The Moon & Earthshine by Honor Wheeler – Dec 2022

Three wonderful images of our Moon acquired by CMHASD member Honor Wheeler back in December 2022.  The 1st image was taken on the 29th Dec 2022 and the next two on the 26th Dec 2022, all from North Kent.

Honor acquired her super image below of what looks like a 'Half Moon' at 20221229_2103UT by using a Canon M6 Mark II, 102mm Refractor, EQ3 synscan mount, x2 Barlow and ISO400, exp1/320s.

The next image below of a beautiful crescent Moon was acquired by Honor at 20221226_1654UT  using a Canon M6 Mark II, 102mm Refractor, EQ3 synscan mount, x2 Barlow and ISO200, exp1/30s

Honor's 3rd image below showing a stunning amount of Earthshine was acquired at 20221226_1737UT  using a Canon M6 Mark II, 102mm Refractor, EQ3 synscan mount,  x2 Barlow and ISO400, exp4s.  For more information about Earthshine click here.

Moon & Earthshine – 2023.01.18

Being up early on dark mornings has its rewards as member Jim Burchell shows here with these super images of a crescent Moon on the morning of the 18th January 2023.  The amount of 'Earthshine' captured in the 1st photo by Jim is stunning. Also in the photo - bottom left, is the star Alniyat in Scorpius. 

''Earthshine is a dull glow which lights up the unlit part of the Moon because the Sun’s light reflects off the Earth's surface and back onto the Moon.  It is also sometimes called ashen glow, the old Moon in the new Moon's arms, or the Da Vinci glow, after Leonardo da Vinci, who explained the phenomenon for the first time in recorded history...... Earthshine is best seen a few days before and after a New Moon, right after sunset or before sunrise. Scientists studying global warming found that earthshine is more intense in April and May'' ref:  https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/earthshine.html

Crescent Moon & Earthshine with Alniyat in Scopius by Jim Burchell

The 2nd image below shows more detail of the crescent Moon.

The Moon – 2023.01.02

Another stunning image of the Moon taken by member Neil Webster on the 2nd January 2023.  The image is of a waxing Gibbous Moon at 85.0% and 10.39 days old. The image is a mosaic made up of 6 frames stitched in Microsoft ICE.

Below is one of the frames taken by Neil which he said was his favourite!

You can see a higher resolution image on Neil's flickr page at https://www.flickr.com/photos/137388222@N05/52602589747/

New Society Solar Projector built by member George Buckberry – Society Meeting – 2023.01.26

Member George Buckberry with his hand built Solar Projector

Last week following our Society meeting on the 26th January 2023, we learned about the design and construction of a table-top solar projector built by George Buckberry. After all of the effort involved in building the projector, George has very kindly donated it to the Society for use by members and also as a means of educating the public at one of our outreach events. Thank you George for your very kind donation.

Below is a link to George's PowerPoint presentation of how George built the Solar Projector in the form of a PDF file which you can download. 

SolarScope Design & Build by George Buckberry of CMHASD

Sirius, Orion, Hyades in Taurus with Mars above and the Pleiades by George Buckberry

On the 17th Dec 2022 member George Buckberry captured this super image of Sirius, Orion, Hyades in Taurus with Mars above and the Pleiades.  The photo was taken on a mobile Samsung SE20 in night mode and tweaked in Snapseed by George.

98 Geminids captured on camera for the night of the 14th/15th Dec 2022

It was a very busy night for CMHASD meteor camera on the 14th/15th Dec 2022.  The Meteor camera captured 141 'sightings' of which 126 were meteors including 4 sightings of 2 meteors in the same shot by the camera.  Out of the 126 meteors 98 were Geminids; the rest were other classes of meteors including some sporadics. 

Meteors, also known as shooting stars, are pieces of dust and debris from space that burn up in Earth's atmosphere, where they can create streaks across the night sky. When Earth passes through the dusty trail of a comet or asteroid's orbit, the many streaks of light in the sky are known as a meteor shower.  The 98 Geminid meteors detected by the camera were part of the annual Geminid meteor shower.

For more information about the society meteor camera & project click here.

For more information about the Geminid Meteor Shower please visit the UKMON website at https://ukmeteornetwork.co.uk/showers/2022-geminids/

Below are two out of the 4 photos showing the double meteors captured by the camera.

Very Active Sun – 2023 Jan 15 – Honor Wheeler.

NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please see our Solar Observing safety page at crayfordmanorastro.com/solar-safety/

On the morning of Sunday 15th January 2023, CMHASD member Honor Wheeler captured this absolutely stunning image of the Sun.  As you can see it was very active and still is!  Details of how Honor acquired her brilliant image are on the photo. 

 

The information below is taken from the website Spaceweather.com

Picture above shows the Sun on 15th January 2023 - taken by the Solar Dynamics Observatory with the Sun spots labelled.

'''...I can't remember having seen so many sunspots together; indeed, the sunspot number is high. If solar activity continues at this pace for the rest of January, the monthly sunspot number will reach a 20-year high. And Solar Maximum is still ~2 years away. Contrary to predictions, Cycle 25 is shaping up to be a good one, after all.''

 

17th Jan 2023

''NAKED-EYE SUNSPOT: One of the biggest sunspots in years (AR3190) is crossing the solar disk--and you can see it with the naked eye. "Be sure to use safe solar glasses to protect your eyes," says Bum-Suk Yeom of Iksan, South Korea. "I tried it myself today, and I could see the sunspot clearly." 

As shown in Yeom's infographic, the sunspot is four times wider than Earth. It's twice as big as any other spot on the sun, visible to the naked eye, and a magnificent target for backyard solar telescopes.

Best of all, it's about to explode. AR3190 has an unstable 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic field that harbors energy for X-class solar flares. Any eruptuions will be geoeffective because the sunspot is almost directly facing Earth.'' ''

TOP