Pembrokeshire Astronomer

The skies were wonderfully clear last night at about 6.00 p.m. It was a cold evening, with not even a breeze. Perfect conditions to train the telescope onto the heavens. The obvious first target was the bright gibbous Moon, high above to the south west. The Newtonian returned some lovely views of shadow formations in the crater Plato, and there was a long pointed shadow emanating from Mons Pico. The seeing wasn't that good last night, but the f8 Newtonian did deliver several steady moments of clarity.  No doubt had it been a larger aperature telescope the lunar landscape would probably have had a  slight case of the "wobbles". Sitting quietly close to Selene was Barsoom, or as us earthlings call it Mars! The telescope had its work cut out resolving any detail on this quickly shrinking planet.  Though credit to the Newtonian, it did return a fair decent image of the Syrtis Major.  Considering that Mars is now only 10.8 " in size I was surprised I saw anything at all.

Today's Sol imaging.  Beautiful skies this morning and early afternoon.   The little coronado PST returned some excellent eyepiece images of a large wispy prominence at the 7 oclock position.  About 12 pictures were taken in total. Later I corrected the rotation and did a bit of photoshop editing. Here are the results: As I write this, the Sun has set over the nearby hill.  The sky now has that clear familiar Pembrokeshire shade of twilight... towards the west I await the promise of Venus. 

 Today's Sol image: "It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring."                 Carl Sagan

Today's Sol image: "Winter solitude-  in a world of one colour  the sound of the wind." Basho A clear blue sky today, very cold with a slight breeze.  The barometers speak of fair weather, I think the barometers might be wrong. Already the afternoon clouds are threatening.

Today's Sol image:   "The hand is the cutting edge of the mind." Jacob Bronowski

Today's Sol images:   "Space isn't remote at all. It's only an hours drive away if your car could go straight up". Sir Fred Hoyle

This morning's Sol image: "All that we are is the result of what we have thought"  Buddha

It's a Sun shining Monday morning. Much cloud milling about, though not enough to hide old Sol. This will be the first decent solar viewing I have had in eleven days! The wind and rain have battered poor old Pembrokeshire for most of that time. All is forgiven now, the Sun is out and the washing is on the line. The big old Sun wanted another portrait picture, I happily obliged.

Below is an old blog post published in 2013 on this day of January the 8th. I have posted it today to remind myself to dig out my Messier Album Book by  John H. Mallas and Evered Kreimer. It's a fantastic book for the study of Charles Messier's list of objects to avoid whilst looking for comets. Messier Revisited. This year I'm hoping to sketch a lot more of the  Messier objects  list - using the Tal1.  To get me started, I've reworked a couple of my sketches from last years collection. Also I've added a photo of the Pleiades that I took; I think back in November.   I'll have to dig through my CD's to find the actual date. I've had Tal1 for nearly two years, and in that time I've not as yet attacked the Messier list with any real conviction. Over the years I've seen many of the Messier objects through various telescopes, but it will be interesting to see what the mighty Russian reflector is capable of. With Tal1 as company it will be nice to rev

A tiny wren has taken up residence in our garden, she dances and flits through the undergrowth. Every day we spot her searching for food. She finds food most definitely! only yesterday she was seen bashing the living daylights out of very large grub/caterpillar.  After the bashing and much pecking the grub was quickly swallowed whole...  Such is Nature. A size to ratio equivalent I guess would be me eating a whole chicken in one gulp!  Last night the Moon was peeping at me from above some nearby rooftops, en passant, the woodsmoke from a nearby chimney was wafting and coiling about our garden, a beautiful smell to complement the cold winter night. Out came the Newtonian, and very soon the Moon was within my grasp. Straight away I could see the old familiar Moon Maiden, lounging sleepily on the nearby terminator. Craters Helicon and Le Verrier stood out well, and the Mons Pico was bright, I'm looking forward to see the various Mons Pico shadows over the waning phase. Mars was close