Sun – Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society Dartford

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Hot off the press - 2 images of the Sun showing the enormous Sunspot AR4366; taken on the 4th February 2026. The image on the left was taken by Jim Burchell using a Seestar s50 smart scope and the image on the right was taken by George Buckberry using a Dwarf3 smart scope. Both taken from the Dartford area.

AR4366 has unleashed dozens of solar flares including a powerful X8-class flare on the 1st February 2026. Most sunspots never produce even one X-flare but this week, giant sunspot 4366 has fired off six; the latest being an X4.2-class explosion on the 4th February.

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Below is a diagram of the sun with the sunspots labelled and an image of just AR4366. Both these images were taken from the website spaceweather.com.

''The image of the Sunspot AR4366 was taken by amateur astronomer James Kevin Ty on Feb 3rd from his backyard observatory in Manila. "This sunspot started as an inconspicuous pore just a few days ago. Since then it has grown hugely in size!" he says.

SUNSPOT ARCHIPELAGO: Sunspots are magnetic islands on the sun. Sunspot AR4366 is a complete archipelago. Scroll down to scan more than 200,000 miles of island chain.

The island metaphor is apt. Sunspots are buoyant concentrations of magnetism that float on a sea of solar plasma. Archipelago 4366 consists of one big island twice as wide as Earth plus dozens of lesser isles ranging in size from US states to small planets.

AR4366 is currently facing Earth.'' Ref:Spaceweather.com

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The Sun & Full Moon – 3rd Jan 2026

6th January 2026

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| 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

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| 3:41 pm

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.

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

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| 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

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| 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

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| 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

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| 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.

Our Sun – by Jim Burchell

22nd April 2025

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| 1:49 pm

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

A superb collage of images showing our active Sun over a 4 day period (31st March to 3rd April) taken by CMHASD member Jim Burchell.

The Sun – 21st March 2025 by Jim Burchell

22nd March 2025

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| 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.

Sunspots by Simon Dawes – 16th March 2025

22nd March 2025

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| 10:00 am

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

A splendid selection of Sunspot images taken by CMHASD trustee Simon Dawes on the 16th March 2025. Details of how Simon took his images are on the photos.