
Cotswold AS member Neil Havard took to the sea in pursuit of the Total Solar Eclipse on March 20th – and got bonus views of the aurora on his trip.

Amateur astronomy in Cheltenham, Gloucester and environs

The society held three successful observing events around Cheltenham and Gloucester, and many members were able to see this rare event.
Members can now download the March / April Mercury from the Downloads page.
Contents include:

During 2015, the Jupiter system will be edge-on to the Earth and Sun, which allows observers to see fascinating phenomena of the Galilean moons. First, this alignment allows the moons and the shadows to transit across the Equatorial Zone so that observers have the greatest chance of seeing one or more of them on the disk. Second, it allows the moons to eclipse and occult one another in so-called ‘mutual phenomena’. These events can be followed even with modest telescopes, especially mutual eclipses where one can see the rapid dimming of the eclipsed moon even if it cannot be resolved. Larger telescopes do allow the moons to be resolved, and should allow some impressive images and even videos to be obtained.
John Rogers, BAA
Tony Ireland has prepared a listing of mutual events to look out for.
You can download the PDF here.
The January/February Mercury is now available for download.
Visit the Members | Downloads page – you will need the password, which has been emailed to members.
Contents includes:
The November/December Mercury is now available for download.
Visit the Members | Downloads page – you will need the password, which has been emailed to members.
Contents includes:
The September/October Mercury is now available for download.
Visit the Members | Downloads page – you will need the password, which has been emailed to members.
Contents include:
The July/August Mercury is now available for download.
Visit the Members | Downloads page – you will need the password, which has been emailed to members. There is a new password for the page, following the start of the new session.
The society had two evening observing events and a daytime event planned for the whole of the Saturday “Fun Day”.
Friday evening though looking promising proved to have no clear skies at all, and the Saturday forecast was not good. Many were awoken by the sound of thunder in the early morning, and torrential rain looked like it would spoil the day completely.
The winners of this years awards were announced at the May meeting of the Society.
Christine Beale was awarded the Robin Townley award for contribution to the work of the Society, and Peter Burgess won the Dan Turton trophy for his image of the Veil Nebula.
Congratulations to Christine and Peter.


