G4AQB ASTRO BLOG

Airfix Space Shuttle

2012-02-08T22:22:00.002Z

At last I have bought an Airfix Space Shuttle model kit!

I wanted one of these for Christmas, but couldn't find any in the shops and on e-bay they were few and far between usually going for more than the retail price. I think they produced the kit to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Space Shuttle. I spoke with the guy from the local model shop and he told me that Airfix only produced them over a short period of time and they are now becoming difficult to obtain.

I used to buy lots of model kits when I was very young, mainly airplanes. I would glue all the pieces together and paint them, then my Dad would hang them from the ceiling in my bedroom. This kit has lots of bits to stick together...it will probably take me weeks to complete it!

Jupiter, Venus and the Moon

2012-01-31T23:38:00.002Z

This is a lovely photo taken by Birgitta in Sweden.

The Moon with Jupiter close by and Venus all together in the sky just after sunset. Here in Northern England the sky was cloudy so I couldn't see this sight.

Jupiter and Venus

2012-01-18T21:13:00.005Z

On Monday 15th January I set up my Skywatcher 80ED Pro refractor in the garden and also the Philips Toucam Webcam with my laptop. The sky is clear and at about 5.30pm I can see both Venus and Jupiter together in the sky.

It took some time to set up the telescope because I needed three objects to align the SLT mount and I could only see two until it got a little darker. First I tried to take some images of Venus before it sank slowly in the South West. I used both the 2x Barlow and later the 3x Barlow along with the webcam to capture the images. I then captured around 2000 frames at 15 fps with the Philips Toucam.

After that I moved the telescope to track Jupiter and repeated the same thing again as with Venus.

With the image of Venus you can see some 'false colours' which is probably caused by the effects of using a refractor telescope. Maybe the Skywatcher 130m reflector would have been a better choice for imaging Venus as it is so bright.

Jupiter looks amazing, you can see the 'Great Red Spot' on the cloudbands at the top left and also a dark spot called a 'Barge' at the lower right in the cloud bands. These are storms in Jupiter's atmosphere.

Venus in Sweden and England

2012-01-14T22:07:00.004Z

As the sun sets on a cold, clear night in Sweden the planet Venus shines like a beacon in the sky. Now the brightest object in the evening sky, even brighter than Jupiter. Birgitta in Sweden captured this image shortly after sunset...beautiful!

In England it is cold and frosty, the sky is clear giving a wonderful sunset. These images were taken here in Bolton of Venus just after sunset last night.

Really looking forward to watching 'Stargazer's Live' with Prof Brian Cox on BBC2 on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm sure the sky will still be clear at the beginning of the week. Should be good. The programme is to be filmed at Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope in Cheshire.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/features/stargazing/

Lenticular Clouds

2011-12-23T21:46:00.003Z

This is a rare sight and I must admit that I had never heard of these type of clouds. These were seen in West Yorkshire yesterday.

Weird and very beautiful. It seems that these are caused by winds which pass over the Pennines causing air turbulants that produce 'standing waves'. Standing waves are all to do with resonant frequencies. They rarely happen in this country, but they can be seen in America near to mountains. Sometimes people think they are flying saucers!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenticular_cloud

Latest Jupiter Image

2011-11-17T21:49:00.004Z

Last Thursday I took my Skywatcher 80ED Pro into the garden to try to capture an image of Jupiter in all it's glory. It was a beautiful, clear evening and Jupiter had moved far enough from the almost full Moon. I have not taken a planetary image with this scope before using a webcam, so I wasn't sure about the focus settings. I remember having problems with this and had to mess about with it. Once I had the telescope set up and tracking I was able to set up the Philips Toucam Pro to get the image onto the centre of the CCD sensor. After taking a couple of avi videos using K3CCD I tried with the Barlow lens to make the image bigger. This is quite tricky, because it is usually hard to find the target and it needs to be dead centre. When I put in the Barlow lens I found Jupiter was aligned perfectly! The tracking was perfect as well, so I was able to capture up to 3000 frames of video without it moving.

After capturing Jupiter I then went inside, stacked and processed the image using Registax 3 and Photoshop.

In the larger image I can see a dark spot or shadow on the left of the surface. I am not sure if this is a Moon in transit or a storm in the atmosphere of Jupiter. The image was taken at about 8.30pm GMT on 10/11/11.

I am really pleased with this image, my best of Jupiter so far!

Swedish Moon

2011-11-11T20:45:00.007Z

The Moon and Jupiter has been wonderful in Sweden and here are some lovely photos sent to me by Birgitta taken from Storvik which is North of Stockholm in Sweden. Birgitta has used a Canon Powershot A650IS to capture the images.

A beautiful image from Birgitta of the Moon and Jupiter seen from Sweden. Here in England it was cloudy, so we couldn't see this. The sky cleared the next day, but Jupiter had moved to the other side of the Moon.

I love this photo of the Moon....very spooky! Thank you Birgitta!

New LRO photos of Apollo Landing Sites

2011-09-06T21:15:00.004Z

Remarkable new images of the Apollo landing sites on the Moon have been released by Nasa. (click photos to enlarge)

The pictures clearly show the hardware left on the lunar surface by American astronauts in the 1960s and 70s, including Apollo 17's "Moon buggy".

The images were acquired by the robotic Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which has been circling Earth's satellite since 2009.
Such shots have been returned before, but these are the best yet.
LRO has recently lowered its orbit from 50km above the Moon's surface to just 25km.
This makes it easier to see equipment, such as the descent stages that put the astronauts on the surface. Some of the science experiments are visible, also - as are the trails of bootmarks left in the dirt as the crews positioned these science packages.
Harrison Schmitt sits in the LRV
The Apollo 17, 14 and 12 sites are the focus of the latest release.
They were viewed by the narrow-angle imaging system on LRO's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) instrument.
At the lower altitude, this instrument sees objects at a resolution of 25cm by 25cm per pixel.
In an extreme blow-up of the Apollo 17 Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), it is just possible to discern the condition in which the astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt parked the buggy - with its wheels turned to the left.
LRO has been a highly productive mission. It has now returned several hundred thousands pictures of the lunar surface.

Return of the ISS

2011-08-21T20:35:00.005Z

After a long absence during the summer months the International Space Station can now be seen at a reasonable time. I went into my garden to watch this spectacular object pass overhead. I would like to capture a still image with my Skywatcher 130, but it is so difficult to get the image onto the sensor of the webcam. I need a lot of patience, something that I lack at the moment.

It's hard to imagine how the ISS can stay in service without the Space Shuttle. What happens for instance if one of the astronauts in the ISS becomes ill and needs to return to Earth. Would they have to rely on the Russian Soyuz craft?

Dawn now in orbit!

2011-07-17T11:59:00.001Z

Gosh! Is it really four years since the launch of the Dawn Spacecraft!
This morning Dawn has arrived at the asteroid Vesta and is now in orbit. When the mission was about to launch I sent my name and our family names to NASA to travel aboard the Dawn spacecraft.

It is amazing to think that I am in orbit around Vesta at this moment!

"The Dawn probe has successfully entered orbit around the asteroid Vesta.

Nasa's robotic satellite sent data early on Sunday confirming it was circling the 530km-wide body.

The probe has taken four years to get to Vesta and will spend the next year studying the huge rock before moving on to the "dwarf planet" Ceres.

Asteroid Vesta looks like a punctured football, the result of a colossal collision sometime in its past that knocked off its south polar region."

"Today, we celebrate an incredible exploration milestone as a spacecraft enters orbit around an object in the main asteroid belt for the first time," Nasa Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement.

"Dawn's study of the asteroid Vesta marks a major scientific accomplishment and also points the way to the future destinations where people will travel in the coming years. President Obama has directed Nasa to send astronauts to an asteroid by 2025, and Dawn is gathering crucial data that will inform that mission."

Vesta was discovered in 1807, the fourth asteroid to be identified in the great belt of rocky debris orbiting between Mars and Jupiter.

Apollo 11 launch day

2011-07-16T21:23:00.008Z

Today in 1969 Apollo 11 launched from Cape Kennedy on its journey to the Moon!
Gosh...I remember so well listening to this on a little transistor radio sat in the sunshine on a banking next to the gymnasium. Lots of us gathered around and cheering as the Saturn V lifted off!
It is amazing to think that only a week ago I felt the same emotions as the Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off from the same place for the last time. I wonder if we will see another launch in ten years time of men going to Mars?

This is amazing footage of the launch

Last Space Shuttle Flight

2011-07-08T21:35:00.006Z

What a sad day...the end of an era!

I watched the launch of the very last Space Shuttle launch at school at about 4.40pm today. Amazing to watch history in the making and my 'face in space' goes with the shuttle!

Face in space is a link to NASA to upload your name and photo of yourself to go with the flight. The launch was today, but Atlantis returns on 20th July....the day that man landed on the moon...what could be better? Well done NASA!

It would be fantastic to be able to see the Atlantis when it arrives at the International Space Station, I will be waiting to see a pass of the ISS and Atlantis over the UK, but this won't be for a few days yet. Would be even better to image it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EFuLap5Pgg

Saturn viewing

2011-06-12T17:16:00.003Z

Well, last night I brought out the Skywatcher 130 and had a look for Saturn. It was still light, so I hunted for the planet that was located to the South West higher than the Moon. When I found Saturn it was very clear and with the 10mm eyepiece you could easily see a dark band at the top part of the planet. Saturn along with some of it's moons was a joy to see!

Now I need to get out my Philips Toucam Pro II and see if I can still image Saturn like I was able to a couple of years ago.

The image above was taken with my Skywatcher 130 and Philips Toucam Pro II back in 2007.

Space Shuttle 30 years old!

2011-04-12T23:58:00.001Z

April 12 saw not only the 50th anniversary of the first human space flight but also the 30th anniversary of the first flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Now we are looking at an end of an era as the Space Shuttles are retired and sent to museums across America.

Two of the shuttles didn't survive, Columbia and Challenger.

The space shuttle programme played an important part in space travel, even if there seemed to be lack of interest...until something went wrong of course!

The big question is ...what will replace the shuttle? It will be years before there is a new replacement and all we can do is look at the cutting edge of technology in a museum...sad!

Happy Birthday Space Shuttle Flight STS-1 30 years!

Click here to see the flight!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13056244

Yuri Gagarin 50 years!

2011-04-12T22:27:00.009Z

OMG...I remember watching this on television in black and white when I was 6 years old!

I didn't really understand what was going on, but my Dad told me all about it. I have always remembered the name Yuri Gagarin because I couldn't pronounce it when I was 6 years old but my Mum and Dad helped me to say it.

An amazing flight!

Since then we have learned more about it since Russia has opened it's doors.

It seems that after the momentous space flight, Yuri's capsule came down in a farmer's field and had to knock on the door to ask to use his phone to contact the space centre!

YURI....PHONE HOME!

The capsule from the Vostok 3KA-3 rocket carrying Yuri Gagarin.

He even came to Manchester!

See the videos http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/solarsystem/astronauts/yuri_gagarin#p00fxdql http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12895822

April Moon

2011-04-11T21:57:00.002Z

While doing some Deep Space on Saturday night, I also took outside my Skywatcher 130m to have a good look at the Moon.

I can't image with the Canon 350d on the Skywatcher 130m, so I just used it to look closely at the Moon. I took photos with the Skywatcher 80ED and this time I got the focus right!

This is a beautiful image of the Moon on Saturday, you can see the craters very clearly.

Whirlpool Galaxy

2011-04-11T20:58:00.002Z

For the first time for quite a long time I set up my Skywatcher 80ED and Canon 350d camera to try to image some deep space objects. On Saturday night the sky was clear and it was warm outside as well. A lovely night!

At first I tried to image with the Orion Nebula as Orion was sinking into the western sky. Next I pointed the scope at M51 Whirlpool Galaxy. This was very high, almost at azimuth, so I wasn't sure if the mount would allow it to track at such a height. Surprisingly, it tracked without a problem.

I then took 30 subs at 30 seconds each. I think I needed more subs really, but the battery on the camera began to die. The image was stacked with Deepsky Stacker and processed in Photoshop. I think that I may be able to improve the image with some patience!

Tycho in Colour

2011-04-04T21:37:00.003Z

This image was taken 5 years ago on the 10th April 2006. It is an amazing image of Tycho with the ejecta rays from the huge crater. With some patience I managed to bring out the colour using Registax, Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro. I used my Skywatcher 130m and Philips Toucam Pro II modified webcam. I have never been able to capture anything like this since!

Super Moon!

2011-03-20T00:14:00.006Z

Tonight is a Super Moon! The Moon is now the closest to the Earth in 18 years and it is a full Moon which makes it beautiful to watch!

Took these images tonight with my Skywatcher 80ED Pro telescope and Canon 350D camera.

In reality, the Moon is only slightly larger than usual, but with clear skies and a full Moon it looks very bright. I looked at lots of websites tonight about the Super Moon and the bad omens connected with it.

The earthquake in Japan is an amazing co-incidence don't you think?

Now I am not the sort of person to spread doom and gloom, but when you think about it...is it possible that the Moon had something to do with the earthquake in Japan?

Do you think that the forces of gravity involved makes it possible? Earth and Moon interact with each other applying forces on each other. If the Moon is closer to the Earth then a larger force by the Moon is exerted on the Earth which may cause stress in certain areas of the Earth. Maybe it was 'the straw that broke the camel's back' and the Earth cracked and caused the earthquake in Japan and not long ago in New Zealand. Here is a good explanation of the 'Supermoon' and it's myths! http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/03/18/kryptonite-for-the-supermoon/

ISS and Discovery

2011-03-03T19:10:00.006Z

ISS and Discovery approaching from the West with Hyades and Pleiades in top left.

Tonight I set up and waited for the International Space Station and Discovery to make it's high pass over England. It was 18.45pm and clear skies. I set up the Canon 350D on a tripod and aimed at the West, the point of approach, with a wide view. Overhead the ISS was very bright mag -3.3 ... a wonderful sight!

I managed to capture three 20 second exposures. One on approach, one overhead and one decending away to the East.

ISS and Discovery overhead with Hyades and Pleiades to the right.

In the photos you can also see the star clusters of Hyades and Pleiades as the ISS passes close by.

ISS and Discovery silently moving away to the East.

I also made a video of the ISS using a 'Flip' Camera.

Orion wide view

2011-03-01T23:10:00.002Z

Tonight I set up my Canon 350D on a tripod ready to capture the pass of ISS and Discovery. The ISS was a beautiful sight approaching from the West and destined to cross the Orion Constellation. Then just as the ISS reached Orion...it vanished! I checked on 'Heavens above' and sure enough it fades before it peaks!

Never mind...try again tomorrow!

Still managed a nice photo Orion without ISS!

Discovery - end of an era!

2011-02-28T19:41:00.003Z

Discovery on it's final launch February 24th

As I write this, the space shuttle Discovery is docked to the International Space Station for the very last time. It first launched in 1984 and has completed 39 successful missions. Discovery delivered the HUBBLE Telescope bringing a window into the universe from space and later returned to service HUBBLE.

Sadly, there are only two more Shuttle missions before the entire programme is ended...I wonder how they are going to carry on servicing the ISS? It must be fantastic for the astronauts to look out of the window to see Discovery arriving for the final time!

Discover on it's first flight in 1984.

Discovery has flown 38 flights, completed 5,247 orbits, and spent 322 days in orbit. Discovery is the orbiter fleet leader, having flown more flights than any other orbiter in the fleet, including four in 1985 alone. Discovery flew all three "return to flight" missions after the Challenger and Columbia disasters: STS-26 in 1988, STS-114 in 2005, and STS-121 in 2006. Discovery is presently flying the second to last space shuttle mission STS-133, having launched on (NET) Feb. 24, 2011.

STS-41-D: First flight
STS-51-D: Carried first incumbent United States member of Congress into space, Senator Jake Garn (R–Utah)
STS-26: Return to space after Challenger disaster (STS-51-L)
STS-31: Launch of Hubble Space Telescope
STS-60: First Russian launched in an American spacecraft (Sergei Krikalev)
STS-95: Second flight of John Glenn, oldest man in space and third incumbent member of Congress to enter space
STS-92: The 100th Space Shuttle mission
STS-114: Return to space after Columbia disaster (STS-107)
STS-116: First night time launch of a shuttle since the Columbia disaster. Last Shuttle launch from LC-39B
STS-131: Longest mission for this orbiter

Stargazing Live!

2011-01-04T22:53:00.005Z

Three nights of live astronomy with Brian Cox from Jodrell Bank in Cheshire.

I have never seen anything like this before, prime time television on BBC 2 HD, lots of high tech link-ups and huge touch screens! I watched it all last night and tonight and thought it was excellent...another one tomorrow! This week has many events happening, today was a partial eclipse of the sun that could be seen at sunrise, yesterday a conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus and right now as I speak, Earth is the closest to the sun possible. (Not that you would know that here with the snow!) We are also in the peak of a meteor shower, which showed up live on one of the live clips.

I didn't like the bits with Jonathon Ross, he had no idea at all and probably got paid a lot of money for being on the show...they could have chosen someone better! Dara O Briain was funny at times, but talked too much!

Another good thing about this is that Dianne Oxberry, from North West Tonight is there showing photos and chatting with the crew at Jodrell Bank, a lot of air time was given to this which made it even better.

I have sent lots of photos to the site, maybe get a mention?

A great programme, I have followed Brian Cox on Twitter and sent messages as well. Maybe now people will look up more at the sky instead of their mobile phones!

"Jodrell Bank, home of the iconic Lovell telescope, is hosting a major BBC astronomy event.
Stargazing Live, which takes place between Monday 3 and Wednesday 5 January, is being broadcast every night from the Cheshire site.
Dr Tim O'Brien from the University of Manchester research facility said that staff were looking forward to "showcasing the observatory".
"We're keeping our fingers crossed for clear skies," he added.
Beautiful

Stargazing Live is presented by Professor Brian Cox and Dara O'Briain
Stargazing Live is co-hosted by scientist and TV presenter Prof Brian Cox and comedian Dara O'Briain, an amateur astronomer, in an attempt to introduce more people to the wonders of the night sky.
All three programmes are being broadcast live from the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics where University of Manchester researchers control all three telescopes on site well as five others in Cheshire, Cambridgeshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire.
Dr O'Brien said January promised to be an 'exciting' time for stargazers with three major astronomical events, including a partial solar eclipse, taking place.
"Some of the most spectacular starscapes are in the winter, with constellations like Orion, Taurus and the Pleiades all being visible," he said.
According to Dr O'Brien, the recent cold snap had actually helped stargazing, though he was mindful that any willing stargazers should consider the freezing temperatures before venturing out into the winter night.
"Sometimes in the winter, when you get these clear cold nights, if you're lucky and you don't get the fog, all the water vapour is frozen out of the atmosphere and you can get some very beautiful, clear nights for looking at the sky," he said.
"If you spend any length of time outside, you see more and more because your eyes get used to the dark and you'll see the fainter and fainter stars.
"If it's not too cold, get wrapped up warm and persuade yourself to get outside - get a glass of mulled wine or something - and look at some of the stars, it's just beautiful."
Hearing the stars
Of course, anyone who knows anything about Jodrell Bank knows that the centre is not strictly speaking stargazing, but rather star-listening, as all eight of the main Jodrell-controlled telescopes receive radio, rather than light, waves.
Dr O'Brien said they "do have some telescopes that you can look through at Jodrell Bank, but they're rather small."
STARGAZING LIVE: EVENTS

Mon 3 Jan: the Perihelion (point at which the Earth is closest to the Sun in its annual orbit) occurs
Tues 4 Jan: a partial solar eclipse is visible for a short time after sunrise
Weds 5 Jan: the Quadrantid Meteor Shower happens in the constellation of Boötes and the Comet Hartley passes
Stargazing Live: local events
"All our big telescopes are radio telescopes, picking up radio waves coming from outer space, rather than visible light, the sort of stuff you can see with your eyes.
"So we don't need clear skies, we can see through clouds with radio waves, which is why we're able to do that level of astronomy from Cheshire, since it's cloudy [there] relatively often.
"We can also do it during the day as well, so in principle, radio astronomy is something that you can do 24 hours a day."
With that in mind, Dr O'Brien said the team at Jodrell were "keeping our fingers crossed for clear skies, but it's all been set up so that there'll be images brought in from around the country."
Adding: "If we're unlucky and the clouds gather over Jodrell Bank, I'm sure there'll be other places where it will be clear and people have the opportunity to get out and look up and see some of the amazing things you can see in the night sky."
'Iconic'
Whatever happens though, Dr O'Brien said the whole three days would be a brilliant way of showing off the Centre for Astrophysics.
"I think for a long time, Jodrell Bank has been seen as an iconic representation of science and engineering as a whole, not just astronomy.
"When it was built, [the Lovell telescope] was the world's largest telescope, and it's still the third largest steerable telescope in the world, so it still has a key role to play in international astronomy.
"We're looking forward to having a chance to showcase the observatory."

Airfix Apollo 11

2010-12-29T22:52:00.010Z

OMG....finally it is completed, only taken a full year to assemble and paint!

It now sits on my shelf to look at in awe...if it took me that long to build it with plastic, how long did it take back in 1969.

Gosh...I always wanted this Airfix model, I never thought I would ever have one and most of all complete one...paints and all!

It comes to pieces as well...

1st Stage...

2nd Stage...

3rd Stage...

Command Module and Lunar Lander...

Fiery Sunset

2010-12-08T22:02:00.002Z

A cresent Moon and fiery sunset!

Temperature outside about -6 degrees, snow on the ground and earlier this week freezing fog with temperatures down to -12. The sky is crystal clear, beautiful stars and Orion just coming over the Eastern horizon!

Jupiter high in the Southern sky and this morning Venus was stunning in the morning sky...the real Christmas Star!

Airfix Saturn V

2010-11-28T23:25:00.006Z

At last... I have finally made my Airfix Saturn V Rocket Kit!

Kathleen bought it for me for Christmas last year, but I was reluctant to build it because I always wanted one and didn't want to make a mess of it! It felt better having it in the box complete rather than breaking something or losing a part. I went to Hobbycraft yesterday to buy the paint needed to finish off the model... I now need somewhere to put it safely!

You have to say that Saturn V was the most incredible and amazing vehicle ever!

Melissa made a smaller version!

Jupiter's Moons

2010-10-20T19:08:00.002Z

Last night the Moon and Jupiter reached their closest points to each other. Jupiter is very bright in the Southern sky and with the Moon just above, it was a wonderful sight.

Photo shows Jupiter with four of it's Moons (left to right) Europa, Io, Ganymede, Callisto.

Blue Earth

2010-09-29T21:16:00.003Z

This photo never ceases to amaze me... incredible!

So peaceful and tranquil, all alone in the blackness of space

The Earth, the Earth
Is big and bright
With the stars in skylight
Bright Earth, bright Earth
How lovely you are
I want to touch you
But you are very far

An early Harvest Moon

2010-09-29T20:58:00.003Z

The Harvest Moon is very early this year and coincides with beginning of Autumn (23rd September this year)

This means that the Moon will rise directly in the East at about the same time as the Sun sets directly in the West. The last time this happened was in 1991 and will not be seen again until 2029.

This photo taken just as the Moon started to wane with the Canon EOS and 200mm lens.

The Moon was a beautiful sight making it almost daylight on that clear night!

Perfectly clear sky!

2010-04-17T21:55:00.004Z

The UK is currently experiencing something most unusual!

A volcano in Iceland has emitted loads of dust and gas and is sitting over our country. All flights in and out of the UK have been grounded for the last couple of days. The weather today has been gorgeous, wall to wall sunshine and I have sat in the garden and experienced for the first time ever perfectly clear blue sky.

No vapour trails and no noise from airplanes...wonderful!

Can we keep this going for another few days? I hope so!

A lovely cresent Moon tonight very near to Venus, Mercury has now vanished, managed to capture it just in time!

"Passengers face further disruption after flight restrictions were extended until 1300 BST on Sunday as the danger from Icelandic volcanic ash continues.
The National Air Traffic Control Service (Nats) said forecasts showed the ash cloud progressively covering the whole of the UK after 1900 BST.
British Airways has cancelled all long and short-haul flights in and out of the UK on Sunday.
Officials warn that European airspace could be disrupted for several days. "

Venus and Mercury

2010-04-10T21:32:00.003Z

Took this image on Wednesday 7th April of Venus and Mercury viewed over Starmount in Radcliffe at about 9.15pm. I stood for ages watching the sunset and as the sky darkened first Venus then Mercury came into view.
A lovely sight!
Used my Canon EOS 350D, set to ISO 800 and 500ms exposure.
Today we have had the best day for months, temperature reaching 20 degrees and wall to wall sunshine...fantastic! (we have waited so long!)

Mr Moon

2010-03-20T23:38:00.002Z

Every time I see the Moon when i'm with Melissa (my Grandaughter) I show her the Moon and say "Look! It's Mr Moon!.

Tonight she said "Grandad, you always say that and he's not watching!

Well, this is a lovely image that I took that shows the beauty of Mr Moon!

Orion

2010-03-20T23:12:00.002Z

A lovely wide view of Orion from my back garden.

I took my skywatcher 80ED out to try to capture Mars with the SC1.5 camera, but didn't have much success. I have not used the SC1.5 camera with this scope and I think it was having problems focusing. I need to find out a bit more before trying again.

Instead I took out my Canon 350D and tried some wide field views of Orion.

I must admit that the awful Winter has put me off going outside and setting up the equipment in the freezing cold. Now that Spring has arrived i'm inspired to get out there a bit more!

Mars and Moon

2010-01-29T22:20:00.002Z

A wonderful sight tonight of Mars and the Full Moon.

Had a good look with my Skywatcher 80ED scope. Captured some images with the Canon 350D and 200mm lens mounted on a small tripod.
The image shown is Mars and the Moon from my back garden.
Back garden is almost like daylight with the Moon so bright, but very cold, didn't stay out for long.

Mars is in opposition at the moment so it is very bright.

If you look carefully at the image you can see some detail on Mars. I now need to get my Philips Toucam ProII out with the Skywatcher 130m and see if I can capture some images as good as last time Mars was this clear.

Frozen Britain

2010-01-09T00:04:00.003Z

What an amazing image! Snow from above! (Click to enlarge)
We are now in the grip of the coldest Winter ever. Tonight temperature down to -10 and still falling. The toilet has just frozen up and i'm flushing salt down it to keep it clear!
Icicles like I have not seen since the 1960's hang outside my house and there is no end to the freeze! Clear nights, but too cold to get outside and image.

Eclipsed Blue Moon at New Year!

2009-12-31T21:51:00.003Z

Took this image at about 7.45 tonight with my Canon 350D with 200mm zoom lens. ISO 100.

Well, this is a rare one!

Tonight on New Years Eve I saw a Partial Lunar Eclipse (about 10%) It is also a 'Blue Moon' the second full moon of the month. A wonderful sight in the clear sky tonight after all the snow and gloomy weather.

The last time there was a Lunar Eclipse and a Blue Moon together was 350 years ago ... so I wonder when this happened last on the last day of the year and decade as well!!!

Tonight the Moon is bright, almost as high as it can get in the sky. Cold and calm... a moment of reflection for the end of a year and end of a decade.

Here are some of my children from school with their beautiful poems!

http://tinyurl.com/yfa8sjp

Happy New Year!

3D Show

2009-12-17T22:24:00.002Z

Amazing stuff this 3D.

Went to see 'A Christmas Carol' at the cinema with 200 kids from school on Wednesday. The film has been filmed in 3D, but the cinema didn't have 3D technology to get the full effect. Still the film was superb, would love to see it in true 3D.

Yesterday I showed my class a 3D Space Show and gave all 30 kids 3D glasses. I displayed the images on the Interactive Whiteboard as a Powerpoint Presentation. They all loved it!

Now my eyes are not brilliant, so I wasn't sure how it would look on a big screen in 3D, but it worked really well.

Above is one of the images that I used, 3D Mars!

Astro-Blog Book

2009-11-25T23:04:00.002Z

It's arrived!

My Astro-Blog Book!

Having put stuff on my blog now for a long time, I thought it would be nice to have a printed version. There only seems to be one company that will turn a blog into a professional looking book. Its called 'Shared Book', produced by 'blog2print' and the quality is superb. This is the second blog that I have had printed and I am most impressed!

http://www.blog2print.com/

The Eagle has Landed!

2009-11-22T21:35:00.003Z

Alright...so its made of plastic. I bought this as a 4D Puzzle from e bay. It took about an hour to assemble all the pieces and here it is. A great little model and I also built the Apollo Command Module which fits nicely with the Lunar Lander.

I'm now hoping to get an Airfix Saturn V model for Christmas. (Are you listening Father Christmas?)

First 3D Image

2009-11-14T23:04:00.002Z

Get your 3D glasses on and have a look at this! (enlarge it first!)

Superb 3D image of astronaut Pete Conrad on the Moon from the Apollo 12 mission. Today I bought a copy of Sky at Night Space 3D. Some fantasic 3D images of Space. My favourite images are that of Mars... superb!

Apollo 11 landing site from the LRO!

2009-11-11T23:08:00.003Z

As the Apollo 11 Lunar Module (LM) neared the surface, Neil Armstrong could see the designated landing area would have been in a rocky area near West Crater. He had to change the flight plan and fly the LM westward to find a safe landing spot. This image is 742 meters wide (about 0.46 miles). North is towards the top of the image.

This is amazing!! The Apollo 11 Landing Site from the LRO at it's lower orbit!

I have waited sooooo long to see an image like this!

"Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."

With those eight words, astronaut Neil Armstrong let the world know that Apollo 11 had landed safely on the moon, beginning humankind's first exploration of another world. The landing certainly kept the mission operations crew in suspense as Armstrong maneuvered around the bouldery ejecta on the northeast flank of West Crater, finally settling down almost a kilometer to the west with only tens of seconds of fuel remaining.The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera team earlier released two pictures of the Apollo 11 landing site, each taken under different lighting conditions and at lower resolution than this image. This is LROC's first picture of Apollo 11 after LRO dropped into its 50 km mapping orbit. At this altitude, very small details of Tranquility Base can be discerned.

The footpads of the LM are clearly discernible. Components of the Early Apollo Science Experiments Package (EASEP) are easily seen, as well. Boulders from West Crater lying on the surface to the east stand out, and the many small craters that cover the moon are visible to the southeast.

Apollo 17 Landing Site

2009-11-02T22:24:00.006Z

Latest images from the LRO, here is the Apollo 17 Landing Site!

What amazing images they are, you can even see the trails of the astronauts as they walked around on the Moon. This is a bit like Google Earth showing your back garden from space!

I wonder if we will have Google Moon with images mapped from the LRO showing all the Apollo landing sites...would be great!

The images above were taken from the mission showing the landscape and the Lunar Module Descent Stage left on the Moon taken from the Lunar Rover after lift off.
Fantastic!!

Amazing Weather!

2009-10-29T22:40:00.003Z

Here is Melissa enjoying the sunshine, don't forget it's nearly November!

This time last year it was snowing! (fact)

This week has had temperatures as high as 21 degrees, yesterday we had lunch in the garden with T-shirts and beautiful sunshine! Even night temperatures are still at 15 degrees, you could sit in the garden with a beer. Looking at the weather map warm air from the South is flowing across the UK, is this a true Indian Summer?

It is quite cloudy and a lot of moisture in the air, but for a half term week its amazing!

Saturn's new ring

2009-10-07T20:49:00.006Z

An incredible discovery today, been on the news and in the newspapers!

Saturn has a large diffuse 'ring' that has not been seen until now. The dusty hoop lies some 13 million km (eight million miles) from the planet, about 50 times more distant than the other rings and in a different plane.

Above is my image of Saturn taken in 2007 with my Skywatcher ST80 and Philips Toucam Pro II. About 3000 frames stacked in Registax. I wonder if one day I will be able to image the new ring with a super sensitive Infra Red camera. (I doubt it somehow!!)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8291905.stm

Tonight's Harvest Moon

2009-10-04T21:31:00.003Z

A beautiful Moon tonight! Took this one from my bedroom window, no fancy equipment.

Perfectly clear and the Moon perfectly aligned high in the sky.

The Harvest Moon is the full Moon nearest to the first day of Autumn and today is the 4th October which only happens every four years.

I wonder how many farmers are out tonight gathering the crops in Moonlight?

A beautiful night!

ISS tonight

2009-09-15T22:20:00.002Z

At last I have managed to capture the ISS tonight with a (bit) of detail!

I have tried different ways of capturing an image of the ISS, but all I end up with is a blur or a bright spot.

Tonight I tried my Skywatcher ED80 pro and Canon 350d. OK...not brilliant...but the best image so far!

The camera was set to ISS 800, 1/400s and hand held along with the scope. The most difficult part is focusing the scope, as the ISS passes overhead the scope needs re-focusing and it is so difficult trying to adjust focus, track the ISS and take pictures.

I will have another go tomorrow and see if I can do any better!

Milky Way

2009-08-24T21:19:00.003Z

Here is an image taken on Saturday of the Cygnus area of the Milky Way at azimuth (straight up) about 11.00pm. This is a wide field image taken with my Canon EOS350D mounted on a tripod and just it's usual 18 - 55mm lens fitted. ISO1600, 12 x 30 second exposures stacked in Deepspace stacker.

Didn't quite get the focus spot-on because of the wide field, but a nice image! Also a bit of light pollution as lights kept going on while I was taking the photos!

Tonight's Sunset

2009-08-06T20:51:00.002Z

A lovely red and crimson sunset tonight.

(may be the volcano effect again)

It was beautiful from my back garden, but I went to Starmount Lodges with my camera to snap some with the whole of the sky!

Taken about 9.15pm tonight with my Canon 350D set to auto.

Seeing Red!

2009-08-04T23:02:00.003Z

I have just been sat in the garden as it went dark tonight.

As I watched the clouds coming from the South they became orange and red. By 10.00pm the sky was filled with bright red clouds. Never seen this before, has anyone else seen this tonight?The wind is coming from the South and very warm here near Manchester, I wondered if the clouds contain sand granules from the deserts in Africa, but I have just been told that it may have something to do with the Russian Volcano. It was a spectacular sight!

The images shown are in the South taken with the Canon 350D at about 9.50pm tonight.

"The night skies over Britain will turn a deep shade of crimson this week as the fallout from a Russian volcano blast hits the UK.Millions of tonnes of dust, ash and sulphur dioxide were thrown up to 30 miles into the air when Sarychev Peak on Matua Island in the Kuril Archipelago erupted last month.The blast created what experts call a ‘volcanic aerosol’ - a colourful mixture of ash and sulphur compounds - in the stratosphere.This scatters an invisible blue glow which, when mixed with the red light of the setting sun, produces a ‘volcanic lavender’, or vivid crimson/violet hue.Strong winds blew the soaring plume more than 2,000 miles across the northern hemisphere before its effects were noticed in Britain last Thursday.

It is part of a chain of volcanic islands that run south from the Kamchatka Peninsula in the western Pacific Ocean.Commercial flights have been diverted away from the area to minimise the danger of engine failure from ash intake since the eruption on June 12.

During the eruption, the International Space Station passed overhead and astronauts were able to photograph the event.

A hole in the overhead clouds, possibly caused by the shock wave from the explosion, allowed a clear view of the plume and lava flow down the sides of the mountain.A cap-like mushroom cloud is visible atop the rising column.Sarychev Peak previously erupted in 1760, 1805, 1879, 1923, 1927, 1928, 1930, 1932, 1946, 1954, 1960, 1965, 1976, 1986 and 1989. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7805018.stm

Noctilucent Clouds

2009-07-26T21:38:00.003Z

A beautiful display of Noctilucent Clouds last week from my back garden.

Noctilucent Clouds are rare and only happens in certain conditions.

'Noctilucent clouds are the highest clouds in the sky at a height of about 50 miles, which puts them at the top of the mesosphere. These can only be seen during the summer between about 50 and 65 degrees north and south. At any higher latitude it doesn't get sufficiently dark enough to see them.
These clouds look very similar to high cirrus but are bluish or silver in colour and, like the nacreous clouds, are illuminated when the sun is below the horizon, in this case some 6 to 12 degrees.
...most scientists now believe that they are made of water ice.There has been a lot of speculation on what they are made up of and how they are formed, but most scientists now believe that they are made of water ice. But how do these ice particles exist in what should be the warmest part of our atmosphere, and how do they get there in the first place? The answer is probably gravity waves.'

They are certainly wonderful to see from my garden!

Man on the Moon 40 Years ago!

2009-07-21T19:33:00.004Z

Fourteen years old, four days before my birthday. I had watched the Lunar Landing live on television at about Nine O'Clock last night. I stayed up late to watch Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk on the Moon. I seem to remember going to bed about 2.00am and then getting up later to watch the live pictures. I was truely amazed with it all!

I stayed up all night until I had to start my morning paper round. The papers were full of news of the Lunar Landing and loads of pictures. I managed to get copies of some of the papers and took them home to read. I still don't remember what happened to them!

Last week I bought a copy of 'The Daily Mirror' dated Monday, July 21st 1969 from WH Smiths. Brought back many memories!

I can't remember what happened after during the rest of the day...I can't have been at school as it finished last week (I think!)

The image above is the only photo taken by Buzz Aldrin of Neil Armstrong on the surface of the Moon. He forgot to take pictures of Neil! It is part of a panorama of the Lunar surface taken by Buzz.

http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/a11pan1103147HR.jpg

President Barack Obama chats with Apollo 11 astronauts, from left, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins and Neil Armstrong, Monday, July 20, 2009, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, on the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing.

I've now got quite a collection of stuff to celebrate the 40th Aniversary:

The Sky at Night 'A Night to Remember' DVD

NASA's Greatest Missions 'Landing the Eagle' DVD

The Daily Mirror edition 21st July 1969

Man on the Moon, Sky at Night magazine Special Edition

Moon 3D

Haynes Workshop Manual of Apollo 11

Apollo 11 landing site from the LRO

2009-07-19T20:47:00.008Z

Great images coming from the LRO!

Now mapped nearly all the Apollo landing sites. the one above is the landing site of Apollo 11, if you look in the centre you will see an object with a large shadow to the right. That is the lower part of the LEM left there 40 years ago!

The Apollo 14 site is even better, you can actually see footprints on the surface ... incredible!

'A US spacecraft has captured images of Apollo landing sites on the Moon, revealing hardware and a trail of footprints left on the lunar surface.
The release of the images coincides with the 40th anniversary of the first manned mission to land on the Moon.
The descent stages from the lunar modules which carried astronauts to and from the Moon can clearly be seen.
The image of the Apollo 14 landing site shows scientific instruments and an astronaut footpath in the lunar dust.
It is the first time hardware left on the Moon by the Apollo missions has been seen from lunar orbit.
The pictures were taken by Nasa's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft, which launched on 18 June.'

Space Shuttle...amazing!

2009-07-15T22:58:00.002Z

Well, tonight I watched the launch of the Space Shuttle on NASA TV then waited about 18 minutes to see it come right over our heads here in my back garden!!

What an amazing sight!!

I watched with my wife Kathleen as the Shuttle and orange fuel tank passed overhead and took some photos.

OK, they are just spots of light, but above is the Space Shuttle and below is the orange coloured fuel tank. An hour earlier I watched the ISS pass over on almost the same path...wow!!

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)

2009-07-04T20:55:00.007Z

The US space agency's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft has returned its first images since reaching the Moon on 23 June.

CRaTER - will characterise the global lunar radiation environment
Diviner - is to measure lunar surface temperatures
LAMP - will map the Moon's permanently shadowed regions
LEND - measures the flux of neutrons from the Moon
LOLA - will provide a global lunar topographic model
LROC - LRO's camera will help select future landing sites
Mini-RF - uses radar to search for evidence of water ice

This month marks the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. LRO will start flying over the Apollo landing sites in mid-July.
However, the spacecraft will still be in its checkout phase at this time. If LRO does manage to take images of any Apollo sites in July, the pictures will not be at the best possible resolution.
When the orbiter flies over the Apollo 11 site it is likely to be at an altitude of 100km - allowing the camera to capture images at a resolution of 100cm per pixel.

I really hope that NASA manage to capture an image of the Apollo 11 landing site, it would be great to celebrate the 4oth anniversary with a photo!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8131658.stm

Latest images: http://wms.lroc.asu.edu/lroc_browse

LRO Website: http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/

Apollo 11 landing site

2009-07-03T21:43:00.004Z

In my quest to image the Apollo 11 landing site to celebrate the 40th anniversary this is my first attempt. I'm really pleased with this image, if you click the image it will zoom in closer. The image was taken on 30th June with the Moon quite low in the Southern sky. It shows the Sea of Tranquility and the approximate place of the Lunar Landing. Image take with my Canon 350D fitted to the Skywatcher 80ED Pro and 3x Barlow lens.

Counting down now to first Moon landing 20th July. I have already bought some great books and copy of the Daily Mirror on that day.

Watched 'Sky at Night...A night to remember' superb programme showing the whole of story lasting 2 hours introduced by Sir Patrick.

I hope they release this on DVD!

Another from last night!

2009-05-30T21:45:00.003Z

Another image of the Moon last night.
I have been looking through my images that I captured last night and am amazed at the detail of some of them. I have never tried imaging with a Barlow lens and the Canon 350d because it was imposible to achieve focus. I solved it last night by adding the diagonal and then adding the Barlow lenses...works a treat!

Tonight's Moon with 3x barlow

2009-05-29T22:41:00.005Z

Tonights Moon with a bit of colour saturation to bring out some of the detail in the image.

This picture is BIG click to enlarge the image.

It was really interesting tonight because for the first time with my Skywatcher ED80 pro I used a Barlow lens. In fact I stacked a 2x and 3x Barlow together with my Canon 350D and got some really good results. The image above was taken with the 3x Barlow, ISO800 exposure 100ms.

Here is my image of the Moon without a Barlow, again a large image, click to enlarge.

Apollo 10 launch

2009-05-18T21:20:00.006Z

Forty years ago today saw the launch of Apollo 10. The dress rehersal for the lunar landing in July 1969. The Apollo 10 mission was a complete staging of the Apollo 11 mission without actually landing on the Moon. The mission was the second to orbit the Moon and the first to travel to the Moon with the entire Apollo spacecraft configuration. Astronauts Thomas Stafford and Eugene Cernan decended inside the Lunar Module to within 14 kilometers of the lunar surface achieving the closest approach to the Moon before Apollo 11 landed two months later.
The picture above shows the Apollo 10 Command Module from the separated lunar landing craft.
I followed this mission on TV and remember the pictures sent from the Moon. A great atmosphere then, lots of press and TV coverage and a big build up to the big day in July 1969.

Apollo 10 Facts

Lunar Module:
Snoopy

Command and Service Module:
Charlie Brown

Crew:
Thomas P. Stafford, commander John W. Young, command module pilot Eugene A. Cernan, lunar module pilot

Launch:
May 18, 1969 16:49:00 UT (12:49:00 p.m. EDT) Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39B

Lunar Orbit:
May 21, 1969

Returned to Earth:
May 26., 1969 splashdown 16:52:23 UT (12:52:23 p.m. EDT)

Mission Duration:
192 hours 3 minutes 23 seconds

Retrieval site:
Pacific Ocean 15° 2' S, 164° 39' W

Retrieval ship:
U.S.S. Princeton

Highlights/Notes:

Demonstration of color TV camera.

Second Apollo mission to orbit the Moon.

First time the complete Apollo spacecraft had operated around the Moon and the second manned flight for the lunar module.

Two Apollo 10 astronauts descended to within eight nautical miles (14 kilometers) of the Moon's surface, the closest approach ever to another celestial body.

All aspects of Apollo 10 duplicated conditions of the lunar landing mission as closely as possible--Sun angles at Apollo Site 2, the out-and-back flight path to the Moon, and the time line of mission events. Apollo 10 differed from Apollo 11 in that no landing was made on the Moon's surface.

Apollo 10 was the only Apollo mission to launch from Launch Complex 39B.

Maximum separation between the LM and the CSM during the rendezvous sequence was about 350 miles (563 km) and provided an extensive checkout of the LM rendezvous radar as well as the backup VHS ranging device aboard the CSM, flown for the first time on Apollo 10.

http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/apollo40/
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/index.html

Atlantis Launch

2009-05-08T21:28:00.006Z

The space shuttle Atlantis scheduled for launch on the 11th May heading for the Hubble Telescope.

I have been following one of the astronauts on the mission with TWITTER. Its great to receive live messages from Mike Massimino!

Mike Massimino and Megan in the aft control centre.

Astro_Mike From orbit: Hard to sleep last night after my spacewalk, images of the work and the views still vivid in my mind.

Astro_Mike From orbit: Just flew over the US, Baja to Miami in about 10 minutes! Beautiful Day!!

Astro_MikeFrom orbit: My second spacewalk was long but all worked out in the end, team effort

Mike Massimino working the cargo bay.

Astro_Mike From orbit: At the end of my spacewalk, I had time to just look at the Earth, the most awesome sight my eyes have seen, undescribable

From orbit: This is an awesome experience, the privilege to fly in space and work on the Hubble is beyond my dreams

Tonight's Moon

2009-04-08T22:21:00.003Z

Tonight's Moon taken from my window with the Skywatcher 80ED and Canon 350D
A beautiful Moon rising late in the South East and in full view of my upstairs window. Gosh...I remember doing this with a webcam and a Bushnell 60mm refractor.... started me off with Astro Imaging! I set up the skywatcher 80ED pro and Canon 350D camera pointing out of an open window.
This Moon is 99% full, a lovely clear night with Orion fading in the West. Made one big blunder here when imaging the Moon tonight, I had the ISO set at 1600, which when the image is enlarged is a bit noisy.

ISS and Space Shuttle

2009-03-21T23:45:00.003Z

WoW! tonight the International Space Station with the Space Shuttle attached came overhead at 7.20pm. I have seen the ISS lots of times before, but never as bright as tonight!

A spectacular sight!

I took some pictures with my Canon 350D mounted on a tripod in the back garden. Here it is passing through the constellation of Orion.

The ISS has its new solar panels fitted, so this along with the Space Shuttle makes it a huge object in space.

Comet Lulin

2009-03-08T22:41:00.003Z

Comet Lulin located just below the Beehive Cluster in the Southern sky.
This comet was not easy to find, took this image on Thursday last week. Earlier in the week the comet could be seen easily with binoculars, but I just couldn't find it myself!
I found it by first of all finding the Beehive cluster with my telescope then moving downwards taking photos along the way with the Canon 350D until Lulin appeared in the frame.
This is the first time that I have taken my Skywatcher 80ED out for a long time, conditions were good apart from the Moon which was nearby.
I like the tail on the comet, this is first one that I have managed with a tail on it!

Moon and Venus

2009-02-07T22:14:00.003Z

Took this image last week from the bedroom window! A lovely view of a VERY bright Venus and the cresent Moon. Venus is beautiful at te moment, brighter than I have ever seen it and high in the Southern sky. It dominates this direction!
I'm certain that Venus is bright enough to cast a shadow, I may try to prove it!
Tonight is clear with a lovely, bright Moon but the temperature outside is about -6. The last week has brought record snowfall throughout the country, the South of England has virtually ground to a halt! meanwhile, here in the North, where we are used to snow, we have not had much!
I have always said that the first week in February brings the worst (or best) snow. I remember this from the past when I was at school. Schools never closed then!

The Moon in poetry

2009-01-19T21:48:00.002Z

January is such a dismal time, the Winter has been cruel this year. When the skies are clear the temperature is too cold to go outside or freezing wind.

Roll on Spring!

My children at school have written some lovely poems about the Moon and space... enjoy!

Goodbye 2008!

2008-12-31T22:34:00.003Z

Here is my best image of 2008. The Dumbell Nebula.

Well, 2008 has to go down as the worst weather on record along with the worst economic downturn, thanks to the behaviour of our banks!

Summer was a wash out, cloud, rain and waterlogged gardens. We are now having the harshest Winter that we have had for years, heavy snow well before Christmas and now in the grip of Artic conditions.

Gloom and Doom aside, I did manage to capture some good images around March time and later when I got my Skywatcher 80ED Pro. Since buying the Skywatcher the weather went downhill and I have not really had chance yet to go after some good DSOs. I want to image M42 again and the Horsehead Nebula, Crab Nebula and Triangulum Galaxy with the 80ED Pro. Lets hope that next year things will improve.

The trouble is that it is easy to loose interest if you don't get chance to try things out.

I now have three scopes, Skywatcher 130m reflector, Skywatcher ST80 and Skywatcher 80ED Pro along with the SLT computerised mount.

Christmas in space

2008-12-24T22:11:00.004Z

Probably one one of the most famous photos ever!
The Earth rising over the Moon at Christmas in 1998. On Christmas Eve the crew of Apollo 8 sent a live TV broadcast from the Moon. Everytime I see this photo it gives me the feeling of lonleyness, our Earth is so insignificent, a beautiful blue ball in space.

The words of Genesis in the broadcast really come to life!

Apollo 8 Launch

2008-12-21T22:32:00.004Z

Forty Years ago today three astronauts did the unthinkable!

Apollo 8 was launched to orbit of the Moon and return. The year was 1968.
I was 14 years old at the time and remember and followed the whole mission, especially the live broadcast from the Moon on Christmas Eve and the reading of Genesis from the Bible as the pictures were shown. I have a DVD of the broadcast and brings back many memories of that Christmas in 1968!

After launching on December 21, 1968, the crew took three days to travel to the Moon. They orbited ten times over the course of 20 hours, during which the crew made a Christmas Eve television broadcast in which they read the first 10 verses from the Book of Genesis. The crew timed this reading to coincide with a full view of planet Earth hanging in the empty blackness of space while clearly showing the rich diversity of the living planet as indicated in Terran colors, seas, landforms, and weather patterns, rising over the dull gray horizon of the lifeless Moon. At the time, the broadcast was the most watched TV program ever. Apollo 8's successful mission paved the way for Apollo 11 to fulfill U.S. President John F. Kennedy's goal of landing a man on the Moon before the end of the decade.

Moon, Venus and Jupiter

2008-12-02T23:17:00.003Z

A lovely view tonight of the Moon, Venus and Jupiter.

This morning we had heavy snow so the ground tonight is freezing with deep snow on the ground, not ideal for setting up equipment!

These images taken at twilight with my Canon 350D and 200mm zoom lens. Last night Venus went behind the Moon, but it was cloudy so couldn't get a shot of it.

Here a zoom image of just Venus and Jupiter as they are close together.

2008-11-03T22:54:00.006Z

Moon and Jupiter

2008-11-03T22:25:00.002Z

A beautiful sight tonight, a cresent Moon and Jupiter low in the Southern Sky.
Coming home from school at about 5.30pm the view of this was quite spectacular, I got home and then took my camera into the garden to try to capture the moment. Later this month we should see the Moon, Jupiter and Venus very close together, lets hope we get clear skies for this.
Last week brought a taste of Winter...SNOW!
I have never known snow in October before, temperature dropped below zero and some clear nights but too cold and windy to get out with the scope!

Andromeda Galaxy M31

2008-10-06T22:25:00.002Z

I think this is the best image so far with M31.

I managed to stack about 100 subs and a LOT of processing in Photoshop!

The image looks great when reduced in size, but very noisy at full size.Took the image last night October 5th, if you look back on the blog you will see that the same day last year was also clear! In fact yesterday afternoon the weather was glorious and the night was clear up to about 11.00pm.

Other parts of the country had floods and heavy rain.

Andromeda is not an easy target to image, I used 40s subs with my Canon 350D, which was about at its limit with the SLT mount without star streaking.

I'm pleased with this image...I wonder now if I can manage to add together the previous subs from other sessions and produce something spectacular!

Ring Nebula M57

2008-09-23T22:04:00.002Z

At last! A clear night...

Tonight I set up the Skywatcher 80ED to try to image the Ring and Andromeda galaxies. Still trying out the new equipment and it did take a while to get the focus right.

M57 looks beautiful and can be seen clearly with a wide angle eyepiece on the 80ED. I managed to take about 30 exposures of M57 with the Canon 350d set to iso 800, stacked with DeepSky Stacker and processed in Photoshop.

Although I captured Andromeda, I didn't have enough exposures to bring out the detail, unfortunately, the camera moved when I changed the battery and couldn't get it right again.

Indian Summer?

2008-09-20T21:40:00.003Z

Today was wall to wall sunshine all day!

The first since May!

Today everyone was smiling and happy, it really does make a difference.

As we move into Autumn I am suffering from a distinct lack of SUNSHINE. This has been the worst Summer I can remember! Rain, cloud, storms and floods thats all we have had this year and now at last, as we move into Autumn we have glorious weather. Clear skies tonight, but very hazy so still not ready for the scope.

I remember an Indian Summer somewhere around 1980 when it lasted from September right through to November. Wall to wall sunshine and clear nights...I wonder...will it happen again?

Big Bang Day!

2008-09-10T21:49:00.004Z

"Scientists have hailed a successful switch-on for an enormous experiment which will recreate the conditions a few moments after the Big Bang.
They have now fired two beams of particles called protons around the 27km-long tunnel which houses the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
The £5bn machine on the Swiss-French border is designed to smash protons together with cataclysmic force.
Scientists hope it will shed light on fundamental questions in physics."

I must admit that I had never heard of the 'Higg Boson' particle until this week. Apparantly, this 'God Particle' will explain how mass and gravity are explained. It's all a bit complicated and over my head at the moment. The CERN LHC (Large Hadron Collider) took 13 years to build at a cost of £5bn thats about the same amount that taxpayers money put in to support Northern Rock!!!

I wonder which is the best value for money?

Seriously though, the LHC is a state of the art machine that will open new dimensions on Physics and give us a better understanding of the 'Big Bang' and how the universe was born.

It's pity that the media and tabloids have tried to 'scaremonger' by saying that the world will end and the machine will produce tiny black holes that will swallow the universe. This morning many children went to school scared out of their wits with little understanding of the technology thinking that there really was going to be a 'Big Bang'.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7604293.stm

http://public.web.cern.ch/public/en/LHC/LHC-en.html

http://www.atlas.ch/

First light with the 80ED

2008-08-05T22:51:00.004Z

Last night was probably the best for months, so I took out my new Skywatcher 80ED Pro to try it out with some well known old faithfuls. Above is M13, Hercules Cluster and the Dumbell Nebula. I didn't spend too much time on this, only about 20 exposures because small banks of drifting cloud. I'm impressed!

I'm waiting for Andromeda next...watch this space!

Skywatcher 80ED Pro

2008-08-03T22:00:00.005Z

At last, i've been and gone and bought it!
Here is MY Skywatcher ED80 Pro assembled on my Celestron SLT computerised mount. I can't wait to try out some images with this fantastic scope.
How about this for the specs...

80ED PRO OTA

Skywatcher Pro-Series ED refractors are built with a two-element air-spaced objective. The second element is made of the highest grade ED fluorite glass called FPL-53. This premium glass choice is a basic warranty for virtually no false color and for high contrast.
The high standard set in material choice is also set in production.

No effort is spared to reach optimal optical quality:

Our best opticians give each objective a hand pitch polishing finishing touch. This dedication to perfection together with aspheric shaping technology are the best ways to reach a very good wavefront (*) which means virtually no aberrations and textbook star images. The quality of each ED Pro Series objective is monitored by means of Ronchi (*) test and star (**) test. (*) The essential function of a telescope is gathering starlight without "disturbing" it.

This means changing the path of the lightwaves without altering the lightwave itself. Lightwaves all together are referred to as a wavefront. Alterations in this wavefront caused by the optics should be avoided. A wavefront analysis by Ronchi test will show an absence of wavefront alterations if the black and white lines (interference pattern) are perfectly straight and parallel. (**) The star test proves the ability of the optics to reproduce a pinpoint light source (star) as a pinpoint image.

Concentric light circles will surround the pinpoint light dot. These increasingly faint light circles are unavoidable due to diffraction but being well concentric around the central light dot they are a warranty for good optical alignment of the lenses. Performance of the Sky-Watcher ED Pro-Series refractors surely will both delight and surprise the most critical observer. - Diameter: 80mm - Focal Length: 600mm - F/ratio: F/7.5 - Fully Multi-Coated Doublet Objective Lens - FPL-53 ED Fluorite Glass Objective Element - Backlash-free 2” Crayford Focuser with Brushed-Aluminium Hubs & rubber grip rings

Metallic High-Transmission Lens Coatings Each air-to-glass lens surface has exotic anti-reflection metallic coatings applied to ensure optimum light through-put of approaching 99.5%. The proprietary Sky-Watcher “Metallic High-Transmission Coatings” (MHC) are the finest photon anti-rejection coatings in their class.

An amazing picture!

2008-07-01T22:17:00.004Z

"Imagine landing on the Moon, climbing down the ladder of your spacecraft, and looking around the harsh lunar landscape—to see another, older spacecraft standing only 200 yards away.
That's exactly what happened in November 1969, when astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean stepped out of the Apollo 12 lunar module. There, within walking distance on the edge of a small crater, stood Surveyor 3, an unmanned U.S. spacecraft that had landed in April 1967."
I didn't know this...
"Apollo 12's landing site had been chosen deliberately near Surveyor 3. The little lander had spent two and a half years exposed to the worst the Moon had to offer: harsh vacuum, intense cosmic radiation, meteoritic bombardment, extreme temperature swings. Back on Earth, NASA engineers wanted to know how metals, glass and other spacecraft building materials held up to that kind of punishment. Inspecting Surveyor 3 first hand seemed a good way to find out. "
I didn't know this either...
"On their second four-hour EVA, Bean and Conrad walked over to Surveyor 3, took dozens of photographs and measurements, and began snipping off parts of metal tubing and electrical cables. They retrieved a camera. The very last thing they removed was a small scoop at the end of Surveyor's extendable arm, which had dug into the dry moon dust and gravel to make mechanical measurements of lunar soil."
Maybe I was enthralled with the Lunar Landing at the time, after all I was only 15, but when I saw this on S@N forumI was amazed. This was 1969 ... how on earth did they do it?

Wish List!

2008-06-13T22:22:00.004Z

A picture of my wish...Skywatcher Pro ED on an SLT mount. (Not mine!)

It's the twilight season, when it never gets dark, so not much happening at the moment. I'm now thinking about later in the year, when I can sit in the garden on a warm evening with a can of beer imaging around the rich Cygnus area!

Its now time to upgrade my imaging set up and buy myself a Skywatcher Pro ED80!

What can I say...superb APO scope, price reduced, ideal for imaging, fits onto my SLT mount...need I say more?

Phoenix landings

2008-05-30T23:04:00.003Z

These are even more incredible images!

Click the image to see full size!

The amazing picture was captured on May 25th by the HiRISE camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Though the lander looks like it might be dropping straight into Heimdall, it is really descending about 20 kilometers in front of the crater, in the foreground of the scene. The orbiter was 760 kilometers away from Phoenix when picture was taken, at an altitude of 310 kilometers. Subsequently the orbiter's camera was also able to image the lander on the surface. The parachute attached to the backshell and the heat shield were identified in the image, scattered nearby. Of course, the Phoenix lander itself is now returning much closer views of its landing site as it prepares to dig into the Martian surface.

Why we have not seen these these pictures on the news is beyond me, we see bad news and Gordon Brown every day, but what about celebrating the achievements in technology?

In 1969 images like this made front page news and this was just the Moon!

This is Mars ... amazing!!!

Phoenix has landed!

2008-05-27T00:05:00.003Z

Two brilliant images here, the first is Phoenix with the chutes open taken from the Mars Orbiter and the second is the Phoenix on the ground.

Watched the Phoenix land live last night on NASA TV, absolutely amazing! The initial images from a polar region of Mars excellent!

Mind boggling to think that I sent my name to Mars as part of the mission along with Melissa's!

For the first time in human history, we have landed in a polar region on another planetary body. Congratulations to the Phoenix team — we are on Mars!
Now — armed with a suite of science instruments and a digging robotic arm — the spacecraft and its team on Earth can begin hunting for water ice and adventure.

My name — along with a quarter million others from around the world — is now on the surface of Mars. Landing with me on the DVD disk is Visions of Mars, a treasure trove of literature and art — from classic works by Arthur C. Clarke and Ray Bradbury to Orson Welles' radio retelling of "The War of the Worlds" to a special audio recording of Carl Sagan delivering a message to the future.

M101 Pinwheel Galaxy

2008-04-11T22:41:00.002Z

My first attempt at M101, the Pinwheel Galaxy in Ursa Major.
This is one of those objects that is difficult to see because it is quite big with a high surface area. I could not find it with my SkyWatcher 130m. I'm really pleased with my first attempt with a scope and equipment that is really working at it's limit. If you look carefully you can see another feint galaxy to the lower left of M101.
Conditions were not ideal when I took this image, a lot of hight cloud and light pollution, but I managed to filter out some of it to produce an acceptable image.

M45 and Nebulocity

2008-03-25T23:12:00.002Z

This image was taken on 4th March when the sky was super clear!

I have used photoshop to try to bring out the nebulocity in the cluster. The blue glow is caused by gas that is ionised by the hot, blue stars in the cluster. I had to play with this for quite a while because I kept getting a 'ghosting' effect when the 60 images were stacked.

The result is in fact only 7 images @ 45 sec stacked.

Brings out the nebulocity nicely!

The Crab Nebula

2008-03-20T22:16:00.002Z

Supernova remanant M1, The Crab Nebula.

Taken on 9th February with the Canon 350D, about 70 exposures at 45 seconds, ISO800.

Again, this is another object that I have not been able to find by just using skymaps and 'star-hopping'. Very frustrating...but now I have managed to image this object a couple of times with help from the SLS GoTo mount and Skywatcher ST80. A feint object really, so I am working at the limit of my present set-up. You can see 'The Crab Nebula' clearly, but does not look much like a crab! I cannot bring out any of the 'filaments' using Photoshop that bring out any detail. I think that longer exposures are needed to capture detail.

I've been investigating buying a Skywatcher 80ED1 Pro (APO Refractor), this seems like the next logical step in order to move on to better imaging with the SLT mount.

Space Shuttle Night Lift-Off

2008-03-11T22:52:00.002Z

Space Shuttle Endeavour on it's way to the ISS.

Fantastic image of the Space Shuttle this morning on it's way for a 16 day misson to the International Space Station with part of a large Japanese laboratory. The lift-off was about 5.00am here.

Now, when there is a Space Shuttle mission it has always been possible to see the ISS passing overhead, so maybe I will try again to capture some images with the Skywatcher 130 telescope and webcam.

Whirlpool Galaxy M51

2008-03-06T23:01:00.005Z

M51 Whirlpool Galaxy

Wow! I've waited a long time to try to capture this one!

I gave up trying to see this galaxy with my Skywatcher 130 last year. It is really hard to find in the constellation of The Plough and I just could not find it. Since then The Plough has been low down in the North East so I have had to wait until it is high enough and clear enough to attempt to find it with the SLT computerised mount and Skywatcher ST80 telescope. I was confident that I could find it, but not sure how well to image it.

The image above is beautiful, don't forget that this is taken with a wide-field, short focal length, 80mm scope. I'm amazed!

Here are some details: 60 exposures, 45 sec each, ISO 800 with my Canon 350D. Taken on the 4th March 2008.

A beautiful clear night, the best seeing for a long time!

Earthquake!

2008-02-27T23:16:00.003Z

Just to prove that the Earth is a living planet that has tectonic plates, tonight we came 'down to Earth'.

At 1.00am the largest Earthquake for 25 years was felt all over the country!

I was in bed when suddenly the whole house started to shake and the walls vibrated with a low frequency rumble. It was scary!

The tremor lasted for about 10 seconds with a magnitude of 5.2, one of the most powerful ever felt in this country.

Christmas Tree Cluster

2008-02-24T21:50:00.004Z

This star cluster in named because it looks like an upside down Christmas Tree.
It has another name associated with it, the Cone Nebula. In my photo I managed to capture the star cluster and some nebulocity in the top right of the 'tree'. To bring out the true colour of this object it would need much longer exposures than the one above.
This image was about 30 exposures at 45 sec. each with the ST80 and Canon ED350D.
Quite a difficult one to process this!

ISS and Space Shuttle

2008-02-12T23:29:00.003Z

6.40pm on the 10th February and the International Space Station with the Space Shuttle passes over high in the sky. This image was taken with the Skywatcher 130 and Philips Toucam Pro II attached. Probably the most difficult object to capture as it moves at an amazing speed and hard to capture it with a camera.
I set up the equipment by focusing the webcam on the Moon and adjusted the red spot finder to track the ISS manually as it came over. Now the Skywatcher 130 is huge and the sensor on the webcam is tiny, so capturing any AVI is pure luck! I managed to capture about 20 frames from over 2500, I really tried hard to follow it as it came overhead, but really hard!
If you look carefully you can see the shape of the ISS and some nice colour too.
Amazing to think that what the image shows is the International Space Station and also the Space Shuttle bringing the European add on to the station.
I'll try again if I can to capture a better image!

Flame and Horsehead Nebula

2008-02-11T22:52:00.000Z

This is my first attempt at these nebulae in Orion. I have always wanted to be able to see or image the Horsehead Nebula, I remember looking at a colour photo years ago when I was doing my Open University Course (S256) and I was stunned by the beauty of this nebula.

The last three days have had amazing weather! 15 degrees, wall to wall sunshine and clear nights! (and it's half-term)

The image above was taken with my Skywatcher ST80 and Canon 350D camera. About 100 x 45 sec images, iso800, stacked and processed in Deepskystacker and Photoshop. I think that I now need to move onto a longer focal length refractor like the Skywatcher ED80. Again, I am limited by the exposure time with the SLT mount, 45 sec seems to be the limit with the ST80. Maybe I can give it longer with an ED80.

The Phantom Galaxy M74

2008-01-20T22:13:00.000Z

M74 The Phantom Galaxy

In this months Sky at Night Magazine this elusive object was named 'The Phantom' because it is the most difficult of Messier Objects to find and take images of it. Back in November I managed to find and image this very feint object. Not a lot of detail and I wish now that I had given the object another hour of imaging time.

I used the computerised SLT Mount and ST80 telescope to find M74 and was amazed when it appeared on screen. This image was made up of about 30 stacked images at 45s, ISO 800 with my Canon 350D.

M33

2008-01-19T23:17:00.000Z

M33 Triangulum Galaxy

Rain, Rain, Rain...this is looking like the wettest Winter on record!

No chance of taking the equipment out into the garden as it is totally waterlogged.

Last week I bought a copy of the CD 'A Guide to Astrophotography with Digital SLR Cameras' a great resource with videos of using Photoshop to get nice results. Here is M33 taken in November, at the time the background was very red and spoiled the image. I have now neutralised the background which has revealed a lovely image of M33.

Thanks to Jerry Lodriguss and his CD which came super fast through the post from America!

Enhanced M42 Nebula

2008-01-12T23:00:00.000Z

M42 Orion Nebula

I took this image on 12th December during a lovely, clear frosty night. I have worked on the image for a long time to improve it, so here it is!Taken with my Skywatcher ST80 and Canon 350D camera, about 100 subs @ 45s, stacked in DeepSkyStacker and processed in Photoshop 7. This is by far my best image of M42 so far. I'm quite pleased with this one!

The other day I bought a copy of 'A Guide to Astrophotography' this is a CD with video tutorials about processing with Photoshop. One of these is very simple operation where the background colour and noise can be neutralised. The result on this image was amazing! The CD came from America, but arrived in 3 days!

I love Orion, a spectacular sight in the Winter sky. I always wanted to find out more about the 'blur' of the Orion Nebula. I have often seen photos taken from huge observatories, but never thought for a minute that I would be able to photos of my own like this!

Christmas Eve Spectacular!

2007-12-21T22:59:00.000Z

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

Christmas Eve, and you're snuggled cozily in your den. A glowing fire gently crackles and pops in the fireplace, and your head starts to droop as you nod off. Just then, something cold and wet nudges your cheek. You open your eyes to stare directly into a large black nose. It's time to take the dog for his walk.
Grumbling in vain, you put on your coat, snap the leash onto the wiggling dog's collar, open the door to a rush of cold air. You step outside and enter a magical landscape.
The night isn't dark, it's glowing with a silvery-white light. Up above, the 98% full moon looks huge and clear in the azure sky. It just might be the brightest moon you've ever seen. That's because it's the highest-riding full moon until the year 2023.

And not far from the beautiful moon glows fireplace-red Mars. This Christmas Eve, Mars is at its closest to Earth for the next nine years. Mars is also "at opposition." That's astronomy-lingo for "directly opposite the sun." It means Mars is up whenever the sun is down: on Christmas Eve, the Red Planet will be visible all night long.

As Christmas scenes go, it doesn't get much better. Gliding in formation across the sky, the moon and Mars seem so close you could almost reach up, grab the pair and bounce them down the street for Fido to retrieve.
Or maybe you could lasso them, as George says in the movie It's a Wonderful Life. "Just say the word and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down. Hey! That's a pretty good idea! I'll give you the moon, Mary...."
In the years ahead, NASA is going to lasso the moon. NASA's giant Ares rocket, still on the drawing board, will take form and then take mankind back to that brilliant silver orb where scientists will learn how to harness the moon's powers.
Plans are to establish a lunar base for exploration and use the moon's surface as a springboard to even further destinations. At the moon's poles there is evidence of hydrogen and perhaps actual water frozen in the soil. Furthermore, ordinary moonrocks are made of minerals that contain more than 40% oxygen. These are resources that can be used to produce rocket fuel, breathable air and a welcome drink on a dry, dusty world.

Maybe on some future Christmas Eve, one of us will step outside of our cozy lunar cabin and walk our space-suited dog with long, floating steps down some dusty lunar road. We'll look up and say, "There's a pretty full Earth tonight!"
But on this frosty Christmas Eve, your feet crunch Earth's cold ground with a crisp clear sound as you walk back toward the house looking up through the silvery stillness at the lovely moon and its bright partner, Mars. The only other sounds you hear are dog tags jingling like sleigh bells. Suddenly a shadow flits across the moon. A cloud? A plane? A sleigh! Maybe those were sleigh bells you heard!
Smiling to yourself, you open the door to go back inside, taking one last glance at the night sky and one of the loveliest heavenly sights you’ll see for years.

The Pleaides M45

2007-12-15T23:36:00.000Z

Beautiful image of M45 taken on 10th December.
The Pleaides is a wonderful cluster of stars that is now visible high in the South East. I used to call it the 'Little Bear' because it looks like a minature version of Ursa Major 'The Plough'.
This cluster is very special as all the bright stars are blue and very hot. This makes nearby gas to glow because of the energy and produces nebulocity. I have taken images before of M45, but could not capture the glow. This time I managed to capture M45 with it's blue nebulocity and looks beautiful!
Tonight the sky is clear and the Moon sits low in the Southern sky, but it is frosty and really cold, I really didn't feel like going outside tonight. My next task is to try to image the Horsehead Nebula and Flame Nebula. I have never seen these before, but judging by the results of the Orion Nebula, i'm sure I can capture a reasonable image.
I'm beginning to think about changing some of my equipment, the Skywatcher 130m is brilliant for planetary work with the webcam, but I cannot attach the Canon 350D. Should I replace the scope with a Skywatcher ED80 refractor? This can easily be attached to the SLT mount...hmm....still thinking!

Orion Nebula M42 and Running Man Nebula

2007-12-13T22:38:00.000Z

These images taken on 10th December, the lower image is a closer view of the blur at the top of the Orion Nebula image.

Cold, clear and frosty evening and a beautiful sky! At first I took about an hour of images of M45 Plaiedes while I waited for Orion to rise over the rooftops. I have waited a long time now to try to capture a more detailed image of the Orion Nebula with my Canon 350D. This is my first attempt and results are stunning! I played around a bit with colours which has given me several different results, the one above is my favourite!

The image is composed of 60 x 30s images, stacked in Deepskystacker and processed in Photoshop 7. Canon 350D and Skywatcher ST80 telescope.

If you look closely at the lower image you can see a shadow of a 'running man' this is a feint nebula above the main Orion nebula

Comet Holmes 17p

2007-11-14T23:24:00.000Z

These images taken of Comet Holmes on Sunday Night 11th November with the ST80 telescope and Canon 350D camera - wonderful!
The comet is gradually becoming bigger but more transparent, you can clearly see stars through the coma and the colour is stunning. Apparantly, Comet Holmes lost it's short tail a couple of days ago, but even then it was difficult to image. I think the bow of the comet is facing the Earth and the tail (what there is of it) is trailing behind.
Comet Holmes has reached a diameter of 1.4 million Kilometres, this makes it the biggest object in the solar system, bigger than the Sun in size but not mass.

Latest M33 and M74

2007-11-13T23:01:00.000Z

M33 Pinwheel Galaxy and M74 Phantom Galaxy

Beautiful clear night on Sunday, crisp and frosty!

I wanted to try again at M33 with the ST80 and 1 minute exposures. I can't really go further than that with the mount because of star rotation. I'm not sure if Deepspacestacker will correct larger rotations.

Much more detail than my previous attempts, but I can't bring out the colour, probably because longer exposures are still needed. Still..i'm still amazed that I can capture this galaxy at all!

I am even more amazed to capture an image of M74 galaxy! This feint little object close to M33 has a magnitude greater than 10.0. Cannot even see it visually! You can see the shape of this spiral galaxy, but not much detail...i'm dead pleased with it though!

I've got to say that the Celestron SLR GoTo mount is brilliant, no way would I be able to find thse objects with my Skywatcher 130m. They are face-on spiral galaxies and are a sod to find!

Frogspawn in Space?

2007-11-10T00:07:00.000Z

Another image of Comet Holmes 17p taken on 8th November.

This time I used 30s exposures with the Canon 350D and 200mm lens. Stars are streaking and there is movement from the Comet, but a nice image!

Comet Holmes has grown in size, but has become more diffuse. It can be seen easily with the naked eye but I also had a look with the Skywatcher 130...WoW! It is enormous...the Comet completely filled the FOV with a 17mm eyepiece. This is the biggest Comet since Halley-Bopp back in 1997!

Fireworks in space!

2007-11-05T22:25:00.000Z

I like this image of Comet Holmes...this image produced from two lots of images stacked in Deepskystacker (DSS)
A spectacular object and now larger than any planet! Whatever caused the outburst of this comet is better than any terestial firework on bonfire night!
Since becoming interested in Astro-imaging i'm amazed at the number of comets that are about and can be seen from Earth, this one without a telescope. It's just knowing where to look. I'm surprised that this comet has not had a mention on television, it is so easy to see!
Happy Birthday Website!!!
My website has now been running for two years and I have had more than five thousand hits! (alright...a lot of them mine) ...but when I look at the statistics I can see that I have had hits from all round the world...brilliant!

Comet Holmes 17p

2007-11-04T22:24:00.001Z

A couple of nice images taken myself last night of Comet Holmes.

Amid the pops and bangs of fireworks I managed to take some images of the comet with my Canon 350D on a tripod with the 200mm zoom lens. Although the sky was clear, there was a lot of smoke and mist in the air. The widefield view was taken with the 200mm zoom lens set at 50mm while the close up view was taken with the zoom lens set at 200mm.
I would like to try imaging the comet with the ST80, but I will wait for a clearer night!