Pembrokeshire Astronomer

“Were I to write out one prescription designed to alleviate at least some of the self-made miseries of mankind, it would read like this: “One gentle dose of starlight to be taken each clear night just before retiring.” ..Leslie C Peltier It's been really quiet here of late in Simpson Cross, not much observing as the weather has been really bad. The night skies that have appeared were not really that good for astronomical observations, I've spent the time available just observing with binoculars. Newcomers to the hobby of astronomy invariably look for a telescope as their first instrument. This is false economy I feel. I would suggest the humble binoculars everytime. They're light, inexpensive and very portable..and there's loads to see in the night sky with them. My favourite pair of 8x30's only cost £5. I used to have a very useful pair of 10X50's that only cost £1.50...they looked really rough , but the optics were fine. If it's cloudy with no ...

Just as you're about to observe... here come the clouds! A familiar tale for all astronomers....not any more, here in Simpson Cross. A couple of weeks ago one of our neighbours kindly offered a pile of scrap wood for our fire. It just so happened most of the scrap wood was the remains of his 8x6 foot garden shed. I managed to salvage enough wood to make a start on an astronomy shed. I had two complete side panels, and enough wood to build the two remaining sides. The building started on what must have been the hottest days of the year so far. Somewhere I had heard it was the hottest April in the UK since 1911 ! The two sides bolted together quickly but the structure was still swaying quite a bit. Good job there was no breeze that day. After fixing the remaining two sides the structure became really strong.... It might just stand up to the Simpson Cross  winter gales. I was going to make a roll of roof with support posts, but as the observatory is only 6x5...

I'm happy to report the weather behaved itself yesterday. We arrived early and having made sure to pack the car with all the equipment I needed, I began  confidently to assemble the scopes. Just one problem.....I had forgotten one "minor" item...the actual sun filter!!! ... Luckily we only live 3 miles from Newgale so Helen was able to quickly go home and pick it up. It wasn't long before Phil, a member of the Preseli Astronomy & Science Group arrived. This was our first meeting, we had talked via the PASG forum, on several occassions. It was great to finally meet up. Phil arrived armed with two refractors ... A  meade 70mm was to be his main solar scope...and it proved to be a good choice for solar work...infact it  had the edge over my Tal reflector. We carried out a few tests with each scope... Refractor Vs Reflector.. There did seem to be slightly better contrast with the refractor. Such a portable refractor is ideally be suited for solar w...