TRAC Monthly Report: June 2024
- Category: Monthly Reports
- Author: JM
- Published: 02 Jul 2024
- Last updated: 02 Jul 2024
Moon–Spica Conjunction
Spica Meets The Moon
Charlie and I had the pleasure of witnessing the beautiful conjunction between the Moon and Spica on the evening of Sunday, 16 Jun 2024.
Sunset was at 21:20, and we got an excellent view of this celestial pairing at 22:00, as planned.
Spica (mag. +0.9), the brightest star in the sprawling constellation Virgo, was easy to spot, just west of the Moon (mag. -12.2).
Image credit: JM/TRAC
Image showing Spica close to the Moon - 16 Jun 2024 22:05 BST.
We tried to photograph this moment, but the glare of the Moon (74% illuminated) was so overpowering that the camera struggled to give us a clear image. Nonetheless, the sight was a special one, captured in our memories if not our photos!
Image credit: JM/TRAC
The camera was able to capture better detail of the Moon's surface at 60x zoom and not focusing on Spica - 16 Jun 2024 22:20 BST.
Charity Shop Telescope
Charlie found a bargain in a local charity shop: a small refractor, complete with tripod and eyepieces. The conjunction seemed like the perfect chance to put it to the test!
We cleaned the lens and eyepieces as best we could. We discovered that the tripod was broken, so the telescope tube was very wobbly. We improvised by mounting it on the Miranda tripod we normally use for photography, but even that couldn't stabilise it properly. Without a finder scope, aligning the telescope with the Moon turned into a major challenge.
After much effort, we finally got the Moon in view, but the results were underwhelming. The low-magnification eyepiece produced a poor-quality image, and the higher-magnification eyepiece was unusable since the optics couldn't handle it, resulting in a hopelessly blurred image that proved impossible to focus. In the end, we gave up.
Orange Moon
On 26 Jun, the moon had a pronounced orange hue.
Image credit: JM/TRAC
Image credit: JM/TRAC
Image credit: JM/TRAC
As usual, these photos do not do it justice.
Sunset Photography
Many beautiful summer sunsets filled the evening skies in June 2024.
Image credit: JM/TRAC
Sunset from Ryetop Playing Fields in Rainham (Kent) - 22 Jun 2024.
Image credit: JM/TRAC
Sunset from Ryetop Playing Fields in Rainham (Kent) - 28 Jun 2024.
Summary
June was a very quiet month for the astronomy club. Other than the conjunction between the Moon and Spica, there isn't anything to report!
Let's hope for some better opportunities for astronomy in July 2024.
James M
TRAC Team Leader
02 Jul 2024 – Rainham, Kent
TRAC is an amateur astronomy group based in Rainham (Kent) in the United Kingdom.
On clear nights, you'll find us outside, observing stars, planets, moons, galaxies, satellites, meteors, and comets.
This monthly report is intended to keep club members informed of our observational activities, track progress towards the club's long-term goals, celebrate successes, and record memorable moments.
Unless stated otherwise, all magnitude values refer to apparent magnitude and have usually been rounded to one decimal place.
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