Mornings, Evenings and Messiers...

-



Venus and the crescent Moon looked stunning this morning....  


I really enjoy the early mornings of Pembrokeshire's October and November, they seem to have more than their fair share of clear skies. 

I've noticed that over the last six years;  no matter how bad the weather may be the night before,  there's a good chance of being cloud free in the hour just before the dawn.

Often in the months of October and November I have been lulled to sleep courtesy of a howling Atlantic South Westerly storm; only to wake at around 5.00 am to the sight of starlight.

Usually after about a hour the clouds roll in....... and once again the Atlantic bellows....

So for the next two months I will be looking for that early morning window of starlit opportunity...

Fingers crossed.....

This evening's viewing log:

I didn't expect the stars to be out tonight......  I was wrong....  :0)

Straight into the observatory...roll back the roof and time to chase a couple of Messiers.

I've been meaning to catalogue the Messier list, in a series of sketches. 

Tonight I was able to add two to the list....


M71 was first on the list,. it took me a little while to find it as I was distracted by nearby Gamma Delphinus. 

Gamma Delphinus is one of my favourites; a beautiful lemon and lime green double...well worth a look. 

Tonight though, the seeing wasn't up to much, and poor old Gamma Delphinus looked a bit washed out.  

In fact tonight's star views were pretty awful...  though the two globulars I sketched stood out quite well considering....



Two sketches completed, only another 107 to go....  !!!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Under the trees & the Aurora.

-
Image
It had been a beautifully hot day, the Sun was relentless, happy, strong, and chromium yellow in a big blue cloudless sky. Our motorhome "Martha" needed shade from this solar onslaught.  We took refuge under the barest of trees and waited out the inferno. Later in the evening, after a considerable cooling of temperature we drove to higher ground. A favourite spot where the stars are almost 360° and very little light pollution. As the Sun dipped down, the temperature also dipped; time to close some windows. Through the passenger door window, I happened to glance out towards the North. There, plain to see, was that unmistakable reddish light. It had us mesmerised... an Aurora glow ! An Aurora here in France at 44°N !  I bet back home in the UK it must be "bouncing". A quick look on the internet  confirmed my suspicion, the storm indeed was large over the United Kingdom. In my home county of Pembrokeshire 360° Aurora was being reported. The UK storm of the century and
Read more

The night of Christmas day

-
Image
  This year's Christmas tree The roaring winds dropped, the clouds parted and the night of Christmas day was cloaked in the light of the nearly full moon. We had waited weeks for a sky clearing, and here it was, I wasn't about to waste any of it. Helen and I stood outside for ages, drinking in the stillness of this most Christmas night. The scudding clouds touched the moon and wiped away the days of wind and rain. It has been ages since we witnessed a near full moon in such a quiet setting. No cars, no planes, no dogs on leads barking at trees.  The absence of all 21st century racket and rush was most welcomed. Not a soul to be seen; all at home enjoying the Christmas evening. To the South Selene was up high, shining with almost a full December intensity.    Overhead Cassiopeia. To the West a tall pine tree with a star above (Hello Jupiter) made up completely for our lack of actual Christmas tree in our motorhome.   To the North, a vixen was calling to the night. For several mi
Read more

Astronomy from the 1950's, and my analogue laptop.

-
Image
Digging around in a charity shop the other day I found an interesting book titled: The Modern Children's Library of Knowledge  Book Two  The World we live in. This book was published in 1957, and towards the end of the book was a chapter about astronomy.  It contained a wealth of astronomy information and most interesting to me a large collection of 1950's era illustrations. I love these old astronomy pictures.  Why don't we have more illustrations like these in modern journals and magazines. Today's astronomy  magazines just don't interest me. Too many adverts for a start, not enough "amateur" articles, and way too "glossy". I personally like black and white illustrations, be they photos or drawings.  Saying that some of the most interesting illustrations can sometimes be in full colour: In my perfect astronomy magazine I would like nothing more than to see the typesetting done on
Read more