Looking up
since 1985
|
Letchworth & District
Astronomical Society
|
|
Honorary President Dr. Carolin Crawford of the Institute of Astronomy
Welcome to one of the foremost astronomical societies in the UK.
Have a look at our plans for the year on our Programme page
and also on our online Google Calendar.
|
* * * Next meeting : Wednesday, May 30, 7:30 pm Guest Speaker: Mark Hurn * * * Next observing session : Friday, May 18, 8:00 pm
|
|
|
|
|
Main Meeting
Our next Main Meeting is on May 30 at 7:30pm
Guest speaker - Mark Hurn
"The Story of Star Names"
Additional Meeting
We hold these meetings four times per year
They feature talks by members of the society.
Our next Additional Meeting is on
July 11 at 7:30pm
We meet at the Elizabeth Howard Memorial Hall, Hillshott, Letchworth
All welcome. See the Meetings page for more details |
If you enjoyed the BBC's STARGAZING LIVE
then why not join us for some live stargazing.
Read about our next event on April 21
Come along to an observing session.
See below for details of our next event
If you are unsure if we are going ahead due to poor weather
then call the society mobile on 07751 315447.
Listen to our Chairman on BBC 3 Counties Radio
talking about one of our Star Parties,
our Young Observers' Star Party and Black Holes.
You can also hear him talking about Saturn
Earth's second Moon and the eclipse of the Moon. |
|
Observing Sessions
Our next observing session is on
Friday May 18 from 8:00pm onwards,
To check on the day if we are going ahead,
call 07751 315447 by 6:30pm
If you would like to come to our observing sessions
please contact us first (e-mail or phone).
If you would like to arrange a workshop for your school, scout / guide group, or any other organisation, then contact us.
Write to events-at-ldas.org.uk [Replace "-at-" with "@"]
* * * NEW * * *
Look at the images from our new
Astrophotography Group. |
Our 14" Meade LX200 on its equatorial mount
|
|
|
The Crab Nebula and an Asteroid
Click on the image for a larger version. |
LDAS members Gordon Ewen and David Davies have produced a real marvel!
This is a magnificent picture of the Crab Nebula (M1) - the remains of a supernova that was observed in the year 1054. It can hardly be seen even when looking through a powerful telescope, so producing an image with this level of detail is excellent.
On January 14, Gordon took a series of 15 exposures of 10 minutes each, which David then processed and "stacked" to produce this image.
David noticed a series of faint dots to the left (I have indicated the location with the yellow oval) and correctly assumed this was an object which had minutely changed position from image to image.
I measured the angular distance it had travelled during the 2.5 hours of total expsoure and calculated that this was very similar to the angular distance that Ceres (the largest asteroid) would have travelled during this time. So I deduced that this was likely to be an asteroid.
Gordon then did some research at the Minor Planet Centre website and determined that it was asteroid 3724 Annenskij, discovered in 1979.
This may be the first time that an LDAS member has imaged an asteroid other than the main four. Congratulations, Gordon!
|
|
|
LDAS is affiliated to
|
Whatever the level of your interest in astronomy, welcome to Letchworth & District Astronomical Society.
The LDAS is based in Letchworth, at the north end of Hertfordshire. Although we have over 120 members, we are a very informal, friendly society and provide a service for the complete beginner as well as those with sophisticated home observatories. We hold regular meetings, star parties and other events for members and the public alike. We are also more than happy to present talks to clubs, schools and other organisations, and for them to visit our observatory.
We hold meetings with guest speakers on the last Wednesday of each month, except in December, when we hold our AGM and Quiz around the middle of the month. Four times a year we also hold meetings where members of the society give short talks on astronomical topics. We meet at the Elizabeth Howard Memorial Hall near the centre of Letchworth. You can find details of our meetings on our Meetings page, and a full listing of our events for the year on our Programme page.
We have an observatory to the north of Letchworth at the Standalone Farm Centre in Wilbury Road (SG6 4JN) where we hold observing sessions and other events. You can see the location in
Google Maps, and you can find out more on our observatory page. The observatory was upgraded in 2010 with a 14-inch Meade LX200 computerised telescope.
We have a Twitter page at http://twitter.com/letchworthastro and our astrophotography group posts some of their amazing images on Flikr at http://www.flickr.com/groups/1891767@N21 (See below)
You can find out more about the society on our "About us" page.
We invite everyone to join in our events in 2012.
Please look through these pages, and if you need any further information, do not hesitate to contact us.
For news about our events, and to book places, write to: events-at-ldas.org.uk
[Replace "-at-" with "@" - This formatting is to help prevent "spam' messages.]
See our astrophotography images on 
Return to top of page
