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Jupiter Majestic

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Observing blank, blending stump and pencils at the ready. “the camera could not replace the human eye”   Étienne Léopold Trouvelot Jupiter is now well placed in the night sky, it's time to gather my pencils and observing blanks . For the next few months I will be collecting as many Jovian sketches as I can. The Schmidt telescope has been on form recently, so as long as the sky gods cooperate I shall have a fair collection of observational drawings by the end of this apparition . These past few days I have been sifting through my 2011-2015 Jupiter drawings. Each drawing brings back memories of standing at the telescope eyepiece, teasing out the faintest planetary detail, and looking for any colour and contrast variations. With each sketch I am reminded of the varying yearly Pembrokeshire weather patterns. One day it would be T shirt weather, another I was dressed like an eskimo, frantically trying to warm my fingers to allow quick sketches. One late

When the North wind blows.

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Gibbous moon February 18th 2016 - Jason 60mm/f15 refractor. I think I might have the makings of a cold, so I've been keeping away from that Northerly biting cold breeze that has been hanging around our village today. The gibbous moon looked glorious in the early evening sky..... I just had to grab a quick photo of it. Out came the Jason refractor, the digicam at the ready.... Part of Gassendi's crater wall was brightly lit, Copernicus looked magnificent, Eratosthenes was amazing and the Moon Maiden looked beautiful...  I didn't stay out long, the cold was eating into my bones.... must be getting soft in my old age! Polaroid type photo of tonight's Moon I will no doubt be out later on this evening.. but for now it's feet by the fire time and something to eat. Clear Skies Mark

Solar day - Cold Lunar night.

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Jason 60mm/f15 refractor Today the Sun came out to play.... I grabbed the Jason refractor and took a solar projection of the  Midday-ish Sol. Solar projection Later I cropped the above photograph and processed the image to within an inch of its life! The active region (AR2497) at the ten o'clock position could easily be seen in the projection. There was another active region (AR2501) at the three o'clock position, this only showed up after a bit of teasing with Photoshop. It's time again to buy some solar film and set up my digicam. With solar film I will be able to photograph sunspots with higher quality, as you see below: August 2nd 2011 ------------------------------------------- Later in the evening, the Moon was up high, I couldn't resist setting up both telescopes and grabbing some Lunar images. Lunar light on a cold February evening. Schmidt C8 40mm Kellner - Afocal I wanted to try some Jupiter sket

Simply the Analogue Sun.

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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.

First Light for the "Jason" 60mm/f15.2 refractor.

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“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

Rain stops astronomy.....More time for poetry.

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Rain, Haiku and Double Stars

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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

Geminids start Tonight..!

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http://www.skyandtelescope.com/ Over the next couple of weeks, I will no doubt be out in the garden under the stars tentatively watching the night sky for the annual spectacle that is the Geminid meteor shower. The Leonid shower last month completely passed me by without one meteor sighted. If the weather behaves I hope to have more luck with the Geminids. It may be cold out there, but it's always worth wrapping up warm and heading outside for those possible midnight celestial fireworks. If you see a Geminid over the next couple of weeks.... remember to make a wish Clear Skies Mark More information about this meteor shower:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zsr34j6