Society News – Page 44 – Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society Dartford

Neil Webster, St Marys Platt, Kent

e-mail: ******@gmail.com

Introduction

The following measurements were made throughout 2018 using a Meade 12mm astrometric illuminated reticle eyepiece plus 2.5x powermate attached to an Altair Astro 115mm refractor (focal length 805mm, f7). The total magnification was 167.5x with a field of view of 0.3 degrees.

Fewer measurements were made this year due to relocation which finally happened at the end of February. Serious observing, measuring and imaging did not begin until the middle of April. Although St Marys Platt is a much darker site than Bromley measurements are still limited to 8.5 magnitude due to the red light in the eyepiece. However, a Southerly aspect is now available so many of the measurements are of systems previously unavailable.

Read the full report here

Lecture by Dr Matt Smith

10th May 2019

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| 5:58 pm

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A big thank you to Dr Matt Smith for coming all the way from Cardiff to speak to us. Matt spoke to the Society about Galaxies, the Interstellar Medium and Black holes, including the most recent image of a black hole, during the talk Matt demonstrated how they can all be observed in both the optical and infrared wavelengths of light as these photos show.

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Observing Evening 2019-04-18

20th April 2019

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| 3:08 pm

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Thursday, 2019-04-18 was an informal observing evening and whilst not ideal with an almost full Moon, we had lots of telescopes out and other members learning how to use the Peter Hindle Telescope.

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The Pleiades, Mars and the California Nebula

19th April 2019

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| 6:38 pm

In April 2019 Mars was close to M45 (the Pleiades) and NGC 1499 and this coincided with the Kelling Heath Star Party. Unfortunately at this time of year Taurus is very low, setting in the late evening making this a difficult object to image, my attempts to stack and then process with Deep Sky Stacker were hopeless, so I turned to Astro Pixel Processor (using a 30 day free trial) which has a very easy to use light pollution killer, this allowed me to remove the gradient that resulted from the very low elevation and trees that crept into the field.

Total exposure is 84 minutes, from 30s subs. Tracking was achieved with an iOptron Star tracker, camera was a Canon 600D with a full spectrum mod and a CLSCCD clip-in filter.

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Occultation of the Beehive by the Moon

15th April 2019

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| 8:11 pm

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On Saturday 13th April I'd hoped to go to the Observatory and image the occultation of the Beehive cluster by the Moon but alas Diane and I had forgotten that we were taking part in a local RSPB quiz. We've taken part on a number of other occasions with fellow member Deborah and David, her husband, who are also keen bird watchers, so we had said yes to this quiz before we knew about the events clashing.

The skies were still clear after the quiz so we headed to the observatory, we got to the Pavilion at about 22:30BST (21:30UT) to find that no one else was using it. We imaged the Moon with the Beehive cluster from the patio then imaged some lunar craters and took a tour around the sky with the 16". The skies remained clear until 02:10BST at which time Diane and I packed up and went home.

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Kelling Heath Star Party Spring 2019

8th April 2019

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| 9:05 pm

4 Members and 2 ex-Members travelled to the Kelling Heath Star Party, this star party has notoriously poor weather, but on this occasion we were blessed with reasonable views on Wednesday night and clear skies from dusk 'till dawn on Thursday Night, Friday Morning.

Many, many objects were observed with Keith's 10" Dobsonian and Simon's 12" Truss Dobsonian, Julian and another Simon both allowed us to view objects with their 20" Dob's.

Apparently the food was epic...

Auriga

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Camp Site

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Mist on Sunday

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BAA Winchester Weekend 2019

8th April 2019

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| 8:48 pm

13 Members made the annual pilgrimage to Sparsholt College for the BAA Winchester Weekend.

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Meteor Report for March 2019

1st April 2019

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| 9:32 pm

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Meteor Camera Results for February 2019

3rd March 2019

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| 7:42 pm

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100 meteors were detected by the meteor group in February 2019, 70 of these were sporadic and the remainder from minor showers.

Meteors2019-02Analysis

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Observing Evening 2019-02-21

24th February 2019

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| 11:13 am

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We had a clear night on Thursday 21st February 2019, and before the Moon rose a few members had a go at the Orion Star Count, showing the diversity of eyesight and experience in our group.

The moon rose above the trees as a golden gibbous Moon and some of our group took to observing it with one of the Societies telescopes, affectionately known as Anita.

On the right is an image from Honor Wheeler taken through Anita, a Fuller Scopes 8" F8 recently converted to a Dobsonian by a couple of our members.

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Plane crossing in from of the Moon

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Other members were experimenting with the new CCD camera purchased by the society for the Peter Hindle telescope, a 16" LX200, using the F3.3 focal reducer we got a wide field view of the Orion nebula (M42) and M1 the Crab nebula.

Observing evening 2019-02-21 first light with a new CCD camera

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Another member, Leigh Slomer, was experimenting with his Skywatcher Star Adventurer, DSLR and a 70-200mm zoom to capture images of M42.

Orion M42 Leigh Slomer, 2019-02-21

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Category: Society News

Double Star Measurements with a Meade 12mm Astrometric Eyepiece in 2018

Lecture by Dr Matt Smith

Observing Evening 2019-04-18

The Pleiades, Mars and the California Nebula

Occultation of the Beehive by the Moon

Kelling Heath Star Party Spring 2019

Auriga

BAA Winchester Weekend 2019

Meteor Report for March 2019

Meteor Camera Results for February 2019

Observing Evening 2019-02-21