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Tuesday, January 21st, 2014
Thanks to all the boys and girls at St Bartholomew’s Primary School in Crewkerne for their warm welcome today. I really enjoyed meeting you and answering your questions. What excellent questions you asked too! Remember to look for Jupiter and the constellation of Orion the hunter, and for the International Space Station.
Keep looking up!
Ron
January meeting
Thursday, January 16th, 2014
We had an excellent first meeting on Wednesday 15th at the Village Hall, New Road, Norton sub Hambdon after our move from Crewkerne. Reactions to the hall were all positive. It’s going to be a great place to meet.
We welcomed several visitors to the meeting and hope they enjoyed the evening. (What’s not to enjoy with Bob Mizon doing his presentation of APOD images). Of course it wouldn’t be Bob if he didn’t take every opportunity to raise the issue of light pollution. Quite right too!
Thanks to Bill Reed, Bud Budzynsky and Pete Ashtead for sharing their excellent images with us, and to Arthur Davis for his Monthly Sky Notes. Thanks too as usual, to Zena and her merry band of helpers for providing refreshments and for washing up duties. Next time, some of you will be made to ‘volunteer’ so be prepared!!
We finished rather later than normal so we’ll be looking at ways to get everything done more quickly in future.
Annual subscriptions are due next month, so please remember to bring £18 to renew membership for another year. Also, a CADAS Council will be elected for the coming year.
The speaker for our next meeting on Feb 19 will be Len Telford. His topic is ‘Imaging the Moon and Mars’.
Hope to see you there.
Dark skies.
StargazingLive Avalon Marshes
Monday, January 13th, 2014
It was overcast and raining of course, but 50 people turned up to the Avalon Marshes center at Shapwick Heath on Friday 10th. Bill showed some of his excellent deep sky images and used the audience as guinea pigs in a successful long exposure experiment. Good fun. I did a short talk on meteorites which appeared to go down well.
As the forecast for the following night looked promising, people were invited to turn up for an observing session if they wished. Twenty five did, and although the moon was pretty bright, they were able view it, and also got some good views of Jupiter and M42 and do some constellation spotting.
The next event at Avalon Marshes center will be at 7 pm on Friday 7 February. To book a place please contact Simon Clarke on 01458 860120 or email Simon.Clarke@naturalengland.org.uk
Don’t forget that we now meet in the Village Hall, New Road, Norton sub Hambdon, TA14 6SF
Ron
StargazingLive
Thursday, January 9th, 2014
CADAS joined Wells and Mendip Astronomers and Sowy Stargazers for a Stargazinglive event in Wells Museum and on the Cathedral Green on Tuesday 7th January. A good time was had by all despite rather a lot of cloud. We had a display of solar images which proved to be very popular and generated a lot of interest. Mike Egan will be running an event at Tesco’s in Chard if it’s clear on Friday 10. If not, the next slot will be Friday 17th. Our event at Avalon Marshes on 10th January is fully booked but there are still a few places for a second event to be held in early February on a date to be announced.
Stargazing Live
Thursday, December 26th, 2013
On Friday 10 January at 7 pm. CADAS will be holding a Stargazing Live event at the Avalon Marshes Centre, Shapwick Heath in association with the BBC and English Nature,
Booking is required. To book, and for further information, phone 01458 860120 or email Simon.Clarke@naturalengland.org.uk
December meeting
Monday, December 23rd, 2013
A truly foul night of wind and rain didn’t dampen spirits at our festive Christmas meeting. Hats off to Nick Colthorpe. His broken finger meant he couldn’t drive, so he came by bus. A break in the clouds allowed us a pleasing view of Jupiter close to the moon. Bill Reed’s walk- through of image processing went a long way to demystifying the processes for us and was a great supplement to our workshop in November. Thanks Bill!
Big News!
The big news of the night was the announcement that, from our January meeting on, we’ll be meeting at the Village Hall, New Road, Norton sub Hambdon,TA14 6SF .The hall is next to the Primary School. A map and directions will be found elsewhere. If anyone has a problem getting there, please let one of us know.
A Happy Christmas and Clear Skies in 2014
BIG NEWS! CADAS is moving!
Friday, December 20th, 2013
Our December meeting was the last to be held at St Bartholomew’s Church Hall. Having met there for many years, our growth has meant that we needed to find a bigger venue.
Starting with our next meeting on Wednesday 15 January, CADAS will be meeting in The Village Hall, New Road, Norton sub Hambdon, TA14 6SF
The Village Hall is next to the Primary School and easy to find.
Amongst other things, we will have the opportunity to do some observing after our meetings, as the skies are darker and there is ample room to set up equipment.
If any members will find it difficult to get to the new venue, please contact us so that we can try to find a solution.
Hello Voyager class.
Tuesday, November 26th, 2013
Dear Voyager class,
Thank you for inviting me to your school. I enjoyed meeting you. It was fun!
Keep looking at the sky.
Best wishes,
Ron
Astrophotography workshop 16 November.
Sunday, November 17th, 2013
What an informative day! Tony Morris’s tutorial was just what we had in mind and was spot on. Seventeen of us came for the day at Marston Magna Village Hall and were taken step by step from setting up, through basic equipment, up to choosing and using processing software. Given the time he had, Tony managed to a huge extent, to demystify the apparent dark arts of producing great images. Now it’s up to us to ‘get stuck in’. It was good to know that help is available and that we don’t have to learn alone.
Thanks to Tim Smith for organising the event and to Donna Smith for providing refreshments and organising our trip to the local pub at lunchtime for grub and a warm up by the fire.
Ann Davis from the BAA also came along for the day and several of us purchased various BAA publications including Tony Morrris’ guide to astrophotography.
A good time was had by all!!
As a follow up, Bill Reed will be doing a ‘revision’ session at our December meeting. Those who attended Tony Morris’ session should bring a lap top to Bill’s session in December.