Geminids start Tonight..!

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

Night Thoughts While Travelling by 杜甫

 
One of my favourite astronomy books, or series of books, has to be Burnham's Celestial Handbook, a three volume collection of reference material on the stars and objects in the night sky. 

What I particularly like is that among all the wonderful astronomical data, the author Robert Burnham Jr also included a large amount of ancient history and folklore of the stars and constellations.

Plus there's a very a good selection of poetry relevant to the subject in question.  

Whilst reading through the pages concerning Sagittarius the Archer, my eye was drawn to a beautiful translation of a poem by the great Chinese poet Du Fu or Tu Fu as I stubbornly refer to him... Though correctly his name would be 杜甫



Night Thoughts While Traveling
 
A light breeze rustles the reeds
Along the river banks. The
Mast of my lonely boat soars
Into the night. Stars blossom
Over the vast desert of
Waters. Moonlight flows on the
Surging river. My poems have
Made me famous but I grow
Old, ill and tired, blown hither
And yon; I am like a gull
Lost between heaven and earth.

Translation by Kenneth Rexroth 

I have to say there are many translations of this great poem, many of them are bloody awful, but thankfully Kenneth Rexroth's version speaks to me. 

On the next clear evening when the sky is full of stars  I will copy this poem to paper, take it outside and recite it out loudly to the stars above.... I invite you to do the same...


Where have all the fireballs gone....? 
It's been pretty poor astronomy wise these last couple of weeks. Lots of cloud and rain and more rain and cloud etc and blah blah..!!   

Even the recent Taurid meteor shower hasn't revealed one solitary blazing fragment.... so far. 

Usually by now, I have seen at least one. Not this year!

Over the last few years, November has consistently hurled several fireballs my way.. 

Out of all the annual meteor showers, the Taurids, as far as I can tell, seem to be the most consistent for producing blazing fireballs...

I hope to see at least one before the end of the month. Come on clouds ... CLEAR OFF!!


Jupiter rising....
Only a couple more weeks and Jupiter will be clearing the "dancing trees" at the end of our garden. 

I call them dancing trees because they always seem to be moving. Just the slightest breeze and they are off...!  Last night Sirius was winking on and off through the ghostly limbs of a swaying ash tree.

Sketches from 2014

Thankfully at the start of December,  Jupiter will have risen above the dancing disco by about 6.00 am, which will give me plenty of time to grab a few Jovian sketches.

Lets hope we get some clear night skies soon... I have some poetry to recite.


Clear poetic skies 

Mark.. 

Eclipse watching from the astronomer's bench.

It was a cool evening with a just enough breeze to make the nearby trees gently sing with songs of the autumn leaves. 

The sky was clear of cloud, the moonlight was soft, the sleepy village was at rest....such a  night was made for lunar eclipses.

Since living at our present address I have photographed three lunar eclipses, at each event the  camera and telescope were my prime concerns. 

Tonight I decided to take only a few simple shots of the eclipse, the rest of the time I simply sat on the astronomer's bench in the garden with my lovely wife. 

We both sat in the darkness, soaked up the starlight and absorbed the fading moonlight.

In the words of Helen.........

What a magical night. We took some photos, then sat gazing. 

There was so much to see....the eclipse, obviously, many meteors, one which zipped through the V of Taurus. 

Orion showed off his belt and wide shoulders, Betelgeuse flashing red to compete with the Blood Moon. 

This is the third total lunar eclipse we have seen from this house, and it was the first time without street lights. What a difference it made. 

The Astronomer asked me how many stars I could count inside the square of Pegasus....  I could count ten. In previous years, none could be seen due to the light pollution. 

We finally gave in to tired eyes and went to bed at 4.30...just as Luna was loosing her blush.

Sat on the astronomer's bench, 
writing up thoughts of the eclipse, by candlelight.

We watched in silence as the Moon sunk deeper and deeper into the shadows of our planet.

Through the binoculars the Moon took on a slight pinkish/red hue, not the predicted blood red of the tabloids. 

Tonight's eclipse was not as red tinged as the two previous I witnessed. The eclipse of March 2007 being especially "blood" in colour.  

March 3rd 2007

Who can remember the total eclipse of December 9th 1992?  now that was a "blood" moon... still vividly red in my memory... 

Haiku Moon

Haiku poetry and Moon watching go together, here's a recent haiku I wrote about that eclipse of March 2007.

Hope you managed to see the Total Eclipse...... 

Next one July 27th 2018 .... 

See you there..

Clear Lunar Skies