Shears Green Junior School Cosmic Camp – 27th Sept 2024

On Friday 27th September 2024 several CMHASD members helped out at Shears Green Junior School Cosmic Camp. 

Chairman John Archer wrote ''First of all I really want to thank all of the team who supported our evening of outreach last Friday 27th.  Once again we attended Cosmic Camp at Shears Green Junior School and were greeted by an enthusiastic audience, most of whom managed to observe Saturn, as well as a number of deep sky objects. There were indoor activities run by Rita and Debra, and the pupils were treated to our slideshow of members’ aurora images. Outside there were a range of scopes – Dob’s, a refractor and also Smartscopes, ably demonstrated by our hardy team including Steve, Dave, Andy, Diane, Mike, Jim & co – thank you all so much for giving up your time and getting involved – it was a wonderful and eventually clear night''.

Below are 2 of the images taken by members whilst at the school that the children saw.

M31 by Dr Mike Rushton using a Dwarf II smartscope with no processing.  Stacked image of 200 x 10s exposures at gain 80.

M31 is a barred spiral galaxy and is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way. It is also known as The Andromeda Galaxy, Messier 31 and NGC 224. The galaxy is approximately 765 kpc (2.5 million light-years) from Earth. The galaxy's name stems from the area of Earth's sky in which it appears, the constellation of Andromeda. Ref:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andromeda_Galaxy.

 

M27 by Diane Clarke (with the help of Jim Burchell) taken using a Seestar S50. Stacked image of 224 x 10s exposures. Processed using Affinity Photo.

M27 (also known as the Dumbbell Nebula, Apple Core Nebula, Messier 27, and NGC 6853) is a planetary nebula (nebulosity surrounding a white dwarf) in the constellation Vulpecula, at a distance of about 1360 light-years. It was the first such nebula to be discovered, by Charles Messier in 1764. Ref:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumbbell_Nebula.

CMHASD Solar Observing at Hall Place & Gardens – 5th May 2024

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

On Sunday 5th May 2024 the team from CMHASD set themselves up for the first of our two Solar Observing events at Hall Place & Gardens and what a glorious day it was to be out solar observing.

Members of the public were invited to do some solar observing which was enthusiastically accepted by those who were keen to look at the sun using our scopes.  The Sun put on a good display having several complex sunspots for the public to view.

Five telescopes were set up to observe the Sun safely.  First; a table-top Celestron Firstscope 76mm Newtonian fitted with a home-made solar filter through which many of the public were able to see the numerous sunspot groups, this was a low budget telescope and easy to use.

There were 3 smart scopes set up; two Seestar S50's and a Dwarf II.  The 2 images of the Sun below were taken by the smart scopes.  The first was taken by CMHASD Secretary Dr Mike Rushton using a Dwarf II smart scope and the second taken by member Terry Miles using a Seestar S50 smart telescope.  Both images were captured whilst Mike & Terry were helping at Hall Place.

Dwarf II smart telescope (1" aperture!) 30 x 1/200sec subs at gain 0 with a ND6 Solar filter.

 

The fifth telescope set up was a Celestron C90 Maksutov Cassegrain telescope, focal length 1250mm, 90mm objective lens (corrector plate) using a 32mm eye piece which gave a full view of the Sun's disk. This was on a Sky Watcher heavy duty tripod on which was mounted a William Optics wedge on which was mounted a iOptron Sky Guider Pro tracking mount and finally the Mak mounted on top. The Celestron was set up for visual observation only so fitted with a Baader 5ND solar filter, no imaging was done.

Our pitch was on the grass at the end of the path from the main entrance to the gardens, and we were quite close to the hard standing outside the art gallery and café. With the date being chosen to coincide with the Farmers’ Market, we experienced good foot-fall and our flag was prominent for visitors as they arrived.

The Crayford team returns again later in July for our second session but there’s no doubt this first visit to Hall Place for Solar Observing in 2024 was a great success and the Society would like to thank all those members who helped on the day :-D

Thank you also to John Archer, John Howarth, Dr Mike Rushton and Terry Miles for sharing your photos with us.

*** CMHASD will be back at Hall Place on Sunday 7th July 2024 to do some more Solar Observing with the public. Please do come and join us! ***

Janice Receives the Lydia Brown Medal from the BAA

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Janice received the Lydia Brown medal from the BAA in recognition of meritorious service to the Association in an honorary capacity over many years.

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Shears Green Junior School – Cosmic Camp 2023

Several society members attended Shears Green Junior School on Friday 15th September 2023 with their own or a society telescope to take part in the school’s ‘Cosmic Camp’.  The Society would like to say a big thank you to all the members who helped make this event a success.

Member Diane Clarke who attended the event wrote ''Earlier in the year the CMHASD was again invited to the Shears Green Junior School Cosmic Camp.  So we took our telescopes along to offer views of various stella sights.

In the evening Jupiter & 3 of its Galilean moons appeared above the horizon and was again greeted with awe & wonder by all who viewed them. There was also views of Cygnus & the planet Saturn with its largest moon Triton.

The double star Mizar (Alcor) in Ursa Major also proved a great hit when the children discovered that 1 star was actually 2 stars.

As well as showing the children the night sky we also had some classroom presentations and a display of members images along with an image from the JWST on show.    

The members who went along had an extremely enjoyable and rewarding time due to the enthusiasm of all the children & teachers at the camp.  Lots of questions were asked by a very inquisitive & enthusiastic young audience and as they looked through the telescopes we heard were phrases such as “wow”, “is that real?” & “is it a hologram?”

One of the teachers from the school wrote in a thank you email to us “We all had such a fantastic time last Friday and the children didn't stop talking about it for days.”

We look forward to next year 🙂''

The Society did not take any photos of the event as there were too many safeguarding issues.

CMHASD Stargazing at Hall Place, Bexley – Wed 22nd Nov 2023

On Wednesday 22nd November 2023, CMHASD were back at Hall Place & Gardens to hold a star gazing event from 7pm to 9pm.  We had brilliant support from our members who bought along a variety of telescopes, cameras, meteorites and other displays for our guests.

CMHASD Chairman John Archer wrote ''Last week at Hall Place we had one of our best ever for observing and public enjoyment. Although these events take quite a bit of setting up, and time out of the diary, they are extremely rewarding. We managed a couple of talks – “choosing a telescope (or not)” from Mike being the customary first talk. Initially we were clouded out, however it became apparent that during the first talk, some gaps were appearing, so we invited the public outside. They were treated not just to a brilliantly positioned Jupiter, but also a prominent Moon, and far off Saturn even got in on the act. Finally, we managed to coax the visitors back in for tea, a comet talk and demo for which I’m grateful to Debra for the ingredients list and instructions – it wasn’t quite Bake-off but the resulting comet at least didn’t have a “soggy bottom” thanks partly to sublimation!

A big thank you to the whole team for once again supporting the event.''

Below are a few photos showing some of the celestial delights our guests got to view/image and one of the comet Debra made too :-) 

 

CMHASD supporting the BAA at New Scientist Live – ExCel London 2023

Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society Dartford (CMHASD) were out in force at the recent New Scientist Live event at ExCel Centre, London Docklands on the 7th to 9th October 2023.  We were there to help the British Astronomical Association (BAA) on their stand over the 3 days to promote the BAA and answer questions from members of the public, school children and teachers on all things astronomical.

CMHASD member Diane Clarke wrote ''As part of our display we had several 3D printed items which  included: M51, painted scale models of the planets Mars & Jupiter and a section of the largest canyon in the Solar System the Valles Marineris. 

Issac and Tinie the CMHASD Dobsonian telescopes were a favourite with all.  Visitors to the stand were able to look through Issac and Tinie at a 7m diameter inflated printed globe of the planet Mars.

All of these proved great talking points enabling us to make several sales as well as promoting membership of the BAA.

Among the visitors to the BAA’s stand was Professor Richard S. Ellis with his family; who had earlier in the day given a talk titled When galaxies were born: First results from the James Webb Space Telescope to a packed audience.

All in all, everybody who staffed the stand enjoyed the experience.  Over the 3 days their enthusiasm & knowledge radiated to everybody that visited the stand, hopefully resulting in future new members of the BAA.''

CMHASD would like to thank all their members who helped over the 3 days and to Diane Clarke for sharing her photos of the event.

CMHASD Solar Observing at Hall Place – 19th August 2023

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

On Saturday the 19th of August several members of the Society were present for the second of our 2 solar observing sessions at Hall Place & Gardens.  Below are some photos of the day.  Thank you to Dr Mike Rushton, Honor Wheeler, Jim Burchell, Omila and Diane Clarke for sharing your photos.

The Sun in Hydrogen Alpha taken by Honor Wheeler using a Personal Solar Telescope (PST).

 

The Sun in white light taken by Omila using an iPhone with an adapter and telescope fitted with a Solar filter.

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Solar Observing at Hall Place & Gardens – Sunday 6th August 2023

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

Sunday 6th August 2023 – What a glorious day to be out solar observing which is what Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society Dartford (CMHASD) where doing at Hall Place & Gardens in Bexley. 

What a busy day it was too! Several telescopes were set up to observe the Sun safely and members of the public were invited to do some solar observing which was readily accepted by many.  The Sun put on a good display having several sunspots and prominences for the public to view.

Chairman John Archer wrote ''On Sunday 6th August, the team from CMHASD set ourselves up for the first of our two Solar Observing events at Hall Place & Gardens.

The forecast was for early morning sun, followed by sunny intervals until around 11am, but cloudy conditions until the arrival of rain at 4pm. Given that our timeslot was effectively 11am – 3pm, we were nervous to say the least!

Our pitch was on the grass at the end of the path from the main entrance to the gardens, and we were quite close to the hard standing outside the art gallery and café. With the date being chosen to coincide with the Farmers’ Market, we experienced good foot-fall and our flag was prominent for visitors as they arrived.

At one point we had around a dozen members in attendance and the public were treated to displays of sunspots the like of which we haven’t seen for years. Whilst the big Dob Anita was an immediate attraction, we had Tinie, two solar projectors and a range of H-Alpha and white light filtered scopes with which to demonstrate safe solar observing to a very interested public.

Of particular note was the filtered refractor which Honor had set up with a digital camera attached, affording visitors a proper “live view” of the surface of the sun. Each of the scopes were able to display clear views of sunspots such was their size and quantity. This solar cycle has certainly picked up in terms of activity and although the local forecast was for cloudy conditions, we very much lucked out in terms of clear spells so the public were very fortunate that during the period while the Farmers’ Market was trading, we were able to keep them entertained and educated.

The Crayford team returns again later in August for our second session but there’s no doubt this first visit to Hall Place for Solar Observing in 2023 was a great success.''

Below is an image of the Sun on the 6th August 2023 taken by member Honor Wheeler.  The Sun was very active with lots of sunspots. Image acquired using an ED80 Refractor, EQ3 Synscan mount, Canon M6 MarkII, 2x lens Barlow and ISO200/ exp 1/1250s.

CMHASD will be back at Hall Place on Saturday 19th August 2023 to do some more Solar Observing with the public. Please do come and join us!

Thank you to John Archer, Diane Clarke and Honor Wheeler for sharing your photos of the day with us.

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CMHASD Star Gazing at Hall Place & Gardens – 2022, Nov 30.

On Wednesday 30th November 2022, CMHASD were back at Hall Place & Gardens to hold a star gazing event.  We had brilliant support from our members – thanks to all – who bought along a variety of telescopes, cameras, meteorites and other displays for our guests.

 

We had over 33 ticket-holders to entertain and those who arrived early did catch sight of Jupiter, Mars and the Moon.

We ran through a handful of short talks – including a review of popular astronomy apps by Marc and a talk from Debra on Comets, followed by a successful comet-making demo to an enthralled audience.

Further gaps in the clouds allowed visitors another chance to observe with us. It’s always rewarding to hear the “oohs and aahs” of a first-time view of Jupiter’s moons through a decent scope. The Society Dob’s are just brilliant at that.

So thank you to the whole crew (you know who you are) for setting up, interacting, educating and closing down the show. It was very successful indeed.

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Partial Solar Eclipse – 2022 Oct 25 – Open Morning at the Pavilion

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

On Tuesday 25th October 2022, CMHASD held an Open Morning at the Parsonage Lane Pavilion for members & members of the public to view the rare spectacle of a Partial Solar Eclipse visible from the UK.

It turned out to be an absolutely fantastic day and one that people who were there will not forget.

It was a warm sunny day with clear skies at the start of the partial eclipse and come 10.09am BST we were rewarded with the first views of the Moon partially obscuring the Sun.

Members used a variety of safe techniques to view & image the partial eclipse for nearly 1 1/2 hours (with a few breaks due to cloud cover) until a little after 11.30am when it started to rain.

The setup shown below is using the image projection method with a 4 1/2'' Tal Newtonian reflector.

 

  

Member Gary Hunt who was present that day at the pavilion and took many of photos used in this post wrote "Whenever there is an astronomical event in our locality of the UK, CMHASD is pleased to take the opportunity to share with the public the wonders of the Universe. The morning of Tuesday 25th 2022 was such an opportunity as we were treated to a partial eclipse of the sun. This is quite a rare phenomenon for the UK and even a few tens of miles can make a big difference to what you will see. Sadly for our observatory and home that is the ‘Pavilion’ in Sutton-at-Hone Dartford this would be only be around 15% covering of the sun in the nearly two hour solar eclipse by the Moon, but with the aid of SAFE observing techniques and equipment provided by CMHASD members we were able to demonstrate and explain to our visitors just what was happening. Besides the eclipse, and with most of our telescopes we were able to see two sets of sun spots and even a few solar prominences. The sun was visible until the last half-an-hour when clouds and some spots of rain spoiled our observing session, but we were lucky that most of the best parts of the eclipse was pretty cloud free! We had a small, but enthusiastic number of guests come along to observe the eclipse, and I can confidently claim that they were all suitably impressed with their experience. We had challenges that day because on the Sunday before, a thunder storm knocked out electrical power supply to the Pavilion and so we had no lighting or power for hospitality for our guests, however we used thermos flasks of tea/coffee and generous Society members brought along some cakes, so I think we were forgiven? All-in-all, I would judge that we had a successful solar/eclipse public out-reach session and guests and members enjoyed the solar-show immensely."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below are a collection images of the partial solar eclipse including a time lapse video by members who were at the pavilion.............

 

Jim Burchell

All 6 of Jim's superb images were taken with a Pentax KP attached to an Altair Astro 102 Refactor using a white light Solar filter. Image's then coloured using Snapseed. 

Image 1 start of the eclipse.  Iso 200 1/200 sec F7.5 approx 

Image 2 roughly mid eclipse. Iso 200 1/250 sec 

Image 3  a couple of minutes before the end of the eclipse. 
ISO 200 1/160 sec.

This image was taken roughly mid eclipse and shows more surface detail than Jim's other images.

A very atmospheric image of the partial eclipse near the end.

 

 

Diane Clarke

Diane Clarke's stunning image has been rotated to match event and also shows sun spots 3126, 3130 & 3131.  Diane acquired the image using a Camera EOS M50m2 at ISO  400 @ 1/2000 Sec. Jpeg from RAW.

 

Mike Rushton

Dr. Mike Rushton's super image was taken just before clouds intervened at about maximum eclipse time.  Mike acquired the image using a Canon EOS 60D Lens: EF70-300mm f/4-f/5.6 IS USM, Focal length 300m f/8 1/500s ISO 200.

Below is a time lapse video of the partial solar eclipse put together by Mike.

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Meanwhile members who were unable to be at the pavilion acquired these images below of the partial eclipse at various locations around Bexley including a time lapse video......

 

Simon Dawes

Details of how Simon acquired the image are on his photo.

Member Simon Dawes who was at home that morning wrote ''I hadn't intended observing the partial solar eclipse,  my plan had been to process some exoplanet data from the the night before but the day started out so nice and cloud free, I thought why not.  As I was setting up I heard that one of our members wouldn't be able to see it, they were isolating due to COVID.  So armed with a connection on my mobile phone and the societies Zoom details I set up an impromptu zoom stream to share my observatory PC so that anyone wanting to see it that couldn't get to the pavilion would be able to.''

Below are a couple of images of the partial solar eclipse broadcast via Zoom set up by Simon and a time lapse video of the eclipse.

 

Janice McClean

Member Janice imaged the partial eclipse until the rain came.  Details of how Janice acquired her great images are on the photos.

 

 

Terry Miles

Terry Miles super set of images were acquired using a Coronado Personal Solar Telescope (PST) using a 8mm-24mm zoom and an  iPhone 13.

 

Some members who were at work that day managed to get some images too........

 

John Archer

In the City of London CMHASD Chairman John took this image.

 

Honor Wheeler

On a tea break at work Honor took this image using a BAA solar viewer with her phone.

 

And those members who live further a field shared their images they got of the partial solar eclipse also.

 

Martin Crow

Martin took this image of the partial eclipse showing some sunspots too from Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex. Shot using a DSLR 550d, 200mm lens with an astro solar filter, iso 100 & shutter speed 1/15sec.

 

Stephen Cohen

Stephen took this image from Cumbria using an iPhone through Mylar film.

 

CMHASD would like to say a big thank you to Gary Hunt, Diane Clarke, Dr. Mike Rushton and John Archer for organising the day and to the members who shared their photos & images. Absolutely brilliant!

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