Croydon Astronomical Society

17/08/2026

Friday 21st, 7:30 pm at the Shirley Methodist Church we welcome Paul Coleman and his adventures:

“Photographing the Northern Lights".

His talk is about visiting a remote lodge in part of Northern Canada to photograph the Northern Lights. There will be many examples both still and movie, together with technical information for those who may like to try it one day. The talk will also illustrate the spectacular scenery in this part of the world.

After our tea break we will have three brief talks about our experiences at the three observing sites for last week’s partial eclipse.

15/08/2026

Ready to do it all again? ? ?

Europe is entering a period of noteworthy astronomical events: three major solar eclipses in three consecutive years (2026, 2027, and 2028.) Each event offers unique viewing opportunities across the continent, from totality over Spain to an annular “ring of fire” visible from Portugal and beyond...

14/08/2026

About our eclipse viewing event at Addiscombe. Thanks and apologies.

Thanks to everyone for comming, for being pleasant, neighbourly and for sharing the limited supply of glasses. Thanks for not leaving ANY mess.

Thanks to my wife (Adrienne) who is not an astronomer and to Gwen Lawton and her sister Gill for helping out.

Thanks for all the nice comments - it was a really difficult event to organise as we were blown away by the numbers (in previous years we have had 30 - 40 visitors max)

Thanks to the Lee Flanagan from Trinity School who handed out additional viewing aids.

Thanks to Oscar and Fiona who allowed me to piggy-back on her smart telescope so I could show what was happening on my tablet.

Sorry that we didn't get a chance to talk more about astronomy. And sorry I didn't get a chance to chat to friends I hadn't seen for 5 years or so. Really disappointed we didn't get a chance to talk.

Sorry to the students from Kent University who wanted to interview me and I kept saying "another 5 minutes".

Sorry for the lack of glasses. We started with 10 pairs which has done us in the past, then we got another 50, then another 150 but we probably needed 2000 pairs. We just didn't anticipate how the Press would talk up the event.

13/08/2026

Thanks to everyone who came to our eclipse viewing yesterday. Probably 10,000 visitors in all.

Thanks and apologies will follow when I have packed everything away. But to keep you going you might like this video taken by CAS member John Maltby from Warlingham School common last night.

13/08/2026

Wow. What an astonishing day. Thank you to everyone who joined us at the RAF Tribute in Kenley.

Thank you to our chairman, Stefan and his mother who were doing sterling work on their own right from the start as so many of you arrived a lot earlier than we were expecting. I'm looking forward to see his post about the day.

We severely under estimated the amount of people who would turn up and apologies to those who were unable to get a pair of the eclipse glasses but you were all so understanding about the situation.

There were 1800 of you in the queue for glasses and easily the same again set up on the grass and I have to say you were all a lovely crowd.

A special thank you to the two gentlemen who had a pair of eclipse glasses and were helping people use them to take pictures with their phones, you gave people a great reminder of the day. I apologise for not getting your names but thank you again.

To all of you that either stayed or came back for the Perseid meteor shower you were treated to one of the best displays I've seen for years. To the gentleman who was photographing the meteor shower (again apologies for not remembering names) please let us know the outcome of your efforts.

As I said before you were all a great crowd, thank you all for taking your rubbish to the bin. When we left at 3am you would never have known we had been there.

Lastly apologies to the locals as Hayes Lane was turned into a massive car park and caused some delays to traffic.

12/08/2026

To all those joining us at one of our 3 eclipse sites this evening, we have had a lot of interest in each site, its wonderful to have an almost national event to be part of.

Please be mindful that our Society is run by volunteers who are sharing their time and knowledge with you this evening.

Demand has been very high for glasses, as you will have seen.
We will have glasses at all 3 sites for people to borrow for the event.
We may not have enough for each person, and likely it may be so that it is 1 pair per family if the numbers are very high.

If you are driving to any of the 3 sites, please park responsibly, we want to be able to continue our 'out in the community' events, but we need to show respect for the residents.

There are no toilets at any of the sites.

Lastly have a wonderful Solar eclipse .

We would love to hear your experience of it , please do leave us a comment!

Thanks,
Laura

12/08/2026

Just a quick reminder - the observatory itself will NOT be open for the eclipse - instead we will be at the aerodrome opposite, by the RAF Tribute https://maps.app.goo.gl/2NYYBpyy6sM6Gg216

In addition we will be holding viewing events at locations in Warlingham https://maps.app.goo.gl/WeFyxzU4h25Rq83C9 and Addiscombe https://maps.app.goo.gl/19jMZYhVUMajS7oi8

Please go to our website for full details.
https://www.croydonastro.org.uk/

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

12/08/2026

I'm sure a lot of you will be wanting to capture the event for posterity so here is a link with more information about using a smartphone to photograph the eclipse.

Our expert breaks down seven tips for capturing the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse on a smartphone, covering equipment, composition and focus.

12/08/2026

Put this in your diary now.

On Monday 2nd August next year (2027) there is a solar eclipse viewable from Croydon. The peak is at 10am. It won't be as full as today's but still worth looking at.

11/08/2026