Pembrokeshire Astronomer

VENUS - February 26th 2017 - 18h 15m UT- Jason 60mm/f15 O.G. This chilly February evening still gripped by the days north wind didn't at first inspire confidence of an observation of Venus. But as the sky darkened and the many clouds turned to black, Venus in solitude shining brightly in the west silenced my wintry complaints. The Jason (60mm/f15) refractor was close to hand and within minutes was in the back garden, partially protected by hedge and shed wall. Tonight would allow a test of my new "plastic" Huygens eyepieces. Three oculars in all, a 20mm, 12.5mm and 4mm. I had no idea how well they would work on such a bright object as Venus. Being that all three are about the cheapest eyepieces you could buy I didn't have high expectations. The 20mm and 12.5mm eyepieces returned lovely sharp views of the planet, with no false colour noted. Next was the real test, the 4mm! Again a surprise, no false colour, no sparkly rainbow effects, just sim

It was cold outside tonight, and the wind was starting to pick up. It would have made more sense to stay indoors, but the promise of Venus through Oscar's optics was calling me. Venus sketch - post Photoshop Tonight's image of Venus showed a distinct crescent, a very bright crescent. I tried out the 80a blue filter on the 9mm ocular, it helped reduce the glare.  We didn't stay out long;  after a quick glance at M44 the Beehive, Rigel, Aldebaran, the Hyades, and the Orion Nebula, it was time to pack up and retire to the warmth of the house. It may not have been a long observing session, but it was completely worth the effort of hauling the 12 inch Dobsonian outside, albeit for only twenty minutes.

It's that time of year when the clouds invariably fill the night skies, and all astronomy activity is put on hold! My thoughts as usual turn to radio astronomy.  Astronomy has always been my main hobby, but it is followed closely by my interest in the radio spectrum, especially the amateur (ham) and radio astronomy frequencies. Thanks to the winter cloudy stuff, often at this time of year I'm unable to collect starlight with my telescopes, but collecting  cosmic radio waves through the clouds is no problem with the right radio receiver. Recently I've been able to catch up with a couple of vintage radio/astronomy related programmes. This past month has been pretty clouded over, with the odd clear night allowing some beautiful views of Orion and friends. Apart from a few quick glances of Venus through the 60mm refractor, I haven't taken the telescopes out at all this month! Fingers crossed for some decent observing in January..... Happy New Ye

Wide awake 3.00 am - outside the stars were shining brightly. I didn't want to disturb Helen, so I tried to get back to sleep - no chance!  I couldn't see Orion through the low south facing window,  but I knew he was there, hanging in the sky, just waiting for a chance to show off.  I started thinking about the Orion nebula. Here's a sketch that I made of the nebula, almost 10 years ago! Stellar Nursery M42 the Orion Nebula - 150mm Newtonian reflector. 2006 In those ten years I have observed the nebula through various instruments, from 40mm refractors to an 8 inch Schmidt Cassegrain. This morning I would be able to observe with an even larger aperture. I've been waiting since June to unleash "Oscar" our 12 inch Newtonian onto this most wonderful of stellar nurseries. I lay in bed for maybe another ten minutes... I couldn't take it anymore, I had to go outside and start observing.  Helen woke up about the same tim

Tal1 110mm reflector - Tasco 40mm refractor If you want to make the most of your telescope, my advice would to be build yourself an observatory. Back in April of 2011 I was fortunate enough to be given what to many would be firewood, but to me it was  the makings of a garden observatory. Originally the "firewood"  had been a 7x5 foot garden shed, but due to age plus neglect the corners and part of the base had become moldy and rotten. Taking shape Luckily I was able to salvage a fair amount of the wooden side panels, though the roof was completely past it. In all I had enough decent wood to make a 6x5 foot shed structure. The footings of the new shed comprised of driftwood that we found on nearby Newgale beach. The roof was another matter.... It had to be as light as possible, as I wanted it to slide out of the way when observing the night sky. Looking better After a bit of head scratching I decided to fit a tarpaulin over the roof framewo