Deck Chairs, No Perseids, Owls and the ISS.

Perseus dancing on our rooftop

I recently bought two secondhand deckchairs.... the cost nearly broke the bank, 50p each..!!! 

They were bought solely for the purpose of Perseid watching.

So armed with my deck chairs, Nikon D50 camera/tripod, I hid myself away in the darkest corner of our garden away from the glare of two particularly annoying street lights.

After about ten minutes of looking towards Perseus, I realised that this view of the Northern sky reminded me of of the view from my Grandmother's back garden, some 35 years ago.

One of Mr Newton's prized possessions

I would often lie on my grandmother's garden bench and watch the stars as they wheeled their way around Polaris.

My trusted nightly companions were my Phillips planisphere and Patrick Moore's Observer's book of Astronomy.

I still have my original Planisphere, bought in 1977.
And after many years of good service it still gets used on the odd occassion.

Back then I used to spend hours out there in the months of July and August drinking in the cosmic wonder of the night sky.



Sitting on my new, "expensive" deck chairs, viewing the Perseids.

I  managed a few hours on Thursday/Friday, followed by an hour, early Saturday morning.

Thursday revealed three Perseids, and all three of them produced a glorious streak of white light as they cut across the darkened sky.  There was also a trace of electric blue colour in each of them.

Friday evening/ Saturday morning revealed no Perseids, but then, I was only outside for an hour.

In all I took about 40 photos, mostly around 15 seconds each, some at 30 seconds.

Not one single Perseid did I photographically capture...  !!!!

Doesn't matter...... I visually saw a few, and I was more than happy to be out in the warm August evening, taking in the glorious night sky, and talking to the owl in a nearby tree...


Although, Thursday evening, I did manage to capture the ISS as it passed overhead.

Looking West

Looking East

I did wave, but I don't think the astronauts saw me....  !!


Pondering with the naked eye.....

Over the last month or so, any astronomy time that I've had, has mostly been taken up with naked eye observing.

I have to say that even though I enjoy using the Tal1, plus the binoculars, my favourite method of astronomy has always been naked eye observing.

Give me a dark night, moonlit or not, a comfortable seat, and the Milky Way streaming overhead.....

Plus those familiar scintillating constellations.......

Along with the Wandering Planets, Aurorae, Meteors, Fireballs,

The Moon, Transits, Eclipses, Conjunctions.......

The list goes on.


So much to see.... so many celestial old friends to revisit.

And so many new friends yet to be discovered.

Clear Skies Everyone

Mark..

Tonight's 87% Moon reveals the Moon Maiden.

On my bookshelf sits a small little blue book titled "Peeps at the Heavens"

This book was printed in 1911, by the Reverend James Baikie F.R.A.S

One of the highlights in "Peeps at the Heavens" has to be on page 41, where the Rev Baikie talks of the Moon Maiden, and I quote:

"But perhaps the most interesting of all the faces is that called the "Moon Maiden," which is shown in plate VIII. It can only be seen with the telescope, and only when the Sun happens to shine upon it in exactly the right way. 

I have only seen it twice myself in twenty- five years.; but perhaps some fine night you may get a chance to see  this face of the Moon Maiden, with her long hair floating behind her, looking out from the cape of the Bay of Rainbows across the Sea of Showers."

Plate VII  "The Moon Maiden"

Well tonight I managed to catch a glimpse of that most beautiful of maidens.

Tonight's Lunar viewing was timed just right, the clouds stayed away, and the gap in our tree line framed the 87% illuminated waxing Moon perfectly.

I quickly opened the side windows of the observatory, trained the Tal's finder onto the lunar orb, and focused the 15mm Kellner. 

I was greeted with very steady seeing, and many lunar features stood out beautifully.  

Oddly I noticed that Proclus's ejecta rays had a hint of rainbow colour in them, what would cause this I don't know, maybe an eyepiece malfunction!

I then headed South.

After a couple minutes of viewing Clavius and it's surrounding companions I moved again Northwards... towards the Sinus Iridum... and then I saw her... the Moon Maiden.

She was unmistakeable,  as the Rev Blaikie said "looking out from the cape of the Bay of Rainbows across the Sea of Showers"

I managed to take some pictures and a small video for posterity. 

The images hint at the presence of the Moon Maiden, though the naked eye views where outstanding.

I enjoyed another five minutes of lunar gazing, and then the dreaded clouds returned!

The Moon Maiden -  looking out to sea.

As the Rev Blaikie mentions - "I have only seen it twice myself in twenty- five years"

I wonder when I will see her again?

Lawn astronomy, the Summer Triangle & Where's my Teapot.!

The Summer Skies..  

Thanks to the recent warmer weather (at last!!) Wednesday evening was perfect for some Lawn Astronomy.

Out came a blanket and a good sized cushion to prop my head against.

I made myself comfortable by lying on the warm garden path, and with my 7x50 binoculars beside me I began my tour of the Summer Triangle, and it's surrounding companions.

I spent a while bino viewing Deneb, though I was soon mesmerised by the bright lights of the surrounding star fields, it was time to venture along that Milky expanse....

It is always wonderful to see the Milky Way, ethereal and ghostly, as it snakes its way towards our Galactic Centre.

Last night's view of our Galaxy was particularly magical,  I spent ages just simply drinking in the galactic photons. They renergised my astro batteries beautifully.

As part of my astro tour, I stopped off at Aquila, and was able to capture Altair and it's companions of Tarazed and Alshain in the same field of view of the 7x50's.

Delphinus

Delphinus had not long unsnagged itself from the big tree at the end of our garden. The ugly little dolphin made a lovely binocular image...

Now it was time to see Collinder 399 the Coathanger asterism.  This little asterism is always worth a good long look....

Next stop M57, or what I thought might be M57..!

I know the 7x50's are pushing it, but I thought I caught a glimpse of that most wonderful of planetary nebulae....  but really I think my brain was filling in the astro gaps...!!

Vega: the harp star

Off then to Vega, what a beautiful star, so bright so white.

So lovely hanging there at the zenith, like the bright light atop a Christmas tree..




It was great to be actually observing again. The apalling weather these past few months has really tested the patience of many an astronomer in the county.

Due to the ever growing trees, this is the extent of my Southerly viewing.

I can 't believe that July is nearly over, and that I still haven't seen the Teapot this year.

I really wanted to see the Teapot from our garden, but as you can see from the above picture, I have no chance...!!!  it's sadly lost somewhere in the neighbouring trees...

I'll just have to go astro-mobile one night soon and catch me that Teapot......

Maybe it's time to grab the tent and go for a nighttime walkabout up on the Preseli Hills of Pembrokeshire.....

Fingers crossed for more of this wonderful weather....

Venus Transit as viewed by Mr & Mrs Pembs...

June the 5th 11.00 pm  First Contact via Hawaii.........

Both Helen and I were looking forward to seeing the transit, but due to cloud cover, Pembrokeshire was wrapped in a thick blanket of the grey stuff...  

Also our part of the planet was badly placed for the beginning of the event, so we watched First Contact via the webcam at the Mauna Loa Observatory Exploratorium

Fascinating imagery and the background music and narration were almost hypnotic...  

Thank you to all at the Mauna Loa Observatory for putting on the Live show....

Up at 04:15am - Off to find the Transit Show.....

Looking Southward...

The alarm went off at 04:15. Outside the grey clouds were still smothering the Pembrokeshire skies.

Helen and I got on the motorbike and went out looking for some hopeful gaps in the early morning sky.

We drove maybe two miles, and yes the clouds were beginning to thin...but still no clearing in the East.....however there was a lovely early morning blue sky towards the South...  so frustrating!

We could easily see the beautiful gibbous waning Moon, but from the South West right round to the South East nothing but cloud...   

We drove on.....  passing through the ghost town of Haverfordwest; no cars passed us, no people on the streets. only the occasional cat and a lone fox to greet us on this most glorious morning.....

We reached the local golf course some two miles out of town, only to notice that there was now cloud cover for a full 360 degrees..... 

It looked as if we had little chance of viewing the transit....

We decided to make our way slowly back and watch the Third/Fourth Contact via the internet....

05:27am We were about three miles from home, and noticed a possible break in the clouds... 

Quickly the bike was parked..... then we set up the camera and homemade solar filter ready for some Transit pictures....  

05:27am  Looking North - East

We waited a couple of minutes, but soon realised we were being teased by the Pembrokeshire clouds.....  !!

Interestingly, where we parked was close to a pub called "The Rising Sun". Pity it wasn't called the "The Clear Skies Rising Sun"  ...  :0)

Back on the bike to head off home.....

05:36am That's when we had a bit of good luck. About a mile into our homeward journey the Sun winked at us from behind the darkened clouds.....  

05:36am

Again I quickly parked the bike, brought out the camera and solar filter, climbed up onto a hedge, and we were greeted with the Sun's happy disc, shining brightly.....and waited...... 

05:48am After some anxious cloud watching, and the odd look by the occasional motorist, the Pembrokeshire Hedge Dwelling Astronomers Society were finally awarded a ONE MINUTE window of Transit viewing.....

Just enough time to capture Venus before Fourth Contact...

05:48am 

Goodbye Venus...

05.50am Helen and I were dancing on the hedge and shouting Yahoo!!!!!.... 

We literally had ONE MINUTE of viewing,  BUT....that one minute was TOTALLY worth it......

05:50am

Back in 2004 I had an uninterrupted view of the Transit. At the moment of Fourth Contact that day, I remember saying to Venus "Thank You Venus...hope to see you at the next one in 2012"  

Thankfully I was able to do that, albeit briefly ......

Yesterday, once again, I said goodbye to Venus, but this time there was no "see you at the next one".

The Venus Transits of 2004/12 truly have been a once in a lifetime event......

In the words of  Jeremiah_Horrocks

Thy return posterity shall witness;
Years must roll away,
But then at length the splendid sight
Again shall greet our distant children’s eyes

Venus Transit 2004 .. I found another picture.

Goodbye Venus ..See you in 2012

Yesterday I was looking through one of my old astronomy log books, and I found the above picture.

I've always thought I had just the one picture of the 2004 Venus Transit....It looks like I was wrong...  :0)


Time to attack it with Macintosh software........

After a bit of photo manipulation using iPhoto...
I managed to obtain the following image...

Hidden in a drawer, I have some video footage of the 2004 transit. In total I think I have the last 15 minutes of the transit.  

If I convert this footage from analogue to digital I will be able to exam more closely the individual frames..

It seems yesterday morning I had one photo of the 2004 transit....  this morning I now thankfully have two....  If the video footage can be transferred to the computer ...

I'll hopefully have a lot more images of the event to look through....

Fingers crossed that the video footage is salvageable....  :0)

Waiting for the evening star....

Tal1 patiently waiting to snag the evening star

The back garden doesn't get used that often for astronomical observing, it's a pity as it affords some lovely views of the setting inferior planets .

Tonight though it was time for the Tal1 to be let loose on Venus. 

I simply parked up the scope and waited for the night to draw in...

About an hour later the sky was still blue, but Venus shone brightly......
......time to put the Tal into  action....

Firstly I took this image with just the 25mm plossl and the zoom on my digicam:

Afocal image.. with simple digicam

Then I connected our Nikon D50 via a camera adapter to the Tal's focuser using the prime focus method...

It took a few attempts to capture a decent image, but finally I managed the following image.

Nikon D50 prime focus plus x3 Barlow

Not the best shot in the world, but at least it gave me a record of the current Venusian phase...

It was a beautiful evening, the seeing was Antoniadi II but I would guess sometimes the clarity hinted at maybe an Antonadi of I........  the best seeing for many months I reckon....

Astronomy and Poetry go hand in hand.

Camille Flammarion

All astronomers are poets of that I am sure.

You can't help but feel the calling of the poet, once you've gazed upon the night skies.

To better emphasize my point, I often mention one of my favourite astronomers..  Camille Flammarion.

I was first introduced to Mr Flammarion some 10 years ago when I purchased a small book of his in a local charity shop.

The manager of the Charity shop, knowing how nuts I was about astronomy, kept the book to one side for me.

I'm glad she did. .after a quick browse I was immediately drawn into the world of this wonderful French astronomer. 

The book was "Astronomy for Amateurs"

Who could not be captivated by the opening paragraph..

"The Science of Astronomy is sublime and beautiful. Noble, elevating, consoling, divine, it gives us wings, and bears us through Infinitude. 

In these ethereal regions all is pure, luminous, and splendid. 

Dreams of the Ideal, even of the Inaccessible, weave their subtle spells upon us. 

The imagination soars aloft, and aspires to the sources of Eternal Beauty"

Much more was to follow..

"The crimson disk of the Sun has plunged beneath the Ocean. The sea has decked itself with the burning colors of the orb, reflected from the Heavens in a mirror of turquoise and emerald. The rolling waves are gold and silver, and break noisily on a shore already darkened by the disappearance of the celestial luminary"

"If you will yield yourselves to the pleasure of gazing upon the sparkling fires of Space, you will never regret the moments passed all too rapidly in the contemplation of the Heavens"

Nicolas Camille Flammarion was born in 1842 at Montigny-le-Roi in the department of Haute Marne, France. 

At the age of 16, in 1858, he wrote a 500-page manuscript, Cosmologie Universelle, and became an assistant of Le Verrier at the Paris Observatory. 

From 1862 to 1867, he temporarily worked at the Bureau of Longitudes. 

Camille was the author of more than fifty books, he did much to popularise astronomy.

His writing has been described as eccentric, i.e he thought there was superior intelligent life on Mars, and that comets possibly contained toxic gases that would extinguish life on our planet etc .

After reading the work of some of his contemporaries, it seems many people were sure that Mars was inhabited, and that Selenites roamed the Moon, and many thought comets were full of toxic gas.

Yes truly eccentric maybe.

I have no problem with eccentricity.. the mark of a true amateur astronomer as far as I see it.

Observatory at Juvisy

In 1883 he set up his own private observatory at Juvisy (near Paris).
 From here he continued studies of double/multiple stars, the Moon and Mars.

More words by Camille:  from  Astronomy for Amateurs

Hail, vast Sun! a little star in Infinitude, but for us a colossal and portentous luminary. Hail, divine Benefactor! How should we not adore, when we owe him the glow of the warm and cheery days of summer, the gentle caresses by which his rays touch the undulating ears, and gild them with the touch? The Sun sustains our globe in Space, and keeps it within his rays by the mysteriously powerful and delicate cords of attraction. It is the Sun that we inhale from the embalmed corollas of the flowers that uplift their gracious heads toward his light, and reflect his splendors back to us. 

In 1919, Camille married his second wife Gabrielle Renaudot 1876–1962).

For six years they worked side by side to promote astronomy in France. 

After Camille died in 1925, Gabrielle continued to maintain Juvisy Observatory. 

She is buried next to her husband in the observatory park.

I'm not able to do justice to the astronomer Camille Flammarion in this short blog post.

All I can say is, if you like poetry and are fascinated by the night skies, seek out one of his books, you won't be disappointed.

Of all the astronomers of yesteryear, Camille Flammarion to my mind best captures the poetry of the stars that many amateur astronomers of today undoubtedly experience.

The final words go to Camille:

"Let us suppose that we inhabit a planet illuminated by two suns, one blue, the other red.

It is morning. The sapphire sun climbs slowly up the Heavens, coloring the atmosphere with a somber and almost melancholy hue. The blue disk attains the zenith, and is beginning its descent toward the West, when the East lights up with the flames of a scarlet sun, which in its turn ascends the heights of the firmament. The West is plunged in the penumbra of the rays of the blue sun, while the East is illuminated with the purple and burning rays of the ruby orb"