Category: Society News
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Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan Atlas by Jim Burchell – Oct 2024
The location of Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas in October 2024.
Photo credit: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/comet-c-2023-a3-tsuchinshan-atlas-october-2024
Below are a selection of fantastic images of Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas taken by CMHASD member Jim Burchell taken over 6 days in October 2024.
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) is a long-period comet from the Oort cloud that was discovered in 2023 by the Purple Mountain Observatory in China in January 2023 and independently by the ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) in South Africa in February 2023. It was named after both observatories.
18th Oct 2024
Image taken from Dartford top road with a Pentax KP and a 50-300 MM zoom lens at 70 mm. F5.6, 5 seconds, iso 1600, attached to a Skywacher Star Adventurer
19th Oct 2024
Images were taken from Otford using a Pentax KP and 50-300 mm lens attached to a Skywacher Star Adventurer. Camera settings were 300 mm, F7.1, 60 seconds and iso 800
23rd Oct 2024
Images were taken from Otford using a Pentax KP DSLR and a 50-300 mm zoom lens attached to a Skywacher Star Adventurer. Camera settings were 300 mm, F7.1, 60 seconds and iso 800.
CMHASD Christmas Quiz – 2024
CMHASD members David Grist and Steve Floodgate pulled out all the stops to provide a night of head scratching, puzzlement and fun. Thank you Dave & Steve for all your hard work & effort creating the quiz. It was a great night and we are all looking forward to the next one!
Chairman John Archer wrote ''The Christmas Quiz was a great success – the men in brown coats did a splendid job and there was a very wide range of astronomy-related questions to contend with. Thank you Steve and Dave for the time you put into it, and to those who recorded the questions for those who couldn’t join us on the night.''
Congratulations to Neil Webster for winning the best Christmas jumper :-)
Congratulations to the winning team 'Positive Thinking' :-)
Aurora – 10/11th October 2024
On the night of the 10/11th October 2024 several CMHASD members all over the UK looked up at the sky and watched in amazement at another Aurora display!!!!
Below is a slideshow of a presentation that CMHASD member Sonia put together showing some of the stunning images members had taken that night. Some of the photographs taken by members show vivid colours but to most naked eye observers the colours were not so obvious due to light pollution.
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CMHASD Stargazing at Hall Place, Bexley – Wed 13th Nov 2024
On Wednesday 13th November 2024, CMHASD were back at Hall Place & Gardens to hold a star gazing event from 7pm to 9pm. We had brilliant support from our members who bought along a variety of telescopes, cameras, meteorites and other displays for our guests.
CMHASD Chairman John Archer wrote ''Firstly I wanted to extend my gratitude to everyone who supported our Stargazing event last week. We were extremely lucky that it was dry and mostly clear, albeit with a bit of high level haze, but nothing to prevent observations. We had a wide range of scopes for the public to try for size. Everything from smart scopes, to refractors and a couple of the Society Dob’s. The evening was a sell-out and everyone went away happy. Pretty much everyone had a chance to observe Jupiter (and her moons), Saturn and the Moon, which was eye-wateringly bright of course. The evening went very smoothly, a couple of talks, a smashing comet-making demo (thank you Debra) and lots and lots of Stargazing which seems to be the one thing the visitors were so looking forward to. For everyone who helped – thank you so much. We go again in 2025!''
Our next Star Gazing at Hall Place event is on the 5th February 2025.
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Our Sun by Honor Wheeler
NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely.
Three superb images of our active Sun by Honor Wheeler taken on the 27th October 2024 and 11th August 2024 from Dartford. All 3 images consist of a Solar H-alpha image and a White light image overlaid. The 2 images on the 27th are the same; the 1st has just been processed in colour.
27th October 2024
27.10.2024 White light settings:
Canon M6II , ISO200, exp 1/2500sec
Skywatcher ED80 Refractor with Baader White light filter & 2x Barlow.
EQ3 Synscan mount.
H-alpha prominence settings:
Canon M6II & 2x Barlow, ISO200, 1sec
Coronado PST
11th August 2024
11.08.2024 White light settings:
Canon M6II, ISO200, 1/2500sec
Skywatcher ED80 Refractor with Baader White light filter & 2x Barlow.
EQ3 Synscan mount.
H-alpha prominence settings:
Canon M6II & 2x Barlow, ISO200, 1/1sec
Coronado PST
Latest ExoClock Transits
Some more Exoplanet transits for the ExoClock project:
Hunter’s Supermoon – by Honor Wheeler
This is a lovely image of the largest and brightest Full Moon of 2024 that lit up the skies of Earth on the 17th Oct, taken by member Honor Wheeler from Dartford whilst waiting for the comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas to made an appearance. This Full Moon is also known as the Hunter's Supermoon. October's full Moon is called the Hunter's Moon because it occurs when hunters would traditionally have been most active.
''People in the Northern Hemisphere spent October preparing for the coming winter by hunting, slaughtering, and preserving meats, giving this Full Moon its Anglo-Saxon name Hunter’s Moon. The name was added to the Farmer’s Almanac in North America and is used widely today.
Native Americans named this Full Moon after things that happen in the fall, including Drying Rice Moon, Falling Leaves Moon, and Freezing Moon. The Celts used Seed Fall Moon in the same way.
The names Pagan Blood Moon or Sanguine Moon have also been used for this Full Moon. However, these names should not be confused with a Blood Moon—another name for a total lunar eclipse.'' Ref:https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/moon/hunters.html
October's Full Moon was also a Supermoon too.
''Supermoons happen because the moon's orbit isn't a perfect circle around Earth but is instead an oval, or ellipse. That means that sometimes our lunar companion is closer to Earth, reaching its closest point to us in what is known as perigee. Other times, it is further away, during what is known as its apogee. When the Moon is close to perigee during a Full Moon, that's a Supermoon. On Thursday 17th Oct, as the Full Moon rose, the Moon arrived at its closest point to Earth, sitting at just 221,938 miles (357,174 km) away. There have been two Supermoons in 2024 thus far, in August and September, and there will be another in November, but October's Hunter's Supermoon will be the biggest and brightest of 2024. That's because this is the closest occurrence of a perigee to a Full Moon.'' Ref:https://www.space.com/hunters-moon-supermoon-2024-photos
Timelapse video of Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas by Honor Wheeler
A superb timelapse video created by Honor Wheeler of Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan - Atlas on the 12th Oct 2024.
[video width="640" height="426" mp4="https://crayfordmanorastro.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/08ab415e-bd36-42bb-9ac2-d38fdf342734.mp4"][/video]
Moon – 24th Oct 2024 by Neil Webster
A stunning image of a waning gibbous Moon by Neil Webster taken at 6.45am on the 24th Oct 2024. The Moon was 51.0% illuminated and 21.46 days old.
Neil acquired the image by using a AA115 Apo, EQ6 R, ZWO ASI 290MM, and Astronomik R/IR Filter.
Check out Neil's flickr page at https://www.flickr.com/photos/137388222@N05/54090033889/in/photostream/ to see a higher resolution photo of this image.