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Mercury will be best placed for viewing on this day, when it reaches maximum elongation from the Sun. At London latitudes it will be approx 10 degrees above the horizon at civil twilight (Sun 6 degrees below the horizon) View the calendar event

One for our Southern Hemisphere members, the magnitude 8 asteroid Vesta will be under 2 degrees away from the Moon by the time of nautical twilight. It is closer earlier on, but not sure when you would be able to pick it up. Probably best in a wide field scope with a 2.5 or 3 degree field of view. Likely not dramatic, but interesting to see the two objects in context with each other. This is a screen shot set for Melbourne Australia for @Geoff Barnes 😁👍 View the calendar event

C/2017 T2 Panstarrs will be equidistant between NGC869 and NGC884, another good visual or photo opp. View the calendar event

Following on from 27th, on 28th, the crescent Moon will be closer at 4.5 degrees away, and Neptune still 1 degree away. View the calendar event

Another good conjunction worth having a go at either visually or for imaging. C/2017 T2 Panstarrs will be just over half a degree from the NGC884, one of the two clusters that make up the Double Cluster. On 28th it will be equally positioned between the two at around 40 arc minutes from each. View the calendar event

A close conjunction between Venus and Neptune, at 5pm they will be approx 10 arc minutes apart, getting down to 4 as they set. The 7.3% illuminated crescent Moon and Mercury will also be visible further to the West. View the calendar event

Remote imaging is just another form of astronomy so, so long as there is no misrepresentation as to who owns the equipment, we don't see a problem. There is no need for anyone to be unpleasant.

Mid-transit 15:20. UK sunset 16:72. Not particularly well positioned for UK observers, but some of us might not get to November 2032 to see the next one ... View the calendar event

Talk by John I. Davies, Senior Researcher & Principium Editor, The Initiative for Interstellar Studies i4is Project Glowworm – near term low earth orbit demonstration of laser push technology Visitors are welcome at our meetings, but because of the popularity of our talks, visitors must register for a free ticket as visitor spaces are limited. Visitors can also leave after the main talk or are welcome to stay on for the rest of the meeting. Tickets will go live 1 month before the event. https://www.astronomyedinburgh.org/event/first-steps-to-interstellar-probes/ Also at our meetings: What’s in the night sky this month Overview of astronomy and space news Occasional member presentations View the calendar event

29 September 2019 Event time: 7.30pm Location: Caban Coch Car Park SN923646 Booking is required - please book online via Eventbrite A unique night-time event, held under the dark skies of the Elan Valley International Dark Sky Park. Join storyteller, Kama Roberts, as she takes you on a journey of the stars. She will illuminate the night with her immersive tales of the constellations, touching on ancient mythology and night-time culture from across the world. This will involve a gentle walk along the Caban Coch cycle trail and will not be more than 2 miles in length. Please note, this event is also suitable for supervised children aged eight years old and above. Please wear suitable outdoor clothing, bring torches and your imagination! Meet at Caban Coch Car Park SN923646. If the weather is bad, the event will be held at Penbont House – you will be contacted prior to the event. This project has received funding through the Welsh Government Rural Communities - Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government. View the calendar event

Event date: 19 September 2019 Event time: 7.30pm Location: Gilfach Nature Reserve, Rhayader Booking is required - please book online via Eventbrite This area of Mid Wales is known for its stunning, dark skies with an International Dark Sky Park nearby. Listen to night noises and gaze at the stars if it is clear. We will be looking at moths and detecting bats with our specialised detectors. Please bring torches, a mat to sit on, insect repellent and wear outdoor clothing and footwear. Meet at the Pont Marteg Gateway, Gilfach Nature Reserve SN 952715. This project has received funding through the Welsh Government Rural Communities - Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government. View the calendar event

Talk by Dr Richard A. McCracken, Research Fellow Heriot-Watt University Institute of Photonics and Quantum Sciences The discovery of an planet orbiting a Sun-like star in 1995 sparked a quarter-century of research. In this talk we will look at how we hunt for exoplanets, some of the incredible systems observed so far, and what the future holds for this exciting field. Visitors are welcome at our meetings, but because of the popularity of our talks, visitors must register for a free ticket as visitor spaces are limited. Visitors can also leave after the main talk or are welcome to stay on for the rest of the meeting. Tickets will go live 1 month before the event. https://www.astronomyedinburgh.org/event/25-years-of-exoplanet-discoveries/ Also at our meetings: What’s in the night sky this month Overview of astronomy and space news Occasional member presentations View the calendar event

Seven metre diameter moon, talks, solar observing, open air (space-themed) cinema, and much more, plus a stargazing session in the evening up at Maiden Castle ... More details here: http://moonburyrings.co.uk View the calendar event

Talk by Prof. Andrew Lawrence, Regius Professor of Astronomy at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh. Celebrating the 200th anniversary of Edinburgh’s forgotten astronomer Charles Piazzi Smyth. In 1856, Charles Piazzi Smyth, together with his scientist wife Jessie, and a crew of sailors and Spanish helpers, changed the way we do astronomy. They traveled to Tenerife, lived on the mountain in stone houses they built themselves, and made amazing measurements that proved that observations were much better – clearer, sharper, deeper – than from smoky cities like Edinburgh. Piazzi Smyth believed that in the future we would all become “peripatetic astronomers”, wandering from mountain to mountain to get the best results. I will trace the story of how this idea became a reality, and how indeed wandering the globe to use bigger and better telescopes has been the story of my own career for 40 years. However, this golden age of peripatetic mountain astronomy is coming to a close. Why, and what lies ahead? This is the 200th anniversary of the birth of the extraordinary Charles Piazzi Smyth, so it is an excellent time to examine his legacy. Visitors are welcome at our meetings, but because of the popularity of our talks, visitors must register for a free ticket as visitor spaces are limited. Visitors can also leave after the main talk or are welcome to stay on for the rest of the meeting. Tickets will go live 2 weeks before the event. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/61638104229/ Also at our meetings: What’s in the night sky this month Overview of astronomy and space news Occasional member presentations View the calendar event

Telescopic Astronomy - Afternoon of June 19th 2019 (Provisional) View the calendar event

Naked-eye Astronomy - Afternoon of June 3rd 2019 (provisional) View the calendar event

Zoltan at 365 Astronomy has requested we post this response from him to criticisms raised by MARS1960: ---------- re. MARS1960's feedback Next day comes and nice man delivers box, open it up and find that it doesn't fit my ED80 why wasn't i asked what refractor i had as it may not fit customer mentioned that he ordered this same focuser from a different shop, but they didn't have it in stock, so they had to refund his order. I feel the customer was biased against us as It seems it wasn't an issue for the customer that that other shop didn't advise him that he might need an additional adapter. Also, I've talked to two shop managers and described to them the situation without mentioning customer's name (data protection!) and both shop managers said that if a customer wanted this kind of product next day they would never consider that he didn't do his research. Also, the product description clearly indicated that there are various optional adapters available for the refractor version that the customer ordered and if the customer read the description, he would most likely understand that he would need one, hence he would have asked us and we'd be more than happy to help to find the right adapter. When we first talked to the customer, the only question we had was whether we had it in stock and whether we could dispatch same day. Unfortunately we've failed to fulfil our promise to dispatch it on the same day due to an unforeseen circumstance. (We've apologised for this and dispatched it with one day delay.) My wife who worked in a care home in the morning could not return in time as she got flat tyre. She deals with Royal Mail dispatches so we could not dispatch everything that we planned. Rang again and spoke to man (not Zoltan) asked first why he didn't dispatch my promised order, i was brusquely told i don't do orders only emails I think the problem was that my colleague picked up the phone and as he was not in on Wednesday he was not aware of what happened to this order... as far as I could hear their conversation, customer was not exactly nicely addressing him which took my colleague by quite a surprise as we are not used to such a tone. I now have to send the item back at a cost of £11.00 for insured special delivery, Customer asked to refund the return postage as well, although according to distant sales regulations we are not obliged to do so as there must be equal levels of losses when a customer returns an item. Never-the-less we've refunded the full value of his order and the £11 return postage as well. i am utterly flabbergasted by the response i got from Zoltan and his colleague. I was trying to direct the conversation so that we resolve the issue, i.e. find the necessary adapter for the customer, but it didn't seem to be important for the customer, and he ended up shouting at me, which we've never had before in the 10 years of our business. I found his verbal abuse unacceptable and this was probably the first time I had to put down the phone before the end of a conversation. As far as I can see, it did cost us a bit more than £20 (whilst not a penny to the customer) that he didn't read the product description or not carefully enough. This happens a lot to customers and we always try to be understanding and helpful to find a solution (as many of them would certainly confirm), but this was a first time when such a simple issue turned into some kind of psychological warfare. I guess I would probably be also shouting if a life-saving treatment for my family member didn't arrive in time, but this was merely about an optional telescope adapter, so I'm really at loss here. Won't sound too scientific, but I guess I could only blame it on a bad alignment of the planets. Zoltan, 365Astronomy

The theme for the fourteenth challenge - May 2018 - is Planets! Start Date: 1st May 2018 End Date: 31st July 2018 Rules: The theme this time is planets - Jupiter is in opposition in May, Saturn is looking good for June and Mars is a potential target for July! Have fun Prize: £100 of FLO gift vouchers to buy some goodies with! Kindly provided by our sponsors FLO and a virtual trophy for your signature. -- RULES All data must be captured and processed by you (no collaborative entries). Data must be captured during the challenge start & end dates. Multiple entries are allowed but please start a new topic for each entry. Multiple submissions of the same image, processed differently, will not be accepted. -- To enter please start a new topic with your image in the ‘Imaging Challenge #14 forum (each challenge will have it’s own). Please post as much information as possible - when it was taken, how it was captured and processed, etc. The info won't necessarily be used for judging but will help fellow SGLers looking to learn and improve their knowledge and technique.

Hyperion Astronomy has not approached us but we we are re-evaluating our approach to software vendors developing and supporting their product at SGL so let us see how this runs out for now.

The theme for the thirteenth challenge - April 2018 - is Lunar Close-ups! Start Date: 1st April 2018 End Date: 30th June 2018 Rules: This challenge is all about lunar closeups - we want to see lots of high magnification lunar details. Images, videos and sketches all welcome. Interesting compositions always get the judges attention! Prize: £100 of FLO gift vouchers to buy some goodies with! Kindly provided by our sponsors FLO and a virtual trophy for your signature. -- RULES All data must be captured and processed by you (no collaborative entries). Data must be captured during the challenge start & end dates. Multiple entries are allowed but please start a new topic for each entry. Multiple submissions of the same image, processed differently, will not be accepted. -- To enter please start a new topic with your image in the ‘Imaging Challenge #13 forum (each challenge will have it’s own). Please post as much information as possible - when it was taken, how it was captured and processed, etc. The info won't necessarily be used for judging but will help fellow SGLers looking to learn and improve their knowledge and technique.

The theme for the twelth challenge - March 2018 - is Open Clusters! Start Date: 1st March 2018 End Date: 31st May 2018 Rules: We want to see open clusters Bonus points for interesting and unusual presentations and compositions! Prize: £100 of FLO gift vouchers to buy some goodies with! Kindly provided by our sponsors FLO and a virtual trophy for your signature. -- RULES All data must be captured and processed by you (no collaborative entries). Data must be captured during the challenge start & end dates. Multiple entries are allowed but please start a new topic for each entry. Multiple submissions of the same image, processed differently, will not be accepted. -- To enter please start a new topic with your image in the ‘Imaging Challenge #12’ forum (each challenge will have it’s own). Please post as much information as possible - when it was taken, how it was captured and processed, etc. The info won't necessarily be used for judging but will help fellow SGLers looking to learn and improve their knowledge and technique.

The theme for the eleventh challenge - February 2018 - is A Galaxy Far, Far Away! Start Date: 1st February 2018 End Date: 30th April 2018 Rules: Galaxies, galaxies, galaxies! Big, small, groups, wide-field, close-up, colour, mono - whatever you like Bonus points for anything star wars related... Prize: £100 of FLO gift vouchers to buy some goodies with! Kindly provided by our sponsors FLO and a virtual trophy for your signature. -- RULES All data must be captured and processed by you (no collaborative entries). Data must be captured during the challenge start & end dates. Multiple entries are allowed but please start a new topic for each entry. Multiple submissions of the same image, processed differently, will not be accepted. -- To enter please start a new topic with your image in the ‘Imaging Challenge #11’ forum (each challenge will have it’s own). Please post as much information as possible - when it was taken, how it was captured and processed, etc. The info won't necessarily be used for judging but will help fellow SGLers looking to learn and improve their knowledge and technique.

The theme for the tenth challenge - January 2018 - is Smartphones & Tablets! Start Date: 1st January 2018 End Date: 31st March 2018 Rules: We want to see images, videos or animations taken with smartphones or tablets. Be as creative as you like but the images must be captured using a smartphone or tablet. Bonus consideration given to those completely processed on a smartphone or tablet as well... Prize: £100 of FLO gift vouchers to buy some goodies with! Kindly provided by our sponsors FLO and a virtual trophy for your signature. -- RULES All data must be captured and processed by you (no collaborative entries). Data must be captured during the challenge start & end dates. Multiple entries are allowed but please start a new topic for each entry. Multiple submissions of the same image, processed differently, will not be accepted. -- To enter please start a new topic with your image in the ‘Imaging Challenge #10’ forum (each challenge will have it’s own). Please post as much information as possible - when it was taken, how it was captured and processed, etc. The info won't necessarily be used for judging but will help fellow SGLers looking to learn and improve their knowledge and technique.

The theme for the ninth challenge - December 2017 - is RGB! Start Date: 1st December 2017 End Date: 28th February 2018 Rules: We want to see images, videos, animations or sketches with the theme 'RGB' - please be as artistic or creative as you like Mono imagers please feel free to enter but your images must be RGB colour images, not narrowband / false colour images. Prize: £100 of FLO gift vouchers to buy some goodies with! Kindly provided by our sponsors FLO and a virtual trophy for your signature. -- RULES All data must be captured and processed by you (no collaborative entries). Data must be captured during the challenge start & end dates. Multiple entries are allowed but please start a new topic for each entry. Multiple submissions of the same image, processed differently, will not be accepted. -- To enter please start a new topic with your image in the ‘Imaging Challenge #9’ forum (each challenge will have it’s own). Please post as much information as possible - when it was taken, how it was captured and processed, etc. The info won't necessarily be used for judging but will help fellow SGLers looking to learn and improve their knowledge and technique.

Wow this was a tough one for the judges - a very, very close run race with three images sharing 3rd place! Thanks to everyone who entered - it was a pleasure to look through these. Winners are: Orion belt, Flame, Horsey and the Great Orion nebula - Ha mosaic by moise212 IC 1396A (Elephant's trunk) by Epicycle Sh2-171 - Cannistra Bicolour by Uranium235 Cresent Nebula (NGC6888) by alan4908 The Wizard Nebula NGC 7380 by MartinB