Last Night's Luna - with a touch of Mars.

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.

With the nearby street lights and the Moon glow above I decided to pack up the telescope and get back to the warmth of the house. 

Though not before I had my last look at the Gibbous Moon.

 

How much I desire! Inside my little satchel, the Moon, and flowers

Matsuo Basho

Sol - 30/01/23 - Awaiting Venus.

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. 

Sol - 26/01/23 - Carl Sagan

 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

Sol - 21/01/23 - Basho

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.

Sol - 19/01/23 - Jacob Bronowski

Today's Sol image:

 

"The hand is the cutting edge of the mind."

Jacob Bronowski

Today's Sol 17/01/23 - Sir Fred Hoyle.

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

Solar - 12/01/23 - Buddha

This morning's Sol image:

"All that we are is the result of what we have thought" 

Buddha

The Sun shines, the clouds are plenty.

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.

Messier Revisited and Revisited again.

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 revisit some of my Messier favourites.

I'm expecting mostly to make sketches of my Messier-Tal1 findings, but sometimes it will be easier just to train our Nikon D50+ 300mm lens onto my intended target.

The picture below of M45 was taken with our 70-300mm telephoto lens.

I wonder if the 300mm lens will capture the Beehive Cluster ?

The Messier Album an observer's handbook.

One book that is indispensible if you're chasing the Messier objects is, The Messier Album an observer's handbook by John H. Mallas and Evered Kreimer.

John H. Mallas visually observed and sketched the Messier's with a lovely 4" Unitron refractor. 

Whilst Evered Kreimer photographed the Messier's with his 12.5 inch Cave reflector...again another beautiful looking instrument.

Between these two astronomers, they managed to produce a beautifully illustrated and informative book. 

John H. Mallas's sketches in particular give a wonderful representation of what you will actually see through most small telescopes with the naked eye. Equally Evered Kreimer's black & white photographs are really impressive ... 

Most of the photos in this book are black & white.

Although there are 16 pages in the back that contain colour pictures of the Messier objects, from several other amateur astronomers. 

In total the volume runs to some 230 pages.

Plus if you look on Amazon, you can pick this up for only only a few pounds.

If I was only allowed one Messier book on my shelf this would be the one.

The Moon Maiden Sings to the Wren.

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 to the Moon and I did manage to see some surface detail, though not enough to accurately make a sketch. 

Hopefully I'll catch a few sketches before Barsoom once again sails away.