Newgale - Meanderings typemachine & Baguettes

Down to Newgale beach this afternoon.

Looking out to sea.  

With several days of wind and rain now thankfully in our rear view mirror.

It's good to sit on the kitchen step, listening to the gentle sound of the waves crashing against this most Welsh shore. 

With the calming view came the urge to do some typing on the old poetry generator.

I picked out one of my poems from my "Stream of Consciousness" poetry collection. 

There's roughly about 650 poems in this collection; below is number 251.

Written in France, back in 2024, whilst heading our slow zig zag way towards the Dordogne and beyond. 

The whole journey seemed fuelled entirely by Baguettes, Camembert, Boursin and grape juice.

I practically ate my own body weight in Baguettes over the next two months!

Back in the UK I'm allergic to bread.

Someone, somewhere has an explanation for this.

The Aurora Dance of the Green & Red

Tonight's Aurora display was definitely the best naked eye display I've ever seen.

With just the camera phone to capture the event, here are a couple of  pictures.

The phone captured the red glow beautifully.

Though the naked eye didn't pick out the red that well.

By eye alone the green colouring was very prominent, ribbons of long stretched out cloud one second, then  tufts of singular green cloud the next, totally mesmerising! 

That dance of the green aurora continued for over an hour.

At one point a streak of billowing green appeared and slowly weaved its way past Orion and upwards towards The Pleiades.

Later on our son turned up to visit us, which made the evening all the more memorable.

It was a magical evening, never to be forgotten. 

Newgale Aurora : photo Jac Lee.

Jupiter Rising over the mast - Later the Mist.

It was finger-tipping cold, the sky was clear, the light was fading, we were driving eastwards. 

Right in front of us was the evening star, not Venus, this time it was Jupiter the planet of gas enshrouded mystery.

The stars hadn't yet made an appearance, we drove on.

Ten minutes later we reached our park up for the night. 

Now we had the star show, above Jupiter Gemini was out and about.

The phone camera captured this picture: 

In the distance you can see the red lights of the Preseli Mast.

Gemini stands out in this.photo, you can see Bright Jupiter just to the left and below the star Wasat.

A great start for the evening, but alas an hour later in came the Preseli Mist and all stargazing was put on hold for another night.

Still it was great to see Jupter and Gemini on this most cold of nights.

Poem for the Moonlight.

It is cold outside.

With just this night, in the stillness of a  year beginning.

Stargazing with mind and eye, soaking in the bright snowy white Moon.

Studying Orion as it peeps over scudding  winter clouds. 

What luck to be beneath the Heavens, feet planted firmly with gravity glue.

Looking up and out into the cold, bone-drying freeze of the Cosmos.

An Astronomer's December.

Celestial Events in December 2025

Plenty to see this month, but as always, wrap up warm and especially make sure your boots and hat are Super Ninja North Pole Thermal quality. 

December 4 (evening): Full Moon (Cold Moon).

The last full Moon of the year will also be a supermoon, meaning it is at its closest point to Earth in its elliptical orbit (perigee), making it appear up to 14% bigger and 30% brighter than when it is farthest away. It will occur at 23:14 GMT.

December 7th: Mercury at Greatest Western Elongation & Jupiter at Opposition.

Mercury will reach its greatest western elongation, appearing at its farthest point from the Sun in the morning sky. 

This, coupled with Jupiter being at opposition (closest to Earth and fully illuminated), should make for good planetary viewing, especially in the early morning.

December 4th–20th: Geminid Meteor Shower Active.

The Geminids, one of the most reliable and spectacular meteor showers, are active during this period.

December 14th (peak): Geminid Meteor Shower.

The shower reaches its maximum on the night of December 13-14, with a possible rate of over 100 meteors per hour under ideal conditions. 

Viewing conditions in 2025 are favorable due to a waning crescent moon that will not interfere with the darker skies needed to spot the bright, multi-colored meteors.

December 19th: New Moon.

At 01:43 GMT, the Moon will be new, creating excellent dark-sky conditions for observing faint objects like galaxies and star clusters.

December 21: December Solstice.

The Winter Solstice (in the Northern Hemisphere) occurs at 15:03 GMT, marking the shortest day and longest night of the year.

December 17th–26th: Ursid Meteor Shower Active.

This minor shower typically peaks around the solstice, producing about 5–10 meteors per hour.

December 22nd (peak): Ursid Meteor Shower

The peak occurs on the night of December 21-22. A dark, nearly new moon makes for good viewing conditions for this often-overlooked shower. 

To be still and daydream

Down at Newgale today, Sunshine and blue sky therapy working well.

The waves gently break on the nearby shore; the air has a promise of colder days ahead. 

For now I sit and daydream.

No need for more words, this photos says it all.

Moon and Pleiades shake hands.

Recently I've been looking through some old phone pictures and found the following meeting from the first of April this year, between the Moon and the Pleiades.

Here's a picture I took off the event, with the old camera phone and the red Vixen refractor.

It goes to show, even the simplest of set ups can capture some useful astronomy images. 

Saying all that, I do have my eye on one of those SeeStar/Dwarf camera telescopes, they are definitely of interest.

Earlier this evening I met two local astronomers out and about imaging Comet Lemmon via a Dwarf telescope. 

The Dwarf returned a beautiful image of the comet. 

I may be an Old School Astronomer, but but I think I could be persuaded to make room for one of these handy portable imaging telescopes.

The lost words of the apparition of 2020

Last night I was searching and collating a stack of my old poems. 

In amongst the pile was an astronomy observation I made of the 2020/21 Apparition of Mars**.

I don't remember making this write up, but there it was, an A5 sheet all scribbles, both sides.

This morning I typed out the main body of the observation, and post it here for future reference. 

Also at that time I made a series of Mars sketches.

Finally  I can add my sketches to those lost words of the 2020 Apparition.

** The Astronomical Society of Edinburgh.

That's the way to draw it.

Long before the digital ccd and the film emulsion of photos past, there was pencil, ink and paper. 

Many of the lunar images I admire most fit the category of sketches or drawings.

There's something magical about being at a telescope, pencil and paper at the ready, teasing out lunar detail with eye and mind.

Then the hand converts those thoughts and findings into a working sketch.

Many a time I have looked to one of my old astronomy drawings and remember clearly the evening in question.

Here's a drawing by one of my favourite amateur astronomers, H.P Wilkins.

All the information you need is there, and beautifully drawn.

If Mr Wilkins was alive today, I bet he would remember that evening of September 21st 1939 clearly, as if it was yesterday. 

From am old astronomy memory.

Observing the sunspots in 1991.

Was it a hundred years ago, or just yesterday?  Seems like both.

This observing session is still vivid in my mind, it was a beautiful blue sky day. 

No fancy GOTO systems, just a simple Tasco telescope on a rickety alt/az mount, cheap eyepieces and scraps of paper. 

Love them or hate them, those wobbly old "department Store" refractors sure knew how to make memories.

Hiding from Amy, thinking of France.

We've been hiding in the bushes these past couple of days, away from storm Amy. 

No stars, no Moon, just several hours of armchair astronomy and a bit of photo editing of some 2024 France astro pics.

All of the above images were captured with my phone camera. 

On our next visit to France we will definitely be bringing a digital slr.

Our old Nikon D50 would do the job nicely for the shots I'm thinking of taking.

As storm Amy begins to fade, I see hints of blue appearing once again. 

Time to dust down the Vixen telescope.