Posts

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CAS Sky Notes for January 2023

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.

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A Homemade Telescope Controller for Astrophotography

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.

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Telescope for sale: £1500 ono

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

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New Appointments to the Committee

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

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Vacant committee positions

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.

The vacant positions are:

  • Events Organiser
  • Membership Secretary
  • Articles Editor

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.

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CAS Financial Report

The society annual financial report is now available for members to view and raise any questions in advance of the AGM this Saturday. Please email any questions to coord@cotswoldas.org.uk so any queries can be addressed in advance of the meeting.

CLICK HERE to view.