Basilicos, Cor Leonis, Stella Regina, Regulus

Regulus...what a poetic star.

Here is a poem I found recently by the Greek astronomer-poet Theodore Stephanides....

"I teach Man with the atom of his brain to weigh a flaming sun in wisdom's scales, to gauge the Galaxy from pole to pole, to read the secret of each starry train; and in the Infinite's unwinding trails, to lose mortality and find the soul."

Such poetry and dreaming these stars do bring.

Moon and Venus from Simpson X

Taken by Helen with Nikon D50 70mm lens 1.6 sec ISO 800

Crescent Venus 15th February 2009

Venus - Skywatcher 150mm/f8 refractor.

“For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.”

― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

The wonders of Vega viewed through an achromatic lens.

The Moon and Mercury

Occultation of Venus 18th June 2007 14.21 gmt

I lost this picture many months ago.

Luckily I found it recently, hidden on one of our cd disks!!

Total Lunar Eclipse 21st February 2008

I sat outside, early hours of this morning waiting for the total lunar eclipse.

Huddled sitting on a rug, with blankets and warm clothing, hoping the clouds would move away.

Luckily they did long enough for me to capture these images.

I spent a lot of the time leaning against my chair nodding off....or using the binoculars to view the totality.

It's wonderful to see stars in such close proximity to a full moon, the blackness of space around that shining lunar disk is a sight not often seen..

I took full advantage of it.