Mercury Falling - Venus so bright.

I was hoping for a glimpse of Mercury this evening; luck was on my side.

After daydreaming over the beautiful Newgale sunset, it wasn't long before Venus made an appearance.

Followed a short time later by the winged messenger, Mercury.

You can just make out Mercury a little above where the two slim clouds almost meet.

It's only the second time Helen and I have seen the winged messenger this year. 

Though considering I haven't spotted Mercury for several years, that's not a bad innings !

Just before we drove away from Newgale; under the cover of darkness, Helen noticed that Venus was casting an amazing pathway of light across the bay. 

Absolutely wonderful, the perfect way to end tonight's inferior planet viewing. 

Both Venus and Mercury will be closely watched over the next week, they are visually getting closer to each other at the moment.

Should make for an interesting future viewing session.

When the West wind blows.

There's some windy stormy weather heading towards Pembrokeshire over the next few days.

Looks as if I might not have a clear night for a while.

This gives me time to try out a few drawing and typewriter astro projects.

Here's another typewriter astro log book entry, from a few years back.

I notice no mention of the year on the above log entry, I think it was 2020.

Observe the Moon for £3.50

Last night whilst digging through my astro images, I found this picture. 

I haven't done one of these typewriter posts for ages!

Must make some new ones, it's long overdue.

The above observation was made with a simple 40mm refractor.

If memory serves, the refractor cost me all of £3.50 from a local charity shop, back in a time when it was possible to pick up such bargains.

Goes to show that astronomy needn't be an expensive hobby.

From the astrophotography chair.

Last night the Moon and several planets shone their light down onto Newgale beach. 

A beautiful shiny Orion took pride of place above "Martha" our trusty motorhome.

The above picture was taken with my simple tripod and phone setup. 

At the moment I just stick the ISO to 3200 with two second exposure and the above image is formed.

Simple enough for now, but I would like to upgrade a little to have more of a choice, maybe a simple dslr will do the job.

We used to own a Nikon D50 dslr, it was great for night shots. 

Although the D50 was only rated at 1600 ISO it was perfect for various conjunctions, transits and lunar work.  

Time to get back in the astrophotography chair me thinks.