Category: Sun

Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society DartfordMoon , Society News , Sun

The Sun & Full Moon – 3rd Jan 2026

 6th January 2026 6th January 2026
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    |   4:04 pm 4:04 pm

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The 3rd of Jan 2026 saw the 1st Full Moon of the year and several members got out their scopes and cameras and took some lovely images of the Moon.  Some members also took the opportunity to image the Sun that day too.

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Sun & Full Moon by Honor Wheeler.

Taken using a Dwarf3 smart scope taken from Dartford.

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The Sun by George Buckberry.

Taken using a Dwarf3 smart scope taken from Hextable.

 

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The Full Moon by George Buckberry.

Taken using a Dwarf3 smart scope taken from Hextable.

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Full Moon rising by John Howarth taken from Bexleyheath.

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Full Moon rising by Gary Hunt taken from the Isle of Sheppey.

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Full Moon rising by Kevin Smith taken from Deal, Kent.

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Full Moon rising by John Archer taken from East Sussex.

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Full Moon by Dominique Ferrand taken from London.

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Full Moon by John Archer taken from East Sussex.

Taken using a Dwarf3 smart scope.  The photo is made up of a stack of 20 images.

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The Sun & Moon – 31st Dec 2025

 3rd January 2026 3rd January 2026
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    |   3:41 pm 3:41 pm

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The Sun & a Waxing Gibbous Moon (89.7% illuminated and 11.64 days old) taken on the last day of the year 2025. 

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The Sun by Honor Wheeler taken from Dartford using a Dwarf3 smartscope. 50 stacked images and processed in Snapseed.

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The Sun taken by George Buckberry from Hextable using a Dwarf3 smart scope.

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The Moon taken by Honor Wheeler from Dartford using a Dwarf 3 smartscope.  50 stacked images and processed in Snapseed.

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The Moon taken by Neil Webster from St Mary's Platt. 

The image is made up of 6 frames: each 90s x 33fps (20% selected by AS).  Neil used a AA 115 APO, EQ6 R, ZWO ASI290MM and R-IR Filter to capture the images and then processed them using Firecapture, AutoStakkert, Photoshop and Microsoft ICE.

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Dwarf3 images by Dr. Mike Rushton

 18th November 2025 18th November 2025
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    |   10:42 am 10:42 am

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Two super images taken by Dr. Mike Rushton using his Dwarf3 smart scope on the 12th November 2025 of the North America Nebula (Caldwell 20) and the Sun.

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Active Sun

 3rd September 2025 3rd September 2025
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    |   1:40 pm 1:40 pm

NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely.
 
Two great images of the Sun taken on the 28th and the 30th of August by member Jim Burchell.  The images were taken using a Pentax KP attached to a F11 refactor, set at iso 100 and 1/400 second using a Baader solar film.  The images were then processed in Snapseed.
 
 

Partial Eclipse of the Sun – 29th March 2025

 1st July 2025 1st July 2025
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    |   9:26 am 9:26 am

NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely.

On the 29th March 2025 there was a partial eclipse of the Sun and many CMHASD members observed the event all over the UK.  Below are a selection of photos and a timelapse video of the partial solar eclipse.

It was also the 1st outing of the new Society Solar Lunt telescope called Cecilia and mighty good views of the Sun were seen including a sunspot, prominences and surface detail of the Sun.

First light with Cecilia

The image below was taken pointing a phone down the eyepiece. You can see lots of prominences.

 

The 2 Sun images below were taken using a phone attached to a phone holder put on Cecilia and it set to the PRO setting. The lower of the 2 images was then processed in Snapseed to crop, flip, colour and processed to bring out the details. Taken at 10.37UT

.

The image below was taken using Cecilia after the partial eclipse had finished using an old ZWO colour camera. The image shows a lot of surface detail of the Sun and shows the possibilities for better imaging using a dedicated camera.

 

 

The Partial Solar Eclipse by Honor Wheeler

 

Partial Solar Eclipse by Jim Burchell

 

Member John Archer's set up and image

 

Member Guy Roberts' partial solar eclipse image

 

Member Janice McClean's setup

 

Member Keith Rickard safely observing the eclipse with dedicated solar filter glasses

 

Members Diane Clarke and Roger Moore observing the partial eclipse

Diane Clarke's images

 

Member Martin Crow safely observing the eclipse using the projection method

 

Timelapse video of the partial Solar Eclipse by Jim Burchell

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The Sun – June 2025

 13th June 2025 13th June 2025
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    |   8:40 pm 8:40 pm

NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely.

 

A great selection of Sun images taken by members on the 10th & 13th June 2025

 

Friday 13th June

The Sun by John Archer using a Dwarf 2 smartscope.

 

An Active Sun by Simon Dawes - details of how Simon acquired his images are on most photos.

 

Tuesday 10th June

The sun by Dr Mike Rushton taken using a Dwarf 3 smartscope

 

The Sun by George Buckberry taken using a Dwarf 3 smartscope.

The Sun – 21st March 2025 by Jim Burchell

 22nd March 2025 22nd March 2025
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    |   1:35 pm 1:35 pm

NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely.
 
Another great image of our Sun taken by member Jim Burchell on the 21st March 2025. Underneath is an image Jim took on the 16th March 2025; you can see how the sunspots have moved across the Sun since the 16th.
 
 
 
 
Both images were taken with an Pentax KP body attached to 102mm F11 Altair Astro refractor fitted with a solar filter and then coloured in Snapseed.

An Active Sun – 16th March 2025 by Jim Burchell

 16th March 2025 16th March 2025
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    |   11:41 am 11:41 am

NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely.

 

Two superb images of the Sun today taken by member Jim Burchell.  As you can see the Sun is very active with lots of sunspots.

Jim's 1st image below, a single shot; was taken using a 102 MM refactor with a Pentax KP body attached set at F11, 320 sec and iso 100 plus a solar filter.

 

Jim's 2nd image, which is just a single shot; was taken using a SeeStar S50 smartscope.

 

Below is an image taken from Spaceweather.com showing all the sunspots with their labels.  As you can see there are lots!!!!!

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