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Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society DartfordExoClock , Society News

Latest ExoClock Observations by Simon Dawes

 22nd January 2026 22nd January 2026
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    |   WebMistress WebMistress
    |   11:27 am 11:27 am

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These are the latest Exoplanet transits that member Simon Dawes has done for the ExoClock project.

To find out more about the ExoClock project click here.

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XO-6b is a transiting exoplanet, orbiting the star XO-6 around 760 light years (230 parsecs) away from Earth. It was discovered in 2016 by the XO planet search team.

XO-6b orbits XO-6, a faint 10th magnitude star in the constellation Camelopardalis.

XO-6b is classified as a hot Jupiter. The planet has an orbital period of just 3.8 days and an average orbital separation of 0.082 astronomical units. Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XO-6b

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EPIC 246851721 b is a gas giant exoplanet, 3x the mass of Jupiter, it takes 6.2 days to orbit its (F-Type) star and is 0.07229 AU from its star. It was discovered in 2018.

The F-type star EPIC 246851721 is a star in the constellation of Taurus. EPIC 246851721 distance from Earth is 1224.38 light years away.

Simon said ''It's the shallowest transit I've attempted at 5 milli-mag. on a mag 11 star.''

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WASP-33b is an extrasolar gas giant planet orbiting the A-type star HD 15082 in Andromeda.  It was the first transiting planet discovered to orbit a Delta Scuti variable star.  Its mass is 2.093 Jupiters, it takes 1.2 days to complete one orbit of its star, and is 0.0239 AU from its star. Its discovery was announced in 2010.

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KELT-2Ab is an extrasolar gas giant planet that orbits the F-type star KELT-2A approximately 440 light-years away in the Auriga.

Its mass is 1.7 Jupiters, it takes 4.1 days to complete one orbit of its star, and is 0.05497 AU from its star. Its discovery was announced in 2012.

 

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Qatar-1b is a gas giant exoplanet that orbits a a metal-rich K dwarf star in Draco. Its mass is 1.294 Jupiters, it takes 1.4 days to complete one orbit of its star, and is 0.02332 AU from its star. Its discovery was announced in 2010 and was the first planet discovered by the Qatar Exoplanet Survey.

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Aurora seen last night

 20th January 2026 20th January 2026
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    |   WebMistress WebMistress
    |   1:05 pm 1:05 pm

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Last night Aurora was spotted over the UK and 2 CMHASD members managed to image it through the clouds. 

Apparently the CME, X1.9 'Halo' solar flare that sparked this aurora took only 25 hours to reach Earth! Usually CME'S take 3 to 4 days!

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The 1st image on the right was taken by member Honor Wheeler from Dartford using a Canon M6II, Rokinon 12mm lens, set at ISO800, f8, and 6sec.

Honor said 'The aurora was difficult to see visually but my camera picked it up. A lot of light pollution reflecting off the clouds also didn't help but any aurora seen from home is a nice, unexpected bonus.'

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Member Martin Crow from Burnham - on - Crouch, Essex managed to capture some images of the Aurora through gaps in the cloud on his iPhone. On the right are 2 of his images.

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New Dwarf3 presentation by George Buckberry

 20th January 2026 20th January 2026
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    |   WebMistress WebMistress
    |   11:51 am 11:51 am

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Member George Buckberry has written another presentation about his recent experiences with the Dwarf3 smart scope.  To see a copy of his presentation click on the link on the right.

To see George's previous presentation about the Dwarf3 go to the 'New to Astronomy & Resources' page where you will find the link.

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George Buckberry Further Adventures with a Dwarf 3

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The Sun & Full Moon – 3rd Jan 2026

 6th January 2026 6th January 2026
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    |   WebMistress WebMistress
    |   4:04 pm 4:04 pm

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The 3rd of Jan 2026 saw the 1st Full Moon of the year and several members got out their scopes and cameras and took some lovely images of the Moon.  Some members also took the opportunity to image the Sun that day too.

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Sun & Full Moon by Honor Wheeler.

Taken using a Dwarf3 smart scope taken from Dartford.

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The Sun by George Buckberry.

Taken using a Dwarf3 smart scope taken from Hextable.

 

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The Full Moon by George Buckberry.

Taken using a Dwarf3 smart scope taken from Hextable.

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Full Moon rising by John Howarth taken from Bexleyheath.

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Full Moon rising by Gary Hunt taken from the Isle of Sheppey.

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Full Moon rising by Kevin Smith taken from Deal, Kent.

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Full Moon rising by John Archer taken from East Sussex.

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Full Moon by Dominique Ferrand taken from London.

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Full Moon by John Archer taken from East Sussex.

Taken using a Dwarf3 smart scope.  The photo is made up of a stack of 20 images.

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The Horsehead and Flame Nebula

 6th January 2026 6th January 2026
    |   No Comments No Comments
    |   WebMistress WebMistress
    |   1:57 pm 1:57 pm

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Below are 2 images of the Horsehead Nebula and Flame Nebula taken by member George Buckberry. The 1st on the 31st Dec 2025 having only 17mins and 45 seconds of total exposure and the 2nd on the 1st Jan 2026 having 1 hour and 15mins total exposure; both taken using a Dwarf3 smart scope.  The Horsehead Nebula is located in the centre of the images and the Flame nebula is located at the top middle of the images.

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The Horsehead Nebula, also known as Barnard 33, and its companion, the  Flame Nebula, sit near the star Alnitak in Orion's Belt. 

The Horsehead Nebula is a small dark nebula located about 1,375 light-years from Earth and is located just south of Alnitak,  the easternmost star of Orion's Belt and is part of the much larger Orion molecular cloud complex within the Orion B cloud. It is one of the most identifiable nebulae because of its resemblance to a horse's head.

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The Flame Nebula, designated as NGC 2024 and Sh2-277, is an emission nebula also in the constellation Orion.  It is about 1350 light-years away.  The Flame Nebula also lies within the Orion B cloud of the larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex.

The bright star Alnitak the easternmost star in Orion's Belt, appears very close to the Flame Nebula in the sky. But the star and nebula are not physically associated with one another. Alnitak lies 1260 light-years from Earth.

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The Sun & Moon – 31st Dec 2025

 3rd January 2026 3rd January 2026
    |   No Comments No Comments
    |   WebMistress WebMistress
    |   3:41 pm 3:41 pm

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The Sun & a Waxing Gibbous Moon (89.7% illuminated and 11.64 days old) taken on the last day of the year 2025. 

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The Sun by Honor Wheeler taken from Dartford using a Dwarf3 smartscope. 50 stacked images and processed in Snapseed.

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The Sun taken by George Buckberry from Hextable using a Dwarf3 smart scope.

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The Moon taken by Honor Wheeler from Dartford using a Dwarf 3 smartscope.  50 stacked images and processed in Snapseed.

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The Moon taken by Neil Webster from St Mary's Platt. 

The image is made up of 6 frames: each 90s x 33fps (20% selected by AS).  Neil used a AA 115 APO, EQ6 R, ZWO ASI290MM and R-IR Filter to capture the images and then processed them using Firecapture, AutoStakkert, Photoshop and Microsoft ICE.

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Congratulations to…..

 3rd January 2026 3rd January 2026
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    |   WebMistress WebMistress
    |   3:25 pm 3:25 pm

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Congratulations to Simon Dawes, Martin Crow and Gary Hunt on the latest paper published by the ExoClock project of which they are co authors ''ExoClock Project IV: A homogeneous catalogue of 620 updated exoplanet ephemerides''  To see a copy of the paper click on the link below.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.14407

Then another congratulations to Martin Crow for being a co author on the following paper titled ''TrES-1b: A Case study in detecting Secular Evolution of Exoplanet Orbits.''  To see a copy of the paper click the link below.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.15075

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Congratulations

 3rd January 2026 3rd January 2026
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    |   WebMistress WebMistress
    |   2:09 pm 2:09 pm

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Congratulations to Honor Wheeler for her superb Lunar Eclipse image taken on the 7th September 2025 being shown at the BAA (British Astronomical Association) Society Meeting sky notes and in their Lunar section too!

Honor acquired the image using a Canon M6II, 18-400mm lens, set at ISO1000, F6.3, and 1/500sec

 

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The Orion Nebula

 3rd January 2026 3rd January 2026
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    |   WebMistress WebMistress
    |   11:49 am 11:49 am

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The Orion Nebula taken by George Buckberry on the 1st Jan 2026 using a Dwarf3 smart scope.  This is a brilliant image as it was acquired just after a total of 15 mins of exposure.  Just shows what smart scopes can do!

''The Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976) is a diffuse nebula situated south of Orion's belt in the constellation of Orion.  It is one of the brightest nebulae and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky with an apparent magnitude of 4.0. It is 1,344 ± 20 light-years (412.1 ± 6.1 pc) away and is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. M42 is estimated to be 25 light-years across (so its apparent size from Earth is approximately 1 degree). It has a mass of about 2,000 times that of the Sun. Older texts frequently refer to the Orion Nebula as the Great Nebula in Orion or the Great Orion Nebula.'' Ref:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_Nebula

 

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The Rosette Nebula

 3rd January 2026 3rd January 2026
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    |   WebMistress WebMistress
    |   11:17 am 11:17 am

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A stunning image of the Rosette Nebula taken by Kevin Smith on the 27th Dec 2025 using a Dwarf3 smartscope.  The image is a total of 5 hours and 57 mins of exposure.

The Rosette Nebula (also known as Caldwell 49) is a huge star-forming region spanning 100 lightyears across and located 5,000 lightyears away.

It can be seen in the Monoceros constellation in the winter months and is located between stars Betelgeuse in Orion and Procyon in Canis Minor.  Draw a line between Betelgeuse and Procyon, look just south of that line, about halfway along, and you will find it.

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