July 2017 meeting
21 July, 2017
As Mike Witt our scheduled speaker couldn’t make it, we decided to use the time to talk about the care and use of equipment. Bud led the question and answer session, covering topics like the cleaning of lenses and eyepieces, collimation and polar aligning. One thread that emerged was that ‘if it ‘aint broke don’t fix it’ especially when it comes to a bit of dust on mirrors and lenses. Clean only when absolutely necessary and then with great care.
During the break Caroline Clements impressed many interested members by showing how easy it was to set up and use her Celestron NexStar ‘scope.
Arthur Davis presented Cygnus as the Constellation of the month featuring NGC7000 the North America nebula and IC5070 Pelican Nebula. We were encouraged to observe that colourful double star Albiero (Beta Cygni) at the head of the swan and which is well placed for viewing now.
Jan Wrightson treated us to a great image of the ISS transiting the sun. She’d captured this with a 600mm lens on her Canon DSLR. Given that the transit time was 0.5 seconds this was quite a feat!
Ken Honour shared his superb images of the Whirlpool, Needle and Blackeye galaxies as well as NBL_618, Cave, NGC7380, NGC7000 and the Heart nebulae. Ken also illustrated and described the equipment he uses including several of the DIY electronic elements he constructed for controlling the scope and imaging.
Many thanks to all the contributors, to Zena and Annabelle and to all who helped with the ‘housekeeping’ chores.
I sometimes wonder how we manage to pack so much in to the evening!
Next month Bill Coombes’ talk will be on the International Space Station. This is one not to be missed!
Change of Programme for July.
2 July, 2017
Please note that our scheduled main speaker is unable to come to the meeting. Members decided that we would fill the slot with a ‘Care and feeding of your telescope’ session. Bring any equpment along especially if you would like help with setting up, cleaning, upgrading, callibrating or anything else.
Sky and space notes
30 May, 2017
Arthur Davis’ June 2017 Sky notes and sky chart
29 May, 2017
May 2017 meeting
18 May, 2017
Another great meeting with an excellent speaker in Dan Oakley, Lead Ranger of the South Downs National Park Dark Sky Reserve. Dan’s lively presentation gave us a good overview of the park and what it took to achieve its Dark Sky status. Meeting the criteria of the International Dark –Sky Association was no mean feat! Dan also discussed many issues relating to good and bad lighting practice generally. Thanks Dan, your talk was much enjoyed and was most instructive.
Bob Mizon’s Object of the month was the strange NGC 6745 in Lyra This is a 10 billion year old galaxy over 200 million light years away that has been disrupted by a another passing galaxy causing massive new star formation. Some object!
After our refreshment break, Arthur Davis’ Constellation of the month was Sagitarius, filled with deep sky objects. Arthur highlighted the galaxies M8 and M20.
Bill Reed shared some of his images including Comet Johnson, M 13, a solar prominence and a short clip of solar surface activity. All of course up to the high standard we’ve come to expect from Bill.
Pete Adshead’s account of his occasional struggles with clouds to get his deep sky imaging done, rang bells with all who have tried. But he also shared with us in his usual clear and entertaining style, how he finally found and imaged M98 in the Coma Cluster.
Many thanks to Zena, and her merry band for providing and serving our refreshments and to all who again volunteered in the kitchen and with clearing away.
Next month Steve Tonkin will be warning us of ‘Ten ways in which the Universe tries to kill us’. Hope we survive to hear the talk!!
See you on June 21st
Adrian Zielonka’s May ’17 Space and Astro notes
24 April, 2017
Adrian Zielonka’s Space and Astro notes for May ‘17
Comet Tuttle 2nd May 10.pm
Comet Tuttle 2nd May 10pm enlarged view
Comet Johnson 31 May 10.30 pm