CDAS Meeting Nights 2007/8

             The following meetings have been arranged currently. However, please keep checking this site for amendments. More  events  will be arranged  in the  near future. All meetings will be held at the Observatory and will start at 7.30pm, unless otherwise stated!  Please do not come late as parking can be difficult!

            If  however, you do come late, please do not go away again, as some have in the past! even if it looks full! We can always find a place for you at the back!  Directions for finding the observatory are elsewhere on the site, or click on the link at the bottom of this page.  

            During the lighter nights, you may find the gates have been closed as allotment holders leave. However, they should not be locked!

^{Barry's address:  Hope Cottage, Birketts Platts, Birketts Lane, Covenham St Bartholomew, Louth, Lincs, LN11 OFF}

^{His phone number is: 01507 363381}

^{The website is off-line at the moment.}

^{To get there,you do not need a map. Follow the A16 towards Louth and turn off down Peartree Lane (almost opposite the A18 junction. Then turn right at the cross roads towards Covenham. Go into Covenham St Bartholomew and you will pass the New Plough Inn on your left. The road then curves round to the left and just past the church you should turn left down Birketts Lane. Continue for a quarter of a mile and you will see the bungalow on the left.}

^{Wed Nov 7th  Cooke - Telescope Maker by Martin Lunn of York.}

^{Wed Dec 5th The Solar Neighbourhoood - a guide to the nearest stars by Dr Colin Steele of Sheffield University.}

^{Wed Jan 2nd  The Milky Way by Paul Money}

^{Wed Feb 6th            Neutrinos by Dr Lee Thompson of Sheffield University.}

^{Wed March 5th        Lights in the sky by Plasma Physicist,  Dr James Wild of Lancaster University.}

display of some of the telescopes available, how to choose and use them and about what to find in the night sky. If skies are clear, we will be using various telescopes and cameras for an ob The Observers’ Group:

         Several members make regular use of the telescope and would welcome more users to share in the work of photographing planets, the moon and deep-sky objects. We regard the telescope as a public resource and would like to encourage as many people as possible to use it. Please come along to our regular meetings and find out about this.

              Lecturers Wanted:

          We are looking for more local people who can give an entertaining and informative talk on Astronomy and/or its associated sciences. We would expect use of slides or overhead projector or “power point” etc. A digital projector and laptop can usually be made available with sufficient notice. This request is made in order to supplement our excellent existing group of local lecturers.

     See the information page for details on how  to get there!

John Trott Memorial Library:

The Society was very sorry to hear of the death in October 2007 of John Trott from Brinkhill. John attended quite regularly for about five years until October 2005. Formerly a professional scientist working at the Road Research Laboratory, John was probably the most advanced amateur astronomer in the area. One of his final wishes was that the Society should benefit from his large collection of astronomy and science books (almost  200). Thanks to the generosity of his two daughters, we have also received his collection of telescopes. These are being put into use by Society members. At least one will be available at the observatory too and the large stand will be concreted into the grounds for use on meeting nights with our 4inch refractor.

P.Thompson has built a video camera using the latest Sony HAD b/w board camera module and has converted it for deep sky work. He has also converted a QC3000 webcam to deep sky using the ideas of Steve Chambers and specific instructions from Mr Coxellis. A Philips Toucam has been purchased with the intention of converting this by changing the colour sensor to a 0.5inch greyscale sensor which will be much more sensitive and cover a larger field of view - at least 16 minutes of arc (square).

          We are continuing to collect images with the new Phillips Toucam Pro webcam. We have had our first quite sharp image now. Sharp lunar images have been obtained using the 6 inch reflector. Improvement in the sharpness of the Jupiter images has been achieved by careful masking of the 16inch telescope.   

                                      Email the webmaster, Paul Thompson at paul@frenchstudio.co.uk

        Last Updated: 31 October 2007 16:02:20 -0000