Warming by the fire.

Jupiter and the Moon 17/04/16

I was feeling the cold tonight, so I decided to light the fire and grab myself some dandelion coffee.  

Observing Luna would have to wait another night.

Though I didn't entirely abandon the Moon.

Before packing away the telescope I captured a few images of beautiful gibbous Selene.

17/04/2016

The above image is a bit blurred at the edges, this is due to the method of photo capture that I use. namely afocal photography.

Best described with this photo:

afocal photography

Afocal photography is a brilliant way of capturing astro images, all you have to do is simply place the camera lens over the eyepiece of the telescope. 

Though sometimes it can be a bit hit and miss. Tonight's lunar image was a bit miss around the lunar limb. 

Blame it on camera shake from cold hands.

 

As I was packing away the telescope ominous dark clouds to the west were gathering and slowly rolling in for the night.

Maybe sitting by the warming fire isn't such a bad idea.


Warm fingers crossed for more clear skies in the week ahead.

Birdsong and the Moon

Tonight a blackbird was perched on Gilbert's roof, singing a song for the Moon.

A perfect evening to train the Jason refractor onto the waxing crescent.

The nearby blackbird gently sang and the troubles of the world melted away.  

 

Sketching Sol and Jove.

 Last night's Jupiter sketch.

I didn't stay outside long last night as it was windy and cold. 

There were also clouds looming on the western horizon, which is a sure sign of soon-to-be bad weather. 

Within the hour it was raining and blowing. 

Considering the amount of cloud cover this March, I have been lucky to capture several Jupiter drawings.

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 I've also managed a fair few solar sketches.  Here's a sample of my March solar sketches:

Luna and Sol dance across the sky.

60mm'f15 Jason refractor - afocal 40mm Kellner eyepiece

 This evening's lunar photo, taken with the Jason refractor.

Earlier in the day I managed to make a sketch of Sol.

 

I brilliant day for astronomy...... later in the evening a thin hazy sea mist crept over the village, blocking out much detail on the planet Jupiter. 

So... no planetary sketching tonight.

But it was still an amazing evening for all West Wales astronomers..

Tonight's Jupiter sketch

The Great Red Spot could be seen, it exhibited to my eye, an orange/red hue. 

Overall the image was "mushy" at x225.

A beautiful day with lots of bird song, and blue skies, Spring is finally springing.

 

 

Earlier in the evening  managed two images, one of the Jason refractor eyeing up the Moon.

The other was an afocal image of Luna taken with the 40mm Kellner and Jason.

Clear Spring skies

Thank You clear sky.

The Schmidt C8 behaved last night and returned some lovely views of the gas giant. 

The evening was cold, with not a hint of a breeze to disturb the viewing.

I managed to grab myself the above sketch of Jupiter. 

Earlier in the evening the crescent Moon had been busy looking gorgeous over in the west.

The viewfinder of the Jason refractor revealed the crescent.

I then captured an image of the crescent Moon afocally through the Jason refractor.

It was a great evening for observing, probably the clearest evening we have had since last October!

Fingers crossed for more.

Clear Skies

Mark

Jupiter Majestic

Observing blank, blending stump and pencils at the ready.

“the camera could not replace the human eye”  

Étienne Léopold Trouvelot

Jupiter is now well placed in the night sky, it's time to gather my pencils and observing blanks .

For the next few months I will be collecting as many Jovian sketches as I can.

The Schmidt telescope has been on form recently, so as long as the sky gods cooperate I shall have a fair collection of observational drawings by the end of this apparition.

These past few days I have been sifting through my 2011-2015 Jupiter drawings.

Each drawing brings back memories of standing at the telescope eyepiece, teasing out the faintest planetary detail, and looking for any colour and contrast variations.

With each sketch I am reminded of the varying yearly Pembrokeshire weather patterns. One day it would be T shirt weather, another I was dressed like an eskimo, frantically trying to warm my fingers to allow quick sketches.

One late night I almost stood on a hedgehog that was sitting outside the observatory door.!!

Thankfully my dark adapted eyes spotted him just before I put my foot down.

Various drawings to be collated

This majestic king of the planets is visually a beautiful sight through the eyepiece.

If you ever have a chance to telescopically view Jupiter  grab it..!

Jupiter & Galilean moons

From an early age I was fascinated by the early drawings of the planets, especially from the end of the 19th Century.

The artist and astronomer Etienne Leopold Trouvelot's  pastel drawing of the planet Jupiter, easily stands out as one of the best examples.

“The planet Jupiter. Observed November 1, 1880, at 9h. 30m. P.M.” E.L. Trouvelot, 1881–82.

What a beautiful Great Red Spot, look at those lovely cloud formations on the Equatorial Zone.. the detail is so wonderfully abstract. I love this drawing!


Fingers crossed for some sketching weather

Clear Jupiter Skies

Mark.