The night of Christmas day

 

This year's Christmas tree

The roaring winds dropped, the clouds parted and the night of Christmas day was cloaked in the light of the nearly full moon.

We had waited weeks for a sky clearing, and here it was, I wasn't about to waste any of it.

Helen and I stood outside for ages, drinking in the stillness of this most Christmas night.

The scudding clouds touched the moon and wiped away the days of wind and rain.

It has been ages since we witnessed a near full moon in such a quiet setting. No cars, no planes, no dogs on leads barking at trees. 

The absence of all 21st century racket and rush was most welcomed.

Not a soul to be seen; all at home enjoying the Christmas evening.

To the South Selene was up high, shining with almost a full December intensity. 

 

Overhead Cassiopeia.

To the West a tall pine tree with a star above (Hello Jupiter) made up completely for our lack of actual Christmas tree in our motorhome.  

To the North, a vixen was calling to the night.

For several minutes she gave out her haunting call.

The cry of the vixen

All in all it was a perfect Christmas night.

Return of the blue skies Sol.

Not much chance of astronomy these past few weeks. 

Partly due to the weather, and partly due to having a stinking cold a week or so ago! 

Thankfully the cold has now gone, and the blue skies are back.

The pst was taken out for a quick peep at Sol.

I only have my small tripod at the moment, so everything is a bit wobbly to say the least.

A few Sol shots were captured, but mainly it was all naked eye viewing this morning. 

The camera I use had a flat battery, so I tried out my other phone camera... nowhere near as good, but it managed to capture two of the major prominence.

Loads of sunspots today, this solar cycle is definitely picking up.

Moonlight over Newgale.

Took a spin to Newgale today, we haven't been for ages, at least not since the pandemic. 

It was wonderful to see the vast stretch of beach. 

Helen and I, and our son Jac spent fifteen years living only two miles from this glorious seafront ( 2001-2016).  

Today, with every footstep we made in the sand, it was a trip down memory lane.

The gibbous Moon was visible over the nearby hill, only the second time we have seen it this lunation, blame the wind and rain!

As the night deepened, I set up the camera phone on a flimsy little £3 tripod I bought a few days ago.

After a bit of trail and error I managed to capture the following. 

Mizar and Alcor (The Horse & Rider)

Amazing that the phone was able to capture Mizar AND Alcor, I didn't expect that.

The view from the camper van of the Moonlight over Newgale will stay with us always. 

Sundogs over Mynachlogddu.

The sky gods behaved today, mo more rain for awhile. 

The last few weeks have been a testing time for any astronomical activities. 

So much rain! So many cloudy nights!

Today all sins have been forgiven, the good weather quietly and calmly returned to Pembrokeshire.

We ventured over to Waldo's stone over at Rhosfach Common near Mynachlogddu.

 Dammit, my finger has photo bombed again!

There was an excellent Sundog event in progress.

Lots of information on the Internet about sundogs, not so many actual displays, it was great to see one today. 

I think the last time we spotted one was back last December. 

They always seem to occur on those most quiet and calming still air days.

The Moon sat on the leaves of a tree.

Last night's Moon emerged from out of a mist bank. 

She totally caught us by surprise, and radiated that warm orange glow that only the Moon knows how to do.

We sat and gazed, and Moon bathed, and  dreamed of past lunations. All those many  Moon rises, lifting out of rock, trees, salt water and earth. 

Not forgetting the eclipses, both lunar and solar,  who could ever get tired of seeing those.

Tonight's Moon was no exception, as always a welcome old friend.

Hello Pleiades, heralding the Autumn

Out and about in the camper van , spent the night at a favourite local dark sky location.

What a beautiful night, witnessed the Moon rosy red and westward bound, melting into the nearby hills near Maenclochog.

Several meteors flashed by, Helen spotted a possible bollide, she mentioned that it left a definite trail in its wake. 

Of course I missed it completely, at the time I was totally distracted by the the Plough asterism!

Out towards the east Jupiter was bright and sharp, and nearby the Pleiades was rising, a sure sign that Autumn is here.

Here's a picture I managed to capture with the phone camera. 

A perfect night for all astronomers, hopefully the first of many in this new autumn astronomy season. 

This Universe we all share has such wonder.

Today's Sol images, via the Coronado PST.

I've been waiting patiently these past few days, observing a giant filament slowly walk its way to the Sun's limb. 

Finally it crossed the threshold and transformed into the beautiful prominence you see below.

No matter how many times I view these prominences, be they massive, middle or minnow size, I am always in awe at the feeling of wonder they elicit.

The  unfulrling of a solar prominence is a sight worth seeing, astronomy and poetry are joined in such events as these. 

Be it a total eclipse of the Sun (which I still have yet to see), or the rising of the Moon, to the fleeting trail of a shooting star. 

Oh and those comets!  such ghostly apparitions, passing fleetingly through our solar system, probably never to be seen again. 

This Universe we all share has such wonder. 

Return of September Sol.

It's been at least ten weeks since my last solar observation photo.  

The weather in that time has not been kind for solar observers (at least where I've been located), and the night skies have been much devoid of star light, or in other words crap!

Strange weather indeed, probably the worst summer weather since about 2012, as far as Pembrokeshire astronomy is concerned.

Return of September Sol.

Finally, this morning the Sun was parked in a beautiful blue sky, and I was able to capture old Sol, resplendent with a chain of prominences. 

Above is this morning's picture, captured with the trusty old PST. 

Measuring the filaments.

Today's Sol image revealed a beautiful snake like filament. 

It got me thinking... How long is that filament?

With the help of the laptop software, I decided to have a go at making a rough guess.

By placing a grid over today's Sol image I was able to "very" roughly figure out the filament length.

As the Sun is around 865,000 miles in diameter, and the grid took sixteen squares to cross the Sun's diameter I figured that each square was roughly 54,000 miles wide.  

865,000/16 = 54,062 miles.

The filament in question, down near the 5.00 clock position on the image easily stretched some two squares.

By my "very rough" reckoning today's filament was around 108,000 miles from end to end!

If you ever decided to walk the length of that filament, at a speed of five mile per hour, without stopping, it would take you just under two and a half years to reach the other end!

How long would it take to walk from one end of the Sun to the other end ? How long would it take to walk from the Sun to my back  garden? 

I think I'll leave these questions for another time.

........

After some photoshop tweaking of today's image I found a new way (for me) to display the solar detail. 

It needs further work to be of any use, though for now I am pleased with the results.

That snaking filament shows up much better in this new image format.

Summer Solstice Sun

HAPPY SUMMER SOLSTICE EVERYONE

Much cloud in evidence today, though a few gaps did occasionally appear.

The final image wasn't that brilliant, though it did allow for a few pictures with hints of plages and filaments.

Below is probably the best of the lot.

The view through the eyepiece was much better than the photographic image, filaments clearly showed better with the naked eye. 

Maybe I should try sketching some of those camera shy filament features...  I'll have a go soon.

Below is a sketch I made of a sunspot group, roughly ten years ago! I have the date somewhere, now lost in the labyrinth of my external hard drive.

The observation was made with my old 110mm reflector, mylar filter and a 12mm eyepiece.

It goes to show solar observing doesn't require huge apertures to be fun.

No Meteors ~ Hello to HIYA (revisited)

Back in August 2009, whilst camped out on the Preseli Hills, awaiting the main Perseid shower maximum, I had an idea...

I had an idea for a poetry form that might be of interest to poets, 

I later called it HIYA.

Firstly you make a chart, as follows:

Then you choose any word you want to make your poem.

For example I will use the letters of my name: MARK.

Look up each letter of your word on the above chart.  

Write down the corresponding number you see above it.

My word MARK would read as follows:
M=4, A=1, R=9, K=2

Once you correspond a number to each of your letters. 

You then use this number as a syllable count for each line of your poem.

Poem for the Perseids

                                                                                               Syllable Count

Throughout the night                 4         M

Clouds                               1         A

Rest upon the Preseli hill tops      9         R
I sigh.                              2         K

Any word or combination of words can be used, plus the poem can be split up into any length verse you see fit. 

Have a go, see what you think.

Have a guess what my initial word was in this poem. 

Tea Party for the Perseids

We sit so patiently waiting

Surrounded by clouds

Time for tea

Time for cake

Time to talk with old friends.

That evening back in August of 2009 may not have revealed any meteors (it was clouded out most of the night!), but I'm glad to say it revealed the HIYA.