Suspension of CAS Meetings

I am disappointed to inform you that the Cockermouth Astronomy Society has suspended all meetings until further notice in light of the government's advice on social distancing due to Coronavirus.  The committee have agreed to this move tonight following the latest government update.

We will continue to post astronomy and spaceflight information on the Facebook page and will of course provide a message as soon as we can to inform you when meetings will restart.  At this stage I do not expect this to be before the summer.

Best regards

Jeremy

CAS Chairman

February events

We have a couple of events planned on Saturday 22nd February in Keswick. 

Astrophotography Exhibition and Talks

An afternoon of talks by local, regional and national UK astrophotographers, featuring stunning images of the night sky. The event will be hosted by the Cockermouth Astronomy Society as part of the Cumbria Dark Skies Festival 2020.

The event will be held on Saturday 22nd February 2020 from 1-4pm in Keswick’s iconic Moot Hall, situated in the centre of the market town. The Hall’s Information Centre includes a lovely conference/exhibition room that comfortably seats up to 45 people. Therefore, spaces for the talks will be limited – book early to avoid disappointment.

The draft line-up of speakers includes (subject to confirmation in January):

Jeremy Hunt – Keswickian photographer and astronomer with over 30 years experience, recently a published author on the topic of astrophotography and the lifecycle of stars

Stephen Cheatley – Blackpool based professional photographer, featuring regularly in national media with beautiful images of the night sky and famous UK landmarks

Pete Williamson – Fellow of the Royal Astronomy Society, broadcaster and astronomer working as a deep-sky imaging consultant on the Faulkes Telescope Educational Project

As well as featuring some stunning images, the talks will provide advice on how to take your own images of the night sky.

Talks will be approximately half an hour duration, with a short break between each. A longer break for refreshments will be held around 2.30pm and offers a chance to have a chat with the speakers, browse the exhibition and buy prints etc.

Places can be reserved in advance by calling Jeremy Hunt (07535540499) or via the Cockermouth Astronomy Society Facebook page. Seats available (subject to capacity) on the door.

Spaces are limited to 45 per talk.

Price per person: £5 per talk; or £10 for the entire session.

Cumbria Dark Skies Festival Public Stargazing Event

A public stargazing event will be hosted by the Cockermouth Astronomy Society in Crow Park, Keswick. A range of telescopes will be available and several local members will be on hand to facilitate their use and guide people around the night sky.

Demonstrations will also be given on how to take pictures of the night sky using simple equipment.

Specialist low-light astro-video equipment will be in use to facilitate group observation of faint objects such as galaxies, nebulae and star clusters. This also makes it simpler for young children and those with disabilities to use the telescopes.

If you want to enjoy stunning views of the night sky in a beautiful setting then this is for you!

If you have your own binoculars or DSLR camera please feel free to bring them down and we will help you get the best from them, including taking your first picture of the night sky.

The park has good access, but please remember that it will be dark and potentially a little slippery under foot. Please dress appropriately for the cold and potentially wet grass.

It is advised that children are accompanied by an adult.

If you bring a torch, please use it discreetly, not shining it in the vicinity of the telescopes/observers; and preferably bring a red-light torch.

Crow Park is located overlooking Derwentwater. The nearest car park is the pay and display Lakeside Car Park adjacent to Keswick’s Theatre By The Lake. The entrance to the park, where the event will be held, is opposite the theatre.

A quick update to our website.

We haven't updated this website for quite a while, most of our activity is over on our Facebook page these days. However, we know there are still plenty of you who are looking to keep up with society news without using social media. So we've made some updates to the background information on these pages and will provide more updates on our events.

The programme calendar is now up to date with events for the next few months.

Get in touch if you have any questions.

Change of meeting venue.

Our next meeting is on Tuesday evening. Remember that we have now moved our meeting location. 

We are now meeting at the Friends Meeting House at 65 kirkgate Cockermouth. Meetings are at the same time 7.30pm on the last Tuesday of the month.

Note that there is limited parking at the meeting house so please plan to use one of the car parks in town. The nearest ones are at the kirkgate Centre or in Market Place. 

We’ll post details of our meeting and guest speaker shortly. 

May 2018 CAS Meeting

Tuesday 29th May is our next meeting (7.30pm St Joseph's Church Hall, Cockermouth).

The meeting will be a bit of a mixture with no specific talk this time. We will start with the usual astronomy news items as well as some important society news about future meetings times, dates and locations.

The remainder of the meeting will be open. If you have an astronomy project you want to tell people about or ask for help with now is your chance. Also a great opportunity to share images or observations.

We will have few astronomy related videos to show (and give our new projector a test!).

Hope to see you there.

February 2018 Meeting

For our February meeting on Tuesday we will be holding an equipment night. After our usual news update we will have an opportunity to look at telescopes and answer your questions on buying or using astronomical equipment. It will be an ideal opportunity to bring along a telescope you need some help with.

We will also have a look at some of the basic photography equipment to photograph the night sky.