Venus and Moon Conjunction

Last night I took out my ST80 and SLT computerised mount into the garden where the sky was wonderfully clear. I thought I might try to find and image the Whirlpool Galaxy in Ursa Major (The Plough) and a couple of other Deep Sky Objects. Alas...that was not to be! The SLT mount would not align, probably because I did not input the time correctly to take account of Daylight Saving. I tried alignment four times, the last attempt seemed to lock, but then gave me very inaccurate results when looking for objects. In the end I gave up and went in!

Tonight was cloudy, but I managed to capture the lovely conjunction of Venus and the Moon low in the Western Sky.

Venus is magnificent at the moment, bright enough to cast shadows in a dark room. (Maybe I should try it?)

I have just bought a flip mirror to use with both the webcam and the EOS350, although the EOS 350 fits alright, I still need an adaptor to reduce the T thread to a 1.25" so that I can use the webcam. I've ordered it from 'Green Witch' a company that I have never used before, still waiting for it to arrive...fingers crossed!

Is this Global Warming?

Is it Global Warming?

Is it Climate Change?

Or is it just fantastic weather that coincides with my two week Easter Holiday? (I think so)

Today the temperature reached 75 degrees and wall to wall sunshine for virtually the last two weeks. Apart from a couple of days when it drizzled a bit, the weather has been glorious. The last few days hit temperatures in the the 70's! The grass on the Moors are tinder dry and nights have been clear but hazy, lovely to sit under, but not good to take images.
The Plough is now sitting at azimuth (straight up!) and Orion is disappearing into the Western Sky. Venus is superb! Sitting high in the West and probably the brightest (and highest) i've seen...a lovely sight.

Big Brother in Space

Here I am with Vernon Kay!

Following the 50th Aniversary of Sky at Night it seems that the BBC need to jazz up their production of S@N , bring in a few celebrities and compete with Daytime TV

It seems that the only way these days to get early slots are reality programmes, soaps, auctions, gardening and houses!How about some suggestions:

Sky Force - Nominate someone for Alan and Charlie to come round while you are out to build and set up your dream observatory!

Big Brother in Space - Send Chris Linnott, Brian May John Culshaw, Mylene Klass and Jade to the International Space Station and we all watch it on reality TV with a focus on the cosmos! Sir Patrick could stay on Earth and stand in for Davina McColl!

Cash in the Observatory - Sell your old stuff through a specialist astro auction house to gain cash for a dream astro project!

Constellation Street - Weekly events of life in the cosmos, presented by Kate Ford.

M Farm - Dingles approach to Deep Sky Imaging!

50 years of Sky at Night!

An incredible aniversary when you consider the changes in technology! Started before the launch of Sputnik then through the Space Race years, Moon Landings, Hubble Telescope, International Space Station and Mars Landers it's pretty incredible.

Here is a quote from the BBC:

Sir Patrick Moore has presented the 650th episode of BBC One's astronomy programme The Sky at Night, nearly 50 years after the show first aired.
Sir Patrick presented the first show, when he was asked to do three programmes on astronomy in 1957.
At 83, he is British television's longest serving presenter, and still continues his own astronomy work.

The 50th aniversary programme was a real change from the norm. Featuring Brian May (Queen Guitarist) and Jon Culshaw who played a brilliant part as Sir Patrick 50 years ago! I really enjoyed the light hearted approach to Space and Science shown on the programme so I sent my own views to the S@N forum:

As a Primary School Teacher I would like to congratulate yourself, Sir Patrick, Brian, Jon Culshaw and everyone else involved in last night's programme. To traditional S@N watchers the aniversary programme was 'different' and maybe not as expected, but for young children with an interest in space and astronomy i'm sure that they will love it! It brought to life, in an entertaining way, how technology has progressed over the last 50 years and looked ahead to the next 50 years. This gives younger children something really positive to think about and gives a real stimulus for Science or Writing Projects. OK...the original programme was a bit late for younger children, but I will certainly be showing it to my class who are keen on learning about space. I think that you have produced a super resource that could encourage children to take more interest apart from 'Play Station' virtual space

Well Done Sir Patrick!