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Thursday, July 21st, 2016
It was good to meet our visitors Gordon, Jan, Ryan and Mark. Hope they enjoyed the evening and that they visit again.
Many thanks to our main speaker and long- time friend, James Fradgley for so ably taking us through the mysteries of the formation of disc structures and their various effects. James guided us well from sticky dust grains to supernovae, black holes and other exotic objects. It’s clear that angular momentum has a lot to answer for! James’ short quiz on the relative sizes of some solar system objects caused a lot of head scratching and was a nice way to round off the evening.
Arthur Davis concentrated on the constellation of Pegasus for his monthly sky notes and alerted us to a bright Iridium flare which many were able spot during our break even in the relatively bright evening sky.
Ron and Bill then shared some or their recent solar images. The sun had been very quiet but has begun to show some activity of late.
Iain baked us 3 great cakes which were hugely enjoyed and went in a flash. Thanks Iain, your skill and generosity was much appreciated!
Thanks too to Zena and her kitchen helpers. Our break time is an important part of the evening.
Next month Chris Starr, Chairman of Wells and Mendip Astronomers will be speaking about the Dawn mission to Ceres. Hope you can make it.
Hope we see you at the Southwest AstroFair at the Norman Lockyer Observatory on13th August and here’s hoping for clear skies for the Perseids on 12/13. (There could be some bleary eyes at AstroFair).
June16 meeting
Thursday, June 16th, 2016
Great June meeting! Tim Smith shared his experience of imaging the aurora earlier this year and what an informative and spectacular presentation it was. As they say, “it drew gasps from the crowd”.
Thanks for that Tim.
Arthur Davis’ constellation of the month was Lyra and Bob Mizon explored Cygnus as his Object of the Month.
Ron and Pete shared pictures of our trip to meet and hear Buzz Aldrin and of the day at the Misterton Fete on 12th June including a startling drawing of a rocket entered in the space picture competition for children judged by Lorna and Pete. This also ‘drew gasps from the crowd’ and it’s a mystery why it didn’t win. 
We were delighted to have our friend James Fradgley visit and join the panel of experts along with Bud and Bob to answer questions on many topics from the meeting.
As usual, many thanks to Zena and her helpers and to the stalwarts for volunteering in the kitchen.
Next month James Fradgley will be with us again in July to talk about Discs around Stars and Galaxies. No need to say this is one not to miss so see you there.
CADAS at MISTERTON
Monday, June 13th, 2016
We, and heavy showers, were at Misterton Fete on Sunday 12th. The sun didn’t attend. Despite this, a good time was had by all and the CADAS stand attracted a lot of attention. We chatted to loads of people and made some useful contacts with local schools. Lorna and Pete were asked to judge the childrens’ painting competition and survived the experience. It was a difficult task!
Go here for Pete Adshead’s video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udxu13H-nDo
CADAS at Misterton
Bud with visitors
Pete and Lorna judging
CADAS stand
Megan with Buzz Aldrin
Sunday, June 5th, 2016
Megan our youngest member and her mum with Buzz Aldrin. Buzz was keen to shake Megan’s hand when he learned that she plans to be an aeronautical engineer. Mum got to shake his hand too and is over the … no, I won’t say it.
Megan and mum with Buzz Aldrin
CADAS at Marston Magna
Sunday, June 5th, 2016
CADAS were at Marston Magna Fete on Saturday 4th June. Young Alex obviously enjoyed himself.
Alex at Marston Magna Fete
Buzz Aldrin
Sunday, June 5th, 2016
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
Misterton Fete
Wednesday, May 25th, 2016
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
May ’16 meeting
Thursday, May 19th, 2016
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.
Light pollution petition
Thursday, May 12th, 2016
Please petition the Govt. to introduce legislation to combat light pollution.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/11942
CADAS at Chard School
Friday, April 29th, 2016
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!