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Thursday, November 19th, 2015
Not sure how to describe this meeting except to say that we were toyed with by a gang of gremlins bent on mischief and mayhem. The sheer variety of the glitches were a wonder to behold and must have broken some sort of record.
Thankfully, members were all able to present their short talks which were much appreciated by the audience.
Nigel’s space news was a great hit and the video he took of a rocket launch and its atmospheric after effects was spectacular. Bob shared a trip to the amazing observatory at the Pic du Midi. Ron’s contribution was images of the Saturnian system taken by the Galileo spacecraft on its Solstice Mission (and a couple of fakes). Bud’s short talk was his excellent ‘live’ video tour of the moon in remarkable detail.
Bill shared his superb image of M42 recently taken with H alpha filtering and Ron showed some solar images partly as a reminder that the sun sill exists.
To round off the evening, Bob presented his ‘Object of the month’ Andromeda, followed by Arthur with Taurus, his chosen ‘Constellation of the month’.
It was an informative, varied, full (and eventful) evening. Frustrating at times maybe, but with many humourous moments and it certainly will go down in the folklore of CADAS.
Many thanks to our speakers and to Zena and her ‘catering department.’ Thanks also to all who helped during the evening with setting up, clearing away and so on. Special thanks to Bill our IT technician for the evening who was kept busy – and awake. 
Next month, Steve Tonkin will be discussing the mystery of the ‘Star of Bethlehem’ and we will be having our Christmas Social. This is always an enjoyable evening, so come along and bring a bite and or a drink to share.
Space Art Exhibition
Thursday, November 12th, 2015
Well worth a visit! The show is on at Wells Museum 10 till 4 until Saturday 21 November (closed Sundays).
This Saturday 14th will be special as not only will Jackie Burns be painting a new canvas live at the show (she is also there this Friday), but another of the participating artists, Mark A. Garlick, will be there on Saturday morning. Mark is a regular illustrator for Sky at Night magazine (especially for John Culshaw’s monthly page), and has also featured in Scientific American and on the cover of National Geographic.
October meeting
Friday, October 23rd, 2015
Great meeting on Wednesday as always. Thank you to Arthur for standing in for Ron. Thanks also to Bob for showing us some great images courtesy of http://apod.nasa.gov/ Lots of images including cloud formations, volcanoes and water flows on Mars with Bob leaving his favourite image until last – A Plutonian mountainscape.
As usual some great images from Bill too as well as Arthur’s constellation of the month – Perseus, a video of the recent Lunar Eclipse from Bud and a short talk on the Object of the Month from Bob – Al Giedi alpha Capricorni.
Next month is a members’ short talks evening – look forward to seeing you there!
Don’t forget to check out our website www.cadas.net
September meeting
Thursday, September 17th, 2015
Thanks to all who turned up on a rather wet evening. It was good to welcome Caroline, Maureen, Alan and Barry. We hope they enjoyed the evening.
Ron did a session on Rocks from Space, followed by Bob’s ‘Object of the Month’ and Arthur’s ‘Constellation of the month’. We had time for Bill to share his great shot of the Elephant Trunk nebula and some sunspots and Ron also showed some H-alpha images of an active area and large prominence. In the break there was also time to do a short ‘setting up a mount ‘ clinic.
A lot of us would like to visit the Norman Lockyer Observatory and Arthur will investigate this for us.
It seemed to me that the hall was cleared in record time at the end thanks to many hands making light work. Thanks too as usual to Zena for refreshments and to everyone who helped in the kitchen.
Next month Bob Mizon will be doing his Astronomy Picture of the Day presentation. What will it be this time I wonder. Whatever, it’s going to be good!
In the meanwhile, don’t forget to at least look out your window for the total eclipse of the moon on 28th September even if it means setting the alarm for an ungodly hour of around 3 am.
Wells and Mendip Astronomers along with the Interplanetary Society will be hosting an exhibition of space art ‘Artists in Space’ in Wells and Mendip Museum from Saturday 7th November to 21 November. The work of top artists will be on display.
Also of note is a major exhibition ‘Cosmonauts’ at the Science Museum in London. This highlights the Russian space program and will have some rarely seen artefacts. Check the Museum website for details.
Our next meeting is Wednesday 21 October. Hope you can make it.
Ron
WMA open day.
Thursday, September 3rd, 2015
CADAS supported Wells and Mendip Astronomers at their open day on Saturday 29 August. in Wells Town Hall. It was a successful event with lots of visitors. Nigel, Martin, Paul and Ron manned our stand and fielded questions. By some miracle the sun appeared so we were able to view the sun which attracted a lot of interest. Thanks to WMA for inviting us.
Click to enlarge
Paul and Martin setting up
The CADAS display
Solar viewing
August meeting.
Thursday, August 20th, 2015
The Mizar Planetarium was the main feature at this month’s meeting thanks to Bob Mizon. The two shows allowed the forty or so attendees to enjoy Bob’s great presentations and at least one person said she would have been happy to stay all night under the stars in the dome. Thanks Bob.
It was good to welcome Mark, Tom and Ian who were first time visitors. We hope both that they enjoyed the evening and that we will be able to welcome them back.
The rest of our meeting was filled with Arthur Davis’ Monthly Sky Notes and images by Bill and Ron.
As always, thanks to Zena for our refreshments and to those kind people who helped with the washing up and putting away. Your help is much appreciated.
Next month’s talk will be Rocks from Space - unless one gets us before then of course…
In the meanwhile, Wells and Mendip Astronomers will be holding a free public event on Saturday 29 August in Wells Town Hall to which all are invited. CADAS will be there.
Next meeting
Friday, August 14th, 2015
Bob Mizon will be presenting shows in his Mizar Planetarium at our next meeting on Wednesday 19 August. Don’t miss this!
It will also be an opportunity to bring along any equipment you might like help with as there will be time to run an astro clinic too.
See you there.
Southwest AstroFair
Thursday, August 13th, 2015
CADAS was at the Southwest AstroFair at the Norman Lockyer Observatory, Sidmouth on Saturday 8th September. Great weather, lots to see and do and lots of astro loot to spend your money on too!
Interest in the CADAS display