Pembrokeshire Astronomer

February Sunlight ------------------------------------- Pencil and paper Simply the Analogue Sun I capture the day. -------------------------------------- Today's big idea was to take a picture of the Sun with my digicam....NO CHANCE!!!  The digicam refused to focus, then the battery died.  After a quick recharge I tried again..... Still no luck!.... The camera again failed to focus... After a bit of tutting and mumbling I thought stuff it. The "digital" gremlins had won the day...... I grabbed a HB pencil. Pencil and Conte Crayon I simply sketched the Sun, nothing complicated, just a quick outline of the features that I could see, namely the Active Region 2489. The sketch only took a couple of minutes, nothing went out of focus, batteries didn't run out, and there was no tutting and cursing. It was a lovely "analogue" solar observation. Sometimes all you need is a pencil and a piece of paper.

“I've never owned a telescope, but it's something I'm thinking of looking into.” - George Carlin   Since November of last year it has rained almost everyday in Pembrokeshire, the starry skies have been few and far between. Needless to say I've had a bit of astronomical "cabin fever"! There has been the odd clear night, plus several small windows of viewing opportunity, but usually only some ten minutes or so, not enough time to set up the Schmidt C8.  The skies that have been clear returned poor to average seeing . The Schmidt did not fair well peering through that most murky of Pembrokeshire gloom. To beat the poor seeing and the slow setup time of the Schmidt telescope, I decided to buy a smaller aperture telescope, with quicker and easier set up time. I had my mind set on a long focal length 60mm refractor. 60mm/f15.2 Jason refractor Within a week of searching I had found a lovely 60mm/f15.2 Jason refractor (Thank

60mm/f15 refractor - 2007 So much rain, so much cloud, I thought the blue skies would never return, but they have. Over the last two months I reckon to have only glimpsed the stars on about three evenings. The Leonids, Geminids and Quadrantids passed me by without a single meteor spotted! I'm still waiting to see comet Catalina... oh well. This deluge of rain has certainly messed up my night time observing, but considering the terrible floods and anguish others have experienced these past weeks, I really have nothing to complain about. This enforced absence of starlight has allowed me to gather some of my 2015 Moon haiku. Moonbow in the night arcs the sky of Aberporth sound of nearby waves. Now the blue moon shines only the sound of the sea better than a dream. Yellow moon rising autumn stars shine in sky we sit holding hands. Reading by moonlight watching the total eclipse candlelight flickers. Craters on the moon spied with my telescope lens cl