Autumn Equinox Star Party – Kelling Heath, Norfolk – Oct 2023
Below is a brief summary of the latest trip by CMHASD members to Kelling Heath for the Autumn Equinox Star Party written by Simon Dawes.
”10 Members, 5 pitches, 2 tents, 2 caravans, 1 camper van and a lodge set the scene for a damp and windy long weekend.
If you decided to go to the Autumn Kelling Heath star camp based on the weather forecast, you would never leave Crayford; fortunately us seasoned star campers know better than to believe the forecast.
Wednesday: Cloud, Wind and Rain.
Four of us arrived in the rain, setting-up camp in a brief gap in the weather and headed to Honor’s lodge for a very welcome evening meal.
Thursday: Cloud, Wind and Rain.
Some of us headed out for a walk to the beach stopping for tea and cakes at the village cafe, a cloudy night saved by us zooming into the Barry Kellet lecture.
Friday: Cloudy, Windy, and a clear night.
The short term forecast suggested a clear night, the clouds parted early and we weren’t disappointed, we had views through Dominique’s a very nicely set-up 3” Refactor, Keith’s 10” Dobsonian, Simon’s 12” Dobsonian, Julian’s 20” Dobsonian, and some very nice 4” Binoculars from a nearby pitch.
It was too windy for imaging early on but the wind died down and David did a good job imaging using a Samyang 130mm Lens on an HEQ5 mount – possibly overkill – but the results spoke for themselves.
We packed up at about 3:30 am.
The sky at Kelling by Kevin Smith
The Milky Way by Simon Dawes
Images below are by Martin Crow
Below are images by Jim Burchell. All images where taken with a Pentax KP attached to a Skywacher star adventurer. All the images are single frame images.
Saturday: Dry, partial cloud during the day, mostly cloudy at night
We visited the trade stands, being careful to leave our wallets behind. Julian had some wonderful views of the Sun in his Ha telescope a modified PST.
Sunday: Dry
We packed up and headed home.”
Plus Kevin had a cute little visitor one night to his tent 🙂
Sundogs & 22-degree Halo by Jim Burchell
Fine examples of sundogs and part of a 22-degree halo captured by member Jim Buchell on the 25th September 2023 from Dartford.
”A sundog, also known as sun dog, mock sun or parhelion, consists of glowing spots around the sun. They are created by sunlight refracting off plate-shaped ice crystals in the cirrus clouds. Sundogs are some of the most frequently observed atmospheric optical phenomena and can be observed throughout the year and anywhere in the world. They are also associated with 22-degree halos.
Sundogs tend to be most visible when the Sun is close to the horizon. The part of a sundog closest to the Sun tends to be red in colour, while the areas further away from the Sun generally appear blue or green.” Ref:https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/optical-phenomenon.html
For more information about sundogs and 22-degree halo’s check out https://atoptics.co.uk/blog/sundogs-sun-dogs-parhelia-mock-suns/ and https://atoptics.co.uk/blog/22-halo-formation/
Development of Sunspot AR3395 by Simon Dawes
A nice set of images showing how the Sunspot AR3395 developed over 5 days as it moved across the Sun in August by member Simon Dawes.
ExoClock Conference, Thessaloniki, Greece 2023
2023 October 21/22
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
3rd ExoClock Annual Meeting
CMHASD trustees Martin Crow, Simon Dawes and Dr Mike Rushton attended the 3rd Annual Conference of ExoClock in Greece, a project to improve the ephemeris of exo-planet transits for the European Space Agencies, Aerial Mission, due to launch in 2029.
During the conference Martin and Simon were awarded ‘Silver Awards’ for reaching over 100 successful ExoClock observations. Congratulations Martin & Simon!
Below are 2 accounts of the trip written by Martin and Simon.
Martin wrote ”When this year’s annual meeting was announced and that it was going to be in Greece, it felt that it was important to attend in person. The previous in person meeting, the first one since lock down, had been held at UCL in London. Because the project is international the annual meetings are a rare opportunity to meet other like-minded observers who we only normally see over Zoom.
Simon (who is also a regular contributor to ExoClock) and Mike (who is interested in the project and has done some transits with his EvScope) also come along.
We flew out on the Thursday which give us a free day to explore Thessaloniki before the weekend meeting. Our hotel was well placed in the middle of Thessaloniki although it was on a busy road junction.
I knew nothing of the place before we went. It is steeped in history and in cats. Yes cats. They were everywhere.
The Museum of Archaeology showed off the amazing finds of stuff made in and around Thessaloniki generally between 2000 and 2400 years ago. Delicate pottery and intricate gold jewellery, which had only survived because they were grave goods, were on display. The workmanship was incredible.
We also visited the White Tower (Middle Ages), the Rotunda (Roman) still with its domed roof and some of the massive city walls.
The weather was warm and there were plenty of restaurants to choose from. We took advice from the locals and kept away from the main tourist drags. The food was good, not expensive, and the portions were large. What not to like – providing you are not a vegan or veggie – there was a lot of meat.
The location of the meeting was just a 15-minute walk from the hotel.
The Saturday meeting kicked off with an Introduction given by Anastasia Kokori from UCL and various talks followed about the science surrounding the Ariel space telescope, the evolution of hot Jupiter’s and the possible use of machine learning with charting exoplanets.
After lunch there were more talks about Ariel and ExoClock. Following on from afternoon tea were more talks relating to the ExoClock project. Some were better than others.
On Sunday the day started off with talks from students taking part in ExoClock and using its data.
There were then two short talks given by amateur astronomers. One of them was me. The brief was to talk about our experience of being involved with the ExoClock project. I described when I had first got started and the positive and supportive aspects of the software and project in general. I finished by putting it all into context, that is to say, how it allows me as an amateur astronomer to contribute to an area that is a frontier of astronomical research. Awesome.
After the coffee break there were some very interesting talks/discussions about the focus groups and, also, education outreach in schools.
Finally, after lunch, there was more on the working groups some of which, I have to say, that I struggled to follow. Plus, it had been a long day!!
What I liked about the talks was that they were not too long, mostly 20-minutes. This is a good length and kept my attention, any longer and I would be drifting off. I found most of the topics interesting with fresh information on top of what I already knew.
All in all, a very worthwhile trip.”
Simon wrote ”We arrived on Thursday evening, and after dinner at a traditional Greek Taverna (ταβέρνα in Greek) we headed back to the hotel for Tea, in time to ‘zoom in’ to the societies lecture by Paul Money on the Vikings on Mars.
The following day was dedicated to sightseeing, Thessaloniki Archaeological Museum, The Arch of Galerius, The Rotunda (also commissioned by Galerius in the 4th Century AD), The Water Front and the White Tower and finally the Roman wall. One day really wasn’t enough for the sights and sites and we only scratched the surface of what Thessaloniki has to offer.
The conference was over 2 days, most lectures being 30 minute in length and ranging from the easy to follow to the latest mathematical, statistical and AI techniques associated with the Aerial and related Space Missions. Including, in one of the talks, a description of 24hrs of wasted Hubble time due to inaccurate exo-planet transit timings, really bringing home the impact amateur astronomers can have in this field by improving these ephemeris. There were also many talks on how MSc students were using exoclock data (hopefully crediting the observers) to understand better the characteristics of these planetary systems.
Martin and I were both awarded ‘Silver Awards’ for reaching over 100 successful observations (which is approximately 1000 hours of observing and maybe 300 hours in processing when you also take into account the failures due to weather or equipment issues) by the Principle Investigator (Giovanna Tinetti) and the leader of the Exo-Clock programme (Anastasia Kokori).
We headed home on Monday morning.”
For more information about the conference click here https://www.exoclock.space/annual_meetings
ExoPlanet transit of HAT-P-23b by Keith Rickard
One more for the ExoClock project – this one being the first for CMHASD trustee and treasurer Keith Rickard. It is of Exoplanet HAT-P-23b in the constellation Delphinus.
”HAT-P-23 b is a gas giant exoplanet that orbits a G-type star. Its mass is 2.09 Jupiters, it takes 1.2 days to complete one orbit of its star, and is 0.0232 AU from its star. Its discovery was announced in 2010.” Ref:https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exoplanet-catalog/1345/hat-p-23-b/
For more information about HAT-P-23b click here https://exoplanet.eu/catalog/hat_p_23_b–737/
Superb Sun Pillar imaged by John Archer
Whilst travelling early morning on a train to London, CMHASD Chairman John Archer saw this fine example of a sun pillar on the 23rd October 2023.
”Sun pillars and light pillars are beams of light that extend vertically upward (or downward) from a bright light source, such as the sun or another bright light low on the horizon. They can be 5 to 10 degrees high and sometimes even higher. In fact, they might lengthen or brighten as you gaze at them. They’re beautiful and wondrous. And they’re also the source of some UFO reports!
When is the best time to see them?
You’ll most often see sun pillars when the sun is low in the western sky before sunset, or low in the east just after the breaking of dawn. However, you might even see a sun pillar when the sun is below the horizon. On the other hand, you can see light pillars at any time of night. They’re called sun pillars when the sun helps make them. But the moon or even streetlights can create this light phenomenon, too, in which case the name light pillar is more appropriate.” Ref:https://earthsky.org/earth/what-is-a-sun-pillar/
For more information about sun pillars see Les Cowley’s brilliant website Atmospheric Optics .
Comet C/2023 P1 (Nishimura) imaged by Martin Crow
C/2023 P1 (Nishimura) is a long-period comet discovered by Hideo Nishimura on 12 August 2023 and member Martin Crow imaged it on the 20th August 2023. At the time of its discovery, the comet was in the constellation of Gemini and shining at magnitude +10.4.
Image details: 5x60sec exposures. 235mm diameter SCT @ f5.4, SX694 mono CCD.
ExoPlanet TrES-3b transit – observed by Simon Dawes
Another for the ExoClock project by Simon Dawes of the transit of exoplanet TrES-3b.
TrES-3b is in a very tight orbit around its host star, TrES-3, transiting the stellar disk once per 31 hours. For comparison, Mercury orbits the sun once every 88 days. TrES-3b is just a little larger than Jupiter, yet orbits around its parent star much closer than Mercury does, making it a “hot jupiter.”
The Milky Way by Honor Wheeler – Oct 2023
Four superb single shot images of the Milky Way captured by member Honor Wheeler whilst on holiday in Kelling Heath, Norfolk. In one of the photo’s there is a meteor!
CMHASD supporting the BAA at New Scientist Live – ExCel London 2023
Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society Dartford (CMHASD) were out in force at the recent New Scientist Live event at ExCel Centre, London Docklands on the 7th to 9th October 2023. We were there to help the British Astronomical Association (BAA) on their stand over the 3 days to promote the BAA and answer questions from members of the public, school children and teachers on all things astronomical.
CMHASD member Diane Clarke wrote ”As part of our display we had several 3D printed items which included: M51, painted scale models of the planets Mars & Jupiter and a section of the largest canyon in the Solar System the Valles Marineris.
All of these proved great talking points enabling us to make several sales as well as promoting membership of the BAA.
Among the visitors to the BAA’s stand was Professor Richard S. Ellis with his family; who had earlier in the day given a talk titled When galaxies were born: First results from the James Webb Space Telescope to a packed audience.
All in all, everybody who staffed the stand enjoyed the experience. Over the 3 days their enthusiasm & knowledge radiated to everybody that visited the stand, hopefully resulting in future new members of the BAA.”
CMHASD would like to thank all their members who helped over the 3 days and to Diane Clarke for sharing her photos of the event.
CMHASD Solar Observing at Hall Place – 19th August 2023
NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely.
On Saturday the 19th of August several members of the Society were present for the second of our 2 solar observing sessions at Hall Place & Gardens. Below are some photos of the day. Thank you to Dr Mike Rushton, Honor Wheeler, Jim Burchell, Omila and Diane Clarke for sharing your photos.
The Sun in Hydrogen Alpha taken by Honor Wheeler using a Personal Solar Telescope (PST).
The Sun in white light taken by Omila using an iPhone with an adapter and telescope fitted with a Solar filter.
Full Moon & the final Supermoon of 2023 – 29th Sept 2023
Several CMHASD members were out on the 29th September 2023 to image the final Supermoon of 2023 and below are their images. This full Moon is also known as the Harvest Moon as it is the closest Full Moon to the September equinox this year.
Most years, the Harvest Moon is in September but around every three years it’s in October. When the Harvest Moon occurs in September it replaces the Corn Moon. When it happens in October it takes the place of the Hunters Moon.
Kevin Smith’s image taken from Deal, Kent.
Honor Wheeler’s images taken from Dartford, Kent.
Dominique Ferrand’s image taken from Cordoba, Spain. Dominique’s image is of the full Moon and Jupiter.
For more information: https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/moon/harvest.html
Annular Solar Eclipse 2023 – Richard Bohner
NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely.
On Saturday 14th October 2023 an annular solar eclipse crossed North, Central and South America.
Member Richard Bohner; who lives in the USA wrote ”Hello all. There will be an annular solar eclipse here in Arizona on 14 October at 9:30 AM. The path is crossing the “Four Corners” area (where Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico come together). I am coming back from a week holiday in Colorado, but leaving early in morning (6 AM) to get to my spot to observe the eclipse at 8:30 AM. I will have photos to post.” and here they are…
Some info on eclipse – Moon distance 246,504 miles and Moon coverage of sun 95.2%
Richard used his old Meade ETX 70 to acquire the photos.
The Sun and the Wilson Effect – Simon Dawes
NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely.
On the 26th September 2023 member Simon Dawes imaged the Sun. One of his images of the sunspots on the Sun that day showed an interesting effect called the ‘Wilson Effect’. The Wilson effect is the perceived depression of a sunspot’s umbra or centre in the Sun’s photosphere.
Sunspot AR3443 showing the ‘Wilson Effect’
https://britastro.org/section_information_/solar-section-overview/wilson-effect-observers-challenge
WOW – Rare Super Blue Moon captured by Jim Burchell
A fantastic image of a Full Moon, a Supermoon and finally a Blue Moon all captured by member Jim Burchell on the 30th August 2023 from Dartford top road in Kent. WOW!!!!
The combination of a Blue Moon and Super Moon is very rare, so this was a very rare chance to see what is known as a Super Blue Moon. The last one was back in 2009 and we will have to wait until 2037 to see it again.
A blue Moon happens when the pattern of days in a year means there are 13 full Moons instead of the usual 12 and so one month has 2 full moons. This year the month of August had 2 full Moons.
Anyone hoping to seen the Moon tinged the colour blue would have been disappointed. The name of the Moon has nothing to do with colour but instead is so called because it does not fall in the usual scheme of named Moons. It is thought that the rarity is where the phrase “once in a blue Moon” may come from. The last blue Moon was in August 2021 and the next one will be in 2026.
This blue Moon is also known as a supermoon too and so appeared larger and brighter than usual in the sky. This was due to the fact that the Moon was near it’s closest point in its orbit around the Earth.
Finally, the 30th Aug 2023 full moon was the biggest and brightest Super Moon of the year as this year there are 4 Supermoons!
For more information click on this link https://moon.nasa.gov/news/197/super-blue-moons-your-questions-answered/
ExoPlanet transit of TrES-3b by Dr Mike Rushton
The transit of Exoplanet TrES-3b by CMHASD member & trustee Dr. Mike Rushton using an eVscope for the ExoClock project.
TrES-3b is a gas giant exoplanet orbiting the star GSC 03089-00929 a G-type star and is 0.02282 AU from its star. It has an orbital period of just 31 hours and nearly twice the mass of Jupiter. It was found by the Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey in 2007. It was discovered in the constellation Hercules about 10 degrees west of the star Vega.
The planet TrES-3b is named Umbäässa. The name was selected in the NameExoWorlds campaign by Liechtenstein, during the 100th anniversary of the IAU. In the local dialect of southern Liechtenstein, Umbäässa is a small and barely visible ant.
Crepuscular rays at the pavilion by Honor Wheeler
A lovely image taken by member Honor Wheeler on the 10th August 2023 whilst at the pavilion on an informal night of some crepuscular rays.
”Crepuscular rays are sunbeams that originate when the Sun is just above or below a layer of clouds, during the twilight period; which extend over the western sky radiating from the position of the Sun. Crepuscular comes from the Latin word crepusculum meaning “twilight”. Loosely, the term crepuscular rays is sometimes extended to the general phenomenon of rays of sunlight that appear to converge at a point in the sky, irrespective of time of day.” Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crepuscular_rays
”The radiating appearance of the bands is caused by perspective, as demonstrated by the fact that when on rare occasions the rays extend across the entire sky, they appear to converge again on the eastern horizon. This rare related phenomena are called anticrepuscular rays and so appear at the same time (and coloration) as crepuscular rays but in the opposite direction of the setting sun (east rather than west).” Ref: https://www.britannica.com/science/crepuscular-ray
ExoPlanet TOI-1728b transit by Martin Crow
Another for the ExoClock project by CMHASD member & trustee Martin Crow of ExoPlanet TOI-1728b; a warm Super-Neptune orbiting an M-dwarf host.
Daytime Moon by Simon Dawes
Superb image of a daytime Waning Gibbous Moon (60% illumination) taken on the 7th Aug 2023 by CMHASD trustee & member Simon Dawes.
Moon & Jupiter by Diane Clarke
A lovely image of the Moon and Jupiter taken by member Diane Clarke.
Diane wrote ” Jupiter & the Moon 4° apart. I went to image this event as it rose above my local horizon, but the sky was cloudy so I decided to wait as both Jupiter & the Moon would need to clear a local stand of trees. Fortunately, after they cleared the trees the sky broke giving me the opportunity to take an image of the event.
Image taken: 01.10.23 @22.33 hrs BST. Camera: Canon EOS M50m2. Lens: Canon EF L 100 – 400mm @ 160mm, F-stop f/5.6 @ 1/320 sec and ISO 800.”
Crescent Nebula by Kevin Langford
A stunning image of the Crescent Nebula taken by member Kevin Langford on the 5th Sept 2023.
”The Crescent Nebula (also known as NGC 6888, Caldwell 27, Sharpless 105) is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus, about 5000 light-years away from Earth. It was discovered by William Herschel in 1792. It is formed by the fast stellar wind from the Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 (HD 192163) colliding with and energizing the slower moving wind ejected by the star when it became a red giant around 250,000 to 400,000 years ago. The result of the collision is a shell and two shock waves, one moving outward and one moving inward. The inward moving shock wave heats the stellar wind to X-ray-emitting temperatures.” Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crescent_Nebula
Details of how Kevin acquired the image are below.
ES 102ED APO, EQ5 Pro
ZWO ASI071, Orion MMAG, L-Enhanced filter
4hrs of exposures
Capture software N.I.N.A and processed using Siril and Affinity Photo
Taken in Bexley, Kent.
Solar Observing at Hall Place & Gardens – Sunday 6th August 2023
NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely.
Sunday 6th August 2023 – What a glorious day to be out solar observing which is what Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society Dartford (CMHASD) where doing at Hall Place & Gardens in Bexley.
What a busy day it was too! Several telescopes were set up to observe the Sun safely and members of the public were invited to do some solar observing which was readily accepted by many. The Sun put on a good display having several sunspots and prominences for the public to view.
Chairman John Archer wrote ”On Sunday 6th August, the team from CMHASD set ourselves up for the first of our two Solar Observing events at Hall Place & Gardens.
The forecast was for early morning sun, followed by sunny intervals until around 11am, but cloudy conditions until the arrival of rain at 4pm. Given that our timeslot was effectively 11am – 3pm, we were nervous to say the least!
Our pitch was on the grass at the end of the path from the main entrance to the gardens, and we were quite close to the hard standing outside the art gallery and café. With the date being chosen to coincide with the Farmers’ Market, we experienced good foot-fall and our flag was prominent for visitors as they arrived.
At one point we had around a dozen members in attendance and the public were treated to displays of sunspots the like of which we haven’t seen for years. Whilst the big Dob Anita was an immediate attraction, we had Tinie, two solar projectors and a range of H-Alpha and white light filtered scopes with which to demonstrate safe solar observing to a very interested public.
Of particular note was the filtered refractor which Honor had set up with a digital camera attached, affording visitors a proper “live view” of the surface of the sun. Each of the scopes were able to display clear views of sunspots such was their size and quantity. This solar cycle has certainly picked up in terms of activity and although the local forecast was for cloudy conditions, we very much lucked out in terms of clear spells so the public were very fortunate that during the period while the Farmers’ Market was trading, we were able to keep them entertained and educated.
The Crayford team returns again later in August for our second session but there’s no doubt this first visit to Hall Place for Solar Observing in 2023 was a great success.”
Below is an image of the Sun on the 6th August 2023 taken by member Honor Wheeler. The Sun was very active with lots of sunspots. Image acquired using an ED80 Refractor, EQ3 Synscan mount, Canon M6 MarkII, 2x lens Barlow and ISO200/ exp 1/1250s.
CMHASD will be back at Hall Place on Saturday 19th August 2023 to do some more Solar Observing with the public. Please do come and join us!
Thank you to John Archer, Diane Clarke and Honor Wheeler for sharing your photos of the day with us.
Informal Nights at the Society
A few photos showing what members get up to on our ‘informal nights’ at the Society. Activities range from observing, testing/setting up members’ latest equipment purchased, fixing members’ equipment, presentations, general chit chat & banter plus games.
20th July 2023
27th July 2023
Good weather so members took the chance to observe. Dave, Steve & Honor with telescope ‘Tinie’.
Member Honor Wheeler’s image of the Sun through Society telescope ‘Tinie’ fitted with a solar filter – built by members Steve Floodgate & Dave Grist.
Our Active Sun by Simon Dawes
More stunning images of our active Sun taken by member Simon Dawes in the later half of July 2023. Details of how Simon acquired his images are on the photos.
For more information about the Sun, its structure, atmosphere, sunspots, solar cycle and magnetosphere click on https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/sun/in-depth/
12th July 2023
26th July 2023
29th July 2023
Transit of Qatar-1b by Simon Dawes
More observations for the ExoClock project by Simon Dawes of Qatar-1b in the constellation of Draco taken on the 7th July 2023.
Noctilucent Cloud (NLC) – 5th July 2023
Noctilucent clouds put in a rare appearance on the 5th July 2023 from around 10.50pmish until 11.30pm and a few lucky CMHASD members got to see them 🙂
Below are the photos that members Jim Burchell, Diane Clarke, Martin Crow and Sonia took of the clouds.
Jim’s NLC images, taken with a Pentax KP.
Diane’s NLC image, taken using a Canon M50 Mk2, lens Canon 100mm macro, f3.2 @ 2.5sec, ISO 400.
Martin’s NLC image, taken with an iPhone.
Sonia’s NLC images, taken with an iPhone.
Comet C/2023 E1 (ATLAS) by Dr. Mike Rushton
A rather splendid image of Comet C/2023 E1 (ATLAS) taken by CMHASD trustee and secretary Dr. Mike Rushton on the 12/13th July 2023 in Ursa Minor.
Mike wrote ”This is C/2023 E1 (ATLAS) last night. Approx Mag 14.5 with a greenish coma. The bright star in the image is Mag 7 and the limiting Mag 17.5. Perihelion was 1/7/23 and closest to earth will be on 18/8/23. This was a 20 min exposure with my eVscope.” Imaging started just before midnight on 12/7/23 (23:57 BST).
Comet C/2023 E1 (ATLAS) was spotted on the 1st March 2023 by the NASA funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS). At the time, the comet was a +19th magnitude object moving through the constellation of Virgo.
On July 1 this Comet ATLAS reached perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun.
To date the comet has now moved into Draco and will move into Cepheus towards its closest approach to Earth mid-August. On August 18 this visitor to the inner Solar System will only be 3 light-minutes or so from our planet.
Based on its inclination to the ecliptic plane (38 degree) and orbital period of about 85 years C/2023 E1 (ATLAS) is considered a Halley-type comet. Though the comet currently has a ‘C’ designation for a long period comet versus periodic comet; that will probably change as 85 years is much less than the 200 year orbital period cut off defining the 2 categories of comet.
Below is the report from SETI/UNISTELLAR Mike received back after submitting his imaging data.
Mike said ”I have had the photometry back and it was brighter than I thought at Mag 12.8. See the report from seti below. The little image in that report is stacked on the moving comet. The original image I sent was stacked on the stars.”
For more information: https://www.space.com/comet-c2023-e1-atlas-little-dipper-how-to-see
The Sun in June 2023 by Simon Dawes
NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please see our Solar Observing safety page at crayfordmanorastro.com/solar-safety/
Lots of stunning images taken by member and trustee Simon Dawes of our Sun on 4 days during the month of June. Details of how Simon acquired the images are on the photos.
9th June 2023
16th June 2023
19th June 2023
21st June 2023
Noctilucent Cloud – 30th June 2023
Noctilucent cloud spotted on the 30th June 2023 around 3am BST by members Martin Crow and Sonia. Both photos taken using an iPhone.
Martin’s image taken from Essex
Sonia’s image taken from North Kent
Noctilucent Cloud – 25th June 2023
Rare Noctilucent Cloud spotted by CMHASD members Diane Clarke, Martin Crow and Sonia on the 25th June 2023.
First image below was taken by Diane using a Panasonic camera DMC-TZ100, f2.8 @ 1/10sec and ISO 6400 at 11.22pm BST.
The next two images were taken by Sonia using an iPhone 8 at 11.04pm and 11.14pm BST.
The next image was taken by Martin Crow using an iPhone.
Crescent Moon by Jim Burchell
Crescent Moon & Jupiter by Jim Burchell
A great image of the crescent Moon (with Earthshine) and Jupiter taken on the 14th June 2023 with a Pentax KP 300mm by member Jim Burchell.
Transit of ExoPlanet HD189733b by Simon Dawes
Another set of observations for the ExoClock project by member Simon Dawes 🙂
Simon wrote ”This was a tricky observation, a bright star with faint comparisons, on the night of the summer solstice – the worst night of the year for astronomy, due to the lack of real night – there were 627 15s exposures which, when processed, works out at about 60Gb of disk space – for a single O-C measurement!”
”This far-off blue planet may look like a friendly haven – but don’t be deceived! Weather here is deadly. The planet’s cobalt blue colour comes from a hazy, blow-torched atmosphere containing clouds laced with glass. Howling winds send the storming glass sideways at 5,400 mph (2km/s), whipping all in a sickening spiral. It’s death by a million cuts on this slasher planet!” Ref:https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exoplanet-catalog/6876/hd-189733-b/
HD 189733b is an exoplanet approximately 64.5 light-years away in the constellation of Vulpecula. The planet was discovered on October 5, 2005. HD 189733b orbits its host star once every 2.2 days.
The closest transiting hot Jupiter to Earth, scientists have extensively studied the exoplanet’s atmosphere. Researchers have found that the planet has an unusual rain of molten glass.
Full Moon rising – 3rd July 2023 by Jim Burchell
A fantastic collection of images showing the Full Moon also known as the Buck Moon rising on the 3rd July 2023 by member Jim Burchell in the constellation of Sagittarius. All images were taken with a Pentax KP. It was also the 1st Supermoon of 2023.
The full Moon in July is called a Buck Moon after the new antlers that begin to grow from the forehead of a buck (male) deer at this time of year. They shed their antlers in the early spring or late winter, growing full again in July.
This Buck Moon is the first of four Supermoons that will rise this summer 2023 culminating with September’s Full Corn Moon on September 28th.
The Moon orbits the Earth in an elliptical shape rather than in a circle, so its distance to us (Earth) varies over time; so there are times in the Moon’s orbit when it is closer to the Earth and other times when it is further away. A Supermoon is a phenomenon that occurs when a full Moon takes place at the same time as the perigee; when the Moon is closest to the Earth.
A Supermoon is actually classified when a full Moon is closer than 360,000km to the Earth. This distance is around 21,000km closer than the Moon’s average distance from us of around 384,400km.
The Old Farmer’s Almanac which has published astronomical data for many centuries, says the Buck Moon would orbit closer to the Earth than any of the full Moons we have already had this year.
The end of August’s full Moon will be the only supermoon closer to the Earth this year, the publication said.
Below are Jim’s photos…..
Note that 2024 will have four full Supermoons in a row too. They will occur on August 19, September 18, October 17 and November 15.
The Sun – 7th July 2023
NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please see our Solar Observing safety page at crayfordmanorastro.com/solar-safety/
CMHASD members Jim Burchell, Honor Wheeler and Simon Dawes took the opportunity to observe and image the Sun on Friday 7th July 2023 and below are their super images.
The Sun is very active with many sunspots and one so large it was seen from Mars; yes that is correct – from Mars.
The very large sunspot AR3363 which has just emerged over the Sun’s southeastern limb was spotted by the Mars rover Perseverance several days before we did. On July 2nd, the rover’s mast-mounted stereo camera MASTCAM-Z tilted up to the sky above Jezaro crater and photographed a deep-black dot on the solar disk. For more information about this; see https://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=07&month=07&year=2023.
Jim Burchell
Honor Wheeler
The Sun in Hydrogen Alpha.
Composite of 2 photos one for the disc and one for prominences details, then layered in Snapseed.
Canon M6 Mark II, Coronado PST,
EQ3 Synscan mount, x2 Barlow
ISO200, 1/25s
2023.07.07 12:48UT
Image enhanced to show some of the Sun’s prominences.
Solar Sunpsots in White light
Canon M6 Mark II, 80mm Refractor, EQ3 Synscan mount, Baader Solar filter, x2 Barlow.
ISO100, 1/800s.
2023.07.07 12:31UT
Sunspot AR3363 appearing over the southeastern limb of the Sun.
Simon Dawes
Details of how Simon acquired his images are on the photos.
Sun full disk in White light – 12 active regions. Q=30 and R = 225 so pretty active today. Click here to see a full version https://britastro.org/observations/observation.php?id=20230707_113215_4d5fba6e58719cdf
For the latest information about the Sun’s activity check out Spaceweather.com
CMHASD Informal/Observing Evening – 6th July 2023
Thursday 6th July was an informal night at the pavilion and some members took the opportunity to do some observing using Honor’s PST to observe the Sun & Jo’s Newtonian to observe Venus. Thankyou to Chairman John Archer and to Diane Clarke for sharing your photos of the evening.
Venus and a Crescent Moon by members Jim Burchell & Gary Hunt
Look towards the West after sunset for a splendid view of Venus and the crescent Moon over the next few evenings.
Members Jim Burchell and Gary Hunt did yesterday evening the 21st May 2023 and captured these great images of a young crescent Moon with Venus.
Moon & Venus by Jim Burchell
Moon & Venus by Gary Hunt
The Sun – May 2023
NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please see our Solar Observing safety page at crayfordmanorastro.com/solar-safety/
The latest images of our active Sun by members Simon Dawes and Jim Burchell.
Simon’s 3 images below were taken on the 18th May 2023. Details of how Simon acquired the images are on the photos.
Jim’s image was taken on the 21st May 2023
29 hour old Moon by John Howarth – 20th May 2023
A lovely photo of a young Moon in the constellation Taurus taken by CMHASD trustee John Howarth on the 20th May 2023.
Venus, Mars and the Twins by Simon Dawes and Jim Burchell
Two great images below of the planets Mars and Venus with the twins Castor & Pollux. Castor and Pollux are the 2 brightest stars in the constellation of Gemini.
Left to right: Mars, Pollux & Castor all nicely lined up with Venus lower right captured by member Simon Dawes on the 16th May 2023.
Below; moving again from left to right: Mars, Pollux & Castor with Venus lower right captured by member Jim Burchell on the 21st May 2023.
Exoplanet HAT-P-12b
Another set of transit observations for the ExoClock project by Simon Dawes of Exoplanet HAT-P-12b.
HAT-P-12b is 468 light years away from Earth, orbiting a 13th magnitude K-type star in the constellation Canes Venatici. It is was discovered by the HATNet Project on April 29, 2009.
Sunset & Full Moon Rising by Jim & Honor – 5th May 2023
A collection of beautiful images of our Sun setting and a full Moon rising on the 5th May 2023 taken by members Jim Burchell & Honor Wheeler.
Sun with Sunspot setting by Honor
Sunset by Jim
”The Full Moon of May is known as Flower Moon to signify the flowers that bloom during this month. Native Americans called it Budding Moon, Egg Laying Moon, and Planting Moon.
The Anglo-Saxon name for May’s brightest Moon phase is Milk Moon from the Old English Rimilcemona. It means three-milkings-month in modern English because cows were milked three times a day during this time of year. The Celtic and Old English names are Mothers’ Moon, Bright Moon, Hare Moon, and Grass Moon.” ref:https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/moon/flower.html
Flower Moon on 5th May by Honor
FLower Moon rising by Jim
The Sun by Simon Dawes – 10th & 16th May 2023
NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please see our Solar Observing safety page at crayfordmanorastro.com/solar-safety/
A fantastic collection of images of our Sun taken by Simon Dawes on the 10th & 16th May 2023 from North Kent, showing lots of sunspots 🙂
Details of how Simon acquired his images are on the photos.
The Sun on the 16th May 2023
The Sun on the 10th May 2023
Fogbow by Kevin Smith – 7th May 2023
A great example of a fogbow captured by member Kevin Smith on the 7th May 2023.
A fogbow is a similar phenomenon to a rainbow but as its name suggests, it appears as a bow in fog rather than rain.
Due to the very small size of the water droplets that cause fog being so much smaller than in rain i.e. smaller than 0.1 mm in diameter; fogbows have very weak colours or no colour at all. Fogbows that have no colour are sometimes called ‘white rainbows’.
A Fog Bow by Kevin Smith
”How do fogbows form?
The elements that make up a fogbow are the same as for a rainbow – sunlight at the observers back, and water droplets in front. The water droplets that make up fog are so tiny compared to raindrops, between 10 and 1000 times smaller, that while the light still reflects from the water droplet back towards the observer, the process of diffraction of the light by the droplet becomes a dominant effect.
The process of diffraction broadens the reflected beam of light which smears out the colours which give the characteristic ghostly white, or very faintly coloured fogbow. This also makes the fogbow much broader than a rainbow.
The fog bank has to be relatively diffused and thin to allow the light to pass through the droplets and create the effect. Fogbows are large, almost as big as rainbows.
A similar effect can also be seen from aircraft in cloud droplets, when they’re known as cloud bows.” ref:https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/learn-about/weather/optical-effects/rainbows/fogbow
Sun Halo by John Archer – 30th April 2023
NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please see our Solar Observing safety page at crayfordmanorastro.com/solar-safety/
A splendid example of a Sun halo captured by CMHASD Chairman John Archer on the 30th April 2023.
A Sun halo is caused by the refraction, reflection, and dispersion of light through ice particles suspended within thin, wispy, high altitude cirrus or cirrostratus clouds.
Hot off the Press!!!!! member Kevin Langford’s Pleiades image and BBC Sky at Night
Check this out – our member Kevin Langford’s brilliant Pleiades (M45) image – see above; being used on the BBC Sky at Night website. Plus Kevin’s image was shown in the programme aired on the 16th May 2023 too!………Well Done Kevin 🙂
CMHASD at the BAA Winchester Weekend 14-16th of April 2023.
CMHASD at the BAA Winchester Weekend 2023
Written by member Honor Wheeler
The weekend started off with the majority of us meeting up at a pub for Friday lunch, although the M25 did its best to make that as difficult as possible but thankfully we all made it in the end. Then an A31 closure sent us all on a long, picturesque diversion before finally checking in at the Sparsholt College campus.
The first lecture on the Friday night, after a delicious dinner of course, was titled ‘Superluminous Supernovae: Fantastic bursts and where to find them’ by Dr Matt Nichol, Queen’s University Belfast which was an fascinating talk on Supernovae past and present. This was followed by a trip to the campus pub for some or returning to the common room for a chance of some relaxation for others.
The Crayford Crew
A busy lecture Saturday followed starting with ‘Pete & Paul’s 2023 Astronomical Challenges’ followed by ‘OJ287 – a Black Hole Worthy of Amateur Study’ by Gary Poyner BAA, ‘the Electromagnetic Spectrum’ by Paul Hearn BAA, a talk from Dr Alex Cameron on the ‘JWST Observing Galaxies in the Very Early Universe’ looking even further back in time to 13.1 Billion years and seeing one of the highest Redshifted Galaxies to date.
Before the afternoon lectures recommenced, a little Solar observing was achieved with some observations of complex groups of Prominences and Sunspots.
The Sun by Honor Wheeler
The afternoon session was presented by the BAA Mercury and Venus section starting with a look at the ‘Sodium Ion Tail of Mercury’ by Chris Hooker and how to image this elusive ‘Comet like’ tail followed by ‘Observing Venus in IR and UV’ in a variety of short talks by other members of the section.
Some members took the opportunity to explore the college grounds which are extensive and enjoyed some great views of the countryside seeing Deer, Buzzards and a rather stunning bird of prey known as a Red Kite.
Saturday evening and we enjoyed the Alfred Curtis Lecture, ‘Exploring the Ice Giants of our Solar System’ by Prof. Patrick Irwin (University of Oxford) another interesting lecture which left us with the hope that maybe we’ll be visiting these enigmatic Planets sooner rather than later.
A few members then made the most of clear skies and carried out observations of Venus and its conjunction with the Hyades before retiring to the pub or the common room for discussions about the day’s lectures.
The Hyades & Venus by Jim Burchell
On Sunday the day began with an intriguing lecture ‘How Astronomers Can Save The World’ by Stuart Eves (SJE Space) but I don’t think we were quite convinced that painting an Asteroid with White Paint would save the world from an impending impact (Steve was just kidding!!)
Dr Jen Gupta followed with a lively discussion on seeing ‘The Invisible Universe’ and looking at how we see through the dust obscuring distant, new stars.
‘Let There Be Light’ followed with an extensive tour of our local star the Sun by Dr Matthew Malek.
After lunch came the Members session and the opportunity to hear about projects, imaging and observations undertaken by members but which also included a rather different lecture which brought a lighter side to the proceedings.
Steve Floodgate & Dave Grist gave us a Stella (Artois) Performance…I mean Lecture on the complex Crayford Astronomical Society’s ‘The Book’. You had to be there but safe to say the Members session was one everyone will remember until the end of time…! And maybe there will be a Pub at the end of time too…?
And thus the weekend was over leaving us all heavy with the knowledge gleaned from eminent Doctors, Professors and experts in their field and also filled with an amount of excellent food we just couldn’t say no too.
In the end 15 members of the society managed to attend the weekend, with 2 other members who unfortunately had to cancel due to personal reasons.
Overall a thoroughly enjoyable and informative weekend with lots of information to mull over and I’m sure leading to numerous further discussions to be had until next year’s BAA Winchester weekend 2024.
The BAA Winchester Programme 2023 is a downloadable and printable as a PDF here: https://britastro.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Winchester-programme-card-2023.pdf
Thankyou to Honor, Jim and Simon for sharing your photos of the weekend.
Ceres photobombing Messier 100 by Simon Dawes – 26th March 2023
On the night of the 26th/27th March 2023 Ceres appeared to ‘meet’ and pass directly in front of the beautiful spiral galaxy Messier 100 (M100) and for a few hours Ceres looked like a brilliant supernova beaming from one of the M100 galaxy’s arms.
At the time of the line-of-sight view, Ceres was shining from a piddling distance of 150 million miles (240 million kilometers) from Earth whilst the galaxy at 56 million light-years away; so actually trillions of miles apart! The ‘meeting’ took place in the constellation Coma Berenices just a few days after Ceres’ opposition, which is when Earth passes between it and the Sun.
Despite the poor weather CMHASD Trustee & member Simon Dawes managed to capture the event – see his image below 🙂 Ceres is identified with 2 red lines and M100 is at the 4 O’clock position from Ceres.
Ceres is a dwarf planet and the largest asteroid in the main asteroid belt that is between Mars & Jupiter. It was the first asteroid to be discovered on the 1st January 1801 and was classified as 1 Ceres in 1851. Ceres was designated a dwarf planet, a new category of solar system objects defined in August 2006 by the International Astronomical Union.
Ceres’s small size; about 14 times smaller than Pluto means that even at its brightest, it is too dim to be seen by the naked eye, except under extremely dark skies. Its apparent magnitude ranges from 6.7 to 9.3, peaking at opposition.
Messier 100 (also known as NGC 4321) is a face-on, spiral galaxy with an apparent magnitude of 9.3. It is one of the brightest and largest galaxies with a diameter of 160,000 light years. It was discovered in 1781.
Information of how Simon acquired his image is on his photo and for more information about this event see https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/observing-news/tell-time-with-the-big-dipper-see-ceres-transit-m100/#:~:text=By%20good%20fortune%20Ceres%20will%20pass%20directly%20in,northern%20portion%20of%20the%20Virgo%20Cluster%20this%20spring.
Waxing Gibbous Moon by Neil Webster
A lovely image of a waxing gibbous Moon taken on the 29th April 2023 by member Neil Webster.
To see a higher resolution photo of Neil’s image – check out his flickr page at https://www.flickr.com/photos/137388222@N05/52861969736/.
The Sun – 29th April 2023 by Jim Burchell
Venus & Mercury – 13th April 2023 by Diane Clarke.
Our rocky neighbours; Venus & Mercury taken by member Diane Clarke whilst at the pavilion on the 13th April 2023.
Venus & Pleiades by Jim Burchell – 10th April 2023
”The Pleiades are also known as The Seven Sisters, Messier 45 and other names by different cultures, is an asterism and an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation Taurus. At a distance of about 444 light years, it is among the nearest star clusters to Earth. It is the nearest Messier object to Earth, and is the most obvious cluster to the naked eye in the night sky. The cluster is dominated by hot blue luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years.” ref:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades
Mercury & Venus – 4th April 2023
Hot off the press – all taken last night 4th April 2023.
Venus & Mercury by Jim Burchell
Mercury by Jim Burchell
Mercury by Martin Crow taken with an iPhone.
Mercury & Venus by Jim Burchell – 3rd April 2023
Two superb images taken by member Jim Burchell of the planet Mercury and then of the planets Mercury & Venus on the 3rd April 2023.
Crescent Moon and Venus – 24th March 2023
Two lovely images of a crescent Moon, with Earthshine and Venus taken by member Jim Burchell on the 24th March 2023. The first image has the ISS in it too!
Full Worm Moon – 7th March 2023 by Jim Burchell & Honor Wheeler
A selection of super images of the Full Moon taken on the 7th March 2023.
”In March, the Full Moon is the Worm Moon. It is also called Lenten Moon, Crow Moon, Crust Moon, Chaste Moon, Sugar Moon, and Sap Moon. The Worm Moon gets its name from the earthworms that come out when the soil warms up. The worms provide food for birds and other animals. It happens around the changing of the seasons, from astronomical winter to spring in the Northern Hemisphere.” ref https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/moon/worm.html
This stunning very atmospheric image of the Full Worm Moon was taken by member Jim Burchell.
The next 3 beautiful images showing the Full Worm Moon rising were taken by member Honor Wheeler. Honor said ”Full Moonrise was not easy to capture tonight. The Moon barely escaped the cloud but got a few pics nonetheless.” and yes she did 🙂
Images by Jim Burchell – 23rd to 25th Feb 2023
Member Jim Burchell was busy out and about towards the end of February photographing our stunning sky and below is a selection of his superb images.
Orion, Taurus and the Pleiades taken on the 23rd Feb from the CMHASD pavilion, Sutton-at-Hone.
Image was taken with a Pentax KP on a static tripod, F6.3, 30 sec, 18 MM and iso 800.
Crescent Moon on the 24th Feb.
The Sun taken on the 24th Feb.
NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please see our Solar Observing safety page at crayfordmanorastro.com/solar-safety/
Crescent Moon with Jupiter & Venus on the 25th Feb.
Asteroid 2023 CX1 caught by CMHASD meteor camera on Monday 13th February 2023
Updated: 19th February 2023
Exciting news!!!!!! An asteroid that had only been discovered in space a few hours before impacting the Earth has been caught by the Crayford (CMHASD) meteor camera on Monday 13th February 2023 at 2.59am.
It is only the seventh time an asteroid strike had been successfully forecast, in what the European Space Agency said was ‘a sign of the rapid advancements in global asteroid detection capabilities’.
Despite all the cloud that was around at the time; our meteor camera managed to capture the small 1 meter asteroid now called 2023 CX1 as it entered the Earth’s atmosphere creating a brilliant fireball as it disintegrated, lighting up the night sky over the English Channel as it travelled eastward over the coast of Normandy, France. The 3ft meteoroid created an ‘airburst’ that could be seen across southern England and Wales and in parts of northern France as far south as Paris.
Below is the CMHASD meteor camera video showing the fireball.
The one-metre asteroid was discovered by Krisztián Sárneczky with the 60-cm Schmidt telescope of the Piszkéstető Observatory in Hungary. It is his second discovery of an impactor,
‘’The fireball event happened at the predicted time (02:59 UTC) and location, with observations mostly from Southern UK and France, but also from Belgium, the Netherlands and even Germany. It is likely that some fragments of the meteoroid may have survived the atmospheric pass and fell somewhere onshore close to the coast north of Rouen, in Normandy, France’’ ref: https://neo.ssa.esa.int/-/new-imminent-impactor-found-by-european-astronomer
Now a space rock (meteorite) from that fireball has been found in northern France and CMHASD are absolutely thrilled. On 15 February 2023 art student Loïs Leblanc found the first meteorite of 2023 CX1 in a field located in Saint-Pierre-le-Viger.
Update on Asteroid 2023 CX1 aka SAR2667 – YouTube
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_CX1
More news still to follow – so do check back.
Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) by George Buckberry – 14th Feb 2023
The latest image of the Green Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) that is currently gracing our skies by member George Buckberry. The photo was taken on the 14th February 2023 by George.
”Having spent months climbing up out of Corona Borealis and drifting past the Big and Little Dippers, like a rollercoaster car reaching its highest point, Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF has now gone ‘over the top’ of its path across the northern sky and is falling south, fading in brightness and shrinking in size as it drops towards Taurus. For northern hemisphere comet chasers and skywatchers E3’s show is almost over.” ref https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/comet-c-2022-e3-ztf/
So well done George for capturing the Comet, you did well to get it as it’s fading fast!
George has written on the image below of how he acquired the photo and the location of the star Aldebaran to the comet. Aldebaran (Alpha Tauri) is a bright red giant star in the constellation of Taurus.
Collinder 26 by Simon Dawes – 14th February 2023
Super image of Collinder 26 – the heart of the Heart Nebula (IC1805) in the constellation Cassiopeia; aptly taken by member and trustee Simon Dawes on the 14th February 2023.
The Heart Nebula’s intense red output and its form are driven by the radiation emanating from a small group of stars near the nebula’s center. This open cluster of stars, known as Collinder 26 or Melotte 15, contains some stars that are 50 times the mass of our Sun.
The Collinder catalogue is a catalogue of 471 open clusters compiled by Swedish astronomer Per Collinder.
Details of how Simon obtained the image are on the photo.
The California Nebula (NGC1499) by Neil Webster
The California Nebula is an emission nebula located in the constellation Perseus not far from the Pleiades and near the star Xi Persei. The nebula’s signature reddish glow is thanks to this nearby star, Xi Persei, which is on the top, left side of the nebula in this image. This luminous blue star (also known as Menkib) is a blue giant that is over 12,000 times brighter than the sun. This massive star ionizes the hydrogen atoms in the California Nebula and is responsible for creating this iconic deep sky object.
The Nebula was discovered by E. E. Barnard in 1884 and its name comes from its resemblance to the shape of the US State of California. It is almost 2.5° long in the sky and roughly 1,500 light-years away from Earth.
Neil acquired the image using a WOGT71, EQ6 R, ZWO294MC, Optolong LEnhance filter, Astro Essentials 50mm Guide Scope, ZWO 290MM.
50x240s Subs, 12xDarks, 40xFlats/Bias.
Processed using APT, PHD, Nebulosity, Photoshop (Camera Raw), Gradient XTerminator.
Check out Neil’s Flickr page at https://www.flickr.com/photos/137388222@N05/
Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) by Martin Crow
Member and trustee Martin Crow captured the Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) on the morning of the 18th January 2023 at 03:20am. The ion tail of the comet can be seen emerging at around the 2 o’clock angle in the photos.
Beautiful Snow Moon by Jim Burchell
On the 5th February 2023, member Jim Burchell captured this absolutely beautiful image of the full moon also known as the Snow Moon. Jim took the photo using a Pentax KP, 300 mm, F7.1 1/25 sec and iso 400.
Active Sun – 10th February 2023 by Jim Burchell
NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please see our Solar Observing safety page at crayfordmanorastro.com/solar-safety/
A super image of an active Sun captured by member Jim Burchell on the 10th February 2023 showing Sunspots 3213 to 3221. Jim took the image with a Pentax KP attached to 102mm Altair Astro refractor using a solar filter.
Below is an image of the Sun on the 10th Feb 2023 taken from Spaceweather com showing the sunspots with their allocated numbers. Credit: SDO/HMI
Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) on the 7th Feb 2023 by Honor Wheeler and 8th Feb 2023 by Simon Dawes
Member Honor Wheeler captured the Green Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) on the 7th February 2023 using a Canon M6 with a 400mm lens on a Star Adventurer tracking mount. ISO1600, 30″ expsoure. The comet is centre right in the image in the constellation Auriga. The bright star Capella is above the comet at the 10 o clock position from the comet and the star Elnath is below the comet between the 6 & 7 o clock position from the comet.
Then just before Moon rise on the 8th February 2023 member Simon Dawes captured this image of the green comet. Details of how Simon acquired the image are included on the photo.
Snow Moon – 5th Feb 2023 by Neil Webster
Processed in Photoshop.
Exoplanet transit of EPIC 246851721b by Martin Crow
The transit of EPIC 246851721b measured by CMHASD member and trustee Martin Crow for the ExoClock project on the 21st January 2023. The transit depth is a mere 5 thousandths of a magnitude. EPIC 246851721b is a gas giant exoplanet that orbits an F-type star in the constellation Taurus. Its mass is 3 Jupiters, it takes 6.2 days to complete one orbit of its star and is 0.07229 AU from its star. This planet was discovered by Yu et al. 2018. The discovery was made with the space telescope 0.95 m Kepler Telescope.
Heart Nebula (IC1805) and Jellyfish Nebula (IC443) by Neil Webster
Next, see below; is a fantastic widefield image of the Jellyfish Nebula taken by Neil on the 21st January 2023.
The Jellyfish Nebula; also known as IC443 and Sharpless 248 (Sh2-248) is a galactic supernova remnant (SNR) in the constellation Gemini. On the plane of the sky, it is located near the star Eta Geminorum. Its distance is roughly 5,000 light years from Earth.
The glowing cosmic tendrils and bulbous ‘head’ are what give this deep-sky object its name, as it resembles a jellyfish. The Jellyfish Nebula is all that remains of a massive star that ran out of fuel and exploded as a supernova, leaving behind a shell of glowing gas. IC 443 has an angular diameter of 50 arcmin, the full moon by comparison, is 30 arcmin across.
Check out Neil’s flickr page at https://www.flickr.com/photos/137388222@N05/
Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) by Simon Dawes on 31st Jan 2023
Super image of Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) taken by member Simon Dawes with Bessel/Cousins photometric filters and a broadband LPS filter (IDAS LPS D2) then combined to give an RGB image, colour hasn’t been altered. More detail of how Simon acquired his image is on the photo.
C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is a long period comet from the Oort cloud that was discovered by the Zwicky Transient Facility (hence the ZTF in the Comet’s name) on 2 March 2022, using the 1.2-m, f/2.4 Schmidt telescope at Mount Palomar. It was the 3rd such object discovered in the fifth half-month (A, B, C, D, E) of the year. Thus, 2022 E3 (ZTF).
The comet has a bright green glow around its nucleus due to the effect of sunlight on diatomic carbon and cyanogen.
Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF)- 29th & 30th Jan 2023 by Jim Burchell
Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) – 27th Jan 2023 by Dr Mike Rushton
A super photo of Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) taken on 27th Jan 2023 by Dr Mike Rushton using an eVscope.
Comet C2022 E3 (ZTF) – 22nd Jan 2023 by Honor Wheeler
CMHASD member Honor has managed to capture Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) that is gracing our skies at the moment in a photo back on the 22nd Jan 2023.
Honor said ”I watched Nick James sky notes on today’s BAA meeting about Comet E3 so decided to look for it. Not that easy to find but it is unmistakable as a faint fuzzy in binoculars. So I took a photo just to prove I wasn’t seeing things. Worth a decent image with a telescope with more time than I had.”
The comet is the fuzzy patch centre right in the photo.
Jupiter & Venus – 22nd Jan 2023 by Jim Burchell
Two lovely photos taken by member Jim Burchell of the planets Jupiter & Venus on Sunday evening the 22nd Jan 2023. The photos were taken with a Pentax K70.
Enormous Sunspot AR3190 – 20th Jan 2023
NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please see our Solar Observing safety page at crayfordmanorastro.com/solar-safety/
A fantastic image of the Sun taken on the morning of the 20th January 2023 by member Jim Burchell. The image was taken by Jim using a pentax KP attached to 102mm Atair Astro refractor fitted with a solar filter. At the 4 O clock position from the centre of the Sun is the large sunspot AR3190. AR3190 is one of the largest sunspots of Solar Cycle 25 so far, at almost five times the diameter of Earth.
Boxing Day Sun in Hydrogen Alpha by Honor Wheeler
NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please see our Solar Observing safety page at crayfordmanorastro.com/solar-safety/
A stunning image of the Sun in H-alpha on 26th Dec 2022 by Honor Wheeler.
The image was acquired by Honor at 20221226_1212UT using a Canon M6 Mark II and Personal Solar Telescope (PST).
Honor wrote ‘This image of the Sun was taken using a Coronado personal solar telescope or PST which shows the Sun’s H-alpha surface features. These features include Sunspots, Filaments and Prominences. In this image there are a number of large Prominences around the edge of the Sun’s disc and on the surface these can be seen as the dark Filaments snaking across the face of the Sun. The bright areas are Sunspots which are active regions which can flare brightly as you can see at the top right of the disc. Most H-alpha images that show Sunspot and Prominence detail and activity are composite images and are photographed separately then combined in editing software. In this case however, I was lucky and I managed to capture both Prominence, surface structures and activity in one single photo.’
The Moon & Earthshine by Honor Wheeler – Dec 2022
Three wonderful images of our Moon acquired by CMHASD member Honor Wheeler back in December 2022. The 1st image was taken on the 29th Dec 2022 and the next two on the 26th Dec 2022, all from North Kent.
Honor acquired her super image below of what looks like a ‘Half Moon’ at 20221229_2103UT by using a Canon M6 Mark II, 102mm Refractor, EQ3 synscan mount, x2 Barlow and ISO400, exp1/320s.
The next image below of a beautiful crescent Moon was acquired by Honor at 20221226_1654UT using a Canon M6 Mark II, 102mm Refractor, EQ3 synscan mount, x2 Barlow and ISO200, exp1/30s
Honor’s 3rd image below showing a stunning amount of Earthshine was acquired at 20221226_1737UT using a Canon M6 Mark II, 102mm Refractor, EQ3 synscan mount, x2 Barlow and ISO400, exp4s. For more information about Earthshine click here.
Moon & Earthshine – 2023.01.18
Being up early on dark mornings has its rewards as member Jim Burchell shows here with these super images of a crescent Moon on the morning of the 18th January 2023. The amount of ‘Earthshine’ captured in the 1st photo by Jim is stunning. Also in the photo – bottom left, is the star Alniyat in Scorpius.
”Earthshine is a dull glow which lights up the unlit part of the Moon because the Sun’s light reflects off the Earth’s surface and back onto the Moon. It is also sometimes called ashen glow, the old Moon in the new Moon’s arms, or the Da Vinci glow, after Leonardo da Vinci, who explained the phenomenon for the first time in recorded history…… Earthshine is best seen a few days before and after a New Moon, right after sunset or before sunrise. Scientists studying global warming found that earthshine is more intense in April and May” ref: https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/earthshine.html
Crescent Moon & Earthshine with Alniyat in Scopius by Jim Burchell
The 2nd image below shows more detail of the crescent Moon.
The Moon – 2023.01.02
Another stunning image of the Moon taken by member Neil Webster on the 2nd January 2023. The image is of a waxing Gibbous Moon at 85.0% and 10.39 days old. The image is a mosaic made up of 6 frames stitched in Microsoft ICE.
Below is one of the frames taken by Neil which he said was his favourite!
You can see a higher resolution image on Neil’s flickr page at https://www.flickr.com/photos/137388222@N05/52602589747/
ExoClock Exoplanet Transit Montage by Simon Dawes for 2022
This is a montage of the exo-planet transits that CMHASD member and trustee Simon Dawes observed in 2022 for the ExoClock project. A total of 60 for 2022. Well done Simon!
Crescent Moon by Richard Bohner – 2022.12.27
Member Richard Bohner captured these superb detailed images of the crescent Moon on the 27th Dec 2022 from Arizona, USA. Amazing how much detail has been acquired using an iPhone camera held up to an eyepiece 🙂
Winter Solstice Crescent Moon by Jim Burchell
Member Jim Burchell’s ‘Winter Solstice crescent Moon‘ captured on the morning of the 21st Dec 2022 – The Winter Solstice. According to the astronomical definition, winter begins with the winter solstice in December in the Northern Hemisphere and in 2022 that was on the 21st Dec 2022.
New Society Solar Projector built by member George Buckberry – Society Meeting – 2023.01.26
Member George Buckberry with his hand built Solar Projector
Last week following our Society meeting on the 26th January 2023, we learned about the design and construction of a table-top solar projector built by George Buckberry. After all of the effort involved in building the projector, George has very kindly donated it to the Society for use by members and also as a means of educating the public at one of our outreach events. Thank you George for your very kind donation.
Below is a link to George’s PowerPoint presentation of how George built the Solar Projector in the form of a PDF file which you can download.
SolarScope Design & Build by George Buckberry of CMHASD
Sirius, Orion, Hyades in Taurus with Mars above and the Pleiades by George Buckberry
On the 17th Dec 2022 member George Buckberry captured this super image of Sirius, Orion, Hyades in Taurus with Mars above and the Pleiades. The photo was taken on a mobile Samsung SE20 in night mode and tweaked in Snapseed by George.
98 Geminids captured on camera for the night of the 14th/15th Dec 2022
It was a very busy night for CMHASD meteor camera on the 14th/15th Dec 2022. The Meteor camera captured 141 ‘sightings’ of which 126 were meteors including 4 sightings of 2 meteors in the same shot by the camera. Out of the 126 meteors 98 were Geminids; the rest were other classes of meteors including some sporadics.
Meteors, also known as shooting stars, are pieces of dust and debris from space that burn up in Earth’s atmosphere, where they can create streaks across the night sky. When Earth passes through the dusty trail of a comet or asteroid’s orbit, the many streaks of light in the sky are known as a meteor shower. The 98 Geminid meteors detected by the camera were part of the annual Geminid meteor shower.
For more information about the society meteor camera & project click here.
For more information about the Geminid Meteor Shower please visit the UKMON website at https://ukmeteornetwork.co.uk/showers/2022-geminids/
Below are two out of the 4 photos showing the double meteors captured by the camera.
Very Active Sun – 2023 Jan 15 – Honor Wheeler.
NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please see our Solar Observing safety page at crayfordmanorastro.com/solar-safety/
On the morning of Sunday 15th January 2023, CMHASD member Honor Wheeler captured this absolutely stunning image of the Sun. As you can see it was very active and still is! Details of how Honor acquired her brilliant image are on the photo.
The information below is taken from the website Spaceweather.com
Picture above shows the Sun on 15th January 2023 – taken by the Solar Dynamics Observatory with the Sun spots labelled.
”’…I can’t remember having seen so many sunspots together; indeed, the sunspot number is high. If solar activity continues at this pace for the rest of January, the monthly sunspot number will reach a 20-year high. And Solar Maximum is still ~2 years away. Contrary to predictions, Cycle 25 is shaping up to be a good one, after all.”
17th Jan 2023
”NAKED-EYE SUNSPOT: One of the biggest sunspots in years (AR3190) is crossing the solar disk–and you can see it with the naked eye. “Be sure to use safe solar glasses to protect your eyes,” says Bum-Suk Yeom of Iksan, South Korea. “I tried it myself today, and I could see the sunspot clearly.”
As shown in Yeom’s infographic, the sunspot is four times wider than Earth. It’s twice as big as any other spot on the sun, visible to the naked eye, and a magnificent target for backyard solar telescopes.
Best of all, it’s about to explode. AR3190 has an unstable ‘beta-gamma-delta’ magnetic field that harbors energy for X-class solar flares. Any eruptuions will be geoeffective because the sunspot is almost directly facing Earth.” ”
CMHASD Christmas Quiz Night 2022
It was a brilliant quiz and a great night was had by all! Member’s David Grist and Steve Floodgate aka Eric ‘n’ Ern once again pulled out all the stops to provide another night of head scratching, puzzlement and fun.
Below are some photos and a video of the evening taken by Chairman John Archer. Thank you John.
Plus a big ‘Thank you’ to Dave & Steve for all your hard work & effort creating the quiz. We are all looking forward to the next one!
Stunning Sun Halo
CMHASD member Jim Burchell captured this superb Sun Halo on the 14th Dec 2022 around midday which lasted for quite a long time – over an hour. A Sun halo, also known as ’22 degree halo’, is an optical atmospheric phenomenon that occurs due to sunlight refracting in millions of hexagonal ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere.
More information about how Sun Halo’s are formed can be found on the Atmospheric Optics website.
CMHASD at the BAA Christmas Meeting – 2022 Dec 10
Nine CMHASD members attended the BAA Christmas meeting on the 10th December 2022, held at the Institute of Physics.
A recording of the meeting is available to watch here on the BAA YouTube channel.
Below are the times of the talks in the recording. Please be aware the sound is a little quiet at times so you will need to turn up the sound up. Talks particular of interest to our Society are in bold; as they have CMHASD member ‘participation’ 🙂
Start – David Arditti, BAA President – Welcome, notices and awards – Here you will see CMHASD trustees Martin Crow and Simon Dawes collect their BAA Sir Patrick Moore award for their contributions to the ExoClock Project.
0h 27m – Tim Parsons – A Massive Star Menagerie: touring through the upper reaches of the H-R Diagram
1h 25m – Simon Kidd – Asteroid Occultations….an observer’s view
2h 8m – Nick James – Sky Notes – Here you will see CMHASD member Honor Wheeler’s Moon image displayed during Nick’s talk and a photo of a model of Jupiter that was used at the News Scientist Live exhibition 2022. CMHASD member Janice McClean, who is the BAA Events Manager and several other CMHASD members helped run the BAA stand at the exhibition over the 3 days.
After the meeting for those who wished to partake – members were invited the BAA Christmas social, taking place in the Hubble Room at The Astronomer pub near Liverpool Street Station. Several CMHASD members took up the invite 😀 I wonder who was one of the members?
Below are more photos of the day taken by CMHASD Chairperson John Archer & CMHASD Trustee John Howarth. Thank you for sharing your photos with us.
CMHASD Star Gazing at Hall Place & Gardens – 2022, Nov 30.
On Wednesday 30th November 2022, CMHASD were back at Hall Place & Gardens to hold a star gazing event. We had brilliant support from our members – thanks to all – who bought along a variety of telescopes, cameras, meteorites and other displays for our guests.
We had over 33 ticket-holders to entertain and those who arrived early did catch sight of Jupiter, Mars and the Moon.
We ran through a handful of short talks – including a review of popular astronomy apps by Marc and a talk from Debra on Comets, followed by a successful comet-making demo to an enthralled audience.
Further gaps in the clouds allowed visitors another chance to observe with us. It’s always rewarding to hear the “oohs and aahs” of a first-time view of Jupiter’s moons through a decent scope. The Society Dob’s are just brilliant at that.
So thank you to the whole crew (you know who you are) for setting up, interacting, educating and closing down the show. It was very successful indeed.
Congratulations to Martin Crow & Simon Dawes
A huge congratulations to CMHASD trustees Martin Crow and Simon Dawes for jointly winning the BAA Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Pro-Am work on Exoplanet observations with the ExoClock project along with a Mr Adrian Jones.
Below is a photo of Martin and Simon being presented with their certificates by the President of the BAA David Arditti on Saturday 10th December 2022 at the BAA Christmas Meeting.
From left to right: David Arditti, Adrian Jones, Martin Crow & Simon Dawes.
Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society Through the Years. People, Places, Members and Telescopes by Arthur Cockburn
It is our 61st Anniversary today and what a lovely way to mark the occasion – to sit back, relax and enjoy this superb video slide show of the society through the years created by long standing member Arthur Cockburn…….
BAA ExoPlanet & ExoClock training videos of which 2 are by CMHASD members.
The videos from the British Astronomical Association (BAA) Exoplanet Division Online Workshop held on Saturday 12th November are now available to watch on the BAA YouTube Channel.
The below talk titles are links to watch the videos.
Two videos are by CMHASD members Rodney Buckland and Martin Crow.
Exoplanet Division update
EXPLORE introduction
Ariel and ExoClock with Anastasia Kokori
Mission and observational efficiency
ExoClock – a model of pro-am collaboration
EXPLORE Part 1 – Detecting exoplanets with Rodney Buckland
Observation
Modelling
Searching databases
Zooniverse
How to discover an exoplanet (telescope and camera not required) with Roger Dymock
EXPLORE Part 2 with Martin Crow
Introduction to HOPS
Synchronous observations to detect shallow transits
Data mining transit observations for variable star photometry
An alternative to HOPS
Observing with robotic telescopes by Rodney Buckland
EXPLORE NEEDS EXPLORERS with Roger Dymock
Rodney’s Video
Martin’s Video
Sun dog
A shinning example of a Sundog captured by member Martin Crow when out and about on the 20th Nov 2022.
A Sundog (or sun dog) is an optical atmospheric phenomenon that causes a bright, rainbow-colored patch of light to occur on either side of the sun or both sides at an angle of 22 degrees. Sun dogs occur as a result of the refraction or scattering of light from flat hexagonal-shaped ice crystals that are suspended in clouds.
In the most brilliant displays, when 2 Sundogs appear, it’s as if there are now three suns in the sky — the main sun and two little siblings.
These “side suns” are colloquially known as sun dogs, officially known as “parhelia,” which is Greek for “next to the sun.”
The Veil Nebula by Neil Webster
The latest stunning image of the Veil Nebula by member Neil Webster. Updated with another 3 hours worth of imaging grabbed on the night of the 21st Nov 2022.
Neil said ”I finally managed to get enough data to start to show the incredible subtle details in this object. This was processed from 5 hrs of data amassed over 3 evenings.”
The Veil Nebula is a diffuse nebula located in the northern constellation Cygnus, the Swan. It is the expanding remains of a massive star that exploded about 8,000 years ago.
Called the Veil Nebula, the debris is one of the best-known supernova remnants, deriving its name from its delicate, draped filamentary structures. The entire nebula is 110 light-years across, covering six full moons on the sky as seen from Earth.
It lies a few degrees to the south of the star Epsilon Cygni, also known as Aljanah.
Aljanah is one of the stars of the Northern Cross and marks the right wing of the celestial Swan.
The Veil Nebula is also known as Witch’s Broom Nebula, Bridal Veil Nebula, Cirrus Nebula or Filamentary Nebula. It is located approximately 1,470 light years from Earth.
The Veil Nebula has three main parts: the Eastern Veil, the Western Veil, and Fleming’s Triangle (Pickering’s Triangle). It has the designations NGC 6960, NGC 6992, NGC 6995, NGC 6974 and NGC 6979 in the New General Catalogue. The southernmost part of the Eastern Veil Nebula is assigned the catalogue designation IC 1340.
To see a more detailed view of this image check out Neil’s Flickr page at https://www.flickr.com/photos/137388222@N05/52515415329/
Partial Solar Eclipse – 2022 Oct 25 – Open Morning at the Pavilion
NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY. Please click here for solar observing safely.
On Tuesday 25th October 2022, CMHASD held an Open Morning at the Parsonage Lane Pavilion for members & members of the public to view the rare spectacle of a Partial Solar Eclipse visible from the UK.
It turned out to be an absolutely fantastic day and one that people who were there will not forget.
It was a warm sunny day with clear skies at the start of the partial eclipse and come 10.09am BST we were rewarded with the first views of the Moon partially obscuring the Sun.
Members used a variety of safe techniques to view & image the partial eclipse for nearly 1 1/2 hours (with a few breaks due to cloud cover) until a little after 11.30am when it started to rain.
The setup shown below is using the image projection method with a 4 1/2” Tal Newtonian reflector.
Member Gary Hunt who was present that day at the pavilion and took many of photos used in this post wrote “Whenever there is an astronomical event in our locality of the UK, CMHASD is pleased to take the opportunity to share with the public the wonders of the Universe. The morning of Tuesday 25th 2022 was such an opportunity as we were treated to a partial eclipse of the sun. This is quite a rare phenomenon for the UK and even a few tens of miles can make a big difference to what you will see. Sadly for our observatory and home that is the ‘Pavilion’ in Sutton-at-Hone Dartford this would be only be around 15% covering of the sun in the nearly two hour solar eclipse by the Moon, but with the aid of SAFE observing techniques and equipment provided by CMHASD members we were able to demonstrate and explain to our visitors just what was happening. Besides the eclipse, and with most of our telescopes we were able to see two sets of sun spots and even a few solar prominences. The sun was visible until the last half-an-hour when clouds and some spots of rain spoiled our observing session, but we were lucky that most of the best parts of the eclipse was pretty cloud free! We had a small, but enthusiastic number of guests come along to observe the eclipse, and I can confidently claim that they were all suitably impressed with their experience. We had challenges that day because on the Sunday before, a thunder storm knocked out electrical power supply to the Pavilion and so we had no lighting or power for hospitality for our guests, however we used thermos flasks of tea/coffee and generous Society members brought along some cakes, so I think we were forgiven? All-in-all, I would judge that we had a successful solar/eclipse public out-reach session and guests and members enjoyed the solar-show immensely.”
Below are a collection images of the partial solar eclipse including a time lapse video by members who were at the pavilion………….
Jim Burchell
All 6 of Jim’s superb images were taken with a Pentax KP attached to an Altair Astro 102 Refactor using a white light Solar filter. Image’s then coloured using Snapseed.
Image 1 start of the eclipse. Iso 200 1/200 sec F7.5 approx
Image 2 roughly mid eclipse. Iso 200 1/250 sec
This image was taken roughly mid eclipse and shows more surface detail than Jim’s other images.
A very atmospheric image of the partial eclipse near the end.
Diane Clarke
Diane Clarke’s stunning image has been rotated to match event and also shows sun spots 3126, 3130 & 3131. Diane acquired the image using a Camera EOS M50m2 at ISO 400 @ 1/2000 Sec. Jpeg from RAW.
Mike Rushton
Dr. Mike Rushton’s super image was taken just before clouds intervened at about maximum eclipse time. Mike acquired the image using a Canon EOS 60D Lens: EF70-300mm f/4-f/5.6 IS USM, Focal length 300m f/8 1/500s ISO 200.
Below is a time lapse video of the partial solar eclipse put together by Mike.
Meanwhile members who were unable to be at the pavilion acquired these images below of the partial eclipse at various locations around Bexley including a time lapse video……
Simon Dawes
Details of how Simon acquired the image are on his photo.
Member Simon Dawes who was at home that morning wrote ”I hadn’t intended observing the partial solar eclipse, my plan had been to process some exoplanet data from the the night before but the day started out so nice and cloud free, I thought why not. As I was setting up I heard that one of our members wouldn’t be able to see it, they were isolating due to COVID. So armed with a connection on my mobile phone and the societies Zoom details I set up an impromptu zoom stream to share my observatory PC so that anyone wanting to see it that couldn’t get to the pavilion would be able to.”
Below are a couple of images of the partial solar eclipse broadcast via Zoom set up by Simon and a time lapse video of the eclipse.
Janice McClean
Member Janice imaged the partial eclipse until the rain came. Details of how Janice acquired her great images are on the photos.
Terry Miles
Terry Miles super set of images were acquired using a Coronado Personal Solar Telescope (PST) using a 8mm-24mm zoom and an iPhone 13.
Some members who were at work that day managed to get some images too……..
John Archer
In the City of London CMHASD Chairman John took this image.
Honor Wheeler
On a tea break at work Honor took this image using a BAA solar viewer with her phone.
And those members who live further a field shared their images they got of the partial solar eclipse also.
Martin Crow
Martin took this image of the partial eclipse showing some sunspots too from Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex. Shot using a DSLR 550d, 200mm lens with an astro solar filter, iso 100 & shutter speed 1/15sec.
Stephen Cohen
Stephen took this image from Cumbria using an iPhone through Mylar film.
CMHASD would like to say a big thank you to Gary Hunt, Diane Clarke, Dr. Mike Rushton and John Archer for organising the day and to the members who shared their photos & images. Absolutely brilliant!
CMHASD supporting the BAA at New Scientist Live 2022
Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society Dartford (CMHASD) were out in force at the recent New Scientist Live event at ExCel Centre, London Docklands on the 7th to 9th October 2022. We were there to help the British Astronomical Association (BAA), in which we have many members; on their stand in the Cosmos Section this year.
Everybody pitched in; helping the BAA team organised by CMHASD member Janice McClean who is a trustee and the Events Coordinator of the BAA to promote membership of the BAA and answer questions ranging from ‘What type of telescope should I buy?’ to ‘How do you use a Planisphere?’
Janice said ”After three years closure, it was great to be back.”
A big Thank you to CMHASD members Steve Floodgate & David Grist (our own Eric and Ernie) who were there for all three days of the event with Janice together with Mark Radice from Basingstoke Astronomical Society.
Thanks fully to CMHASD members Rita Whiting and Debra Holton who were there to keep the peace on Friday (School’s day) and to CMHASD member Diane Clarke who got pulled in after rashly accepting a guest pass when the sheer number of visitors became overwhelming. CMHASD trustee Mike Rushton added some calm and gravitas to the mayhem on Saturday and Rita returned on Sunday for even more!
Neil Webster’s latest deep sky image of Sadr and music video titled ‘Pickering’s Triangle’.
Member Neil Webster has been busy……….
This is the latest stunning deep sky image by Neil of Hydrogen Alpha nebulosity surrounding the star Gamma Cygni (Sadr) taken on the 20th October 2022.
Neil acquired the image using a AA 115mmAPO, EQ6 R, ZWO ASI294MC Pro, Optolong L enhance filter, Orion 50mm Guide Scope and ZWO ASI290MM.
47 x 240s lights, 12 x Darks, 35 x flats/bias.
APT, PHD, Nebulosity & Photoshop.
To see a higher resolution photo of this image check out Neil’s Flickr page at https://www.flickr.com/photos/137388222@N05/52443297014/
Sadr, Gamma Cygni (γ Cyg) is a yellow-white supergiant star located in the constellation Cygnus. Sadr is the constellation’s second brightest star after Deneb with an apparent magnitude of 2.23. It is the star forming the intersection of an asterism of five stars called the Northern Cross an asterism that dominates the summer sky in the northern hemisphere. Sadr lies in a rich field of the Milky Way and is surrounded by the diffuse emission nebula IC1318 also known as the Gamma Cygni Nebula or Sadr Region.
Plus hot off the press today – the latest music video created by Neil titled Pickering’s Triangle. Take a trip round Pickering’s Triangle in Cygnus imaged by Neil to a pulsey soundtrack and seriously wayward piano near the end.
Exoplanets WASP-114b and Qatar-5b observations by Simon Dawes
Two more sets of exoplanet observations for the ExoClock project by member Simon Dawes of WASP-114b and Qatar-5b. These are the 56th and 57th set of observations Simon has completed for the project.
WASP-114b is a Hot Jupiter in a 1.5-day orbit around a G0 star.
Qatar-5b is a Hot Jupiter orbiting the star Qatar-5 located in Andromeda constellation. It orbits its star every 2.87 days. It was discovered in 2016 by the Qatar Exoplanet Survey (QES).
Cosmic Camp 2022
Several society members attended Shears Green Junior School on Friday 23rd September 2022 with their own or a society telescope to take part in the school’s ‘Cosmic Camp’.
Below are 2 accounts of the evening by CMHASD members Diane Clarke and Gary Hunt who both helped at the event.
Diane wrote ”The Society was invited for its second visit to the “Cosmic Camp” at Shears Green Junior School on Friday the 23rd of September. Several members were present, bringing 5 telescopes including Anita & Isaac, 2 of the Societies “Dobs”.
When we arrived we were enthusiastically greeted by several of the campers in spite of the somewhat overcast conditions that never dampened their spirits. So we decided to persevere and set up our telescopes with an initial idea of focusing on various cranes & other industrial architecture along a distant horizon to give the campers something to see through the eyepiece. All the while hoping the sky would clear.
Eventually the clouds started to break initially giving views of Altair & Deneb, two of the stars that form the asterism known as the “summer triangle”. As the cloud continued to break the campers were treated to views of Jupiter & its 4 main Galilean Moons through our telescopes. Unlike last year there was no Moon and unfortunately the clouds did not break enough for us to offer the campers views of the planets Saturn or Mars.
Apart from having the 5 telescopes present we also gave 3 indoor presentations, these included showing the campers some astronomical images taken by the members, along with talks and demonstrations covering both the solar system & the constellations.
The campers had also been learning about the ISS and a visible Pass was expected so with great anticipation we gathered the camper’s together as the clouds broke enabling them to see the ISS that was greeted with a resounding cheer as it passed overhead. This was a very enjoyable evening for members & campers alike so much so that yet again we stayed longer than expected.”
Gary wrote “From a personal point of view and as an enthusiastic member of Crayford Manor House Astronomical Society Dartford (CMHASD), I found the experience of helping the young students of Shears Green Primary School see the night sky very rewarding. This night was Shears Green’s annual Cosmic Camp and CMHASD was very happy to help again (we helped out last year), as we love to share our fascination of astronomy and all things space! Most CMHASD members have started our fascination with astronomy at an early age and we are committed to inspire young minds to look into the night sky and wonder just like we did many years ago.
The Society did not take any photos of the event as there were too many safeguarding issues however the school blog hopefully will post some photos soon as they did with Cosmic Camp 2021 https://www.shearsgreenjuniorschool.co.uk/cosmic-camp-2021/– so do keep checking.
The Society would like to say a big Thank you to all the members who helped make this event a success.
Sun Pillar by John Archer
CMHASD Chairman John Archer captured a beautiful sunrise on the morning of the 12th October 2022 along with an atmospheric phenomenon called a ‘sun pillar’ albeit a small one.
‘A sun pillar is a vertical streak of light that appears above or below a low Sun that is shining through ice-crystal clouds, such as Cirrus, Cirrostratus and Cirrocumulus, or the ground-level ice-crystal fog, diamond dust.’ https://cloudappreciationsociety.org/cloud-library/sun-pillar/
They can be 5 to 10 degrees tall and sometimes even higher. They might lengthen or brighten as you gaze at them.
