Club Achievements
Highlights from our astronomical observations in 2026, 2025, 2024, and 2023.
Highlights from 2026
- 21 Jun 2026 Glowing sunset seen on the evening of the summer solstice
- 17 Jun 2026 Venus photographed close to the crescent Moon 45 mins after sunset
- 17 Jun 2026 We fitted the solar filter to the telescope to view the Sun and tested the new solar finder to speed up the alignment process
- 13 Jun 2026 Mercury was visible with the naked eye low in the western sky
- 09 Jun 2026 We observed the Venus and Jupiter at their closest approach
- 01 Jun 2026 May's second Full Moon ("Blue Moon") seen shortly after midnight
- 25 May 2026 We saw the phase of the planet Venus (~80%) at 50x magnification
- 23 May 2026 We took our first photo of the Sun using the Seestar S50
- 25 Apr 2026 First photos taken of the Moon using a DSLR camera
- 19 Apr 2026 We took a photo of the crescent Moon with earthshine sitting just above the Pleiades star cluster, with Venus shining brightly below
- 06 Apr 2026 Completed our imaging of the major galaxies in the Leo constellation
- 21 Mar 2026 We spotted the ISS heading our way and reacted quickly to get a photo of it passing above the Venus–Moon conjunction
- 14 Mar 2026 Matey K and James M took a photo of The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51a) in Canes Venatici with a 5,320 sec total exposure time
- 03 Mar 2026 Despite poor conditions, we saw four planets during the "2026 Planetary Parade" – Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus
- 24 Feb 2026 Experimental photos taken of the Horsehead Nebula and Flame Nebula in the constellation of Orion (suboptimal conditions)
- 22 Feb 2026 Mercury and Saturn photographed together in the twilight sky at the begininng of the 2026 Planetary Parade
- 27 Jan 2026 We observed the Moon pass in front of the Pleiades star cluster (occultation) – one of our club goals for 2026
- 03 Jan 2026 Full Moon captured with good detail using the Seestar S50
Highlights from 2025
- 02 Jan 2025 Ganymede seen occulted by Jupiter and then eclipsed by its shadow
- 03 Jan 2025 We admired the Moon and Venus in the early evening sky 🌒
- 09 Jan 2025 We saw Sirius, the brightest star in the sky 🌟
- 10 Jan 2025 We observed Venus at its greatest elongation from the Sun and took photos of the planet's phase (51%) through the telescope
- 20 Jan 2025 Surface features seen on Mars including the north polar ice cap and dark regions on the Red Planet
- 01 Feb 2025 We saw the Venus–Saturn–Moon conjunction and captured a stunning photo of the crescent moon
- 16 Feb 2025 TRAC team members in Austria captured many stunning photos of the winter night sky
- 01 Mar 2025 We spotted the small planet Mercury in the twilight sky below the crescent Moon and Venus
- 29 Mar 2025 We got an excellent view of the spectacular Partial Solar Eclipse – the greatest astronomical event of 2025
- 30 Mar 2025 Dedicated club members spotted the one-day-old Moon – the thinnest Crescent Moon you'll ever see
- 03 May 2025 Minor planet Vesta seen very clearly through binoculars from the park around the date of its opposition
- 11 Jun 2025 We watched the rise of June's golden-orange Strawberry Moon – the lowest Full Moon until 2043
- 16 Aug 2025 TRAC team members in Bulgaria saw 11 meteors and took photos of the Andromeda Galaxy, Saturn, Neptune, and the Milky Way
- 20 Sep 2025 We successfully located Neptune with the telescope – one of our main aims for 2025 and a huge triumph for us
- 25 Oct 2025 Using binoculars, we spotted Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) slightly east of mag. +2.5 star Izar in Boötes above Arcturus
- 17 Nov 2025 During one epic stargazing session, we saw Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, the Orion Nebula, the Andromeda Galaxy, plus two meteors
- 19 Dec 2025 We used our new ZWO Seestar S50 smart telescope for the first time and took photos of the Andromeda Galaxy and the Orion Nebula
Highlights from 2024
- 18 Jan 2024 We saw our first celestial conjunction (Moon and Jupiter)
- 26 Jan 2024 We took our first photos of the Full Moon 🌕
- 24 Feb 2024 We got a great view of Jupiter and its four Galilean moons
- 17 Mar 2024 We saw the circular lunar halo effect produced by the refraction of moonlight from ice crystals in the upper atmosphere
- 24 Mar 2024 We caught a rare glimpse of the tiny planet Mercury 🌑
- 01 Apr 2024 We just about managed to see Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks ☄
- 24 May 2024 We were able to identify the iconic spring constellations: Leo, Boötes, Corona Borealis, and Virgo
- 19 Jul 2024 We saw the International Space Station at mag -3.1 🛰
- 15 Aug 2024 Everyone spotted at least one meteor during the Perseids 🌠
- 21 Aug 2024 We saw two large sunspots on the eastern edge of the Sun 🌞
- 08 Sep 2024 We observed Saturn at opposition and its largest moon, Titan 🪐
- 05 Oct 2024 We learnt how to use the telescope's GoTo feature 🔭
- 11 Oct 2024 A few of us were lucky enough to see the Northern Lights 🧲
- 17 Oct 2024 We witnessed the rise of the brightest Supermoon of 2024, and (against all the odds) we observed Comet C/2023 A3 ☄
- 18 Oct 2024 We saw the SpaceX Starlink satellite chain 🛰🛰🛰
- 10 Nov 2024 We watched a moon shadow transit (Jupiter & Io)
- 20 Nov 2024 We photographed a conjunction between the Moon and Mars 🌙
- 29 Nov 2024 We saw blazingly bright Venus in the twilight sky 🌑
Highlights from 2023
- 28 Oct 2023 Our first observations of the Moon during a partial lunar eclipse
- 25 Nov 2023 We saw the Moon (92%-lit) and the planets Jupiter and Saturn through the telescope at 60x magnification
- 29 Dec 2023 Experimenting with new lenses to improve the detail we can see on Jupiter and the rings of Saturn