A word document that you can download detailing some useful astronomy apps and software has been uploaded to the New to Astronomy page. Thank you to member George Buckberry for compiling the list.
Category: Society News
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Solar Observing at Hall Place, Bexley – Sun 7th Aug 2022
Sunday 7th August 2022 - What a glorious sunny day to be out Solar Observing which is what Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society Dartford (CMHASD) where doing at Hall Place 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.
CMHASD will be back at Hall Place on Saturday 20th August 2022 to do some more Solar Observing with the public. Please do come and join us!
NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely.
Thank you to all CMHASD members who helped on the day and to Dr Mike Rushton and Terry Miles for sharing your photos of the day too.
AstroMusic by member Neil Webster
Sit back, relax and enjoy the 3 wonderful videos below put together by member Neil Webster showcasing some of his stunning astroimages alongside some beautiful music created by Neil in his home studio.
AstroMusic July 2022 - YouTube
AstroMusic July 2022 - YouTube
MOON: Waxing Gibbous - YouTube
Note: The video's can also be viewed on the 'New to Astronomy' page https://crayfordmanorastro.com/new-to-astronomy/
Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society Dartford awarded National Archives; Archives Revealed Scoping Grant
Some very good news announced yesterday 21st July 2022 - The National Archives; Archives Revealed Scoping Grant has been awarded to CMHASD to assess the value and future of our Hewitt Camera Archive Collection!
See the National Archives Press Release: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archives-sector/finding-funding/archives-revealed/scoping-grants/current-projects/
Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society Dartford (CMHASD) are the authorised custodians of the Hewitt Camera Archive Collection, containing over 11,000 wide-field sky glass/plastic satellite and astronomical photographic plates. This unique collection covers a historic period of 30 years from 1965 and relates to both the Northern and Southern hemispheres (the UK and Australia).
This Archives Revealed scoping grant is the first stage for funding the restoration, conservation, safeguarding, cataloguing, digitisation, and public sharing of this unique collection before deterioration and loss occurs. The Hewitt Camera Archive Collection is an insightful, historical and scientific resource into the UK’s part in the early days of space exploration. CMHASD is committed to sharing this valuable astronomical research archive with current and future generations as a physical and digital resource for all.
Quote from CMHASD President John Archer: "CMHASD is thrilled and grateful to The National Archives, The Pilgrim Trust, and the Wolfson Foundation for the award of this Archives Revealed scoping grant for our Hewitt Camera Archive Collection. This grant will enable our small charitable society to fund expert opinion and guidance to assess the digitisation, cataloguing, and planning towards making this unique UK space history and astronomical photographic collection safe and publicly available to the world. So…watch this space!”
The Society would like to thank Gary Hunt and team for your efforts securing the scoping grant. Fantastic news & well done!
Gary wrote 'This is exciting news but this is only the first step on what may be a long journey? Further substantial funding will be required to undertake the completion our objectives derived from the outcomes of the forthcoming Archives Revealed scoping report. The scoping report will determine the value (in terms of scientific, cultural and historical context) of the CMHASD Hewitt Camera Archive Collection and will also make recommendations on how to maximise exploitation and preservation of the collection.
We are grateful for this opportunity to move the current situation on and provide future access of the Hewitt Camera Archive Collection to the world before it further degrades or suffers calamity!
We are always grateful for offers of help or ideas for achieving our objective of fulfilling our solemn commitment to keeping the Hewitt Camera Archive Collection safe and allowing full exploitation by the astronomical, scientific, historical community… and lets not forget yourself!'
Dartford’s Big Day Out – July 2022
On the 16th July 2022 Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society Dartford (CMHASD) exhibited at Dartford’s Big Day Out in Central Park, Dartford.
It was an extremely busy & interesting day. Several members of the public took the opportunity to drop by for a chat, observe the current activity on the surface of our nearest star the Sun using the 3 telescopes that were on display and to view our various display boards showcasing the societies activities. Our 3D photographs & the planet game also proved to be very popular too!
Safe views of the Sun were offered by various CMHASD members that helped throughout the day using 'Anita' one of the societies Dobsonian telescopes built by members Steve Floodgate and David Grist (see Building Dobsonians) whilst member Jim Burchell offered safe views through his refractor. Both of these telescopes were showing white light views of the sunspots currently visible on the Sun’s surface.
Member Diane Clarke offered safe views of the sunspots on the Sun too as well as the Sun’s various prominences and surface detail with her Ha (Hydrogen alpha) line telescope, see the 2 photos below.
Both images captured an absolutely massive prominence on the Sun at the 11 O'Clock position; this wall of plasma was more than five times taller than our entire planet Earth! There were also prominences captured at the 1,2,6 and 10 O'Clock positions too in the images.
NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely.
More photos of the day taken by members John Archer, Jim Burchell, Diane Clarke and Janice McClean are in the slideshow below. Thank you for sharing them with us.
[ngg src="galleries" ids="64" display="basic_slideshow"]Also a big Thank you to Colin Wheeler for providing the marquee we used and to member Steve Floodgate for allowing us the use of his van for transporting the displays and equipment. Plus thank you to all the CMHASD members that helped on the day too :-) and to Diane Clarke for helping to write this post.
Beautiful Noctilucent Cloud (NLC) spotted early morning on the 15th July 2022
OK so it is the NLC season but WOW another sighting of these rare clouds by members. A very bright & beautiful display it was too that lasted again for quite a while into dawn until 4.15am.
An alert went out at 2.33am from member Sonia as she had spotted them very low down in the North East. Two members; Diane Clarke and Jim Burchell picked up the alert and so joined Sonia in photographing the beautiful display that was to follow. All photos where taken from various locations in North Kent by the members.
Below are 4 images by Jim Burchell taken at around 3:30 am. All image's were taken with a Pentax K70 and there has been no processing.
Below are 2 images taken by member Diane Clarke.
Panoramic view of the NLC. Diane wrote ''It went on to develop enabling me to capture 6 separate images taken at 03.30hrs that I used to create this panorama encompassing the splendour of this NLC.''
NLC at 4am as it began to fade in the North West.
Below are some images taken by Sonia using an iPhone. Also seen & photographed that morning were the planets Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, the Moon and a very curious fox who kept watch on Sonia whilst she took her photos.
NLC and the star Capella at 2.41am.
NLC developing nicely at 3.03am.
NLC at 3.10am - more finer detail emerging.
NLC at 3.21am.
NLC at 3.22am. You can see how bright they were next to a street light.
NLC at 3.38am. The NLC moved from the North East to the North West as dawn approached.
The Sun – 15th July 2022
More super images of the Sun by member Simon Dawes taken on the 15th July 2022 showing the Sun speckled with sunspots. Details of how Simon took the images are on the pictures.
NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely.
Sunspots at Sundown – 13th July 2022
Whist waiting for the Moon to rise on the 13th July 2022 members Honor Wheeler and Jim Burchell photographed the Sun as it set with just their cameras. When they looked at their images they saw that they had captured some of the massive sunspots on the Sun that day too in their photos. In both images you can see sunspot AR3055 bottom middle right and sunspot AR3057 top left on the Sun. In Honor's image you can also see Sunspot AR3053 middle right too.
NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely.
Honor Wheeler's image
Jim Burchell's image
The Moon – 7th July 2022 by George Buckberry
Two super images of the Moon taken by member George Buckberry on the 7th July 2022 whilst at the pavilion on a society informal night. George acquired the images using a Canon 550D ISO 800 1/60s with T-mount and 2xBarlow on Isaac. Isaac being one of the societies Dobsonian telescopes built by members Steve Floodgate & Dave Grist.
NLC – 12th July 2022
Another sighting of Noctilucent Cloud or night shining cloud by member Sonia on the 12th July 2022. Photos taken using an iPhone. Looking North East.
NLC at 3.27am
NLC at 3.32am
