Like many local organisations it is easy for members to get involved with ADAS and learn a little more. Here are a few ways: Attend meetings – We have a meeting on the last Friday of every month. Present at meetings – You do not have to be an expert astronomer or presenter. Just choose a topic for example ‘What is a luner eclipse?’ and spend a little time doing some research on the internet. Plan your talk  which could be anything from 10 minutes to 2 hours. Put photographs on Facebook – All you have to do is go here and upload your photographs Join in the Facebook conversation – The more people who use the Facebook page the more interesting it gets. If you do not have a Facebook account just sign up for one and join in the discussions. Place photos on the website – If you want your photos on the website you will need to write between 300-500 words to give some context and information. If you don’t want to do this then please post on Facebook. Write a piece for the website – Just choose a topic and write 300-500 words with pictures and email to the webmaster. You will then be set up with a special webpage account and talk you through the process of adding your work to the website. Before you ask…No!  The webmaster will not do it for you! Follow us on Twitter – @AstroADAS You can see all our posts and join in the conversation Remember: This is your website, your facebook page, your twitter and your society. by Unknown ADAS memeber

There are some very favourable passes over the next few days which you might want to check out here: http://iss.astroviewer.net/observation.php. For those of you less familiar to this type of resource you will notice a box on the right hand side at the top that says ‘Your location’. Click ‘change location’ and drag the map until it is over the UK. Then double click on the map and type ‘Altrincham’ where it says ‘Enter Location Here’. Do have a look into the night sky outside. It’s only in the sky for between 42 seconds and 6.5 minutes so you’ll have to be quick. One of the reasons why we can see this amazing construction from earth is that it is so huge. Have a look at this video as one of the astronauts shows us round. https://youtu.be/doN4t5NKW-k by Chris Suddick #ISS #Video

Norman and Kevin or two LX 90s or maybe..? M65 and M66 alive with great detail. NGC4754 and NGC4762, a stunning contrast of edge-on and elliptical galaxies near Vindemiatrix. M84 and M86 followed by the galaxy pairs of Markarian’s Chain in Virgo. M60 and NGC4647 (or M59) at the edge of the Virgo mainline. The main pair of spiral arms in the Whirlpool galaxy catching Colin’s eye for the first time. Speaking of eyes, the brilliant green of NGC6543 was very Cat-like and paired with IC4677, part of the outer shell. How about the ghostly NGC5053, a low surface brightness globular cluster adjacent to the brilliant M53? The 2 main galaxies within Abell 1656, the Coma cluster and attending faint fuzzies. M81 and M82, M82 having turbulent detail at high power in the 18”. The double nucleus of magnitude 8 Comet Machholz (a background star within the coma). The dark black-eye of M64 contrasting with the classic flying saucer of NGC4565 in Coma Berenices. M13 and NGC6207, a stunning globular and bright galaxy in the same magical field. The showpieces of M5, maybe the best northern globular and M3, a ‘splashy’ globular. …maybe it was a great 3 hours and it was great to have company. by Paul #Galaxy #Comet #GlobularCluster #

The site of the eclipse, at least  for travellers with Explorers Tours, was the River Ruya (or Ruia?), on the NW border between Mozambique and Zimbabwe. The picture composite below shows the scene looking North towards the river with the Sun moving right to left across the sky. Food and drink on the left with ladies toilet facilities to the right. Gentlemen - just be careful! The eclipse was mesmerising. We all went with Explorers. Well done Explorers Tours, not forgetting John, Wayne and Daniel. The two images below show left simple eyepiece projection onto shadowed card with an audience (maybe?) of one and Kevin Smith right setting up with a big audience because of his hi-tech video capture kit. It was lead/acid battery driven. Kevin must have paid a fortune in excess baggage!? The image table below shows some details of the activity on the day. Can you see yourself? At bottom right are Brian and Rob from Harrogate AS with Wayne. Brian is toasting the eclipse experience with Brandy. The day after the eclipse Graham, Brian and Rob went to the Harare National Art Gallery. Well worth the visit. by Unknown ADAS member #Eclipse #Zimbabwe