CODY Astronomical Society

News and Information - For latest images by members click here


 Perseids - 12/13th August 2010

Members of the society met at the Cody observatory on the night of 12th December to view the Perseid meteor shower. About 12 members attended and managed to see a total of 40 meteors up to 01.45. See the pictures to the left of images taken by members Phil Alner and Paul Curtis.

Intech - November 2009

Members of the the society manned a stand at the Intech amnesty evening at Winchester.

 

 

 2009 - Herstmonceux Astronomy Festival

Members of the society attended the event this year, also helping to man the SAGAS stand. The meeting was held in the grounds of Herstmonceux castle (the former home of the Royal Greenwich observatory). There were exhibitions, telescopes and some exceptional speakers at this years festival, including Chris Lintott, Stuart Clark, Ian Ridpath, Ninian Boyle and Nik Szymanek. And best of all the weather was superb with a clear night on the saturday when the observatory telescopes were open for public viewing. There were excellent views of Jupiter, M13, Albireo etc through these historic telescopes. One interesting observation - the 100 year old optics in these telescopes were clearly not as good as in modern telescopes ! And the scopes have to be man-handled into position - no such thing as GOTO !!

Comet Lulin - was easily visible in binoculars

A green comet with two tails !
January is the time see the constellation Orion - here is an image of M42, the Orion Nebula, taken by Paul Curtis

M42, Orion Nebula, Meade  LX200 SCT  f6.3, Canon 450D EOS at prime focus. Average of 8 images x one minute exposures, Jan 2009
2009 - International Year of Astronomy

2009 is officially the International year of Astronomy. Take a look at the website here to see what is going on.

Older News items here

Recent Images taken by Members

Mars, Meade 10" LX200. Image by Phil Alner.
Comet 8P/Tuttle (Approx mag6) in Pisces. Sum of ten x 30s exposures. 10" Meade LX200 SCT f4, Starlight Xpress MX5 CCD. Jan 2008. Image by Paul Curtis.
M42, Orion Nebula - 10" Meade LX200 SCT f4, Starlight Xpress MX5 CCD. 20 second exposure, Jan 2008. Image by Paul Curtis.
Moon, 29-10-07 - Canon 30D EOS prime focus on Tal Newtonian (150mm, F8). Picture by Glenn Shackleford
Comet 17P/Holmes, 15-11-07, Canon 30D EOS, 45sec exposure - prime focus on Tal Newtonian (150mm, F8). Picture by Glenn Shackleford
Comet 17P/Holmes, 30-10-07, Canon 30D EOS 30sec exposure - prime focus on Tal Newtonian (150mm, F8). Picture by Glenn Shackleford
Mars, Sum of 409 exposures each 1/50th second, 10" LX200@f24, TouCam Pro webcam, December 2007. Image by Paul Curtis.
Comet 17P/Holmes, sum of ten x 30s exposures, 10" Meade LX200 SCT f4, Starlight Xpress MX5 CCD. October 2007
Lunar occultation of saturn. 22nd May 2007. 250mm Orion Newtonian, afocal image with Olympus compact microdigital 800 camera (5M pixel). Effective focal length 5200mm. Image by Gordon Lloyd.
Mercury and the Moon (phase 1.5%), 17th May 2007. 6M Sanyo digital camera. Image by Paul Curtis.
Moon, Hommel to the limb, afocal image with Olympus compact microdigital 800 camera (5M pixel). Effective focal length 5200mm. April 2007, Image by Gordon Lloyd.
Saturn, sum of 307 exposures each 1/25 second, 10" LX200@f24, TouCam Pro webcam, April 2007
Moon, Clavius, afocal image with Olympus compact microdigital 800 camera (5M pixel). Effective focal length 5200mm. March 2007, Image by Gordon Lloyd.
Saturn, 250mm Orion Newtonian, Celestron Neximage Webcam, Focal length 3750mm. Average of 1000 images processed in Registax. March 2007. Image by Gordon Lloyd.
Total lunar eclipse, 250mm Orion Newtonian, afocal image with Olympus compact microdigital 800 camera (5M pixel). 3rd March 2007. Image by Gordon Lloyd.
Lunar Eclipse photos by member Paul Hugill, 3rd March 2007

Lunar Eclipse photo by member Paul Curtis, 3rd March 2007
Moon, Theophilus to Fracastorius, afocal image with Olympus compact microdigital 800 camera (5M pixel). Effective focal length 5200mm. November 2006, Image by Gordon Lloyd.
Lunar images (Clavius and Straight Wall) by Phil Alner using a Meade LPI with the society's Zeiss scope, November 2006
Jupiter, 250mm Orion Newtonian, Celestron Neximage Webcam, Focal length 3750mm. Average of 1000 images processed in Registax. April 2006. Image by Gordon Lloyd.
HGC7293, Helix Nebula, Aquarius, 10" Meade LX200 SCT f4, Starlight Xpress MX5 CCD. 15 minute exposure. October 2006. Image by Paul Curtis
Comet 73P Schwassmann-Wachmann (fragment C) in Corona Borealis at Mag 8.8, 10" Meade LX200 SCT f4, Starlight Xpress MX5 CCD. 7 x 30 second images summed on Comet. April 2006, Paul Curtis
Mars, sum of 50 exposures each 1/33 second, 10" LX200@f24, TouCam Pro webcam, 19th December 2005, Paul Curtis
Saturn, sum of 126 exposures each 1/25 second, 10" LX200@f24, TouCam Pro webcam, 8th February 2005 at the Cody Observatory. Image by Paul Curtis.
Comet/2002 Q2 Machholz in Aries at Mag 4.1 - showing detail in the tail, 10" Meade LX200 SCT f4, Starlight Xpress MX5 CCD. 10 x 60 second images summed on Comet. Jan 2005. Image by Paul Curtis
Pleiades, drawing using 15x70 binoculars, by Mark Radice, November 2004
Saturn, by Mark Radice using a Toucam Pro Webcam with a 4" refractor, November 2004
Moon, Shroters Valley,  by Mark Radice using a Toucam Pro Webcam with a 4" refractor, October 2004
Some lunar images taken by Mark Radice using a Toucam Pro Webcam with a 4" refractor, June 2004    
Pictures taken by Phil Alner at the Cody Observatory, June 8th 2004      
Pictures of the Venus transit taken by Paul Curtis at the Cody Observatory, June 8th 2004
    

    

   
Comet 2001 Q4 NEAT in Cancer. Eight 30 second images summed on the comet. Paul Curtis, 10 LX200, MX5 CCD, May 2004
Jupiter, by Mark Radice, 4" refractor, June 2004
Moon in full eclipse by Paul Curtis. Image taken with Minolta Dimage Xt digital camera. 4th May 2004
Moon emerging from eclipse by Paul Curtis. Image taken with Minolta Dimage Xt digital camera. 4th May 2004
Moon emerging from eclipse by Paul Curtis. Image taken with Minolta Dimage Xt digital camera through the eyepiece of the Cody Scope. 4th May 2004
Venus, Mars and Saturn - 6 second exposure taken with a Minolta Dimage Xt digital camera. 4th May 2004
Moon just emerging from eclipse - stack of 22 images taken through the society's Cody Scope by Andy and Rachael Parsons.
Moon in partial eclipse. Image taken with a Meade 60mm refractor by Andy and Rachael Parsons.
Moon showing crater Petavius by Phil Alner and Roy Mitchell. Image projection with Fuji 2900 digital camera. 23rd April 2004
Image of Venus taken by chairman Phil Alner using the society's Zeiss telescope on 22nd April 2004.
Jupiter and the GRS, sum of 275 exposures each 1/25 second, 10" LX200@f24, TouCam Pro webcam, 19th April 2004, Paul Curtis

Click here to see some superb lunar drawings by member Gordon Lloyd