our lunar companion is closer to Earth, reaching its closest point to us in what is known as perigee. Other times, it is further away, during what is known as its apogee. When the Moon is close to perigee during a Full Moon, that's a Supermoon. On Thursday 17th Oct, as the Full Moon rose, the Moon arrived at its closest point to Earth, sitting at just 221,938 miles (357,174 km) away. There have been two Supermoons in 2024 thus far, in August and September, and there will be another in November, but October's Hunter's Supermoon will be the biggest and brightest of 2024. That's because this is the closest occurrence of a perigee to a Full Moon.'' Ref:https://www.space.com/hunters-moon-supermoon-2024-photos
A stunning image of a waning gibbous Moon by Neil Webster taken at 6.45am on the 24th Oct 2024. The Moon was 51.0% illuminated and 21.46 days old.
Neil acquired the image by using a AA115 Apo, EQ6 R, ZWO ASI 290MM, and Astronomik R/IR Filter.
Check out Neil's flickr page at https://www.flickr.com/photos/137388222@N05/54090033889/in/photostream/ to see a higher resolution photo of this image.
A superb selection of images taken by members Jim Burchell and Honor Wheeler on the 17th September 2024 of the Super Harvest Moon.
Why is this Full Moon called a Super Harvest Moon?
''Supermoons occur at perigee: the point in the Moon’s orbit where it’s closest to Earth. A perigee full Moon appears a little brighter and larger than an average full Moon, and is known by some as a ‘supermoon’. The technical name for a 'supermoon' is a perigee syzygy Moon.'' Ref:https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/supermoon-what-when-next
Plus Full Moon names reflect the time of year they happen and the Harvest Moon graces the skies in the harvest season in the Northern Hemisphere. The Harvest Moon is also the Full Moon nearest the autumn equinox, which happens around September 22, depending on the year and time zone.
Fly me to the Moon by Honor Wheeler
Image taken using a Canon M6II camera, 400mm lens, ISO800, F7.1 and EXP1/800s.
Moon with Saturn (Composite image) by Honor Wheeler
Images taken using a Canon M6II camera, 177mm lens, ISO800, F7.1 and EXP1/3s.
Super Harvest Moon by Honor Wheeler
Image taken using Canon M6II camera, 400mm lens, ISO800, F7.1 and EXP1/8s.
Super Harvest Moon taken by Jim Burchell
This image was taken using a Pentax KP body attached to a 102 mm refactor, F11, 1/80 sec and iso 100.
Moon & Cloud by Jim Burchell
This is a cropped image. taken using a Pentax KP, F11, 1/125 sec, 300 mm and ISO 100
For more information check out https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/supermoon-what-when-next and https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/moon/harvest.html
The next Supermoon is on Thursday 17th October.
A lovely photo of the crescent Moon and Venus captured by member Richard Bohner from the USA. The single shot photo was taken on 4th September 2024 with a Canon 6D camera and 135mm lens f2.8. ISO 1600 @ 1/30 second exposure from Cottonwood, Arizona, USA.
A fantastic image of the Moon with Earthshine taken by member Jim Burchell on the 29th August 2024. This is a single shot image which was processed in Snapseed. Details of how Jim acquired his image are on the photo.
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.
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.
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.
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/
