Hi All, I'm just starting to sort dates for next year and following the success of last year's introduction to astronomy day I'm aiming to run this again. Last year there were a number of you that, for various reasons (snow being one!) couldn't attend and there are many new members out there. Please let us know if you would like to attend. At present the provisional date will be Saturday 9th March during the day.
You can contact us on the facebook page or by email at eeac@essexastro.com.
Regards
John
Wednesday, 24 October 2018
Friday, 10 August 2018
Meteor Shower
Hi All,
Looks like Sunday is going to be a wash out for the Perseid Maximum. However the Perseids start around 24th July and rates pick up around 9th August so we are thinking of having a go tonight from my back garden in Burnham (quite large and dark) rather than the Mill field, mainly because I want to test my new mount out (which is also large and dark). If interested and you don't know where I am email the club at eeac@essexastro.com.
Looks like Sunday is going to be a wash out for the Perseid Maximum. However the Perseids start around 24th July and rates pick up around 9th August so we are thinking of having a go tonight from my back garden in Burnham (quite large and dark) rather than the Mill field, mainly because I want to test my new mount out (which is also large and dark). If interested and you don't know where I am email the club at eeac@essexastro.com.
Monday, 30 July 2018
Recent Images
Hi All,
Some recent images taken from Burnham on my 8" Celestron Evolution. All using an ADC and Zwo ASi 224mc, some with and some without barlow. Enjoy...
Some recent images taken from Burnham on my 8" Celestron Evolution. All using an ADC and Zwo ASi 224mc, some with and some without barlow. Enjoy...
Sunday, 1 July 2018
Your input needed
Hi all,
We are having our summer break from monthly meetings at the moment. Our next meeting is on 22nd September on Jodrell Bank and we hope to see you there.
In the mean time can you have a think about what you'd like to see or do in the coming months and any topics or talks you'd like to find out about next year.
Some suggestions I've thought about are....
A telescope workshop. If you are interested in buying a telescope but don't know where to start or have one and have no idea about how to set it up and use it or how to get more out of your set up we can run a day event for this. Please let us know if you are interested in this.
An astrophotography workshop. How to use equipment, from basic to more advanced, to take images of the sky and to then use software to manipulate, enhance and improve what you have. How to set up your equipment to catch as many of those elusive photons as possible. We have done a short version of this before at one of our evening meetings but this will be in more depth and hopefully (British skies allowing) with a practical session afterwards. Again, let us know.
A reminder for our calendar. For the last few years the club has made a calendar of club members images. We aim to do this again this year. The images don't have to be photos, we have had some great illustrations of astronomical subjects such as the Greenwich observatory and Neptune. The only provisos for submission is that it is your own work and that you have been to at least one meeting i the past 12 months. This your we will be taking deposits for definitive orders for the calendars as in past years people have said that they would have one and then leave the club with many unclaimed.
Next I'd like to put a shout out to all you budding astronomers to get involved with the club presentations. Each month we have slots available for guest talks that can last for between 5 and 20 minutes. The topics can be anything astronomical. Please let us know in advance so we can publicise your talk and avoid clashes. In addition to this we are also sorting the running order for next year's talks. If you would like to give a full presentation please let us know the topic and roughly when you would like to do it. We haven't sorted dates for next year yet so further information on this to follow.
And lastly two potential events in the next couple of months weather and interest dependent. First on 27th July, we see Mars at opposition and the moon will rise in eclipse (another blood moon) so we are thinking of having an observing evening. Secondly the nights of Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th August see the maximum of the Perseid meteor shower. We will again be having a meteor night, weather allowing. This year the moon will be out o the way so we should be able to see many more faint meteors. If you are interested in any of these please let us know.
To register your interest for any of these events or doing a guest or main talk at one of the monthly meetings let us know by email, commenting on this post on our web site (www.eeac.co.uk) or commenting on our Facebook page.
Many thanks
John
Chair EEAC
We are having our summer break from monthly meetings at the moment. Our next meeting is on 22nd September on Jodrell Bank and we hope to see you there.
In the mean time can you have a think about what you'd like to see or do in the coming months and any topics or talks you'd like to find out about next year.
Some suggestions I've thought about are....
A telescope workshop. If you are interested in buying a telescope but don't know where to start or have one and have no idea about how to set it up and use it or how to get more out of your set up we can run a day event for this. Please let us know if you are interested in this.
An astrophotography workshop. How to use equipment, from basic to more advanced, to take images of the sky and to then use software to manipulate, enhance and improve what you have. How to set up your equipment to catch as many of those elusive photons as possible. We have done a short version of this before at one of our evening meetings but this will be in more depth and hopefully (British skies allowing) with a practical session afterwards. Again, let us know.
A reminder for our calendar. For the last few years the club has made a calendar of club members images. We aim to do this again this year. The images don't have to be photos, we have had some great illustrations of astronomical subjects such as the Greenwich observatory and Neptune. The only provisos for submission is that it is your own work and that you have been to at least one meeting i the past 12 months. This your we will be taking deposits for definitive orders for the calendars as in past years people have said that they would have one and then leave the club with many unclaimed.
Next I'd like to put a shout out to all you budding astronomers to get involved with the club presentations. Each month we have slots available for guest talks that can last for between 5 and 20 minutes. The topics can be anything astronomical. Please let us know in advance so we can publicise your talk and avoid clashes. In addition to this we are also sorting the running order for next year's talks. If you would like to give a full presentation please let us know the topic and roughly when you would like to do it. We haven't sorted dates for next year yet so further information on this to follow.
And lastly two potential events in the next couple of months weather and interest dependent. First on 27th July, we see Mars at opposition and the moon will rise in eclipse (another blood moon) so we are thinking of having an observing evening. Secondly the nights of Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th August see the maximum of the Perseid meteor shower. We will again be having a meteor night, weather allowing. This year the moon will be out o the way so we should be able to see many more faint meteors. If you are interested in any of these please let us know.
To register your interest for any of these events or doing a guest or main talk at one of the monthly meetings let us know by email, commenting on this post on our web site (www.eeac.co.uk) or commenting on our Facebook page.
Many thanks
John
Chair EEAC
Sunday, 20 May 2018
Jupiter
Slowly getting the hang of my new camera, a ZWO ASI 224mc. Much improved over the older Altair 130mc, higher frame rate and sensitivity. This means that lower gain can be used which results in less noise and the higher frame rate means points of good seeing can be captured more often. Still a way to go and it would help if Jupiter (and friends later in the year) weren't hugging the horizon.
Taken with an 8" Celestron Evolution, ZWO adtmospheric dispersion corrector, Revelation x2.5 barlow (telescope thus at F25), ASI224mc. Captured 13000 frames in 2 minutes in sharpcap pro, stacked in Autostakkert 2, 60% then processed in sharpcap. The moon to the lower left is Europa.
Taken with an 8" Celestron Evolution, ZWO adtmospheric dispersion corrector, Revelation x2.5 barlow (telescope thus at F25), ASI224mc. Captured 13000 frames in 2 minutes in sharpcap pro, stacked in Autostakkert 2, 60% then processed in sharpcap. The moon to the lower left is Europa.
Sunday, 13 May 2018
More News
Hi All,
I've had a chop around on the talk schedule. The Jodrell Bank talk which was going to be in June is taking a bit longer to research so I'm moving this to September and am doing summer and autumn objects instead in June.
Also we now have a listing on Metcheck,
https://www.metcheck.com/HOBBIES/astronomy_forecast.asp?LocationID=5747
this provides weather info for the area.
Regards
John
I've had a chop around on the talk schedule. The Jodrell Bank talk which was going to be in June is taking a bit longer to research so I'm moving this to September and am doing summer and autumn objects instead in June.
Also we now have a listing on Metcheck,
https://www.metcheck.com/HOBBIES/astronomy_forecast.asp?LocationID=5747
this provides weather info for the area.
Regards
John
Saturday, 5 May 2018
News
Hi all,
Bits of news for you all.
1. We were part of the local Coop group green token scheme and have been awarded £300 to go towards a solar scope, whoop!!
2. I've booked 2 external speakers for October and November and will update the event list when I've finalised details. October will see a talk about the UK meteor network, a group of video astronomers who record meteors and use their combined data to narrow down the orbital path of the objects. November sees a visit from the University of Kent to talk about a professional project using amateur images to monitor the proper motion of stars in clusters.
Best Wishes and clear skies
John
Bits of news for you all.
1. We were part of the local Coop group green token scheme and have been awarded £300 to go towards a solar scope, whoop!!
2. I've booked 2 external speakers for October and November and will update the event list when I've finalised details. October will see a talk about the UK meteor network, a group of video astronomers who record meteors and use their combined data to narrow down the orbital path of the objects. November sees a visit from the University of Kent to talk about a professional project using amateur images to monitor the proper motion of stars in clusters.
Best Wishes and clear skies
John
Friday, 6 April 2018
Library
Hi All,
I've added a list of science/astronomy books that the club has available to lend to members. Just click the Library tab on the right.
I've added a list of science/astronomy books that the club has available to lend to members. Just click the Library tab on the right.
Sunday, 25 March 2018
Introduction to Astronomy Report
After being postponed due to the snow at the start of the month the East Essex Astronomy Club held its Introduction to Astronomy Day in Burnham on Crouch in Essex. Club chair John Press gave information to the 18 novice astronomers in attendance about the basics of astronomy. The day covered descriptions of astronomical objects, stars, planets, nebula, galaxies and meteors,information about different kinds of equipment to view the night sky and mounts to securely hold equipment and track the night sky. The day ended with details about how to use simple equipment such as point and shoot cameras and DSLRs on undriven tripods to take images of the night sky. Our next meeting is on Saturday 7th April at 6:45pm at the village hall in Burnham, there will be a members talk by Andy Hutcheon (subject to be determined) and the main talk by John about Pluto and the Kuiper belt. We look forward to seeing you.
Sunday, 28 January 2018
Intro to Astronomy Day
Hi All,
Just a quick reminder to get your booking forms in for the Introduction to Astronomy Day on 3rd March.
We'd like the forms in by around 10th February so we know which hall to book.
If you would like any further information please either email us at eeac@essexastro.com or comment on our Facebook page.
Regards
John
Chair EEAC
Just a quick reminder to get your booking forms in for the Introduction to Astronomy Day on 3rd March.
We'd like the forms in by around 10th February so we know which hall to book.
If you would like any further information please either email us at eeac@essexastro.com or comment on our Facebook page.
Regards
John
Chair EEAC
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