Sol - December 29th 2022.

“A flower will always grow in the direction of the sun because beauty recognises beauty.”
― Matshona Dhliwayo

 

Boxing Day Luna.

The Boxing day crescent Moon stood still in a Pembrokeshire blue sky, I had to capture the moment.

Within five minutes the telescope was all set up and ready to go.

The evening was cold, the clouds were nearby, I had maybe ten minutes to grab a few images.

The Mare Crisium stood out well, the photo below shows some of the craters of Crisium and surrounding area.

Here's a more detailed image with some labelling of the major craters. 

Cleomedes, Burckhardt and Geminus return beautiful black rim shadows at this part of the lunation.

Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda.

This morning's Christmas solar image.

The Solstice hedgerows & the promise of longer days.

There is a lovely hedgerow prominence visible on the Sun at the moment.

Haven't seen a decent hedgerow display for ages. 

photo: Harold Zirin's book  "Astrophysics of the Sun"

What better display to celebrate today's Solstice.

As of today our days will be getting that little bit longer, the promise of Spring and Summer 2023 is upon us.

Crescent Waning, Schickard on the edge.

Horizon hugging clouds didn't spoil the Moon watch this morning.

A quick setup of the Newtonian, a simple 25mm eyepiece and our old Samsung S6 phone returned a half decent view of the waning crescent.

Along the terminator, Schickard Nasmyth & Phocylides were easily spotted. 

No hint of Mare Orientale this time, I think the libration wasn't favourable, but even so the glare of the sunlight on the Moon's limb at this time would have probably ruled out any Orientale observations.

Sol 15/12/22 - Perfect Pembrokeshire Morning.

This morning's sky was winter blue, and frosty. 

A beautiful morning with a glorious high above waning Moon.

The perfect Pembrokeshire morning.

The Newtonian performed well, helped in part by a steady clear sky. 

I was very pleased to glimpse a hint of the Mare Orientale.

The low winter Sun creates beautiful contrasts, at the moment, but for the Robin and Wren, all is still in our garden of long shadows.

Old Sol wanted a morning portrait, I was happy to oblige.

Sol - 15/12/22

Clear blue sky this morning, perfect for capturing solar detail.

Visually the prominences were the best I have seen for months, possibly the best all year.

"Space isn't remote at all. It's only an hours drive away, if your car could go straight upwards".

Sir Fred Hoyle.

Mr Blue sky is back. Sol - 11/12/22

 Such beautiful low Pembrokeshire sunlight this morning. 

A welcome return of Mr Bkue sky.

Time for some solar observing.

"We are the representatives of the cosmos; we are an example of what hydrogen atoms can do, given 15 billion years of cosmic evolution".

Carl Sagan

Sol Imaging - December 6th 2022

This morning's Sol imaging.

"The Sun, with all those planets revolving around it and depending on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else to do".  

Galileo Galilei.

Sun dogs over Pembrokeshire.

The cold blue skies of Friday last were greeted with an arrival of a couple of lovely Sun dogs.

These "mock suns" as they are also called hung around for most of the day.  

The sun dogs are produced by a dance between sunlight and ice crystals in our atmosphere.

The ice crystals act like prisms and scatter the sunlight into a colourful light show.

It's been ages since I've have seen such a prominent display. 

The appearance of Sun dogs is not limited just to the winter months. 

One of the best displays I have seen occurred back in 2016 in the month of July.