Pembrokeshire Astronomer

Saturday's initial sketch of Mars Saturday Evening: Last Saturday evening I was all set up in the observatory to take some photos of Mars. The Nikon D50 camera was ready, the x3 Barlow was in place, the Tal clock drive was ticking away, the skies were crystal clear. Also my quarry had not long risen over the edge of the easterly wall of my observatory.... I good nights viewing was ahead..... PERFECT.....!!! Perfect that was until I actually tried to image this little red beauty........!! It quickly became apparent that my planetary photo imaging left a lot to be desired..... I wasn't having much luck capturing my images.....then it struck me....!!! Why am I trying to capture mediocre Mars photos on such a beautiful night. These nights of steady seeing are so few from here in Pembrokeshire that it felt right to put the digital imaging equipment away and employ the old fashioned analogue photon detectors, namely my eyes. Out came the pencils....

I thought tonight would be a no go for astronomy as the clouds were back, and they covered much of the darkening sky.  I managed a quick photo of the Moon before it disappeared into the bullying clouds.. By the look of those clouds it seemed better to head indoors and sit by a warming fire. I happened to go outside about 11.00pm and was greeted with a beautiful smiling Moon looking down at me from a completely cloud free sky . Coat,hat and scarf on... and quickly out to the observatory and roll back the roof. The Moon was about 98% illuminated so many of the stars were washed out by the radiance of the bright moonlight... But I was able to make out a a few of the main constellations. The one that caught my eye was Leo the Lion  which was positioned right next to the Moon. Considering the proximity of Leo to the moon Gamma Leonis " Algeiba" was easily resolved with a x3 Barlow and both the 25mm plossl and the 15mm plossl. These two little beauties are said

It was cloudy all day today...... with the odd shower thrown in for good measure.  According to the weather forecast website that I follow there was to be a break in the clouds around teatime....   They were thankfully right!!!  :0) Like magic the clouds parted.... and as the days light faded I was greeted with the the Moon and Venus dancing above the trees at the end of our garden....   PERFECT !!  :0)   I was using our Nikon D50 camera with a 300mm lens set up on a tripod.  For the above shots the camera was set up at 1/13 of a second ISO at f9. Also I was able to capture a bit of the Da Vinci Glow (Earth Shine)... and you can also see from this photo a bit of glow from some passing clouds. I noticed Jupiter was almost due South and I was wondering if the 300mm camera lens would be able to pick out any detail of the Jovian Moons...   I aimed the camera and tried a two second exposure...    This was the result........Jupiter's satel

Third Quarter Moon hiding in the Simpson Cross trees this morning. I was early up this morning and quickly outside to the waiting clear skies. Stumbled towards the observatory - opened the door - removed the dust cover - hooked up the EQ motor drive - open the side shutters of the observatory - All done. Now I was ready to try a quick image of Saturn using our Nikon D50 camera (with a X3 Barlow). I was in luck... Saturn was just below the sliding roof line of the observatory so I didn't need to push the roof back, just open the one side south facing shutter and train the scope onto Saturn. I was using 1600 ISO  and the exposure was about 1/15 of a second. Clearly I was pushing my luck as the daylight was fast approaching, and I was balancing yet again on the observatory stool with my head twisted at all angles whilst one foot steadied me, and an elbow held part of me against the observatory wall. How I don't fall off the stool is beyond me. After all the acroba

This is a view I never get tired of, the Seven Sisters as seen from the comfort of a folding chair.  Especially when viewed through a pair of 7x50 binoculars. Unfortunately for me Father Christmas forgot to drop off my 7x50's this year.  But I do have two really nice sets of field glasses, each of them giving a x3 magnification. Though I'm guessing it's x3 magnification.. I may be wrong.  My field glasses even have names. George Mildred Wet and Windy West Wales. Even if I had a pair of 7x50's I don't know when I would get a chance to use them.  The weather in Pembrokeshire has been diabolical for weeks, even months! Recently we have had more than our fair share of clouds in Pembrokeshire, as this small video shows.

I'm just getting over a larger than life dose of Pembrokeshire Flu. I never get the flu...but this year it hit good and proper...It's been over a fortnight since I was outside in the cold of the observatory. And at least a fortnight before that without any real observing.  So with that in mind I have been trawling around our pc's hard drive and found this video of my last attempt at solar astronomy from the observatory. The Sun as we all know is still heading South, and as such my possible window of viewing from the observatory is maybe limited to approximately an hour, due to the trees at the end of our garden. I love the trees and so do the birds, especially the magpies who have bought a home in a nearby tree. I will just have to wait a while until the Sun heads North once again..  No hurry. Whilst digging around in our many photo CD's I found this photo of my first telescope, the mighty 40mm Tasco refractor. This picture was taken back in 1981.  By

"As Mars is once again upon us, I thought I would post one of my log entries that I made back in January 2010......" Pembs Astronomer  23rd January 2010  Observation of Mars.... I set up the telescope in the front garden and decided to have a good long look at Mars. It's nearly at it's closest at the moment, shining brighter than Betelgeuse, and slightly dimmer than Sirius. At first the red planet revealed nothing just the usual blank expressionless ruddy red, no detail, no imagination not a hint of any possible Martian detail. But persistence I am told will reward, and definitely tonight persistence paid off. Tonight Mars opened up and allowed a glimpse of its often hidden beauty. The dust storms on the planet were obviously having a good well deserved rest, and I saw for the first time in over six years the Martian surface with it's tell tale mottled patterns. Above picture from  http://www.astronet.ru/db/xware/msg/1194973 This d

Digging around in a charity shop the other day I found an interesting book titled: The Modern Children's Library of Knowledge  Book Two  The World we live in. This book was published in 1957, and towards the end of the book was a chapter about astronomy.  It contained a wealth of astronomy information and most interesting to me a large collection of 1950's era illustrations. I love these old astronomy pictures.  Why don't we have more illustrations like these in modern journals and magazines. Today's astronomy  magazines just don't interest me. Too many adverts for a start, not enough "amateur" articles, and way too "glossy". I personally like black and white illustrations, be they photos or drawings.  Saying that some of the most interesting illustrations can sometimes be in full colour: In my perfect astronomy magazine I would like nothing more than to see the typesetting done on