Category: Uncategorized

By James Weightman

Cotswold Astronomical Society now holds its regular monthly meetings at the clubhouse of the Deer Park Archers. On a Sunday evening later in each month observation sessions have been held here. In the past weather conditions have not been too helpful, but for February 26th there were at last clear skies.

To read the rest of this article please view the full PDF here.

Planets:

Mercury:  Mercury is not really visible this month.  It reaches superior conjunction on the 17^th and might just be seen right at the end of the month. It’s probably best to wait until April to see it in the evening sky, when it will be better placed.

Venus:  This is now a prominent evening object and becoming increasingly easy to observe.  It starts the month with a low declination of +4 degrees, but moves northwards and by the end it is nearly +18 degrees, making it significantly higher in the evening sky.  Its magnitude remains around – 4 throughout.  The phase decreases from 85% to 77%, although the angular diameter increases only a little to 14 arc seconds.

On the 24^th March, Venus will be only 0.1 degrees north of the Moon.

To read the rest of the Sky Notes please view the full PDF here.

Mercury:  Mercury is still a morning object throughout most of the month. However, as its declination is around -20⁰ or worse, it will be very low in the sky and hard to see.  It’s probably best to wait until April to see it in the evening sky, when it will be better placed.

Venus:  This is now an evening object and becoming increasingly easy to observe.  It starts the month with a low declination of -11 degrees, but by the end it is nearly +4 degrees, making it significantly higher in the evening sky.  Its magnitude remains around – 3.9 throughout.  The phase decreases from 90% to 85%, although the angular diameter increases only a little to 12 arc seconds.

To read the rest of the Sky Notes please view the full PDF here.

Photo by CAS Member Tim Jackson

Planets:

Mercury:  Mercury is a morning object from mid to late January. However, as its declination is around -20° it will be very low in the sky and hard to see.  It’s probably best to wait until April to see it in the evening sky, when it will be better placed.

Venus:  This is now, technically, an evening object. … To read the full article please login and go to the members area, under Mercury Articles.

Mars is a prominent red object rising in the east at sunset.  It reaches opposition on the 8^th December. To read the full article please login and go to the members area.

By David Powley November 2022

I’ve been an astrophotographer for several decades and have always used the same Vixen GPDX mount and a Vixen Star Sensor 2000PC controller. Whilst the mount is still working well, I was becoming concerned that the controller, long discontinued, wasn’t going to last forever and that I should think about having a replacement ready before it failed. I also wanted to keep the existing DC motor drives, and at least have control over “pier flipping”.

To read this article in full, please log in and visit the members area.

Meade LX 200 GPS 10inch

• Large Field Tripod
• Telrad Finder Scope
• Remote Focuser
• 26mm eyepiece
• Heavy Duty Wedge Mount
• Electrically heated dew shield
• Balance weight system less weights
• Top mounting rail for guide scope

The telescope is currently installed in a humidity controlled observatory.

For more information please contact Peter Burgess on 01452-506850

Since the last update here we have been fortunate to have received volunteers for the posts of Membership Secretary, now filled by Dave Allerton and Matthew Castle as the new Editor.

We also welcome Graham Kent as the new Observing Director.  He will be assisted by our previous post holder, Susan Snow.

This still therefore leaves us with the Events Organiser post to fill. The more people we have either as full committee members or as assistants, the easier it becomes for everyone. So if you have an interest in helping to run your club, even if you have very little time availability, please let us know by contacting the Coordinator, or Secretary via the forms on the web page at https://cotswoldas.org.uk/about/committee

At the AGM last night we received no nominations for 3 essential committee posts. It is very important these are filled as soon as possible in order to maintain the future viability of the society. Descriptions of the posts are available in the committee contacts links page at https://cotswoldas.org.uk/about/committee but they are not that onerous in regard to time requirements; there is ample opportunity for the post holder to make of it what they will, based on personal skills or ideas on how to make improvements.

As our coordinator emailed to all members: “It is not practical for the remaining committee members to take on those roles as well and we cannot effectively run the society without them.  If we do not fill them soon, we may not have a society for very much longer.
The roles are not especially demanding and we may well be able to adapt the roles to suit.
Please help us out here and offer help where possible and as soon as possible.“

If you can possibly help, please email coord@cotswoldas.org.uk as soon as possible.