The society set up and manned a stand at the QinetiQ funday on saturday 6th June at the Cody Technology Park in Farnborough. A link to the observatory was established for remote use of the Zeiss telescope which was set up for solar observation.
 

A pair of binoculars has been donated to the club by www.uk-telescopes.co.uk - please support them by comparing prices if you are in the market for any telescopic equipment that they stock. They supply telescopes and telescope accessories for beginners and advanced astronomers and are official suppliers of Konus, Celestron, Meade and Sky Watcher telescopes and accessories. You can order online for same day despatch.
 

Members of the society observed the bright comet 17P/Holmes in outburst at magnitude 2.5 in Perseus.
 

The society organised, at short notice, a Leonid observing evening. This was held at Paul's house - a dark site south-west of Andover - and six members attended. Despite the promise of good weather 24 hours earlier, the sky sadly clouded over from 7pm onwards, getting progressively worse. At midnight, after an evening of good conversation and indeed food and drink (!), it was decided to abandon the event. See the picture opposite for an example of a typical observing evening in the UK !

What was more galling was that Paul got up at 5am to find the clouds had disappeared and the sky was sparkly clear. He went out and observed for half an hour, seeing 10 Leonids and one sporadic meteor in that time.
 

The society had two successful observing nights in late October with good attendance at both. High on the list of objects to observe was the bright comet Swann - click left for a picture by one of the members.
 

The society set up a recruitment stand in the main walkway at QinetiQ,  Farnborough on 13th September to advertise the society to those resident on the Cody site. There was a good response. See the picture to the left.

Cody AS is opening its membership to the public for the first time. Operating from within Cody Technology Park in Farnborough, Hampshire, membership has until now only been available to those with site access, but recently approval has been given to offer membership to a limited number of the general public. Unfortunately membership cannot be offered to non-UK citizens or children less than 16 years of age because of limitations on the issue of site passes. Those interested should contact chairman Phil here.
 

The society held a barbecue and evening viewing session at the Chairman's house. Sadly it was cloudy for virtually all of the evening, apart for a brief 15 minute break where glimpses of Mars were had. The event was well attended and a splendid spread of food and drink was available and a jolly time was had by all. Many thanks must go to Phil and Pat for a great evening. Click on the thumbnails at the left.
 

The society was honoured to host Nic Szymanek on 15th June for a talk on Astrophotography. He gave a very full and interesting talk following by a lively question and answer session. At the meeting he brought along copies of his new book 'Infinity Rising' which he was able to sell to members at a reduced rate. 

Comet Machholz - was high in the sky in March
 

The society has been holding monthly viewing evenings this winter and had a good hit rate on clear nights ! The February evening was a good example, although it got a little damp later in the evening. There was some low level mist aggravated by the Farnborough light pollution but the seeing was good and some fine views of Saturn (and Titan) were obtained as well as the brighter deep sky objects such as M42 ad M35. In addition members were able to see Comet Machholz, still bright and nearly overhead now. The evening was well attended with 15+ people, some bringing their own 'scopes.

A few members gathered at the Cody Observatory to view the transit of Venus on 8th June 2004. The weather was superb, hot and sunny and 31C by noon ! We were joined by a continuous flow of people from QinetiQ and Dstl during the morning, coming to view the event at the Observatory. In the end hundreds of people saw the event at the observatory.

The society's Zeiss telescope was set up for viewing by direct observation and by projections. A number of members had set up telescopes outside the observatory and a live webcam image was on display. Many photographs were taken. Just a few are shown on the left - click for a larger image.

Click here for MORE images.

See a short video here

A few members gathered at the Cody Observatory to view the eclipse in the early evening of 4th May 2004. The moon actually rose in full eclipse, but was first hidden by some cloud clinging to the horizon. By 21.30 BST, however, we had some excellent views of a sandy-red moon in full eclipse. The Cody scope was set up and we observed the moon as it left the umbra at around 22.12. Some members used cameras to photograph the image through the eyepiece. At left are a few of the images - click the thumbnails for a larger view.

The late afternoon cloud suggested we were in for a poor night, but the clouds parted leaving a hazy sky which permitted some observation.

More than a dozen members enjoyed a balmy night for the time of year. Much of the activity centred on Saturn and Jupiter, which were showing some detail in the odd rare moment of good seeing. An occultation of Jupiter's moons Europa and Ganymede was observed and the Great Red (or light pink !!) spot was seen approaching the meridian around 21.30. Observation of M42 in Orion also proved popular with some detail being visible in the nebula. Some webcam images of Jupiter and Saturn were taken on the Zeiss scope - click on thumbnails on the left.

The originally scheduled night was cloudy but a retry on 2nd March gave us some hazy skies and the opportunity for some observing. Click left for some webcam images taken on the night.

This winter the society has been running monthly observing evenings as an alternative to formal lectures. Although the second of these in November was cloudy, the first evening in October and the third in December were both clear. Both clear evenings attracted large numbers of observers, over 20 people in each case, from new observers to experienced members, some of whom brought in their own scopes. The December evening was enhanced by some festive cheer in the form of wine and mince pies !

In August 2003 Mars is closer to Earth than for many years, although sadly for UK observers it is low in the sky. Click left for some images taken by Club members

On 7th May 2003, Mercury passed in front of the Sun. This event was watched by many of the club's members. Some were enthusiastic enough to be at the Observatory around 6am to catch the start, but many others came along at more respectable times on their way into work or to catch the end around 11.30am. The Zeiss 'scope was set up in projection mode and some members brought their own scopes with solar filters which were set up outside the observatory. Some webcam images were taken of both the Mercury transit and a large sunspot close by (click left for examples).

More information on the transit can be found here.

On 16th April 2003, several of the members came up to the Observatory around 8pm to observe Mercury, which was around its highest (approximately 15º just after sunset). Mercury was easily visible through the Cody 'Scope and in binoculars. By around 8.30 it was very impressive with around a 40% disk showing. Shortly after it was clearly visible by eye. Following the Mercury observation, members also observed Jupiter and Saturn.

In addition to observing by eye, Paul Curtis brought along his webcam and demonstrated its use. Many images of the three planets were taken. See left or click here for the resulting images.  

On 20th March, renown astrophotographer and asteroid hunter George Sallitt visited the society and gave an excellent talk on CCDs Imaging with Webcams. Afterwards George visited the observatory - click left for a picture of him at the society's Zeiss telescope.

Links to the software George mentioned are given below:-

K3CCD Tools - http://www.pk3.org/Astro/index.htm?software.htm

Registax - http://www.registax.com

Astrosnap - http://www,astrosnap.com

Astroart - http://www.msb-astroart.com/

On 12th March the society was visited by staff and students from Yateley school. Sadly the clouds rolled in a few hours beforehand and we were unable to use the society's telescopes in earnest. However, the telescopes were demonstrated and a short talk was given by Gordon Lloyd.

On 16th January 2003 the president of the BAA Guy Hurst visited the society and gave a talk on 'The Search For Novae & Supernovae'. He also talked about his role as editor of the Astronomer magazine. The talk was very well attended by around 50 people from the society and guests, who thoroughly enjoyed the presentation. This was followed by a lively question and answer session.