A comet discovered in 2009 by Australian amateur astronomer Gordon Garradd is currently visible from the UK in the morning sky. It is currently around magnitude 7 and can be seen with binoculars that have at least 10x magnification. The object is quite small so a medium sized telescope and fairly dark skies are needed for good views.
The comet is moving through Hercules close to the keystone asterism. It passes by the head of Draco in February. The chart below shows its movment during January and February 2012.
It is sporting a short tail now which is showing up nicely in recent images. The brightness won’t change much over the coming couple of months so there is plenty of opportunity to observe and image the comet.
Comet Garradd reaches peak brightness in February when it should be at around 6th magnitude. If you have really dark skies it could just be visible to the unaided eye around this time. The comet’s closest approach to Earth happens in March when it will be close to Ursa Minor and should still be around magnitude 7.
This will be a physical meeting in the hall with remote access via ZOOM. Non-members, having enjoyed the talk, donate £5 via online banking: Reading Astronomical Society: Sort code: 60-17-21: Account No: 54137268
June’s Main Meeting will start with our yearly Society AGM followed by a talk by Kenelm England (FRAS)
Society Speaker Kenelm England (FRAS)
Subject:-Anniversaries in “2025”
Kenelm England (Reading AS and historian). Kenelm’s annual look at notable astronomical and scientific anniversaries in years ending “25”
Join us on Sunday 22nd June for The East Reading Festival 2025.
The festival is a free community-focused event, with a music stage, spoken word/poetry stage, a funfair, a small food court with a variety of different cuisines and a wide range of community, charity and commercial stalls.
We will be attending this annual local event with our telescopes suitably filtered for safe observing of sunspots and other activity on our local star. It would be great to see you there.
ZoomFridays
Friday 4th July 2025 at 8pm
Chat with us on ZOOM on the 1st Friday of the month at 8pm.
Once a month at 8 pm on the first Friday each month we will be chatting with members about any astronomical topics and keeping up with the latest in academic and space industry news. At the same time the content of the chats will be written up in .pdf form and released as a monthly round up for members. They will contain a lot of links to professional and academic content and form a part of the story of astronomy and space industry activity as we go forward. A great way to keep up to date with ‘WHAT’S NEW IN ASTRONOMY’
Check out the ZOOMFridays page for more details:- ZOOMFridays
FridayCLUB
—————-Summer Break——————–
We are taking a Summer Break with our FridayCLUB outreach meetings. There are no FridayCLUB outreach meetings in May, June or July. The Sky is very bright during the summer months (May,June,July) making observing with telescopes highly challenging in the early evening. We will restart the meetings on 22nd August 2025. Please put this date in your diary’s as we would love to see you there.
When we restart we will have short talks about astronomy and weather permitting a view of the sky through a telescope what could be better – All Free just come along on the evening. See our FridayCLUB page for details of location and start times. Enquiries to info@readingastro.org.uk
Location : 1st Wokingham Scout Hut in Evendons Lane, Wokingham. RG41 4DX.
Astronomy chat by experts and beginners with members of local astronomy societies. Request login details from Gerry by text on 07510 444 630 or email us at info@readingastro.org.uk
We also keep in touch through a Google Group, email news list, and Zoom. By invitation – send an email to info@readingastro.org.uk
