Congratulations to Jim Smith and Kevin Taylor, the recipients of this years awards. Jim Smith was awarded the Robin Townley trophy for 'contribution to the work of the society', and Kevin Taylor for 'best astro-images'.

The annual dinner booking form is available for download here (pdf) .

The dinner will be held on  Friday 23rd January 2009 at Brickhampton Court Golf Complex.

Please make your booking as soon as possible by sending your completed booking form and payment to Rod Salisbury before Christmas.  Or bring along to the Christmas Meeting on December 13th.

• Holiday Astronomy in the Southern Hemisphere
• Grand opening of the The Park Observatory
• Observing Directors Notes
  
• Dates for your Diary
• Afternoon Astronomy
  
• Co-ordinators Spot
• Dates for your Diary

Society observing evenings for the Winter season will kick off at 8.00 pm on Tuesday 21st October at Bredon Cricket Club, with the 28th being a backup date if conditions are not good on the 21st.

You can download this flier , and click on Read More for the rest of the dates.

All members welcome.

Non-members should contact the Coordinator prior to the evening.

Remember: RED LIGHT RULES

Friday 1st August saw a 'party in the park', as astronomers from the Cotswold AS gathered in Imperial Gardens, Cheltenham, to view the partial eclipse of the sun.

Weather turned out fair for the event, and the local press gathered also.

Many thanks to Tony Ireland who organised the event for the society.

Press Read More to see some pictures of the event, and images of the eclipse (pictures by Tony Ireland).

In order to encourage Society members (new and old, beginners and experienced) to spend more quality time at the eyepiece, we are launching a new Observing Programme based on the 110 Messier objects.

he aim of the Programme is to provide a structured approach to finding and observing these most spectacular of deep-sky objects. In addition, the Society will confer Awards (Silver, Gold and Platinum) on members who achieve certain observing goals and submit their completed observation logs to the Observing Director. A “roll of honour”, listing those who have received Awards, will also be maintained and published on the Society web site.

Star-hopping hints and tips for finding well-placed objects will be included in issues of Mercury throughout the year, and it is envisaged that helping observers hunt for their as-yet-unseen Messier objects will form a part of Society Observing Evenings during the winter months.

You can dowload here:

Programme Rules

Messier List

  Observing Log

A bright sunny day greeted the Cotswold AS astronomers at the Cheltenham Science Festival this year, attempting to observe sunspots, although the weather was fine, the Sun was in a 'quiet' period and no sunspots were to be seen.

Click on through the pages to see some more pics.

Gallery has had a couple of nice deep sky images by Les Dickens added today.

M45 (The Pleiades) and The Double Cluster in Perseus (NGC  869/884).

Many members enjoyed good views of the Perseid meteor shower over the weekend of 11/12 and 12/13 August. Press Read More.. to see all of the Gallery of images.

Image by John Rock - Canon 350D with  kit lens at 18mm 1600 ASA and 30 sec at f3.5.