Here are the results of three sessions, a late morning and a couple of early evenings at the beginning and end of an 11 day holiday in Tenerife. Oct 23rd 03:30 to 07:00. NELM 7. Borg 101mm f6.2 ED refractor. A few hours snooze in the back of the car waiting for the moon to set preceded another ultra dark sky session. First off was a new comet C/2004 Q2 Machholz. Found below Lepus, this mag 8 object is set to put on a good show in Taurus during January. The Fornax galaxy cluster was next. Not visible from the UK, I could pick up 16 galaxies in the 4”. Orion was riding high in the south and the conditions allowed stunning views of the nebulae in and around the hunter. The Running Man, normally only seen on images was visible. M42 was unbelievable. Barnard’s Loop not a problem and I had a first time viewing of the Witchhead Nebula just west of Rigel. The Rosette was an easy naked (filtered) eye object and marvellous with the OIII filter in the 4 degree FOV. The wide FOV was also excellent in showing up the other Eagle or Seagull nebula IC2177. This appears as a broad arc of haze with numerous nearby open clusters and nebulae. A rash of great open clusters in Puppis finished off the morning session. The false dawn of the Zodical light had been present for at least 45 mins prior to the true lightening of the eastern sky. The sunrise was magnificent with Venus and Jupiter quite obvious in the morning glow. Oct 31st and Nov 1st. 19:30 – 22:00 NELM 7. Borg 101mm f6.2 ED refractor. The Milky Way arced brightly from the summer west to the winter east. Bright nebulae and clusters abounded near Cassiopeia. Faint local group galaxies NGC 185 and 147 were found smudged near an awesome M31. The Veil was magnificent and the North American bright in the wide FOV and OIII filter. Found low to the south were galaxies in Piscis Austrinus and a planetary in Grus. The Helix was easy to locate with nearby finder stars visible to the naked eye and the nebula itself obvious and bright with a dark centre. The Silver Coin galaxy (NGC 253) is a beautiful mag 7.3 mottled spiral in Sculptor. This formed a great pairing with a granular globular NGC 288. Other galaxies were picked up around the head of Pisces. IC 1613 another faint face-on local group offering showed up nearby. Pegasus revealed a few galaxies and in particular a very good view of NGC 7331 and 3 clumps of Stephan’s Quintet down to mag 13.3. These were high up in the zenith and the faintest objects seen so far through the 4”. After a couple of hours of darkness I finally realised that the curve of light across the sky was not light pollution. The Zodical band expanded to reveal the Gegenschein in Aries! It was very dark and clear. The moon rose and washed out the sky whilst lighting up the lava fields. The trip back down the volcano revealed the end of the celestial river, Achernar, deep in the south. by Unknown ADAS member #Galaxy #GlobularCluster #Moon #Venus #Jupiter #Nebula

My all expenses paid lecture trip to Oman was a resounding success. I was met at Seeb International Airport by RAHAS chairman Randall Penney, and Planetarium director Marwan Schwaiki, and immediately whisked off to Jebal al Akhdar Hotel in the Hajjar Mountains. The nearby observing site is located at an altitude of about 7000 feet, and the skies were superb. I gave a sky show to a group of Omani students from Sultan Qaboos University. Then I observed a few variable stars and looked at Mars through as 16 inch Dobo. Had my first ever unambiguous view of the Martian North Polar Cap. I also saw a mag -9 fireball that was a brilliant emerald green, and which produced red sparks.On June 28th I gave my lecture on Supernovae at the planetarium. Forty people attended. By this time I was back in Muscat and accommodated at the VIP lounge at PDO, the state owned oil company. There was a recreation centre nearby for the employees, with full facilities, a swimming pool and a beach. But it was hot and steamy. Almost nothing was visible in the sky. A few days later, Randall and I went up Jebel Tanuf, again to an altitude of about 7000 feet, and we set up his 11 inch Celestron. We looked at Mars again, plus a whole range of globular clusters. It was amazing to see M3, M5, and M69 fully resolved into stars. Later we had a look for Uranus. Randall couldn't find it, so I had a go, and I came across it. A superb little disk, but it was still too small to detect any markings. I made 16 variable star observations later on. The Milky Way was superb. Got back to Saudi yesterday morning, but now I have flu. What a pain! by Colin Henshaw #Uranus #GlobularCluster #Mars #Fireball

A video that logs some of the great discoveries that have been made by the Hubble telescope. Possibly one of the most famous telescopes in history. https://youtu.be/pE9VUgTgWAs by Unknown ADAS member #Hubble #Video

PaulC, KevinT and Mike and Warren Cook went observing from Llyn Brenig.  Mike and Warren brought a pair of 10” Dobsonians, PaulC his 18” Obsession and KevinT his binoculars and plenty of enthusiasm.  Indeed, enthusiasm was the order of the night, very good conditions and lots and lots of observing. I initially set up on M42.  The view through the wide-angle eyepiece resulted in a few choice Anglo-Saxon phases!  I was particularly keen to borrow Mike’s Hydrogen beta filter to get a good view of the Horsehead nebula in Orion.  I was not disappointed.  The notch of the ‘head’ could be seen straight off.  After a short while the features became obvious with the nose pointing down towards Zeta Orionis.  It was a moment of great personal satisfaction.  The nebula could also just be made out with the UHC filter.  This gave a very similar view to that obtained through Mike’s 10” equipped with the Hydrogen beta filter. The others were making plenty of progress with Mike’s Dobsonian.  He has refitted the azimuth mounting and added a levelling platform.  The scope was spot on with the digital setting circles. The M81 and M82 pairing was admired in all instruments.  A few nearby galaxies also wandered into the frame.  I re-visited the Perseus I galaxy cluster.  The favourable conditions increased the number of galaxies to 11 (down to magnitude 14.8) in the one field of view. The magnitude 11 Owl nebula developed big overlapping eyes and could be seen with the edge-on galaxy M108.  M1 also showed an ‘S’ shaped marking through the Obsession.  On request I had a look at the Andromeda galaxy.  A nice central core and narrow and broad dust lanes delineated the spiral arms.  Nearby M110 was transformed from a faint amorphous haze into a striking long elliptical galaxy.  The Eskimo nebula in Gemini developed a Parka hood and bright face at x200 plus using the UHC filter.  It also exhibited classic ‘blinking planetary’ behaviour at lower powers. In the meantime numerous objects were being picked up through the 10” dobsonians and views were often swapped and compared. The Whirlpool galaxy gradually rose from the light horizon.  Spiral detail was visible and it is surely to be very spectacular when overhead later in the year. Imagine the best ever view of the Ring nebula and superimpose this on a huge sparkling dense open cluster.  This is the view we experienced of M46 and NGC 2438.  At x100 with the UHC filter the sight was stunning. The final showpiece was the Rosette nebula.  A wide, dense and detailed swathe of nebulosity encircled the central open cluster.  The detail seen at x63 with the UHC filter was magnificent. As it began to haze over I finished off with a few Messiers and nearby galaxies in Leo. by Unknown ADAS member #Nebula #OpenCluster #Galaxy #LlynBrenig

One  evening  at  the  observatory  there  was  a  discussion  about  transits  of  Earth  from  Mars.  Later,  I  decided  to  pen  a  few  thoughts  on  this  topic. On  Earth,  one  of  the  rarer  astronomical  phenomena  is  a  transit  of  Venus  or  Mercury.  Such  an  event  occurs  when  the  planet  concerned  crosses  the  disk  of  the  Sun.  Clearly,  the  angular  size  of  the  planet  is  much  less  than  that  of  the  Sun  and  so  an  observer  sees  a  small  black  dot  take  several  hours  to  cross  from  one  side  of  the  Sun  to  the  other.  In  the  case  of  Mercury,  the  small  black  dot  is  a  sharp  one  but  in  the  case  of  Venus,  the  dot  is  somewhat  fuzzy  due  to  the  Venusian  atmosphere. Predicting  transits  of  Venus  or  Mercury  is  not  as  fearsome  as  may  be  thought  at  first.  The  phases  of  Venus  repeat  every  1.5987  years.  Put  another  way,  once  every  1.5987  years,  Venus  passes  between  the  Earth  and  the  Sun.  Normally  Venus  will  pass  north  or  south  of  the  Sun  as  seen  from  the  Earth  but  occasionally,  Venus  will  indeed  pass  directly  in  front  of  the  Sun  and  a  transit  will  be  observed.  The  condition  for  this  is  that  both  Earth  and  Venus  must  be  close  to  the  nodes  of  their  orbits  i.e.  the  places  where  the  two  orbital  planes  cross. The  orbits  of  Earth  and  Venus  are  tilted  with  respect  to  Each  other  by  3.395  degrees.  Because  of  the  differences  in  the  orbital  planes,  the  perfect  line-up  required  for  a  transit  will  only  occur  when  the  planets  are  close  to  the  points  where  they  pass  through  the  orbital  plane  of  the  other.  There  will  be  two  occasions  per  year  when  this  happens;  for  Venus,  these  are  periods  of  maximum  9  days  in  early  June  and  early  December. As  the  synodic  period  of  Venus,  is  close  to  1.6  years,  the  whole  situation  tends  to  repeat  after  multiples  of  1.6  years.  Thus,  8  years  after  a  transit  of  Venus,  a  further  transit  takes  place.  After  a  further  8  years,  however,  the  alignment  has  been  lost  (due  to  the  1.5987  being  not  exactly  1.6)  and  it  is  necessary  to  wait  a  long  time  for  the  next  transit.  The  pattern  of  transits  of  Venus  is  thus: A  December  transit  will  be  followed  8  years  later  by  another  December  transit  before  a  gap  of  121.5  years  before  a  June  transit.  Eight  years  later  there  will  be  another  June  transit  and  then  a  gap  of  105.5  years  before  the  next  December  transit.  Thus  in  243  years,  there  are  4  transits  and  the  whole  cycle  then  repeats  itself.  This  period  of  243  years  represents  152  synodic  periods  of  Venus. The  mean  interval  between  transits  of  Venus  can  be  worked  out  from  the  formula T  =  360 S sin (i / d) where  T  is  the  average  time  between  transits,  S  is  the  synodic  period  (  =  1.5987  years),  i  is  the  inclination  of  the  orbit  and  d  is  the  angular  diameter  of  the  Sun  in  degrees.  This  gives  the  mean  time  between  transits  as  64  years.  The  slight  discrepancy  between  this  figure  and  the  four  transits  in  243  years  is  because  sometimes  the  repetition  on  an  eight-year  basis  will  not  occur. Similar  calculations  can  be  made  for  Mercury  giving  an  average  time  between  transits  of  26  years  and  transits  repeating  on  periods  of  7,  13  or  33  years.  However,  the  eccentricity  of  Mercury's  orbit  introduces  complications  to  the  calculations. From  Mars,  it  would  also  be  possible  to  see  transits  of  Mercury  and  Venus;  however,  it  would  also  be  possible  to  see  transits  of  Earth.  These  would  occur,  on  average,  every  71  years.  [  =  38  Martian  years  ].  They  are  perhaps  more  common  than  may  be  supposed  as  the  angle  between  the  orbits  of  Earth  and  Mars  is  only  1.85  degrees  (as  opposed  to  7  degrees  for  Mercury  and  3.395  for  Venus). From  Mars,  transits  of  Earth  do  repeat  on  cycles.  As  7  synodic  periods  (14.947  years)  is  close  to  15  years,  that  is  one  candidate  for  a  cycle.  However,  the  alignment  is  not  good  enough.  However,  longer  cycles  could  include  79  years  (4  cycles),  204  years  (3  cycles)  and  284  years  (around  16  cycles). Transits  of  Earth  from  Mars  would  occur  around  May  12  or  November  13  (Earth  calendar).  The  May  transits  would  occur  with  Mars  not  long  past  perihelion  i.e.  around  1.39  AU  from  the  Sun  (with  Earth  1.01  AU  from  the  Sun).  In  November  Mars  is  1.65  AU  from  the  Sun  with  the  Earth  0.99  AU  from  the  Sun. So,  what  would  a  transit  of  Earth  look  like  as  viewed  from  Mars?  The  great  asset  is  that  from  Mars,  the  Moon  lies  close  to  the  Earth  in  the  sky  and  so  there  would  be  a  good  chance  of  seeing  the  two  bodies  cross  the  Sun's  disk  together. From  Mars,  in  May,  the  Sun  would  appear  to  be  23  arc  minutes  (  or  0.38  degrees)  across.  By  a  strange  coincidence,  the  length  of  the  Earth's  orbit  would  also  be  23  arc  minutes  with  a  maximum  width  of  2  arc  minutes  (this  figure  would  change  from  year  to  year  as  the  Moon's  orbit  slewed  round).  Thus  at  maximum  separation,  the  Moon  could  be  a  whole  Sun's  disk  ahead  or  behind  the  Earth.  Given  that  the  transit  may  not  be  central,  it  is  likely  that  the  Moon  could  leave  the  Sun's  disk  before  the  Earth  moved  onto  it  (or  vice  versa). In  November,  the  Sun  would  appear  to  be  19  arc  minutes  across.  The  Earth's  orbit  would  appear  13  arc  minutes  long  by  a  maximum  of  around  1  minute  across.  Only  when  the  Moon  were  at  the  extreme  points  in  its  orbit  and  when  the  transit  was  a  non-central  one  would  the  Moon  leave  the  Sun's  disk  before  the  Earth  entered  etc. The  Sun  is  the  large  circle  with  the  Earth  being  the  small  circle.  The  Moon  can  appear  anywhere  on  the  ellipse.  When  the  transit  is  central  (lower  case)  the  Moon  cannot  leave  the  Sun's  disk  before  the  Earth  enters.  However,  should  the  transit  be  non-central,  it  is  easy  to  find  circumstances  where  the  Moon  can  leave  the  Sun's  disk  before  the  Earth  enters.  In  November,  however,  (right  panel)  it  is  harder  to  find  circumstances  where  the  Moon  and  leave  the  Sun's  disk  before  the  Earth  enters.  It  would  be  necessary  for  a  transit  to  occur  near  the  Sun's  pole  with  the  Moon  furthest  away  from  the  Earth. Also  worth  mentioning  is  that  May  transits  would  outnumber  November  transits  by  a  ratio  of  about  6:5  i.e.  May  transits  would  occur  on  average  every  65  years  while  November  transits  would  average  77  years). From  Mars  it  would  also  be  possible  to  see  transits  of  Venus  and  Mercury.  Those  of  Mercury  would  occur  on  average  every  25  (Earth)  years  with  those  of  Venus  occurring  on  average  every  32  years.  One  cycle  occurring  for  transits  of  Mercury  would  be  of  34  synodic  periods  which  would  equal  4.993  Mars  years,  38.993  Mercury  years  i.e.  9.4  Earth  Years.  A  cycle  for  Venus  would  be  72  Synodic  Periods  which  equal  34.997  Mars  years,  106.997  Venus  years  i.e.  65.8  Earth  Years. An  interesting  fact  is  that  the  nodes  of  the  orbits  of  Mercury  and  Mars  are  very  close  together.  A  consequence  is  that  it  is  theoretically  possible  for  Mercury  and  Earth  to  transit  the  Sun  at  the  same  time  as  seen  from  Mars.  The  diagram  shows  the  orbital  planes  of  Mercury  and  Earth  as  seen  from  Mars  just  after  Mars  has  crossed  Earth's  orbit  and  is  about  to  cross  Mercury's  orbit.  Please  note  that  the  scales  are  reasonable  although  not  quite  true  in  order  to  show  an  angle  of  less  than  2  degrees. The  Sun  will  be  moving  'horizontally'  at  a  minute  of  arc  every  46  minutes  i.e.  it  moves  its  own  diameter  in  16  hours.  Thus  a  rough  rule  for  when  this  occurrence  occurs  would  be  that  Earth  and  Mercury  would  reach  inferior  conjunction  within  about  16  hours  of  each  other  around  May  12  or  November  13.  Another  rule,  considering  events  related  to  Earth  would  be  that  an  opposition  of  Mars  would  occur  within  about  16  hours  of  a  transit  of  Mercury. It  is  interesting  to  note  how  this  phenomenon  would  appear  from  the  various  planets  involved.  From  Mars,  it  would  be  possible  to  see  Mercury,  Earth  and  (probably)  the  Moon  all  crossing  the  Sun's  disk  at  the  same  time.  From  Earth,  a  transit  of  Mercury  would  occur  with  Mars  at  opposition  on  the  ecliptic,  while  from  Mercury,  the  planets  Earth  and  Mars  would  appear  very  close  together  in  the  sky  at  opposition.  If  it  were  possible  to  observe  from  the  Sun,    the  three  planets  would  all  appear  close  together  in  the  sky  (less  than  a  degree  apart). There  is  one  more  vantage  point  of  interest  i.e.  beyond  Mars.  From  a  suitable  distance  from  Mars  away  from  the  Sun  it  would  be  possible  to  see  Mercury,  Earth,  Moon  and  Mars  all  against  the  Sun's  disk.  Unfortunately  none  of  the  outer  planets  would  be  in  the  correct  position  so  a  space-borne  observation  would  be  necessary. Note  that  all  the  calculations  above  are  using  the  current  orbital  elements  for  the  planets.  Over  time-scales  of  tens  of  thousands  of  years,  the  elements  will  change  slightly  making  the  conclusions  invalid  in  the  long  term. by Colin Steele #Mars #Earth #Transit

NASA has recently sent a probe to Eros to land and photograph the surface. Colin Henshaw sent this note to the web pages. The NEAR Mission to Eros has fascinated me because it has revealed detailed images of an obscure object which I have actually seen and which I observed formally. Here are my observations of 433 Eros, made on January 12th. 1975, from the John Leigh Park, in Broadheath, Altrincham. The observations were made with a pair of 12 x 40 binoculars. The chart used was the BAA VSS chart for the semi-regular variable SV Lyncis, which was nearby as the asteroid moved by during its closest approach since the 1930's. I would be interested to learn when it is next going to come back as close as this visit? Anyone out there know the answer? Julian Date        GMAT     Mag     Estimate      Class 2442425.339    08.09       7.8       G-4 H+2        1 2442425.358    08.36       7.65     H+4 G-3        1 2442425.383    09.12       7.7       H+4 G-4        1 2442425.403    09.41       8.0       G-6 =H          1 2442425.417    10.00       8.6        J-2                1 2442425.533    12.48       8.8        J-4                1 2442425.550    13.12       8.2        J+3 H-3        1 by Colin Henshaw #Eros #NEAR

A group of people went to Siddington first of all and then others split off to drive to Tegg's Nose in hope of escaping the encroaching cloud. Rates of over 10 per hour have been reported at around 04.00 am on Tuesday morning, and the evening was counted a success, given that there was intermittent cloud cover and an almost full Moon to contend with. I managed to get out of bed after Don's 2am alarm call, but unfortunately dozed right off again in the armchair, and missed everything - doh! If anyone has managed to capture any photographs, please send them over! Discussion for a venue to view the Leonids Meteor Shower very early on the morning of the 19th is still under way, but seems to be either Siddington or a place nearby. If you haven't seen this on the newsgroup already, confirmation of venue will be posted here on Sunday night, 17th November. Congratulations are in order for Mike Tyrrell and Phil Masding for their inclusion in December's issue of Sky & Telescope, with an article on satellite imaging, particularly the ISS. by Unknown ADAS member #Siddington #Teggs #Leonids #MeteorShower

This from Graham S Dear All, Forget Tegg's Nose, the Sinagola bathroom window has again proved to be a great venue for observing a comet. I finally spotted Ikeya/Zhang at 8-30 and by 9 pm it was on film. After reading all the excited e-mails I was expecting something a little more interesting; but what the hell, NOTHING can compare with Bennett and Bopp! NB. Not from the stars do I my judgement pluck; and yet methinks I have astronomy. W.S. - Graham Sin. Isn't Graham pretentious? But fun! This from Don U Had a nice view of the comet at Lapwing Lane on Thursday, followed it down to the horizon. Took a photograph (analogue wet chemistry) so no quick results. Carry telescopes onto quarry land is no longer an option because a barbed wire fence has been erected. Even so it is still a useful site. The biggest source of light pollution, but not much of one, is Jodrell Bank! Don Midnight :- Paul C, Roger L, Jeff F, Richard B, Graham and Pauline C and John Tipping at Ashley all saw the Comet. John, Graham and Richard tried some regular film. Hopes for OK results? Surprisingly poor conditions. We've seen it though! 7 pm:- Richard B has forwarded this CometWatch message - AuroraWatch Alert, Thu 8 AM: Large increase in local activity, possible Sudden Storm Commencement. Keep your eyes peeled and if you see anything phone around, please! Noon:-Amasing what the web can do! Roger L asked why ADAS membership had got NO images of the Comet and now it has 3!!! John's from the QB last night and Mark C {left 1)} and Phil M {right 2)}. Neat huh? Some from ADAS are going again to Ashley this evening to get better telescopic views and maybe more photographs. Dave T said he would be bringing along the MIA 100x80 binoculars. Should be good if it is as clear as last night! Midnight! At the QB tonight John Tipping offered the image of I-Z which he obtained from Byley, nr. Middlewich, Cheshire 12th March. He used his Vivitar 3000S 35 mm SLR with a 200 mm f4.5 Miranda telephoto mounted on a 1 minute Scotch Mount/barn door. The film was Kodak G400 print film. He had just come from Siddington where he had viewed the Comet with Chris Heapy. Tomorrow there is a proposal to go to Roger's site at Ashley. More later! Yippee! Graham C and Roger L got Ikeya-Zhang from Ashley, 5 miles and 15 minutes from the obs. This Comet was last here in 1640 and we didn't catch it that time! Roger christened his new Hilux 80 mm obj, 400 mm fl refractor which arrived today. Honest! We wondered if Mr Ikeya is Ikeya of Ikeya-Seki 1965. Anybody know? Roger is wondering if Ashley will do for Thursday AND Friday if the Moon is going to remain so bright!? Another clear sunny day and not worth going to NOAA because according to the TV weather it is wall to wall clear skies and frost for gardeners. Most reports from people who went out last night was of high cloud scattering the Moonlight and conditions for Ikeya-Zhang were particularly bad when it was best placed in the sky! Can you believe it got better later by which time the Comet had set!? The picture at left shows the clear blue sky from the obs in Timperley. Don U can be seen on the roof of the hut renewing roofing felt which had blown off in the recent gales. The damage done was relatively easy for Don and Graham C to fix. Doing the work in such nice weather made it less of a chore but it is clear the usual chore of "cutting the grass" will have to be resurrected! Don and Graham C have agreed to go to Lapwing Lane near Chelford tomorrow Thursday because Don is busy tonight and Graham C will be going to the QB. by Unknown ADAS member #Comet

In astronomy we often focus on the cosmos and observing the cosmos from here on Earth or by using unmanned space craft. Often we forget about manned space travel and especially the psychological demands on astronauts which has changed immeasurably since the days of the first manned space flights. This article from Wired explores some of the changes in the expectations placed on astronauts. Click here by Unknown ADAS member #Astronaut #Link #SpaceFlight

Interesting short film on the objectives of the Hubble Telescope Is time travel possible? This is a documentary (45 minutes)  from National Geographic entitled Time Travel – The Truth by Unknown ADAS member #Hubble #Video #Link #TimeTravel

ADAS had a display promoting the Society at the BAA Exhibition held at Manchester Metropolitan University on Saturday 22 June2013. Peter Baugh, Richard Bullock and Geoff Flood were on hand for most of the day where we had the opportunity to generate interest in the Society and also to meet up with current and  former members. Several other Societies had displays and we may benefit from them and improve our display for future events. by Geoff Flood #BAAExhibition

Walking back from the observatory I notice a white/green arc low to the north. I thought maybe aurora but unlikely! By the time I was home it had to be and there were occasional rays growing upwards. A quick 'phone around was in order. Colin H, Mark C, Paul B and Mike C. I dragged out Sue at ~22:15, 'I cannot see anything'. Disappears back into the warmth. About 5 minutes later big bright shafts of green, white, pink and red grew rapidly up past Polaris in the NNW. A big bright pulsating, shimmering curtain drowned out any light pollution. A deep red pervaded the sky further west and then up towards the zenith. In 20 minutes it was over. Not bad from the back garden! by Paul #Aurora

Well goodbye Winter and hello Spring. From an astronomical viewpoint, today is the first day of Spring. At 4:57pm (16:57UTC) the sun will cross the celestial equator and, for the next 6 months, shine more on the northern hemisphere than on the southern hemisphere. This happens each year on March 20th or March 21st; it varies due to the fact that the length of a year is not exactly 365 days. On September 22nd or 23rd the reverse will happen on the Autumnal Equinox. Strangely though, the weather forecasters have been claiming it is already Spring, ever since the 1st of March. This is because the Met Office has decided to use its own definition of Spring to make things easier for themselves. So, put away your winter duvet and start slathering on the sun cream! by Chris Suddick

More than 4 hours of the best transparent conditions Llyn Brenig (North Wales) has to offer. NELM 6.5+! The Milky Way was clearly visible from horizon to horizon. The North American nebula was an easy naked eye object with the true shape apparent. The Scutum star cloud was so bright and I could see down past M24 to the Lagoon Nebula steaming out of the teapot at less than 10 degrees elevation. More stars were visible in the square of Pegasus than I could imagine and finally M33 was clearly visible as a hazy patch. I was torn between using the good conditions to go for the faint obscure objects or wallowing in the showpieces displayed in all their glory. I started off with Barnard’s Galaxy at 20 degrees elevation. Previously seen as a vague smudge it came alive with shape, hints of graininess and easily visible HII regions. Contrast was so good that unfiltered views were the most pleasing. Hubble V and X only, I wish I’d plotted a few more to look at! I used a 13mm Nagler with and w/o OIII and UHC filters. Using the 31 mm Nagler I cruised the immense star fields around M 39 and NGC 7209, an awe inspiring view! B168 formed a dark black snaking rift leading to the Cocoon. Visible straight off it flared into a ‘huge’ mottled nebula with averted vision. Again the unfiltered view was most pleasing. After a few globulars and planetaries I had to return to the showpieces for a look in the excellent conditions. I wonder if one can say too much about the splendours of the Veil. Nebulosity with detail strewn all over the FOV! The Pelican so bright I thought I was looking at the North American but, that was just like some of the H alpha photographs we see. A swish around the Coathanger found a very nice bright cluster NGC 6802 (previously just another NGC). Sh2-82 was easily visible, unfiltered with a larger patch by the southern of 2 stars. The other object nearby M 57, IC 1296 a mag. 15 galaxy was also picked up. M27 at x300 was breathtaking! No filter and so much detail! Some galaxies in Aquarius and Abell 70 followed. Then a request came in. Dave wanted to check the area around the Bubble nebula prior to setting up for imaging. I was stunned to see about 270 degrees of the Bubble and seemagine the remainder. The 13mm Nagler and OIII gave a view as good a many of the photographs. I couldn’t resist revelling in the biggies. M31 was better than most images, it extended over 3 degrees, detail, dark lanes, associations and companions. And finally, M33 with 3 or more arms, knots and nebulae. Wow! This was a session that added inches to the aperture of the 18. What an instrument! PS I also picked up a few more difficult planetaries but they were just not that exciting tonight. by Unknown ADAS member #GlobularCluster #PlanetaryNebula #Galaxy #Nebula #LlynBrenig

Tonight ADAS was visited by a Cub Scout Group from Stockport. Sadly the very, very wet weather made things difficult. Access was just swimming with water and of course we could not use the scope. The picture above show the group that was brave enough to make it to Timperley and the observatory in spite of the weather. Chris S presented his slide set and fielded the questions from his audience. Chris remarked to Graham C at the end of his presentation that the date tomorrow Wednesday was unique. Did you know that Wednesday 20th February will be palindromic? Take note that Wednesday is 20-2-02 or 20-02-2002 and that at 8.20 pm in the 24 hour clock it will be 20.20 20202 or 20.20 20-02-2002!! Neat huh? by Unknown ADAS member #Outreach

The monthly meeting will be held at Timperley Village Hall, Friday 1st February, at 8 pm. The guest speaker for the evening will be Tim O’Brien, who will be lecturing on radio astronomy. Lottery Bid A further meeting was held at the obs, on Thursday Jan. 10th, and consensus has now been reached on the items to include in the proposal. These will be: a Meade LX90 8’’ SCT, its virtues being that it has ‘GOTO’, a reasonably large aperture, and is portable. The built-in GPS system should alleviate any potential hassles to do with varying locations.  A Santa Barbara Instruments Group (SBIG) STV system, this is a sensitive digital video camera, capable of making videos in real time or taking single timed exposures. This system has a built-in monitor, meaning it doesn’t need a separate laptop to operate it. The system can also be used as an autoguider, provided that it is connected to compatible motors with encoders.  Further expenditure is required on the refurbishment of the 14’’, and £900 of the bid is earmarked for attention to the equatorial mount, drives, and the focuser. The total value of the bid is approx. £5000; Observatory Director Paul Clark reports he has now prepared the proposal, and it is ready for submission. Other Equipment  A decision has also been made to buy digital setting circles for the 14’’, using existing funds. This will make the 14’’ a good deal more ‘user friendly’ and more approachable to beginners. Although the mount already has manual setting circles, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody using them. It was also decided at the last meeting to purchase a web cam from existing funds. Mark Crossley has kindly obtained the camera and it was set up on the obs. computer on Friday 18th Jan, and is working well. (see the ADAS web page for  ‘first light’ image) All that remains now is for the telescope adapter fitting to be added, and a modification to be made by Mark C., that will allow the current maximum exposure time to be overridden. There is also the question of whether it will work using a 9 metre extension lead to the obs. hut, but this problem can be overcome with use of a signal booster. Let’s hope this sudden rash of expenditure doesn’t cause our Treasurer to develop a nervous twitch… Dark Sky Trips  January’s proposed trips were cancelled due to bad weather, although there have been a few excursions towards the middle/end of the month. Paul C was chomping at the bit to try out his new 18’’ Dobsonian, (a week of cloud following it’s arrival from the U.S.A.), and finally got the chance during the week commencing 14/1/02 to put ‘The Monster’ to the test.  See his observing report on the ADAS web site. Trips to Llyn Brenig this month are planned for Saturday 9th/16th, being just before and after the New Moon. I have my images back from the trip to Llyn Brenig on 22/12/01, and am pleased with the results. If anyone would like to see, I’ve uploaded better quality versions to the ‘files’ section of the Yahoo! news group, as the ADAS web site cannot spare the memory.  In general, observing trips have become more regular and more successful. More people are coming along and the variety of equipment used is growing. It is quite interesting being able to compare images from one scope to another, and could well be useful if making a decision to buy an instrument. We do however need to finalise a reliable method of finding out weather conditions before confirming or cancelling a trip. Cloudy weather in north Cheshire doesn’t necessarily mean the sky won’t be clear in Wales, and vice versa, as Paul C and Myself found on Dec. 22nd, however patience paid off, and eventually the sky did clear, allowing us to observe until late into the night. Observing Notes There will be an occultation of Jupiter, by the Moon, in the early (very) of the morning of the 23rd, beginning at 02:52 and re-emerging at 03:38. The re-emergence may be the more interesting view, as the planet will be directly seen against the illuminated limb of the Moon. Here are 2 small maps of the event from Sky Map 7:.................... 23/2/02     02:53                                                        23/2/02    03:38QSUN    In Capricornus on the 15th, Sunrise is at 07:28, (onset of twilight 05:32,) Sunset 17:21,   becoming fully dark by 19.15. R MOON     Last Quarter 04/02/02, rise 00:41 set 10:51                                 New Moon   12/02/02, rise 08:23 set 17.14                                 First Quarter  20/2/02, rise 10:21 set 18.21                                 Full Moon      27/2/02, rise 17:51 set 07:38 S MERCURY    In Capricornus and becoming more visible in the morning sky as the month progresses, this is due to it moving towards maximum elongation of 27 degrees from the Sun on the 21st.  On the 15th Feb, Mercury will rise at 06:24 and set at 14:57. T VENUS     Venus will be too close to the Sun for observation this month. U MARS     In Pisces, will be visible from shortly after 6 pm on the 15th, when it will be at an altitude of 36 degrees, setting at 22:30. V JUPITER     In Gemini, continues to be observable for the entire night. Rising at 12:25 on the 15th, it will have reached an altitude of 45 degrees by twilight. Below are listed times when it will be possible to observe the Great Red Spot, and the Galilean Moons’ shadows transiting the face of the planet.  The GRS takes approx. 5 hours to pass across Jupiter’s disc. Start times are given below:- GRS 3rd    22:08     4th 17:59        6th 19:37        8th  21:16       9th  17:07        10th  22:54    11th  18:45     13th  20:24 15th  22:02     17th  23:41     18th  19:32     20th  21:11     22nd  22:49     25th  20:19     27th  21.58 Jovian Shadow Transits 5th    Io, start 01:08 end 03:23        6th    Io, start 19:37 end 21:52             10th  Europa, start 18:52 end 21:40 13th  Io, start 21:32 end 23:47       16th  Callisto, start 17:02 end 20:13     17th  Europa, start 21:28 end 00:16 20th  Io, start 23:27 end 01:42       25th  Europa, start 00:05 end 02:52      27th  Ganymede, start 18:15 end 21:24 28th  Io, start 01:22 end 03:37 W SATURN     In Taurus, will be at an altitude of 55 degrees by dusk, apart from the fascination of viewing its ring system, it currently looks very good in binoculars among the Hyades. On the 15th, Saturn will rise at 10:51 and set at 03:01. X URANUS      In Capricornus, and currently not observable. Y NEPTUNE     Also in Capricornus, not currently observable. Z PLUTO    In Ophiuchus, mag. 13.9, will rise at 02:46 on the 15th, and become invisible to twilight  by 05:30. If anybody has any information or announcements they would like to be included in next month's  newsletter, please email me at Davey.T@btinternet.com The links below were originally set up by Roger Livermore. We hope they are useful. The Sun from SOHO. (Dave T. recommended)!: http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov The Sun as observed this day  through the Mees white light telescope in Hawaii: http://www.solar.ifa.hawaii.edu/MWLT/mwlt.html Stars from ADAS's Sky Map 8 planisphere: http://www.adas.u-net.com/skymaps.html Planets via Sky and Telescope ‘What’s Up?’: http://www.skypub.com/sights/sights.shtml Asteroids via Heavens-Above: http://www.heavens-above.com Comets BAA: http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~jds Comets NASA: http://encke.jpl.nasa.gov/whats_visible.html Meteors  the IMO calendar via: http://www.imo.net Aurora alert  York University: http://www.aurorawatch.york.ac.uk/ Satellites from Heavens Above: http://www.heavens-above.com Variable stars, novae and supernovae AAVSO: http://www.aavso.org by Dave Timperley For the previous newsletter, click here.

27th December 2005 18:30-23:00 Llyn Brenig, NELM 6+. Telescope - Obsession 18” f4.5 dobsonian Eyepieces – 31 and 13mm Naglers, 24mm Panoptic OIII and H beta filters. First off, a horizon to horizon crisp and frosty Milky Way. The faint and unimpressive comet C/2005 E2 McNaught at mag 10ish was seen down in Capricornus. Some interesting galaxies lie to the west of Pegasus, including NGC 7241 a nice pale edge-on spiral. A failed attempt on a planetary in Cassiopeia resulted in a great sweep of some very interesting open clusters inhabiting the region towards Cepheus. Berks, Czerniks, Frolovs and Kings were seen alongside the usual NGCs and Messiers. PK 122-4.1 a mag 14 Planetary Nebula was found in this area. Abell 2 and the local group galaxy IC10 were also found nearby Schedar. Dropping off from the point of Triangulum resulted in a great find of a pair of galaxies, NGC 672 and IC1727, recommended for large scopes. NGC 784 is a nearby edge-on sliver. A wallow in the splendour of NGC 891 was followed by some ticks of faint fuzzies that had been missed in previous years. UGC1841 (mag 13.5) and 1837 (mag. 15) are recommended. An obscure gem is NGC 1579 a Bright Nebula in Auriga, this has an interesting dark lane and is quite bright. Put it on the list. Swinging east of Polaris I ran through some bright mag 13 galaxies. The Horsehead was very pleasing with the 24mm Panoptic and H beta filter. Magical M33 finished off the session. by Paul #Galaxy #Nebula #LlynBrenig #MilkyWay #OpenCluster #Comet

Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) is now visible in the morning skies before dawn – and after a little outburst in brightness, many people have reported that it is now just visible to the unaided eye, and should continue to brighten over the next ten days as it approaches its perihelion at just 1 solar diameter from the surface of the Sun. Here is a video showing you where and when to look for Comet ISON, and discussing how bright it might get. The temperature at its closest point may exceed 2000K, and the tidal forces on the comet will be very high – both of which mean that there is a chance that Comet ISON’s first visit into the inner solar system might well be its last. If ISON survives, then there’s every chance that it could be visible to most northern hemisphere observers to the unaided eye in the first week or two of December 2013 in both the morning and evening – although morning apparitions will be more favourable. Comet ISON is not the only comet around at the moment. Comet C/2013 R1 (Lovejoy) is also potentially naked-eye visible in Ursa Major, and the periodic comet 2P/Encke may also approach naked-eye visibility briefly. Both of these comets will also be visible in the same region of sky as ISON at different times – see the video above. There are potentially 2 other comets which are visible in binoculars: Comet C/2012 X1 (LINEAR) brightened unexpectedly by over 100 times in October, and now sits just 1º from the bright star Arcturus, and comet C/2013 V3 (Nevski), discovered only a few days ago, has also experienced an outburst and is around magnitude 9 in Leo. So fingers crossed that we get to see ISON. The big problem may be the age-old problem for astronomers in the UK… the weather! by Richard Bullock #WhatToWatch #Comet #Video

In our meeting on 7th March the skies cleared and most of the 40 members went into the car park to look through the two large goto telescopes we had set up. Members could look at the moon, Jupiter and an array of stars in the night sky. Several newer members were treated to a short explanation of how to find the pole or North star by Karin Rodgers…to be honest some of the older members also learned something too. The easiest method for finding the North Star is by finding the ‘Plough’, an easy to identify group of seven stars. It is known as the ‘Big Dipper’ to the Americans and the ‘saucepan’ to many others. Next you find the ‘pointer’ stars, these are the two stars that a liquid would run off if you tipped up your ‘saucepan’. The North Star will always be five times the distance between these two pointers in the direction that they point (up away from the pan). True north lies directly under this star. The ‘Plough’ rotates anti-clockwise about the North Star, so it will sometimes appear on its side or even upside down. However its relationship with the North Star never changes and it will always dependably point the way to it. The reason the North Star is so important for natural navigation is that it sits directly over the North Pole. Something that people often forget is that whenever you are trying to find true north, you are actually trying to find the direction of the North Pole from wherever you are – even if you are only heading a few hundred metres on a gentle walk – ‘north’ is still just an abbreviation for ‘towards the North Pole’. by Unknown ADAS member #Polaris #Plough #UrsaMajor

A brief flurry. Whilst the others were in the flesh spots of Lower Withington I braved the elements at Llyn Brenig. Big Dobs. are a problem in the wind so I set up deep in the forest. Starting in Pegasus I had an unconvincing view of the local group Pegasus dwarf galaxy. It has a low surface brightness of 15.9sq/arcmin. Later when logging the observation I decided I was seeing a ghost, better luck next time. Next I had a look at the Perseus-Pisces galactic supercluster. This spans 40 degrees of winter sky starting near Pegasus and finishing east of Algol. I hopped off from beta Andromedae and NGC 404. A whole raft of galaxies could be seen clustered around NGC 507. Twenty objects ranging from mag. 12.3 down to 14.9 were seen. A move slightly further east finds the excellent chain of 6 galaxies including NGC 383, recommended. Moving east to start from the open cluster NGC 752 I found a nice grouping of galaxies around NGC 708 (see this months S&T for further info.). A visit to the Flaming Star nebula in Auriga, preceded a look at NGC 1931. This is a small tight cluster of stars with nebulosity, not improved by any filter. Moving down towards Orion found Lower’s nebula and NGC 2163. The latter appears as a ‘star’ with 2 opposing cones of nebulosity, very interesting. Finally, a quick view of Abell 12 was dug out from behind the glare of mu Orionis. by Paul Clark #LlynBrenig #Galaxy #Nebula #OpenCluster