Les étoiles, toujours étoiles.

Having just come back from France, I thought why not post some of my camera phone astro images.

Simple pictures with an astronomy theme was pretty much my limit. 

I will leave the long exposures and star tracking for another time.

It was great to see the various constellations that much higher in the sky (at one point we were 44 degrees north).

       

Orion over the church spire

Scorpio was an amazing sight.

Being able to see the entire constellation from the south of France was a sight not to be forgotten.

        Full Moon over 

Pont Brottone

Next time we head off to France I will pack a digital SLR camera. 

Our old Nikon D50 took some excellent shots of the night sky.

* Must remember to post my "opera glasses" Moon sketch in the next post.

Clear Skies 

Mark. 

Just keep whistling 😄

No idea where I found this cartoon, but the artist is spot on,  and well observed..😆

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Hoping to do some opera glass observing/sketching during the waxing Moon of November.

Will post some sketches and findings as I go along. 

Fingers crossed for some clear skies.

*** Found the above Moon image in my 1945 astronomy book : 

A Guide to the Sky - A Practical Handbook for Beginners 

by Ernest Agar Beet.

A lovely little book, has just 92 pages, very informative.

Will post more about this book in  future blogs.

Under the trees & the Aurora.

It had been a beautifully hot day, the Sun was relentless, happy, strong, and chromium yellow in a big blue cloudless sky.

Our motorhome "Martha" needed shade from this solar onslaught. 

We took refuge under the barest of trees and waited out the inferno.

Later in the evening, after a considerable cooling of temperature we drove to higher ground.

A favourite spot where the stars are almost 360° and very little light pollution.

As the Sun dipped down, the temperature also dipped; time to close some windows.

Through the passenger door window, I happened to glance out towards the North.

There, plain to see, was that unmistakable reddish light. It had us mesmerised... an Aurora glow !

An Aurora here in France at 44°N !  I bet back home in the UK it must be "bouncing".

A quick look on the internet  confirmed my suspicion, the storm indeed was large over the United Kingdom.

In my home county of Pembrokeshire 360° Aurora was being reported.

The UK storm of the century and we were in France! 

Never mind , it was still a great display from our location, deep in the beautiful French countryside.

That beautiful red glow slowly made its way from north to north west over the space of an hour.

We were lucky to have such wonderful weather, and the chance to capture several half decent pictures.

It was indeed a most perfect astro night.