Back to Basics Workshop
We hosted The 2018 British Astronomical Association Back to Basics workshop on 6th October.
These workshops are great for beginners just starting out in astronomy and wanting to learn how to use their telescopes or get started in Astronomy and over 50 people turned up – well done and thank you to all the Crayford Members who helped out.
The 2018 Perseid Meteor Shower
The society run an ‘almost automated’ meteor camera, if you want to be part of the meteor team checking the results every morning then please speak to the coordinator – Janice.
A total of 535 Meteors were captured, with 340 of them being Perseid meteors. Below is a video of the 20 brightest meteors during August.
Summary of the report sent to the Nematode meteor group.
The Nematode group were able to match 11 of our meteors with observations from other observers in the group producing these orbits.
![Perseid orbits 2018[3450]](https://crayfordmanorastro.com/wp-content/gallery/meteor/Perseid-orbits-20183450.png)
2019 Calendar
Some of you who were present at the Pavilion on the 29th of March will be aware of the following changes to the Society’s Calendar rules. Each month will now consist of a collage of member’s images rather than just one per month.
The Calendar size will also increase from 21 x 28cm to 28 x 37cm picture size to accommodate the collage of images, I am unsure how many images can be accommodated per page but it may be between 6 to 8, actual numbers TBA. Price TBA.
Rather than the list of 4 groups such as the Moon, Sun, Deepsky etc. there will be a list of ‘Targets’ for member’s to photograph or sketch.
Important: Image/s to be submitted for the 2019 Calendar must have been photographed or sketched after the 1st of January 2012 but no later than 8pm (GMT) on the 3rd of October 2018.
(All images for the 2020 Calendar will need to been photographed or sketched AFTER the 3rd of October 2018 but before the 2nd of October 2019 so keep this in mind when submitting your images).
DON’T FORGET TO READ THE RULES!
PLEASE DO YOUR BEST TO TAKE PART, THANKS.
Target images for the 2019 CMHASD Calendar are as follows:
1. Earthshine
The Moon’s shadow side can often be seen when the young crescent Moon is visible. Images must show the Moon with the shadowed side also visible
2. A Rainbow
Images can be an Arc or a portion of the Rainbow.
3. The Planets
Images can be of any of the Planets (not the Earth that would be cheating 😉
4. Lunar and/or Planetary Conjunctions
Images can be of the Moon in conjunction with Planet/s or a planetary line-up of 2 or more Planets.
5. The Orion constellation
Images that show the Orion constellation in full as the left image or as the image on the right with the four stars Betelgeuse, Bellatrix, Saiph and Rigel at each corner.
6. Lunar Eclipse
A Lunar eclipse will hopefully be visible on the 27th of July but any images photographed or sketched after the 1st of January 2012 can be submitted. The Moon partially or fully eclipsed will be acceptable.
7. Atmospheric Optics
Images of any of the following: Solar Halo, Sundogs, Circumzenithal Arc, Cloud Iridescence and Crepuscular Rays etc.
8. The Andromeda Galaxy
A close-up image of this wonderful Galaxy.
9. Sunset or Sunrise
Any photograph or sketch of a Sunrise or Sunset over land or water.
10. Lunar crater Copernicus
A close up of the crater Copernicus photographed or sketched using a Telescope or a Telephoto lens.
11. Sunspots
Images of Sunspots in White Light or a projected image only, not H-alpha (as only a few members have H-alpha telescopes).
12. Ursa Major constellation
Images of the whole constellation or the Plough will be acceptable.
13. A Full Moon
The Moon must be between 98 – 100% to qualify for this Target, you’ll need to make sure as I will check the date and the image was photographed or sketched.
14. The Pleiades and/or the Hyades
An image of either the Pleiades or the Hyades or an image of them together.
I am aware there are 14 Targets, not everyone will be able to image all of the Targets so hopefully this way everyone will be in with a sporting chance of obtaining at least one image for the Calendar.
Rules: And please make sure you read them!
- You may only enter one image per category.
- Sketched, Single, Multiple Stacked or Mosaicked images are acceptable, Composite images are NOT acceptable.
- All images entered must have been Photographed or Sketched by the person entering the image/s.
- If too many images (maximum numbers TBA) are entered for one ‘Target’ then a vote will be taken on each image and the images with the most votes will be included in the Calendar.
- All images MUST have been taken AFTER the 1st of January 2012 but before 8pm (GMT) on the 3rd of October 2018.
- The two ‘Targets’ with the least number of images received will not be included in the Calendar.
- Images can be taken using another member’s telescope but the camera used MUST belong to the member submitting the image/s.
- Poor quality images will have to be omitted so make sure the image resolution is good enough for printing.
- All images MUST be submitted to this email address: honor . draconis @ talk21 .com (remove spaces) BEFORE 8pm (GMT) on the 3th of October 2018, no exceptions.
When emailing your images please use the email subject heading ‘CMHASD CAL2019’ that way I can save the images easily all in one place!
Small print – Feel free to ask me any questions that are not covered by the rules but if you do ask me a question that IS covered by the rules…then I’ll know you didn’t read them! Simon, Martin, Jim….! [this is scandalous Ed.]
Astronomy Fun Day at the Priory Centre Dartford
The Society took part in an Astronomy Fun Day on Saturday 25th August 2018 at the Priory Shopping Centre to promote Astronomy, and encourage locals to visit the shopping centre, the day was well attended and along with CMHASD was an inflatable planetarium. During the day we were promoting the BAA Back to basics workshop we are supporting in October.
Solar Observing at Hall Place – August 2018
The Society were at Hall Place on Sunday 19 August 2018 showing members of the public the Sun using safe observing techniques and talking to people about Astronomy in general. Whilst there was a fair amount of cloud about and the Sun was playing ‘hide-and-seek’ the day was a massive success.
The Society were at Hall Place on Sunday showing members of the public the Sun using safe observing techniques and talking to people about Astronomy in general. Whilst there was a fair amount of cloud about and the Sun was playing ‘hide-and-seek’ the day was a massive success.
2018 Summer BBQ
The summer BBQ was a great hit again. About 25 members attended and we had food for about 100! The day was very relaxed. We had a few glimpses of the Sun through our Dobsonian telescope, Anita using Baader Solar Safety Film, unfortunately there were no Sun spots visible.
Welcome to our new website!
Our new website is live, come back regularly to see new updates.
This post lists the progress of migrating data from the old website to the new one.
Our old site cmhas.wikispaces.com remains operational for a short period as sections from it are migrated more and more of the old site will point to this new site, however please be patient at we have 560 pages and 2.5Gb of images to migrate!
2018-09-09
Added Making dew heater controller and dew bands to equipment section
2018-08-07
Added Automatic Photometric Telescope post to Papers and Equipment sections
2018-08-06
Added new post for BAA Exhibition meeting in 2010
Added new post for BAA Summer Exhibition Meeting 2012
Added Paper
Added Paper
Added Paper
2018-08-05
Added book review posts
Updated Aurora page
Added news posts
Updated Atmospheric Optics Page and added some posts
2018-07-25
Added Frankenscope to equipment section
Added Observatory Section
2018-07-24
Added post on summer BBQ
Fixed Event section which wasn’t displaying event posts
2018-07-23
Updated space Junk section and added post
2018-07-22
Added Equipment Section and added to Activities menu
- CEM post
- Drift scan post
- Battery Free electric focuser
- DIY Finderscope
- Variable Barlow
- Large Telescopes
Added Variable star page and 3 posts showing observations
2018-07-21
Updated Mars Page
2018-07-20
Added Spectroscopy page
2018-07-18
Added post for 2015 Lunar Eclipse – all Lunar Eclipse reports from old website are now covered.
Modified the Programme- you can now import our programme into your own Calendar!
2018-07-17
Added page on Detecting meteors with Radio
Updated Lunar Eclipse Page added posts for 2001 and 2007 Lunar Eclipses
2018-07-15
Complete upload of member solar images
Papers section added and 2 papers published
Meteor Page updated with posts for previous society reports of meteor showers
Radio Section Added, added SID page
Double Stars Section Added
2018-07-14
Comet page updated, including all the previous comet reports by the society.
Venus page updated with members images plus a paper on the dichotomy of Venus
Sun pages updated with members images
Changes to Membership
New Membership Fees:
Our society is booming, as a rsult our income has become a little high so we have made the decission to reduce membership fees .
The new membership structure is as follows…
Full Membership
- £95 per annum
- All meetings including lectures
Basic Membership
- £35 per annum
- All meetings except lectures (lectures can be attended at £7 per lecture)
Student Membership
Only availble to full time students
- £35 per annum
- All meetings including lectures
John Wall 1932 – 2018:
On Saturday the 27th of January 2018, the Society learnt of the death of Mr John Wall, an inspirational inventor who make telescopes out of household items and inventor of the Crayford Eyepiece Mount (referred to now as the Crayford Focuser), John was a member of the Society for many years and will be remembered for his laugh, inventive genius and great character. An obituary was posted in ‘The Times’ and the ‘BAA Journal’
Below is a copy of the obituary for the BAA Journal
Obituary as it appeared in the BAA Journal
The Dick Chambers Observatory
The Dick Chambers Observatory
For details of our observatory, named after past chairman, Dick Chambers, please see the page dedicated to it.
Solar Eclipse 2012 November 13, Australia
Members Mike, Rita, Jean and Brian travelled to Northern Australia to see this eclipse.
Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA’s GSFC
Images by Mike Rushton
All images are copyright. Permission must be sought to from the image owner to the use of any of these images.
Dismantling the 24 inch Telescope built by John Wall
When the Manor house closed in December 2011 we lost our 50 year old observatory so we had to find a new home for our 24″ telescope built by John Wall 🙁
York Astronomical Society agreed to rehouse the telescope. Below are a selection of photos showing what happened that day.
BAA Summer Meeting 2012
This meeting was hosted by Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society, the weather wasn’t great but we did manage to get the Solar scopes out for a short while. The lectures were great.
Europe goes to Jupiter
Dr Chris Arridge
All about project JUICE an ESA mission to Jupiter
Rosetta
Dr Dan Andrews
All about missions to comets with some insight into the Beagle 2 mission
Application of penetrators for the Exploration of planets & the Moon
Dr Rob Gowen
Title says it all really
Differentiating between dead comets and Asteroids
Prof. Iwan Williams
All about categorisation of asteroids and coments and how/ if they can/should be classified differently
Working on Mars
Dr Craig Leff
All about how to manage robotic missions on Mars.
The Dartford festival 2012
BAA Exhibition Meeting 2010
Location: Greenwich, London, UK.
This meeting included a (Free) trip to the Planetarium organised by the SPA, and then the BAA exhibition meeting down the hill. At the meeting our founder, Gordon Taylor received an Award from the BAA.
Solar Eclipse 2006 Turkey & Libya
Two teams of Crayford members went to image the March 2006 total eclipse:
Libya:
Arthur Cockburn, Jean & Brian Felles, Mike Rushton and Rita Whiting
Turkey:
Andrew Barber, Martin Crow, Malcolm Gough, Keith Rickard and Julian Tworek
Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA’s GSFC
Images by Arthur Cockburn
Images by Jean Felles
Images by Brian Felles
Images by Mike Rushton
Images by Martin Crow
Images By Julian Tworek
Solar Eclipse 2003 Antarctica 24th November
A total solar eclipse is an unforgettable experience anywhere in the world but to stand beneath the Moon’s shadow in Antarctica must surely be the most memorable.
I was fortunate to be one of the 98 passengers on board the Russian icebreaker ‘Kapitan Khlebnikov’ which made its way through the field ice to the Davis Sea where we were one of the first people to experience a total solar eclipse in Antarctica.
An ‘inconsiderate cloud’ covered much of totality giving us only a glimpse of the corona and a brief flash of the diamond ring but it meant that I could concentrate on the moon’s shadow as it rushed like a huge storm cloud across the ice and stranded icebergs, and marvel at the pink and gold colours on the horizon.
For us on local ‘ship time’ totality occurred at 6:36am on 24 November 2003, ship time being UT +8hrs. Our position was 65º 55’S and 89º 16’E.
Valarie Stoneham
Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA’s GSFC
Images by Valarie Stoneham
On our journey to the eclipse site we stopped briefly at the Kuerguelen Islands. Only one of these islands is large enough to attempt a landing and it was here that 3 expeditions, despatched from Britain, Germany and the United States, established stations to observe the transit of Venus in 1874.
Two members of the expedition team on the Kapitan Khlebnikov, using informaition from modern maps and Airy’s report compliled in 1881, discovered the site of the US station near the location at Point Malloy. All that remained was a short brick pillar which had lost a few bricks from the top (this may once have borne an inscription) and two iron telescope foundations but they were able to measure the position accurately using a Global Positioning System.
Discovery of Asteroid 1997 WQ28 by Crayford Member
On the evening of 30th November 1997 we were obtaining CCD frames for the UKNova/ Supernova patrol using a 10″LX200, operating at f3.3 and StarlightXpress. At 21.30UT we imaged a suspect object near ngc765, a type SBb/Sc, 14th mag spiral galaxy in Aries. Estimating the magnitude at brighter than 16 we initially thought we might have discovered a second supernova as this was rather bright for a new asteroid and no known asteroid was in the region of the galaxy. We used the Sky v4 to control the LX200 and always load the 34000 minor planets before we start patrolling so are forewarned of any asteroid in the field. We also checked Megastar and the new service to check supernova suspects for minor planets at the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams Web site:
A second image 25 minutes later clearly showed movement, ruling out a supernova. Ignoring our chagrin we took a final image at 22.28UT, measured the positions using astrometrica, a commercial astrometry software package and sent a report to Martin Mobberley, deputising for Guy Hurst who was away on business.
Asteroid 1997 WQ28 discovery image by Mark Armstrong
Asteroid 1997 WQ28 Follow-up image by Stephen Laurie
The skies remained cloudy until on 3rd December we imaged six overlapping fields twice, approximately one hour apart to try and recover the suspect. At this stage we had to estimate where we thought the suspect should be as we don’t have the software to calculate a rough ephemeris from initial observations. We picked up only one object showing movement and not appearing in the `Real Sky` field but were doubtful that it was the suspect as it appeared at least 0.5 magnitude fainter and CCD images taken near the ecliptic can often reveal faint asteroids. However we measured the new positions and reported to Guy Hurst.
Meanwhile on 2/3 December Stephen Laurie, having seen our original report but unable to respond immediately due to business, imaged an object in the approximate position. Using Computer-Aided Astrometry, another commercial software package, he imputed all the measured positions to date and concluded that they were all the same object!
Guy reported the observations to the Minor Planet Centre on 6th December and the asteroid received the official designation 1997 WQ28. We have now secured 28 observations over a 55 day arc and the object has still not been linked to a previously designated object. Our previous `discovery` 1997 DV was linked to 1990 QN5, discovered at Palomar!
Article originally by Mark Armstrong