CADAS

CADAS  were at Marston Magna  Fete on Saturday 4th June. Young Alex obviously enjoyed himself.

Alex at Marston Magna Fete

The Buzz Aldrin event and book signing at The Forum, Bath on 3th June was enjoyed by the CADASians who managed to get tickets.

Lorna is reported not to have washed her hand since shaking Buzz Aldrin’s. Wonder if he washed his!

Lorna's big moment with Buzz Aldrin

CADAS will be at Misterton Fete on Sunday 12 June. The theme is Space so bring the kids.

https://www.facebook.com/mistfete/?fref=ts

What an enjoyable meeting! Just what we needed to cheer us up after the disappointment of missing the Mercury transit due to that appalling weather. At least Bill Read (of course) managed to grab an image of sorts which he shared with us. Thanks Bill.

A warm welcome to Mike Kuntz. Hope you enjoyed the meeting Mike, and we look forward to seeing you again.

Bob Mizon’s APOD presentation was not only wide-ranging but presented in Bob’s inimitable style chock full of facts and anecdotes and the images were eye-popping.

Thanks to Arthur Davis for his Skynotes and the ramble through Virgo his ‘Constellation of the month’ with its many and  varied objects.

Ron had H-alpha images of prominences and recent sunspots, managed to catch a flare in action and also caught the ISS transiting the sun.

If you ever wondered about the lengths to which a keen imager would go, Pete Adshead’s account of one of his imaging sessions ‘out in the field’ was a lesson in being  methodical, persistent, and certainly hardy. Pete’s was an instructive and entertaining tale. Thanks Pete.

Bill Read shared his unique image of Mercury in transit. A triumph of persistence and sharp reflexes. The only image any of us managed. Bill also showed some excellent deep sky images including a superb recent one of ‘The Wall’ in the North American Nebula.

Bud Budzynski illustrated with his images of Jupiter just what difficult sky conditions we were experiencing. Those of us who try to do some imaging know exactly what he meant.

Many thanks to all who helped with setting up and clearing away and special thanks to Zena, Richard and Annabelle for the refreshments (those chocolate thingies were delicious). Thanks too, to those who helped with washing up.

Next month will be ‘Ask the experts evening’ so have your questions handy.

Please petition the Govt. to introduce legislation to combat light pollution.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/11942

Pete and Ron were at Chard School on Wednesday 27th April with Jo Richardson’s Space Detectives as part of the ESERO-UK Tim Peake Primary Project.
After a short presentation  the children all had a chance to have a safe look at the sun which happened to have some sunspot groups and prominences, A hugely enjoyable day and the children really impressed us with how much they knew.

Pete at Chard School

'That's a sunspot

Pete projecting the sun

Prominences are cool!

Bob Mizon, our star speaker, in his usual entertaining way gave us lots of insights into the origins of the names ancient and modern of many of the stars and other celestial objects. What variety! And who knew there were so many ways in which the stars were catalogued. Having an appreciation of this background adds an additional layer of interest to the things we look at.

Bob’s ‘Object of the month’ covered the upcoming transit of Mercury on 9th May with advice on how to view the transit safely and what to expect. Hope the skies are clear!

Arthur’s sky notes for May followed and a copy is now on our website. Thanks Arthur.

Pete Adshead’s description of how he imaged the quasar 3C23 really impressed us. A great example of deep sky imaging and it was the first time someone has shared such an image with us. Nice one Pete!

Another great image was Bill’s latest of Jupiter. Without doubt his best so far and that’s saying something!

There were some solar images from Ron who also caught the ISS crossing the moon.

As usual, many thanks to Zena, Annabelle and Mike for providing refreshments and to all those who helped in the kitchen and with setting up and clearing away the hall.

At our next meeting  on 18 May Bob Mizon’s talk will be based around ‘Astronomy Pictures of the Day’. If the weather played ball, on May 9th there should be some images of Mercury’s transit to see. If not, there will just be a load of long faces.

May 2016 Sky notes

May 2016 Sky chart