Ever noticed that orange haze you get when looking at the sky at night particularly over Manchester areas and other built up cities and towns. This is known as light pollution. Click here to go directly to the website to learn more This short video is from the International Dark Sky Association and explains a little more about the need for dark skies. https://youtu.be/dd82jaztFIo by Unknown ADAS member #Link #Video #LightPollution

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

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

A short description of the joys and challenges of astronomy from Colin Henshaw in Saudi Arabia: The night sky from Saudi does not look all that much different from that seen in the U.K. except that you have another twenty or so degrees of southern sky. At southern culmination the circumpolar constellations are upside down, and this will apply to more and more of the northern sky as one proceeds south. The Southern Cross, Alpha and Beta Centauri are just visible from Jeddah. In 1996, during the apparition of Comet Hyakutake, I went out into the desert with a German expatriate. On the way back he noticed some bright stars above the southern horizon and he asked me what they were. I said it was the Southern Cross. He was absolutely amazed, never expecting to see it from a northern hemisphere location. From Tabuk the southern horizon cuts the Southern Cross in half. During the summer, excellent views can be obtained of Scorpius and Sagittarius, and the Milky way presents a glorious sight from a dark sky location. Recently I took some long exposure images of the Milky Way star clouds in Sagittarius and Scutum, and also some wide angle images of the Milky Way from Sagittarius to Auriga. Zodiacal Light can also be seen, which is very impressive. However the best skies I have ever had were from Botswana, where I photographed the Zodiacal Light and the Gegenschein. From my home outside Tabuk I have reasonable skies, but light pollution from Tabuk is severe. #SaudiArabia #MilkyWay #Botswana #SouthernCross #Comet

This year ADAS attended the Timperley Country Fair on Saturday 21st September. The event had been cancelled last year which dented our funds a little bit. This year the sun shone for most of it and we had a wonderful and profitable day. As in previous years we had our reliable tombola stall, manned chiefly by Colin Steele and Paul Clark as the normally ever-present Ged was unable to make it. Don was running his Lunar Lucky Dip and Chris was running the Lucky6 game which was first tried earlier this year at Gatley. This triple-pronged attack, once again, proved very successful for us and we raised about £200 for the society's funds after all the expenses were paid. It might have been a little more had Don not sold out completely before 2 O'clock. The photo on the right (click it for a larger view) shows the ADAS stall with Don, Chris and Colin toting for business. Graham & Pauline, Tony, Graham S and Paul missed out on the photo but were there helping out. by Unknown ADAS member #GatleyFestival #Fundraising

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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