Hope you've all enjoyed a good Christmas break, whatever you've done. As this week's interesting featured image from Sam Hood shows, the skies continue to give us good photo opportunities even in the darkness. This is a luna corona, and I think a halo, which https://atoptics.co.uk/blog/lunar-corona/ says: "A lunar corona is a phenomenon that occurs when thin clouds pass across a bright moon, creating a mesmerizing display of a bright disk surrounded by faint colored rings. It occurs when each individual corona light ray reaching our eyes is scattered or diffracted by only one droplet. The entire corona is formed by numerous droplets, each individually scattering the moonlight. Lunar coronae are more commonly observed than their solar counterparts.
Next full moon is 25th January 2024 by the way.
Continuing to look ahead... there is no meeting this coming Tuesday (2nd January 2024), the next meeting will be on Tuesday 9th January, 7.30pm, at the Poldrate (our syllabus is here if you need it). The agenda for that evening is Smart Telescopes with Michael, and a collective discussion about various cameras - bring your own, and bring your questions/answers that may be particular to the model of camera.
Note we have a couple of competition deadlines approaching. The Fiona Govan Nature Competition is due in on the 9th January (and note the guidelines for this, here, members only link). This will be won from a members vote on 23rd January. Next up is the Monochrome competition - deadline is 23rd January, judged by Steven Galvin on 6th February.
Happy new year to you all, if it's not too early to wish you that. I hope 2024 is a good one for you and your loved ones. See you on the 9th.