Centro Astronómico de Ávila
M1 Group
April 2005
The M1
Group, founded by Diego Rodriguez, José Ripero and Francisco Pujol, has been
active since 1988, their efforts are directed towards the monitoring of
variable stars, both visual and CCD, with special attention to supernovae.
The most
striking event in the group history was the discovery of SN 1993J by Francisco
García Díez, one of the most active members.
We were
invited to join the fraternity lunch celebrated at Mengamuñoz, a very little
town near the group’s headquarters at “La Hija de Dios” some 40 km south of Ávila.
A newly
acquired Coronado Solar Telescope in Halfa was tested before and after the
lunch, in spite of the strong winds we were able to see various prominences.
We were
happy to meet that many enthusiasts of Astronomy and had a really good time
getting to know each other and sharing experiences. Thanks very much M1 group.
Visit to the Great Shefford observatory mpc J95
http://www.birtwhi.demon.co.uk/
June 2004
On june
2004 we were at England visiting the Great Shefford Observatory. I was very
excited with the idea of meeting Peter Birtwhistle because he runs one of the most
active observatories in NEO and comet, confirmation and followup, and this
coincides with one of the main goals at La Cañada Observatory.
I was
surprised with the dark and transparent sky at Great Shefford, I was thinking
the sky was not as good due to the proximity to London.
Peter’s
green dome is very peculiar, inside there’s a 12” LX200 + an excellent apogee 6
camera.
Peter was
demonstrating how it all works together and various pieces of software he wrote
for particular tasks.
From
left to right : Peter Birtwhistle, Covadonga Camblor, Juan Lacruz
That night
we were observing an object from NEOCP, we had a look at the images blinking
but saw nothing, Peter then brought us back to the hotel and we said goos bye.
Some days
passed and we were back to Spain when I got and email from Peter, after he
examined in greater detail the images he found the object under confirmation he
then reported to the Minor Planet Center, the confirmation was published on
circular 2004-M07
(note J. Lacruz as observer ;-) it resulted to be a new amor asteroid, nice
momento to remember, thanks Peter.
Visit to Monte Deva Observatory mpc 945
http://www.garaje.ya.com/jrvidal/
Summer 2003
Monte Deva
obsevatory is a facility participated by the OMEGA astronomical
association and the Gijón’s City
Council, it is run by José Ramón Vidal Blanco.
The dome is
5 meter diameter in aluminium and the power is supplied by an electrogenerator
group. A Celestron 14” telescope equipped with an SBIG ST7 camera. It is
dedicated mainly to cometary photometry which is then send to the minor planet
center and to the “observadores de cometas” mailing list. They also organize
observing sessions for schoolars.
The summer
of 2003, Jose Ramón showed us the observatory and the beautiful surroundings of
the monte Deva,
On
this Picture taken by my daughter Covadonga Lacruz you see
from
left to rigth : Covadonga Camblor (my wife), Juan Miguel Lacruz (my soon), J.
Lacruz (me) and
J.
R.Vidal, the observatory’s director.
Another
picture of the observatory taken on a very hazy summer morning