Pembrokeshire Astronomer

Tonight the Moon  was calling me, a big bright gibbous Moon, sitting above the treeline, along with Mars.... they were irresistible!  Plus at the other end of the garden a brilliant shining Saturn was winking at me from amongst the naked ash trees. Definitely time to drag out the Schmidt. I set up outside the front door, the street lights had all gone out, and the neighbour's lights all switched off...perfect for a spot of observing. The north polar cap of Mars stood out well, plus a few dark markings. There seemed to be a hint of south polar cap, though this was probably haze or cloud. The Moon was gibbous and very bright, almost sunglasses bright as viewed through the 25mm Kellner eyepiece (x50). I can highly recommend wearing sunglasses for telescopically observing the bright Moon, and cheaper than a moon filter! Saturn looked amazing tonight (x220), through the gaps in the trees I could easily detect some surface banding, with a hint of colour (brownish to my ey

Would I see Mercury tonight? Helen and I made our way to Newgale, we arrived at about 10.00p.m. After about five minutes of searching I spotted a tiny point of light over towards the North West that was without doubt the planet Mercury. Out came the Schmidt telescope, and quickly to locate the planet I put in the 20mm Erfle eyepiece (x100), followed by the higher magnifying 9mm Ortho eyepiece (x220). What a lovely rainbow. Due to the low altitude of Mercury I wasn't able to see any hint of a planetary phase. All I could see was a swirling mass of rainbow colours, plus a sea breeze was nudging the Schmidt slightly. The result of the planets low altitude, plus the sea breeze left Mercury a dance of swirling colours. At one point I thought I had caught a glimpse of the gibbous phase, but I reckon my brain was playing tricks. Mercury is a difficult planet to view, maybe I'll have better luck in late October when it becomes a morning object.

Due to the terrible weather conditions these past few weeks I've only been able to grab a few moments of observing time.  The rain has stopped many a decent observation!   Lets hope February, March and April are kinder.  Fingers crossed for excellent Mars observing over the next couple of months.