Opera glass to the Moon

I didn't manage to sketch the recent Full Moon, but I had a go at the gibbous Moon, as seen with my opera glasses. 

It was a cold night, I felt a chill and decided I preferred the warmth of our motorhome to the cold November air. 

Still, some detail of various mare were noted.

The sketch I wanted to do at Full Moon will have to wait for another day.

Here's the initial lunar drawing I was taking notes from.

Maybe I will have better luck with  the Full Moon of Christmas time.

Which will be on December the 15th.

Clear Lunar skies 

Les étoiles, toujours étoiles.

Having just come back from France, I thought why not post some of my camera phone astro images.

Simple pictures with an astronomy theme was pretty much my limit. 

I will leave the long exposures and star tracking for another time.

It was great to see the various constellations that much higher in the sky (at one point we were 44 degrees north).

       

Orion over the church spire

Scorpio was an amazing sight.

Being able to see the entire constellation from the south of France was a sight not to be forgotten.

        Full Moon over 

Pont Brottone

Next time we head off to France I will pack a digital SLR camera. 

Our old Nikon D50 took some excellent shots of the night sky.

* Must remember to post my "opera glasses" Moon sketch in the next post.

Clear Skies 

Mark. 

Just keep whistling 😄

No idea where I found this cartoon, but the artist is spot on,  and well observed..😆

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Hoping to do some opera glass observing/sketching during the waxing Moon of November.

Will post some sketches and findings as I go along. 

Fingers crossed for some clear skies.

*** Found the above Moon image in my 1945 astronomy book : 

A Guide to the Sky - A Practical Handbook for Beginners 

by Ernest Agar Beet.

A lovely little book, has just 92 pages, very informative.

Will post more about this book in  future blogs.

An analogue mind returns.

Having for some months been distracted by the quick-fire media platforms of FaceBook and Instagram, I find myself wanting to sloowww doownn and take the scenic route via my old favourite Blogger site.

It's been ages since I last posted on here.

From today I'm going to post all my content, be it astronomy, poetry, art, typewriters, travelling etc solely on to this blog. 

Time to renew the analogue!

More drawings and sketches, ink pens, typewriters, notebooks, pencils, paper, poems, planispheres, simple telescopes, cups of tea, lunar light and sunspots and travelling photos.

All posts will be made and uploaded from our motorhome "Martha" whilst on our travels, over the next couple of years.

Goodbye digital fog.

Hello clear analogue skies.

Time for a cup of tea .

Under the trees & the Aurora.

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 we were in France! 

Never mind , it was still a great display from our location, deep in the beautiful French countryside.

That beautiful red glow slowly made its way from north to north west over the space of an hour.

We were lucky to have such wonderful weather, and the chance to capture several half decent pictures.

It was indeed a most perfect astro night.

The French Scorpion.

Last night we camped in the village of Sereilhac, some maybe 20 miles south west of Limoges.

The temperature all day hovered around 30°C ! 

Not being used to such heat Helen and I moved slowly and took our time with the simplest of tasks! 

All evening, and into that balmy night a nearby frog chorus could be heard, a raucous of beautiful high decibel croaks and mutterings filled the motorhome all night.

There was no let up in that high "croak" volume until around 5.00 am. 

I was outside at 5.00 am taking in the glorious French clear skies and marvelling at Scorpius which lay due south. 

45° North - Sereilhac

As we are presently at 45°N at this location it allowed the Scorpion to show off part of its lower tail and stinger. Something I have never seen from my 52°N  location in Pembrokeshire.

52° North - Pembrokeshire

It was amazing to see the stinger, it's main star shone out brightly.

Scorpius with it body, claws, and now complete tail and stinger on show imparted a most impressive display. 

The whole constellation took on a beautiful three dimensional aspect. 

I hope to see a lot more of the Scorpion over the next few weeks.

Scorpio - The Scorpion

Antares- Lucida star

Dominant red star "Antares" Greek word for the "rival of Mars"

Both Antares and Mars have often even mistaken for each other when the planet has been in that vicinity.

In ancient times Antares was looked upon as one of the "Royal Stars" of which there were four. The other three, Regulus, Aldebaran, and Fomalhaut.

They were supposed to guard the four quarters of the Heavens.

Late evening Aurora.

Last night the Aurora Borealis was visible throughout a large portion of the UK.

Here in Pembrokeshire it did not disappoint, though in my case I missed the main display, which I believe was around 6.00pm - 7.00 pm.

I, as usually happens with aurora, was a few hours late on the uptake!

We were parked up last night in an excellent spot, near Mynachlogddu. 

The skies were clear, very dark and cold. 

Luckily at around 11.00pm I was outside taking in the night sky. 

Whilst looking to the North I could faintly, albeit very faintly, detect a hint of possible aurora activity, just over the top of nearby Carn Meinir.

I took a few shots with our camera phone, around eight seconds at ISO3200.

I was surprised to find the aurora clear and bright in the images.

The photos were nowhere near as good as some online amateur photos, though considering my camera setup I was happy to have obtained the above.

My photos reminded me of the aurora pictures I used to see in astronomy magazines back in the early 80's.

I have the aurora app on our phone, and from now on I'll make sure it can send me any notifications of impending solar storms

That will teach me to set up the app properly in future.

The Sun & Moon in Eclipse.

Thought these diagrams might be of interest to eclipse chasers in the UK.

From one of my favourite astronomy books, written by the great Welsh Moon mapper Percy Wilkins.

I noticed the forthcoming April solar eclipse is absent from the list.

https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/@2648147?iso=20240408

Considering we in the UK will only glimpse it for maybe a few minutes I can see why the event wasn't included.

If you ever spot a copy of "Guide to the Heavens" buy it quickly, you won't be disappointed, a great trip down amateur astronomy memory lane. 

Lunar Flying & Selenites

These past many weeks (months!), Pembrokeshire has not been kind to astronomers. 

Lots of rain and too much wind have kept the dustcaps on all telescopes in our county. 

Tonight that all changed.

It was a pleasure to finally take the telescope out and do a bit of Lunar watching. 

Since it was the "first light" for this little Skywatcher refractor I thought the Moon would make a great target. 

High up in the sky and clear of the horizon murk and dust, the views the refractor delivered were very steady and sharp. 

No real observing of craters was done, this evening I only wanted to fly over the Moon.

Tonight's moon peep was for soaking in the moonlight, whilst lost in my thoughts of H.G.Wells' Selenites, Apollo landings and future lunar drawing projects.

Fingers firmly crossed for better weather and clearer skies.

The pencils are sharpened, the ink pens are waiting; can't wait to make some Lunar sketches and drawings.

Clear Skies wherever you are. 

Mark.