Category: Society News

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Two CMHASD members spotted Noctilucent Cloud (NLC) in the early hours of the 29th June 2026.

It was quite a display and below are some images taken by Diane Clarke and Jim Burchell of them. 

Diane also put together a timelapse video of the NLC developing and fading away - which is stunning to watch.

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Images by Jim Burchell from Swanley.

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Images by Diane Clarke taken from Belvedere.

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Congratulations to Simon Dawes for being a co-author on a paper published in the Monthly Notices of the RAS. 

The title of the paper is ''A survey for variable young stars with small telescopes - XI. Spot Lifetimes
and Coverage Distributions.''

To read a copy of the paper click the link below.

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2607.24460

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A superb video of Jupiter and Moons Io & Europa taken by Simon Dawes.

Taken using a Mesu e200 mount, Celestron Edge 11HDQHY5III 715C colour camera.

2026-04-24 20:45-21:06UT

The top moon, moving away from Jupter is Europa and the one moving behind and towards Jupiter is Io

The shadow transit is of Europa.

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CMHASD Public Outreach at Hall Place & Gardens - 2nd August 2026.

Post written by CMHASD Chairperson Gary Hunt.

WARNING: NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY.  Read the page on Solar Safety before attempting any kind of viewing of the Sun!

''A Brilliant Day of Solar Outreach at Hall Place!  Our Solar Observing Public Outreach Event at Hall Place, Bexley, held alongside the popular Farmers' Market on Sunday 2nd August, proved to be another tremendous success for the Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society.
Despite a day of hot temperatures and variable cloud cover, we welcomed well over 150 visitors between 10:00 am and 3:00 pm, all eager to experience our nearest star in a way that few people ever have.

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The passing clouds certainly tested everyone's patience at times! Just as visitors reached the eyepiece, the Sun would occasionally decide to hide behind a convenient cloud, leading to a few moments of anticipation (and the occasional collective sigh!). Fortunately, perseverance paid off, and when the skies cleared the reward was spectacular.

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Image of the Sun taken by Dr Mike Rushton using a Dwarf3 smart scope.  The Sun was active with a plenty of sun spots!

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Those observing through our Hydrogen Alpha telescopes were treated to magnificent views of the Sun, including impressive sunspots and beautiful solar prominences dancing around the solar limb. The reactions from visitors were priceless, with countless expressions of amazement and wonder. Even a number of our own members experienced their first views through a Hydrogen Alpha telescope and were genuinely "wowed" by the incredible detail on display.

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Events such as these are only possible because of the dedication and enthusiasm of our volunteers. It was undoubtedly an exhausting day, but one that demonstrated the Society at its very best.
A huge thank you goes to every member of the CMHASD team who gave up their Sunday to inspire the public and share their knowledge and passion for astronomy.

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Special recognition must go to:
Dr Mike Rushton for organising the event.
Steve Floodgate and Dave Grist for taking on the transport, setup and all the inevitable heavy lifting.
And, of course, to every volunteer who welcomed visitors, answered questions, operated telescopes and helped create such a friendly and memorable experience.
Each person played an important role, and together they showcased exactly what makes CMHASD such a wonderful society. As Chair, I could not have been prouder of our Outreach Team and everything they achieved.

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Our solar observing season isn't over yet!
Our next opportunity to observe the Sun will be the Partial Solar Eclipse on Wednesday 12th August at the CMHASD Observatory, followed by our final Hall Place Solar Observing Event of the season on Sunday 23rd August.
As always, everything depends on one small detail...
The British weather!
We hope to see many of you there.''

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Image of our Sun taken by Dan Stevens using a Seestar S30 smartscope.

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The Society would like to thank Diane Clarke, John Archer, Mike Rushton and Dan Stevens for sharing their photos.

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Thursday 23rd July 2026 was an observing/informal meeting and we were treated to a stunning display of a Sun Pillar.  

Below are some photos of the evening including 2 photos of member Andy Barber who washed the Dick Chambers Observatory Dome - Thank you Andy!

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Two stunning images of rare Noctilucent Cloud taken on the 26th July 2026 by member Jim Burchell from Swanley, Kent.

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A super image of the Full Moon taken on the 29th July 2026 by member George Buckberry using a Dwarf 3 smartscope.

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Congratulations to CMHASD member Kevin Smith for being elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.  Well done Kevin!

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On the 17th June 2026 there was a beautiful conjunction of Venus with the crescent Moon.  Several members of the society imaged the event and below is a selection of their fab images taken at different times in the evening.  Venus is the dot northwards of the crescent Moon.

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Image by Dan Stevens taken at 9.30pmish with a Seestar S30.

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Image by Jim Burchell taken using a Pentax KP body attached to 102 mm F7 Altair Astro refactor. 1 /60 sec, Iso 200 on a Skywatcher EQ5 mount. Cropped in Snapseed.

Image taken from Dartford.

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The images below are all point and shoot using various phone cameras.

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Image by Simon Dawes from Bexley.

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Image by Jo Southgate from Dartford.

NOTE: Jo has Jupiter in her image too.  It is the dot which is at the 4 O Clock position from the Moon.

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Image by Kevin Langford from Bexley.

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Image by Dominique Ferrand taken over London.

NOTE: Dominique has Jupiter in her image too. It is the dot which is at the 4 O Clock position from the Moon.

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Three fantastic full tracked panorama images of the Milky Way taken by member Danny Pearce whilst on holiday in June on La Palma. All images were taken from locations above the cloud inversion.

All of the images were taken with a Nikon Z6iii on a Skywatcher Star adventurer Mini tracker. Foregrounds were captured at dusk without tracking (9 panels) and sky as 9 x 120sec panorama and stitched in Lightroom.

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