Jim Franklin

As the preponderonce of asteroids appear to be cojoined bodies or true binaries it should be more surprising of we found that every impact crater on Earth was an orphan, there are plenty of impact drater on the Moon and Mars that are clearly linked in time and origin. The fact that the period from 77Mya to 66Mya saw multiple large impacts on Earth in reasonably quick succession , only seperated by around 2.5Mya on average does indicate that something happened that inccreased the impact rate around that time, it is highly likely that far smaller objects also increased in impact frequency at this time and it is probable that there is a connection bwteen all these impacts and seondary impacts that have yet to be confirmed.

The problem is definitions - between the αCenA system and Barnard's Star there are 4 stars, the closest are in the triple star system of αCenA, with Barnard's Star being the 4th closest star, but ther second closest stellar system. αCenA and βCenA orbit a common centre of gravity about 30AU apart, with Proxima Centauri orbiting the pair (so we believe) at around 12,000AU, then we have a void, so far at least, out to Barnard's Star, at 5.9Ly, which is a single M-dwarf flare star all by it's lonesome except for the possible planets. Out beyond Barnards we have Luhman 16 (WISE 1049−5319) at about 6.5 Ly, which is a confirmed Brown Dwarf between 60-70 times the mass of Jupiter and a companion that may be a brown Dwarf or a giant planet, estimated around 11-23 times the mass of Jupiter - future observations need to be undertaken to confirm orbital characteristics and thus the mass of the objects. Then, at about 7.4ly we have WISE 0855-0714, which is estimated to have a mass of between 3-10 Jovian masses - which puts it below the bottom end mass scale for a brown dwarf and certainly in the super jupiter bracket. There have been commentary that it may have a companion or planets (moons?), if that were confirmed at any point in the future, we could pin it's mass down and have a better detrmination of what class of bldy it should be referred to - my personal gut feeling is a Rogue Giant Planet with Moons. Moving out, we have Wolf 359, an M-Dwarf Flare star some 7.9Ly from the solar system. Whichever way we look at it, currently, Barnard's star is the 4th closest star to the Sun, 5th closest to Earth, and the 2nd closest stellar system to the solar system. There have been reports that Kevin Luhman may have found single and double brown dwarves closer to the solar system, between us and Barnard's Star, which would then change things depending on classification, but as yet these have not been confirmed with one additional claim being found to be a background star misidentified due to a processing error.

The paper has survived peer review intact and more papers from other researchers are due to be published off the back of this. What makes this different from all other suspected detections is the mass - only 0.36 Earth, significantly lower than any planet previously reported and refuted. JWST is slated to make observations in support of the discovery and possibly confirm the possible 3 other worlds - I don't think they would do this without a statistically strong case. Research indicates this is 5 sigma, some stating 6 sigma.

For around 100 years there have been back and forth claims that the nearest single star to the solar system, Barnard's Star, named for E. E Barnard who discovered it, had planets. In the past, these claims have later been withdrawn or refuted, now we have definitive proof that Barnard's Star is not a lonely red dwarf, but rather a parent of certainly 1 planet, possibly 3 more to be confirmed. https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2414/

Not out for long last night, had an early start. Took about 25 images with an EOS500D, Sigma 600mm catadioptric lens with a 2x teleconverter, this image was ISO1600 at 1/180th second, it was the best of those I took at various ISOs and shutter speeds - This was done quickly before I stayed out all night as it was crystal clear 🫣

Well, clearly to prove me wrong fropm my earlier comment the sky cleared - seeing is pretty darned good. Cannot resist the Moon, I have not used my SVBony 302 or ASI585MC for a while - so used them tonight - although SharpCap annoyed me by keep crashing. I managed some images of M31 before I got to the point on needing sleep - that is a quick take of 3 images without any real processing - I have a lot to go through to stack properly, but my brain is mush - and its starting to get nippy outside.

I understand the physics, I can do the maths, but am I alone in being frustrated that the sky is clear and cloud free when busy in daylight, but the minute I get home and start planning - the blooming clouds roll in - even those thin wispy ones ruin images - grrrrr 🫣🫣😂😂😂😂

Astrologers are a banal reason of existance 😂

@Caroline Sinden Fuller, no need to apologise for an informative post - love the pictures. I tried to do something about this before the pandemic and got nowhere, I was not even allowed to access the dome at the time. I do not know if the problem was the current owner, or just people working for them thinking they were doing the right thing, the campaign might have more support if it can get the local MP behind it.

Beautifally clear sky tonight - Here are a series of Moon images I have got so far - minimal processing except for the stacking of multiples for the close up - that is 25 seperate images with filters applied. I am going to take a drive out somewhere really dark.

Here is a table showing how much bigger the Moon would have appeared at 50 million year intervals back to 1 billion years ago: Time (Million Years Ago) Average Distance to Moon (km) Apparent Size (% Change) 0 384,400 0.00% 50 382,500 +0.50% 100 380,600 +1.00% 150 378,700 +1.51% 200 376,800 +2.02% 250 374,900 +2.53% 300 373,000 +3.06% 350 371,100 +3.58% 400 369,200 +4.12% 450 367,300 +4.66% 500 365,400 +5.20% 550 363,500 +5.75% 600 361,600 +6.31% 650 359,700 +6.87% 700 357,800 +7.43% 750 355,900 +8.01% 800 354,000 +8.59% 850 352,100 +9.17% 900 350,200 +9.77% 950 348,300 +10.36% 1000 346,400 +10.97%

I get they are just trying to clickbait headlines and is a form of marketing - but personally, it irritates the hell out of me, not so much the "supermoon" monika per se, but more the "blood moon", "Farmers Moon" - bla bla bla - we have a full Mopon every 28 days, and every 28 days some numbskull is giving it some silly name. Call me a cantacterous old fart all you like - but I do not need some silly name to look at or appreciate the Moon, full or otherwise. The difference in the size of the Moon, around 13%, is awesome at some perigees, but there is no need to hype the hell out of it either.

Gutted - I had to go to bed as I was knackered, but it seems the sky cleared. My other half was out with a friend and after dropping her off came home around 01:00hrs - she said when he pulled on the drive the sky was clear - "like leds shining in a mine" was how she put it - I thought she was joing - but reading comments here make me think she wasn't. I am on school run duty Tuesday - so I weil have an early night and get up about 02:00hrs to enjoy the allegedly clear skies we are supposed to have.

Got everything set up earlier, up at 03:00hrs as I needed to go to Exeter then Taunton, got back home about 16:30, had clear sky, had to do it. Waited for darkness to fall with a thud - went outside - blooming clouds rolled in - managed to align on Polaris, Mizar and Arcturus - but apart from the bright stars - nadda. Put it all away - going to bed, if I wake in time, will drive south to catch the Sunrise if its worth it. Still, supposed to be clear the next few nights 🫣🥴🥴

Thumbnail of Tonight's Moon. Meade ETX90 with Canon EOS5D mkIII at prime focus. Single image. ISO600 120 second tracked exposure on Skywatcher EQ5 Pro mount.

Today took me out and about, at Sunset I found myself on a byway near to Stonehenge - its good to drive a Land Rover.. Anyway, I decided to take a shot of the stones with the heavens in the background - The image of the Stones is actually two seperate shots then stacked - First of the stones was to get them looking good, the second was to get the Sky right as initially it simply did not work. The camera in all three cases was my Canon EOS5DmkIII. The Stonehenge images were taken using my 18-70mm l;ens set at infinity - stones at 1/50th at ISO1600, the sky image was taken with the same equipment, but the ISO was upped to 6400 and the speed was 3 seconds. The Black and white image was taken as a single shot. EOS5DmkIII on ETX90 via a 42mm Revelation Projection eyepiece. ISO600 -1/125th second. The more colourful image is 15 stacked images - same setup as the Black and white with the exception that I 15 of the images had as #12 Yellow filter, 15 with #26A Red, 15 with #56 Green and 15 Moon/Neutral Density - I then took the best images, stacked them and processed the final images - it says 15x I just noticed, but I think it was only 12 that were actually used for the final image. It needs more work to get a final image - but off to bed again as early start!! No Early start Friday thankfully, so if it is clear tomorrow night - which apparently it will be - then I will be doing some more imaging.

Not happening unless you have access to HST or JWST raw data

Adverts on eBay have been updated so someone is about - as others have suggested - email.

Congrats - galaxies are better than rocks 😳

Typical - had an important meeting this morning and needed to be up early - went to bed at 22:00hrs as a result - found out the sky cleared - 🙄

I know the feeling, I was just outside (Littlemore) and the seeing here is no different - hardly surprising as I would guess we are only 1-4 miles apart - clouds are getting denser after midnight apparently...

Welcome to a mad house - you will find a lot of knowledgeable people here only willing to give you great advise to take you further. Enjoy..

So very true - 😂😂👍👍👍

Welcome - nice images.

I used to live on Westcliffe Esplanade so I know that WHS quite well - I'm an Essex boy by birth.