By James Weightman

Spotty Sun, taken with Nikon Coolpix camera + solar filter

Saturn with 6″ telescope, “lucky” imaging from video of 500 frames. The decreasing tilt of rings now makes Cassini division harder.

Then the clouds rolled in…

If only the clouds would clear, the dark nights would be great for observing!

Planets:

 Mercury:  Mercury reaches greatest eastern elongation of 21^o on the 4^th December.  You might be able to pick it up if you have a really clear western horizon.  However, it is well south of the celestial equator and won’t be an easy object.

Venus:  Venus is still a prominent morning object. Its elongation drops to around 40^o throughout the month.  Its magnitude drops from -4.2 to -4.1 as the phase increases from 68% to 75% by the end of the month.  The diameter decreases from 18 arcsec to 14.5 arcsec during this month.  Also, it is moving well south of the celestial equator and so is much lower in the sky.

 Mars: Although moving into the morning sky, it is not really visible this month.

Jupiter:  Jupiter is very well placed and visible throughout the night.  It is quite high in the sky by mid evening and unmistakeable. Look out for the 4 Galilean moons. Various websites will help you to identify them, www.shallowsky.com is worth using as it also shows the position of the Great Red Spot (GRS) and when it is visible.

 Saturn is well past opposition, but is still observable in the early to mid evening.  It is low in the sky, but is well worth viewing.  The rings are at a shallow angle and it is a beautiful sight if you have a clear evening and a clear southern horizon.  There is an interactive map of the moons available at skyandtelescope.org

Uranus  is well placed throughout December.  It is situated roughly half way between Jupiter and the Pleiades and so is fairly easy to find.  If anyone wants more details, please email Neil at coord@cotswoldas.org.uk

 Neptune.  Neptune is fairly well placed for observation. It is at R.A. 23h 43m and Dec. -3.2^o Contact your Coordinator if you want more ephemeris to find it.

The Sun

Solar activity is still increasing and solar observations are a good idea.  Take great care to never look directly at the Sun, or directly through an optical instrument.

Ensure a proper filter is in place or project the image onto card. 

Aurora Borealis:  Increasing solar activity increases the chance of seeing an aurora.  There are a number of Apps that can give you warnings and chances of seeing Aurorae.  Mine is called Aurora Pro.

Although this is daytime, it is still observable and worth looking out for or photographing. Let’s hope for clear skies

Meteor Showers:  The Geminid meteor shower lasts from the 4^th to the 17^th.  The maximum is on the 14^th December. The ZHR (Zenith Hourly Rate) is around 100. The meteors are slow and fairly bright.  This is the richest of the annual showers and well worth watching.  This shower is favourable as the Moon is not a  problem, reaching new moon on the 12th.

Moon

5^th December:  Moon is at last quarter.        12^th December:  New Moon

19^th December:  Moon is at First Quarter     27^th December:  Full Moon.       

Vesta: This reaches opposition on 21^st December at approx. RA 6hr, Dec +20^o.

The winter solstice occurs on the 22^nd December

As a point of interest, the earliest sunset occurs on the 16^th December and the latest sunrise on the 1^st January.  If you’re interested as to why, Google it as it’s not easy to explain here!

To view this post in PDF format please CLICK HERE

by Denise Powell

Excerpt:

Firstly, I am no Astronomer, just someone who has always been fascinated with the Moon and Stars having grown up watching the Apollo launches and have been intrigued ever since.

Being fortunate enough to have a second home in Normandy, in a small hamlet where we have no light pollution, we have spent many an evening sat outside with a fire just looking at the stars and contemplating life.

A couple of Christmas’s ago my husband surprised me with a Sky-Watcher telescope. Now, as keen as I was and as idiot proof as it apparently was, between us we just couldn’t fathom getting started properly.

Eventually, early in 2022 we went along to Cotswold Astronomical Society on a cold Sunday evening workshop. Everyone was so welcoming and after a couple of sessions and expert advice we were able to get it aligned properly. I am now actually capable of collimating the scope pretty much by myself 🙂

The full article can be read by clicking here or in the members area under Mercury Articles.

 

By James Weightman

Obtained by placing Star Analyser grating in front of camera lens. (OM-5 DSLR + 60mm lens; 12X10 secs, f/2.8 ISO800). 2 adjacent stars in Cassiopeia compared. Gamma (centre of “W”) shows emission lines whereas nearby Delta shows absorption lines.

James has captured a ‘sun dog’ is also known as a ‘parhelion’, which is a bright spot in the sky appearing on either side of the sun. The Sun Dogs are an atmospheric effect and are produced by the refraction of light from hexagonal ice crystals suspended in high cold cirrus and cirrostratus clouds. The crystals act as prisms and as they float down, they refract the sunlight horizontally. The refraction of the light means that sun dogs are coloured red at the side nearest the Sun and change from orange through to blue further from the sun.

A Sun Dog caused by refraction in hexagonal ice crystals in high clouds. 16 Oct 2023.

 

James has taken a photo of stars using a longer exposure time to create star trails caused by the Earth’s rotation. The colours are particularly interesting and these reflect the  temperature of the stars. James has identified Uranus and Jupiter as well as the open star cluster the Pleiades (Messier 45) in the constellation Taurus. James has also identified red stars in the constellation Aries.

Colour star trails, includes Uranus and 2 identified “red” stars.

VLF SID reports by the Radio Astronomy section of the BAA have been published for August. Please see the Radio Astronomy section of our website to read the report.

Information about the RA group is available from the BAA website at https://britastro.org/sections/radio-astronomy

Excerpt: “The strong solar activity in July continued into early August, but then faded away by mid-month. We recorded 68 classified flares in August, compared with 150 in July. There were however two X-class flares recorded, although they were rather late in the evening for the European signals. The background X-ray flux shown in the satellite data was also fairly high, so many of the smaller C-class flares were missed. Many of the stronger flares were also multiple-peaked again, giving plenty of unclassified SIDs.”

The evenings get dark pretty early and, as British Summer Time ends on the 29^th, it will be dark early by the end of the month.  This gives plenty of time for observing, provided the weather cooperates.

Planets:

Mercury:  Mercury is still a morning object at the start of the month, but will be lost in twilight by the end of the first week.  It has a more northerly declination and so may be visible if you have a clear eastern horizon before dawn. The elongation on the 3^rd is 13° and the phase around 86%.  The angular diameter is small, at around 5.5 arcsec and so it is not an easy object.

Venus:  Venus is now an easy morning object. It reaches greatest western elongation of 46° on the 23^rd and is well placed.  It remains very bright, with a magnitude of -4.6 at the start of the month, but decreasing a little as it moves away from Earth.  The phase therefore increases from 41% at the start of the month to 54% by the end.

Mars: As it approaches conjunction in November, Mars is now lost in the twilight

Jupiter  reaches opposition next month and starts October by rising around 8 pm BST. By the end of the month it is visible for most of the night and will be a prominent object in the south-east.  I urge you to train your telescopes on it.  Look out for the 4 Galilean moons. Various websites will help you to identify them, www.shallowsky.com is worth using as it also shows the position of the Great Red Spot (GRS) and when it is visible.

Saturn reached opposition at the end of August and is visible for much of the night.  It is low in the sky, but is well worth viewing.  The rings are at a shallow angle and it is a beautiful sight if you have a clear evening and a clear southern horizon.  There is an interactive map of the moons available at skyandtelescope.org

Uranus is not far from Jupiter (in the sky – not in reality!) and so is becoming easier to find. It reaches opposition next month on the 13^th.  I will send out instructions to find it with the November sky notes.  If anyone wants details before them, please email Neil at coord@cotswoldas.org.uk

Neptune reaches opposition on the 19^th and so is well placed.  Contact your Coordinator if you want ephemeris to find it.

The Sun

Solar activity is still increasing and solar observations are a good idea.  Take great care to never look directly at the Sun, or directly through an optical instrument.

Ensure a proper filter is in place or project the image onto card. 

Aurora Borealis:  Increasing solar activity increases the chance of seeing an aurora.  There are a number of Apps that can give you warnings and chances of seeing Aurorae.  Mine is called Aurora Pro.

Eclipses:

There is an Annular Solar Eclipse on the 14^th October which crosses Western USA, Central and parts of South America.  Nothing is visible from the UK

Partial Lunar Eclipse:  This occurs on the 28^th October:  Details are as follows:

P1 (Moon enters Penumbra) :            18:02 UT (19:02 BST)

U1 (Moon enters Umbra) :                  19:35 UT (20:35 BST)

U4 (Moon leaves the Umbra):            20:52 UT (21:52 BST)

P4 (Moon leaves Penumbra):             22:26 UT (23:26 BST)

At maximum, about 12% of the Moon is in the Umbra

Meteor Showers:  The Orionid meteor shower lasts throughout the month, but reaches a maximum on the  21^st-22^nd October. The ZHR (Zenith Hourly Rate) is around 20. The meteors are fast moving, but can leave persistent trails.  This shower is favourable as the Moon is not a major problem, reaching first quarter around then.

Moon

6^th October:  Moon is at last quarter             14^th October:  New Moon

22^nd October:  Moon is at First Quarter        28^th October:  Full Moon     

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By James Weightman

Out early this morning to see old crescent moon together with Venus in the dawn sky. No sign of comet.

Weekly Meetings Every Thursday

In order to introduce a more frequent open opportunity for members to meet on a social basis, the society has arranged to use as a venue The Bell Inn, on the Shurdington Road (NOT the Bell Inn in Cheltenham!). It is under new management, has been redecorated and they have a new menu starting on 1st October.

The bar staff will direct you to where we are seated, but look out for the sign on the table if you don’t recognise anyone.

The Radio Astronomy sub-group will meet on these days also, but if you have no interest in this aspect you can still attend and carry on your own discussions in whatever area of astronomy interests you.

The meeting are to take place at 6pm but this is flexible. If you want to arrive earlier or later that’s no problem.

The pub does serve food and Thursdays just so happen to be their curry night!

Members and their guests are welcome to come along and meet informally, with no set agenda. 

By making a meeting available every week it makes it easier to attend one or more each month, in addition to the normal monthly meetings and monthly telescope workshops.

 

The nights are drawing in fast now and if the cloud ever breaks you should get some observing done!

Planets: 

Mercury:  Mercury reaches greatest Western elongation of 18° on the 22^nd and so is a morning object.  It has a more northerly declination and so may be visible if you have a clear eastern horizon before dawn.

Venus:  Venus is now an easy morning object. It starts the month as a thin crescent (about 15%), but increases to a thick crescent (35%) by the end of the month, by which time it will have an elongation of 43° and very well placed.

 Mars is still technically visible in the evening sky, but is very difficult as it sets soon after the Sun.  It approaches conjunction in November.  On the 16^th Mars passes 0.7° south of the Moon.

Jupiter is now rising around 9 pm by the middle of the month and 8 pm by the end. It is very bright low in the south east by late evening. 

Saturn reached opposition at the end of August and is visible all night.  It is low in the sky, but is well worth viewing.  The rings are at a shallow angle. 

Uranus is not far from Jupiter (in the sky – not in reality!) and so is becoming easier to find.  I will send out instructions to find it later in the month. 

Neptune reaches opposition on the 19^th and so is well placed.  Contact your Coordinator if you want ephemeris to find it.

The Sun

Solar activity is still increasing and solar observations are a good idea.  Take great care to never look directly at the Sun, or directly through an optical instrument.

Ensure a proper filter is in place or project the image onto card. 

Meteor Showers:  The Eta Perseid meteor shower reaches a maximum on the 10^th September but may be seen through the middle of the month.  The ZHR (Zenith Hourly Rate) is only around 5 though, so be patient!

Moon

6^th September:     Moon is at Last Quarter     15^th September:  New Moon

22^nd September:  Moon is at First Quarter    29^th September:  Full Moon

 

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