Welcome to my web pages for Minor Planet Occultations (and More..)


See my FlikR albums for more images: https://www.flickr.com/photos/timhaymes/

{Cruise Ship} {Lunar graze on Cine} {Transit 3rd contact} {Saturn} {Mars}
First Lunar Graze 1972
20 Tau - Pleiades

Monte Umbe
Solar Eclipse 1973
Alpha Tau Graze 1978-08-26 on 8mm Cine

Titan and 28 Sgr 1989

Venus transit
2004 (2uCam)
Saturn
2005 (2uCam)
Mars
2006 (2uCam)
Asteroid Positive Elektra in 2010 Triton's atmosphere
2017

In September 2019 we moved to North Oxfordshire. A fiberglass observaatory was installed on 23rd February 2021

https://in-the-sky.org/ .. .......SpaceWeather.com ........Interests and Biography

History: Knowl Hill Observatory (Berkshire, England) was a private 3m diameter dome made from 10mm and 3mm plywood sheets. It was built in 1991, opened March 21st 1992 and decommissioned on 2018 December 15th. photo.  The design was based on articles in Sky&Telescope magazine. A sage green fiberglass dome (by Pulsar Observatories) was installed at the owner's location in N. Oxfordshire in March 2021. photo


KEY: Astronomy forecast: red = bad, orange = OK, and green = good.
Total cloud cover in shades of blue from white = bad, to dark blue = good.

meteoblue forcaste [...in a new tab]

Joining the UK discussion group on occultations.
A discussion group now at https://groups.io/g/UKoccultations was started in 2013 to bring local occultation observers into contact, and to share insight, result and news. The membership is not limited to UK observers. You are welcome to join in...


LOG BOOK - updated on 2023-Jan

Date
Title
Description
Images

2023
March 23/24

Photos of the Aurora from South Side, Steeple Aston looking North.
11mm len sat F3.5,
13 sec at iso 1600




Taken at about 0030 hrs
Some structure is begining to show in the clearer sky line.

2023
March 23/24

An Aurora was forcaste.
It was seen on the camera screen as a red glow.

I use the alert monitor on this web page linked to Universiy of Lancaster. At 11.30 pm the alert status was red ( Red-Alert !). I rushed outside with camera and tripod and observed the red flow mixed with cloud in the sky above Banbury (which is 9mile north of me). Over the next 2 hrs the glow weakened but extended to overhead. At no time was i able to see the colour by eye or even suspect an aurora was in progress !

2023
January

The "green" comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) just reached naked eye visibility in a dark sky, becoming circumpolar.

Its changing tail detail was noticable in images taken by astrophotographers.


Anti-tail in the plain of the orbit, and rapid movement when only 0.3 AU away.
DSLR 200mm F2.8 lens. 10x60sec stacked as RAW and processed.

2022
Apri 20th

Solar activity

in the form of

sunpots

Several nice spot groups comings over the West limb of the Sun.

The image was taken through a Lunt Herschel Wedge attached to a SkyWatcher 80mm F5 short-tube refractor. The wedge removes the harmful infrared radition (heat). The light is then filtered with a 10nm continuum filter (green) to improve contrast, and imaged with an Image Source USB video camera. Old technology by current standards, but it works. Alternatively a full apeture solar filter could be used in place of the wedge.

Technical details: Camera with MagniMax barlow (x1.6) exposure 1/500th at 30 frames/sec, low gain and 500 frames taken as AVI, stacked and sharpened in RegiStax5. Final image is here.

2021
Oct 17th

Lunar
Halo
in mist
and

high
cloud
.

We dont see halos partcularly often. I saw the ice ring when i stepped outside to check on the sky conditions. The Moon was full and bright at 11pm and due South when i took the shot.

Refraction of light through hexagonal ice crystals is thought to produce the phenomenon leading to a ring 22 degress in diameter. In instances of stronger refraction the halo can be coloured like a rainbow. I couldnt see any colour this time. Photo taken with a wide angle lens focal length 11mm

2021
Oct 16th

 

Comet 29P(S-W1)

.

The title is not a London postcode (SW1). The object is the 29th Comet confirmed after (1P)Halley. Discovered by Schwassmann and Wachmann (to give the name in full) in 1927. It recently underwent a large outburst when cryogenic gasses errupted. The reason so far is not clear, but its the largest erruption seen for 40 years. Its still not bright enough to see with the the naked eye because it has no tail. P = periodic i.e. it orbits the Sun. 29P is unusall because theorbit is between Jupiter and Neptune and roughly circular.

2021
July 14

 

ExoPlanet
Transit

HAT-P-23b

.

An Exoplanet transit was successfully recorded (Third attempt). HAT-P-23b was measured from 2300 to 0230 BST on the night of July 14/15. A QHY174m-gps CMOS camera was used on my 30cm F/4 Newtonian and 105 exposures of 20sec at 2 min intervals were analysed by HOPS Ver3 (Anaconda). During the sequence controlled by SharpCap software, the image position was nudged to keep in centre. For best data the stars were defocused slightly The light curve data was uploaded to the http's://www.exoclock.pace/. Read the mission details and observations. This star has been observed many times by the project, but it was good to cut-my-teeth at last!

2021
Jun 10th

 

Partial Solar
Eclipse

.

We don't often get a partial solar eclipse visible from the UK, and when we do its often clouded out ! The June 10th eclipse was seen through cloud cover with dark glasses. Some cloud shots were also taken with DSLR and Tele lens, but this image was taken through a small 3" refracting telescope fitted with Lunt Herschel wedge and continuum filter (Narrow band, in the green). The wedge removes all the harmful heat (IR). There is an internal filter but this is supplemented with the dense green filter.

I held a mobile phone at the eyepiece. I took a load of shots. Most were no good but this is a better one. Its in focus.

2021
April

The new
observatory

.

This Pulsar 2.7m observatory has been in use for several months now. It was a long awaited installation that was ordered before the COVID-19 pandemic. Repeated lock downs interrupted its fabrication and installation. The main problem was finding a builder to make the base for it. This was laid in Feb. 2021. The dome is motorised. Its a beautifully Sage green. After 14 months from order, the guys at Pulsar Observatories installed the dome.

I'm keeping a diary describing a few problems that have occurred since and how they were fixed. This includes telescope use and some improvements. You can read my diary here.

2021 Feb. 3rd

gamma Leon is
double star

.

I used this binary star to test the telescope and camera in a project with another observer. The two components are separated by 4.7 seconds of arc. This is quite wide and easy for this telescope to resolve. Its usually atmospheric turbulence that limits the ability of a telescope to see very fine detail (or the eye to behold it). Now we have software to improve the images. The resolving power of my 11" aperture telescope is 0.4" (Dawes Limit) but this is rarely achievable. I should be able to resolve two stars with 1/4 this separation. We will see.

2020 Dec 19th
Evening

Orion with nebulosity.

The Winter constellation of Orion is a well known "landmark" on the celestial sphere. With a suitable filter and camera, the glowing hydrogen gas over the whole area can be recorded as red patches. To the eye only the more familiar Orion Nebula can be seen which is the bright pink blot near the bottom of the image. The arc structure is part of "Barnards Loop".

Details: Canon 60Da, Astronomik CLS clip filter, 35mm F2 lens with 30sec exposure. Nine exposures added in software.

2020 Dec 20th
Evening

Major Planet alignment

The much awaited "Once-in-800-year" "Christmas" conjunction was photographed on thr 20th. Cloud spoiled the best view on the 21st. Still a very nice alignment between clouds. You can see Jupiter (below and brighter) together with Saturn above - as seen from Steeple Aston

DSLR and 50mm standard lens on a tripod with 6sec exposure

2020 Nov 6th
2358UT

Lunar Graze Occultation of
SAO 79806

[Video is used to time lunar limb contacts as the star passed behind the Moon's edge. 12 contacts were recorded in agreement with prediction ]

I was lucky with the weather again. The Moon was in cloud when i set off but cleared a few minutes before the graze commenced. This was the third prediction (second this year) observed from the South Leigh area, Oxfordshire. https://youtu.be/50Dh-TJXlYc The location was selected to give the best results. Analysis shows good agreement between observation and expected shape


Prediction software and the Observation reduced by IOTA-Japan

2020 Sept 13th

Andromeda Galaxy

The furthest object seen by the naked eye, is 2.5 million light years distant and approaching us at 300 km /sec. At 1 trillion suns, it is more massive than the Milky Way (abt twice). This image was taken through a small telescope with 5min exposure. The colour difference (centre vs edge) is caused by age differences of the stars. Younger stars are blue and populate the spiral arms. Dark streaks are caused by cold dust clouds that will eventually form new stars.

2020 Sept 11/12th

Mars getting closer

Two videos was taken with a Celestron 11 and 2.5x Powermate. About 1000 good frames were stacked (lucky imaging) and contrast enhanced with Registax5 and Photoshop CS2. The LHS image is inverted with South Polar cap as at the top. Here is an animated view from a longer series of stacked frames. RH image some days earlier.

2020 Jul 10-20th

C/2020 F3 (Neowise)
Comet images from Steeple Aston

.... ....
over the Church .........................now in the evening.....................with Noctilucent cloud

2020 Jul 10th

My First light curve of an Exoplanet transit

Qatar-1b

The Exoclock project web site provided an opportunity to measure the exoplanet transit by Qatar-1b of a 12th magnitude star high up in Draco. Sky conditions were good and the whole transit was during darkness from ca 11pm to 2am BST. I captured 1350 images at 7 sec intervals. There were some problems with the image but these could be worked around. The Light drop was 2.5%. Instrument:: Celestron 11 at F5.5, QHY174m-GPS camera. The light from the star is diminished slightly when the Jupiter sized exoplanet passed in front. The transit method is used to support professional researchers interested in the evolution (orbital time) of these remote planetary systems. An amateur astronomers can now do this with help, and the right equipment.


The star in question.

2020 Feb. 5th

Use of a Robotic Telescope

I was invited to create an account for the Telescope Live network of robotic instruments. Some free credits are given to new subscribers. I used some of these to image interesting galaxies. Here is one of Centaurus A (Southern hemisphere), which is a radio emitter now known to be a very active galaxy with large amounts of dust - as can be seen in the image. This was taken through the CHI-1 instrument in a single 2min exposure.

2019 Dec 29 and 30th

Moon and Venus, and comet Panstarrs

Got a cracking view of the crescent Moon near Venus this evening, looking SW. Then on the 30th it was clear for long enough to obtain 25 exposures of 40s each of comet PanSTARRS 2017T2. These are stacked to give a clear image with a short tail about 0.1 deg long. Here is a link to the BAA gallery: Comet

2020 January

Rain and Cloud

Not a particularly good start to the year, but I have imaged Comet 2017 T2 a few times (not very bright) and recorded three negative asteroid occultations out of 27 events that were clouded out. I was able to test a new camera, the QHY174m-GPS. Here is one of the first images of a negative asteroidal event using my Celestron-11. The target star is indicated and the sky was hazy.

2019 Nov 29

Celestron 11 XLT
2nd Occultation +ve

The focal reducer works at F/3.5 to F/4, and an occultation by asteroid (105) Artemis was recorded this evening. I also took some images of comet 2017T2 and found the object quite faint at mag 9.5, There is a short tail in the image of about 0.1 degrees. It's expected to be brighter in Spring 2020.

2019 Nov 21

Celestron 11 XLT

An ADM Losmandy D-series saddle plate arrived (made in the US) via First Light Optics, so I can now mount a C11 on my EQ6. With the dew shield, the balance point needs 3 x 5 kg counter weights. Good job a bought a spare a couple of years ago. I have now measured the spacings for the focal reducer and hope to test the telescope on stars. I have also drilled two holes in the Celestron finder bracket so that I can use my SkyWatcher finder.

2019 Nov 10

Celestron 11 XLT
SCT f/10 fastar.

I collected a used F/10 C11 XLT today for £1150. This included a dew shield, F6.3 focal reducer and eyepieces. Weight of the OTA is 12.5 Kg. The instrument has had some use over the years (10 may be) based on the paint scratches. Optics look clean. C11s are reputed to be good, but I've not got it mounted yet. It is FASTAR compatible for imaging a F/2.

2019 Nov 07

First positive asteroid occultation from SA

This evening was clear with a Gibbous Moon to the S/SW. An unexpected lack of serious cloud prompted some occultation observing. (563) Suleika occulted UCAC4 553-028752 (second of three predictions) and a very small flux drop of 0.1 magnitudes was expected. The video is noisy and awaiting further analysis before the report is completed. See the light curve ==>
I recorded three events in 3 hrs, and got to bed at 2.45 AM. Temp was +2 C

2019
Oct 26

Dark sky photos from Steeple Aston (SA)

There were a couple of clear Moonless evenings, so took some snaps of the sky. Here we have the Milky Way and the horizon South West. Camera on a tripod at high iso,exposure 10 to 20sec. They were stretched bit to bring out some detail.

.

2019 Oct 9th, 2240UT

First report from Steeple Aston, Oxfordshire:
asteroid (1476) Cox

Trimmed the polar alignment and tested the goto functions of the mount. Found the 11th mag star in Taurus a few degrees north of the Pleiades. Moon (86%) was in the South but this wasn't problem since the sky was clear (not forecasted though). The star was recorded by video at 25 fps, but there was no occultation. Two other observers (Maidenhead and Reading) also report no event.


Predicted
path of the asteroid shadow

2019 Oct 8th, 2300UT

Observing from Steeple Aston, Oxfordshire.

We are gradually moving in and making a new home for ourselves. The location promises a much darker sky, but this night we set up to observe a Jupiter Trojan Antilochus occult a 12th mag star in Pegasus. The EQ mount was polar aligned and connected to the laptop, but cloud moved in and no observation was possible. At least it was all working OK. [Trojan asteroids orbit ahead and behind Jupiter by about 1/6 of an orbit (60 degrees)

http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2019_10/1008_1583_61692.htm

No Image

2019 Aug 27th
0415 UT

Lunar Graze of delta Geminorum
BAAH #11 ZC 1110

16 km W of Warwick

A Northern limit prediction (CA 10N) for this bright 3.5 mag star offered 12 contacts at a crescent phase. Conditions were perfect with Earthshine and a little ground mist. It was an early start for me at 2.30BST, arriving at the site by 4 am to leave an hour to set up. I had planned to observer near a farmer's gate, but when I arrived the gate was open, so I set up at the edge of field. (Red X) 001 49' 8.4" W, 52 17' 26.7"N and away from the road. All contacts were non-instantaneous YouTube at 50 fps. The first disappearance light curve is show =>. The best video graze i have obtained to date.

..

2019 May 9th

Lunar Graze at Fishguard
BAAH #9 SAO79410

The Northern limit prediction at CA 1 deg offered 4 to 6 contact. From the camp-site the evening started clear. The lunar limb was Earth lit and the star obvious at magnitude 7.2. Video was set to 25fps. Graze contacts were expected to be recorded with ease despite the proximity of the 26% ill cusp. The OTA was 20cm F/4 with 2x Barlow. Cloud began to encroach from below and the recording was spoiled. One D event was seen, and a second obtained when the video was stretched in Virtual Dub. The report was reduced by Mitsuru Soma. See diagrams >>>

..

2019 April

Lunar Occultations

A good number of Lunars have been timed in Taurus, Gemini and Cancer (M44) using the 8" and video [ 48 in total ].

I have uploaded the M44 sequence here: https://youtu.be/bD-4hmdg1DI
You might have to open the movie a new window to view it.

Looking forward to a Lunar Graze in Wales on May 9th.

2019 January

New temporary (rented) location at Florence Villas, Bottle Lane, Littlewick Green.

Horizon is improved in the South. The mounting is now drift aligned on the pole, and I can operate with the laptop in a garden shed via a 3m USB cable. Dew formation is now a problem with the 20cm Schmidt Newtonian in winter. I am limited to about 1.5 hrs, which is just enough time to mount the OTA and finder, make electrical connections, sync on a field star and make the observation by video or do some imaging. I have ordered a heated dewshield to replace the DIY cardboard one.

2018 December

Knowl Hill Observatory decommissioned and
"most observed asteroid occultations"

2018 broke my asteroid oberving record starting in 2010, with the most reports in a single year of 70, with 8 positive events. ALSO an end to observing at Knowl Hill Observatory. The house and observatory was sold December 19th. The 30cm F4 is in storage and I will be using tthe EQ6Pro and 20cm at a rented house nearby.

2018 Sept 23

(2875)Largerkvist:

A Strange occultation is observed.

A routine observation of low probability involving a 20Km diameter asteroid.
1) The occultation was not a full disappearance, but a 0.4 mag drop. This was explained by the asteroid occulting an "unseen" companion of a multiple system.
2) There is an unexplained difference in two observations that suggest a multiple star was involved.
I measured a rotation light curve (0.5 rev,) and comapared it to a publish curve. They are similar. More observations of the asteroid would be nice. There is a page on this website with more detail. The light curve was from FITS images, measured with Astrometrica.

2018 Sept
03

Optical Transient near galaxy NGC2938 in Draco.

Probably a SN. At mag 16 in this image on 2018 Oct 03 from 2237 to 2242 UT ( 15 x 20s ) as FITS. ATIK 428ex (2x2bin). TEC at -10C. Measured on a single frame with Astrometrica and UCAC4.

via TA early warning e-mail

2018 Aug
13/14

Perseids, no Moon
2300 - 0045 BST

Again clear but after maximum. Forecast was for a sky clearing which was correct ! Set up 70D and 11mm (remote) and 60Da with 35mm lens pointing at Ursa Minor (bulb). 11 shower members counted and 5 images with meteors, although none were spectacular (mostly mag 1 and 2). A good catch. The one image in the narrow field camera had a greenish colouration
70D: 273 frames, 60Da: 194 frames

2018 Aug
10/11

Perseids, no Moon
2330 - 0230 BST

Very clear with Milky Way appearing as a faint smudge (SQM-L 20.3). Set up the fixed camera on a tripod: Canon 70D and 11mm lens (F2.8), iso 1600 and exposures between 15 and 20s with wireless remote. In 350 images (3 hrs) I captured one. I did see one other with a long train but was not on the camera. The following 2 nights 11/12 and 12/13 (Max) were clouded out.

Image obtained on Flikr

2018 May 7th

JUPITER approaching opposition

At low declination and only visible around midnight UT (01h BST). Never-the-less got a few AVIs and stacked them. Not the best, but something. Is the GRS larger now?

2018 May 5th

(74) Galatea occulted a 12th mag star in good conditions.
POSITIVE

Well, more good weather (3 days of 0% cloud) coinciding with this favourable prediction. Many of the UKocc group got it, but some folks were away (Bank Hol) or had technical difficulties with their equipment. I recorder a 7.4 sec duration with 1 mag drop, the second this year

2018 May 2nd

Bright Nova in Perseus
Reached mag 6, but had faded to 8 on the following nights when I imaged it with a 105mm lens on the Canon 60Da. Strong red colour caused by H-alpha. Best nova outburst since V1500 Cygni I would say.

2018 April 21st

Wonderful (130) Elektra POSITIVE occultation in good conditions
Weather forecast changes, but on the night it was clear over England and much of Europe. I obtained a 16.4 sec disappearance with the 30cm F/4 and WAT-910HX video camera. Lots of chords means that my obs combines with 50 other results gives the best data yet on this asteroid. See my asteroid page 2010-to present

2018 April 14 - 2350h

Hubble Deep Field
After weeks of rain and overcast conditions, I was enthused at the BAA Winchester weekend meeting to have another "go" at the HDF. The first attempt was deleted years ago, but the Sun appeared on the 14th, and the sky was clear enough for imaging in the evening. Although there was thin cloud (SQM 20.0, where 20.3 expected) the result from 25 min was quite acceptable for this "grab and go" session (No auto guiding, no long subs, short sequence ). The run was terminated by cloud after 27 min acquisition

2018 Mar 13th

Venus and Mercury
The inner planets were presented this evening. The Moon appeared in line two days later

2018 Feb. 22

Observation Graph
The histogram was updated. No +ves yet in 2018. The Toni event was clouded in Feb and this would have been a long event - just unlucky.

2018 Feb 12

SUN, First light with Lunt Herschel wedge

AR2699

Intermittent Sun allowed me to take some Registacked images with 120mm F/5 Helios, Image Source DMK21 and Baader solar continuum filter The EQ is LXD55

2017 Nov 25.0

Knowl Hill

Bright Green Bolide

A mag 8-10 (est) bolide lit up the ground at 0000hrs on the 24/25th at midnight. This was reported to the UKMON network and BAA. Richard Fleet recorded it with his 8 camera station at Wilcot (SW). I was outside observing occultation at the time. There was no noticeable persistent train.

The brightest meteor I have seen since the great 1998 Leonid fireball display.

2017 Nov 17

 

H-alpha imaging tonight
12nm, 200mm lens and ATIK camera. More on my Flicker Page

2017 Oct 27
Comets
C/2017-01 asassn
C/2015-ER61 panstarrs

Imaged with an ATIK 428EX (2x2 bin) at -15C. Stacked with DSS (FITS output) and tweaked with AstoArt5. Instrument: 30cm F4 with Baader MPCC auto guided with SkyWatcher 80mm F5 and PHD2.

..
2017 Oct 5
Triton Occults a v12.7 star OBSERVED

After much prior testing and planning, a x2 Barlow and W25 filter were used to image the event with WAT-910HX video camera. Integration time was 0.64s. The recording was to the HD (A2D dongle) using OccuRec software in AAV format. The fades were about 6-10s and the duration about 142 sec. FITS files were sent to Paris Obs (Bruno Sicardy). I have a movie to summarise the event:

2017 Sep 24
(31) Euphrosyne - Second asteroid positive this year

After a number of high-profile (bright stars) were clouded out recently, this prediction for a 0.3 mag drop was successfully recorded in good conditions. The smallest light drop in some time, is shows that the video limit is about 0.2 to 0.3 magnitude, providing the duration is long enough. This was 7.4 sec. and a 0.25 width path shift is suspected towards the NW. More on the asteroids page.

2017 Aug 30
(3122) Florence fly by

Asteroid (3122) Florence - size 7km. passed the other side of the Moon in this NEO approach to Earth. Aracebo radio telescope discovered two moons and one appeared to be a contact doublet. The image wa about an hour in length with images taken 1 min apart

2017 July 21
Triton by integrating video

While planning for the Triton/stellar Occultation on Oct 5th 2343-2353 UT, I captured some video with WAT-910HX at 0.64s integrated frames. Triton is there at Mag 13.5. The occulted star will be Mag 12.3, so the occultation should be detectable. I used a 5x Teleview Powermate to give 6m focal length. See "Next Event" menu for more info.

2017 Feb 07
(690) Wratislavia Positive
1st of 2017

Asteroid (690) produced an 8.4s occultation. The D-R was gradual and small depth of 0.7 magnitude in poor visibility.

2016-Dec 03
Quasar in outbursts (CTA102)

CTA 102 about 5 mage brighter at 12. 30cm F/4 and DSLR. 10x50s stack

2016-Oct 26
Holiday in dark skies

Mortimer SQM 21.4 [The Isles of Silly are darker at 21.6]. Took a tripod and modified 20D. Its dark. Here is Au riga, Perseus and M45. California Neb at center - 50mm f2.8 lens.

2016-May 9
Mercury Transit

Canon 70-300 L lens and Milar filter. One of a long series taken at 1456UT, 1/800th sec, F/11, ISO-100. Hand held.

2016-Feb 16
(423) Diotima : Long Positive.

Diotima was at low elevation in Gemini near theta in the NW. The asteroid was monitored in frosty conditions (-2.5C) as it occulted a faint star at 4am. I was rewarded by a 29sec dimming as can be seen in the blue line.

2016-Jan 19
Lunar Occultation of Hyades Cluster

Two step events and one fade were captured by video at 50 fps. These were my first records of instantaneous events during an occultation by the Moon. The light curve is from 70 Tau by analysis of the AVI with Limovie. The step duration was 400ms for near equal components separated by 0.1 sec arc.

2015-Sept 30 (275) Sapientia POSITIVE

14 observations from the UK campaign. This is just the RAW data plot

http://www.euraster.net/results/2015/20150930-Sapientia_crd.gif

2015-Sept 28 Lunar Eclipse and Umbral graze occultation

Traveled South to observe a Lunar Graze Occultation during the umbral phase of this eclipse. Four events were timed by video.

2015-Sep 20 Isles Of Scilly (Tresco) Exceedingly dark at SQM 21.6 (measuring starlight). So dark that this standard Canon 70D was picking up H-alpha in 20s at F3.5, ISO 25600
2015-Sep 10 GRB Optical counterpart TA alert: This is a 30min total exposure with ATIK 314L. Recorded at limit of +20, but not possible to measure (other than position)
2015-Sept 04

Robin Oldman's 60Da
-Test

This 60Da was tested between clouds.Works fine for daylight and astro.
18mm F3.5 from Knowl Hill. Not quite as sensitive as a fully modified camera, but is good enough and no extra filters needed.
2015 July-Aug Asteroids Observed Six Negative results reported. The tally for 2015 is currently a PB of 31
2015 May 18 Eruptive object in NGC2770 Classified as a SN Imposter, there have been several SNe in this object over the last few years notably 2007uy and 2008D, which were shining at the same time.
2015 April 22-24 Lunar Occultations Crescent Moon, 18 events in two evenings timed by video. DD of ZC858 is indicated in the image. A red M type star and bright on CCD .
2015 April-May Galaxy Imaging Leo, Virgo and Coma etc. Discovered some interacting groups: The pair NGC 5258 and the "Guitar" galaxy NGC3561 =>

2015 Jan to March Asteroid Occultations 15 events monitored - all reported as negative. The light curve(right) is of (3) Juno trans-atlantic event. A 3-sigma shift to the South is indicated on Occult Watcher. There have no positive sightings to date.
2015 Jan 15 Comet LoveJoy imaged
magnitude abt 4.5 (10x50bs) but not naked eye.
SQM 19.8
DSLR stack 200mm F/4 lens and 30cm F/4 Newt.and ATIK 30x30s stack
2015 Jan 12 (94) Aurora 04h This favourable event crossing Scotland - clouded. Most of EU clouded too. -
2015 Jan 10 Comet LoveJoy at 2000hrs

Estimated magnitude at 4.6 based on two stars: viz Nu Tau and 40 Tau
Diameter of the coma 12 min arc in 10x50Bs. Nice comet but not Naked eye. Faint tail 0.3d at 10-o-clock detected in images.

Dec 29th (1010) Marlene Second "in-track" event this night was also a MISS. Cold conditions (-4C). Steve operated the observatory and made recordings while I was away.
Dec 29th (133) Cyrene

From inside the predicted track, but was a MISS. Asteroid detected before mid event time.

2014 Dec 5
2245 UT

(4513) Louvre occults
4UC 506-0189844
(in Strong Moonlight)

NEGATIVE - Cold and clear, this 12.6mag star was monitored at 4/50s integration using WAT910HX Report:
2014 Nov 24 and 29 DSLR Imaging

20D (Mod) 50mm EF at F/4 (1600iso) CLS-CCD, 5 x 2m stack

2014 Nov 23 (294) Felicia occults
UCAC2 37873176
NEGATIVE. Site in the 2-sigma zone
Darkest night for 4 years ? SQM 20.35
2014 Nov 05 PSN J17143829+4340518 Suspect Super Nova *Ron Arbour* in an unnamed galaxy near NGC6329
2014 Nov 03

(744) Barcelona and
4UCAC 744043860

14 km asteroid Barcelona predicted to occult an r13.9 star dM 0.8, Max Dur 3.4s NEGATIVE in good conditions
2014 Oct 25 Lunar Occ of Saturn (daylight) The event was clouded, but an attempt was made at 1600UT ( 1700 BST) to see it through breaking clouds using a 10x50 finder. Not seen. -
2014 Oct 24 (186) Celuta

Two events in good clear condition on night 24/25. (154024) and (186)Celuta both-ve. 13th Mag Celuta was followed for 35min and video frames extracted. See pic
:http://ocultacions.astrosabadell.org/IBEROC/20141025_040781_summary.html

2014 Oct 22 (51324) / 4Cnc at 0004UT

Two events monitored. The first was obstructed, the second involved 4 Cnc and this was recorded through a tree - No occultation. Clear sky (SQM 20.1) after storms.
http://ocultacions.astrosabadell.org/IBEROC/20141022__39263_summary.html

2014 Oct 18 (476) Hedwig long duration

Cloud prevented this 60s event (max) being monitored. A brief clearing 45 min before allowed set up, and the field was videoed before cloud returned. http://www.asteroidoccultation.com/2014_10/1018_476_33153.htm

2014 Oct 12

Sony DVcam
TRV33E doesnt display video-in ?

In the VCR-OTHERS menu, set DISPLAY = LCD. Now it does. -
2014 Sep 25 (396) Padua /TYC 1293-00396-1 Got a miss with this bright (r 9.7) star. I was 160km North. J.M Winkel (NL) recorded a Positive indicated a South shift in the track
2014 Sep 22 (89) Julia / UCAC4 568_045000 Small magnitude drop 11.8 > 12.0. Asteroid visible rising out of trees. Alt 20, Az 077
No occultation. Reported as uncertain. See Blue curve:
2014 Sep 18 (2060) Chiron Occultation Star was 1 mag fainter than predicted making it difficult, and it was also cloudy. Here is a 2.5 sec test exposure 30cm F/4, WAT-910HX
2014 Sep 12 Galaxy Imaging. Polar-aligned the EQ6 for better GOTO. All images except the first were out of focus! The camera seems to have moved a bit. Firework Gal=>
2014 Sep 10 Limiting Magnitude (Moon rising) M57 was videoed (see photometry) with 30cm F/4 and WAT910HX and found Mag 16 was reached in 1.28 sec (64/50sec, gain 32 dB)
2014 Sep 06 to 9th

Asteroid Occs clouded out !

Dido, Algeria, Celuta, Kuopio and Alauda - no observations -
2014 Sep 02
(391) Ingerborg

Adrian Jones (Maidenhead) successfully recorded a 2.2s event while I was at ESOP XXXIII in Prague. My video was used on his 190mm Mak-Newt. What a great result for him, and an example of local collaboration.

2014Aug24
0134UT
(291) Alice No occultation in very clear sky SQM 20.2. Report:
2014Aug23 C/2014 E2 Jacques
A 7x2min stack with 20D (800iso) and 200mm F2.8 L lens from LensesForHire. Exceedingly stretched to bring out the faint narrow tail at about 5-o'-clock
2014Aug20 C/2014 E2 Jacques In Cassiopeia near IC1805, 20D(mod), Canon 50mm f2.5
2014Aug13
Perseid watch 2230 - 0045BST Logged 2, imaged 1 (Limit 4.0) Moon rising. Clear sky with patchy cloud, thick at times. A bit disappointing, although 24hr after max.
2014Aug05 2100 UT WINGS 2014 SPACE Sub-camp Helped at Windsor InterNational Guide and Scout camp with my Meade SN8, Reported here by SteveB. [ Cloudy but Fun ]
2014Aug03
0100 UT
Galaxies in Hercules imaged with Meade DSI2.
NGC6371 is selected.
A nice imaging session. I like the way Envisage does on-the-fly track and stack. A good dark frame and stable external temp works well. Tweeked in AA5
2014Aug02 2300 UT Master OT with ATIK 314L The ATIK driver stops the EQMOD driver! CLOSE EQMOD, and restart - seems OK now. Optical Transient too faint and low elevation.
2014Jul06 Lunar Occultation (DD) of SAO158236

21h 46m 04.52 using WAT-910HX and GPSBOXSPRITE2
- added toOccult4 report.

2014May25 Ceres and Vesta Images with 20D and 200mm lens - sequence at 5 min intervals
2014May17 PANSTARRS at 2300 hrs Imaged with 30cm F/4, Canon 20D, DeepSky Stacker.
2014Apr17 (386) Siegena 14 sec occultation Morning observation in strong twilight (Sun-7). Long event revealed by photometry with TANGRA. -
- - - -
2014Mar20 Ergone Occults Regulus -VE. Flew to Bermuda for a family holiday. David Dunham joined us at last minute with his MAXI. Cloud stopped my obs.


Dunham's Maxi


VideoWWV at Moon Rise

Haymes's setup

120N and 135mm

VTI and recorder

2Hrs before cloud arrived
2014Mar03 Aurora from Norway, 2 nights out of 5.
2014Jan23 SN 2014J in M82 Meade DSI-1 LRGB and monochrome imaging with photometry.
2014Jan17 Short (1.2 sec) grazing event for (56) Melete. First positive since over a years ago (none seen in 2013). This is a good start to the year. TANGRA photometry found it. -
1970Nov 28 Purchase of an AE 6" F/8 mirror Peter Lancaster-Brown recommended Astronomical Equipments (AE) Luton. A 1/10 wave mirror and flat were purchase for £ 17-12-6p. The optics were used in wooden square lattice tube on a alt-az mounting. Eyepieces were from Fullerscopes: Opposite: Eclipse 1973 with the 6" on the fore deck of the Monte Umbe.