The moving month of August.

Our new house ... Third in from the right.. Preseli Hills in the background... just joking!

Recently we moved house, and due to the chaos that ensued I have been unable to sit at the computer and write up any blog posts.


Today is the first day that I have sat at the desktop for maybe three weeks.

In that three weeks Helen and I have moved all our worldly possessions some 30 miles north of the county. It took several van loads to finally shift all of our shackles.

We are now settling down in our new home...  When people say moving house is stressful, I know what they mean.!

First job... where to site an observatory....  haha !

Even though house moving had been much on our mind, in that time we did manage a few good August evenings of observing.

The nights that stand out where the evenings spent at the wonderful Fforest Gather 2016, near Cilgerran.

Thanks to the kind invite of owners James, Sian and their son Jackson, Helen and I were able to host several observing sessions.

Out of the six possible evenings that were booked, three were clear enough to do some observing.

The first evening revealed a beautiful near full Moon, a fairly clear Saturn and a slightly murky looking Mars.

The big old Moon was the one that stood out, and a line of eager curious astronomers quickly formed.

Several children and adults, (big HELLO to George, Joanne and Linda), could be heard saying "wow" as they looked on at the Moon.

The second night's viewing wasn't that good, but at least a few people managed to see big bright Vega and a quick peek at Arcturus....

Even though the evening was mostly cloud filled it didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd, and many questions were asked about all things astronomical.

The last evening was by far the best for observing, Saturn and Mars stood out well, though Saturn was the main attraction.

Waiting for the star light

For over an hour there was a continuous line to catch a glimpse of the ringed planet.

The children especially loved looking at this most beautiful of night time gems.

Between 9.00pm and 11.30pm the telescope was in constant use, mainly trained on Saturn.

So many people turned up on that last evening, we should have brought another telescope..!

Next time for sure..

Thank You James, Sian and Jackson and all the Fforest elves for making Helen and I feel so welcome...

You have some beautiful clear skies and night views at Fforest farm....

An astronomer's paradise....

------------------------------------

Time to gather pencil and paper.

For the next few weeks I'm hoping to draw some sketches of Saturn before it dips too far into the west.

With luck I might even draw a few of Mars...  

After that it will be galaxy and nebulae season for the big scope.

I've never really tried my hand at sketching Deep Space objects....
It should be interesting to see the results as viewed through "Oscar" the big Dobsonian.

Clear September Skies 

Mark & Helen

Perseids... No sleep tonight..!

"The ether never blazed with  futile  fires. " Manilius 

Tonight and early tomorrow morning the darkened skies will blaze with the fires of the Perseids... well I hope it will.

The forecast doesn't looks to promising,  but that has never stopped this optimistic astronomer from ever setting out the deckchairs.

This year's shower is apparently going to deliver more meteors than last year... I can't wait.

The best time to observe will be from midnight tonight until early morning. 

Or in my case from midnight until I fall asleep in the deckchair!

I hope wherever you are, that you have clear skies and the opportunity to catch some of those falling stars.

Note to self: remember to make chai tea this afternoon.

Perseids.. just around the corner..

It's that time of year again... the Perseids are back.

Every August the deck chairs are dragged out of the shed, and the chai tea is prepared.

Then, for the next few weeks the Perseid meteor shower will be much on my mind.

This annual celestial fireworks display is probably one of my favourite naked eye astronomical events.

The peak of this year's event will be on the evening of the 11th into the early hours of the 12th.

Which for me means pulling an all night observing session through until early day break.

With any luck the skies will be clear, and I will be completely exhausted from my all night vigil.

The Perseid shower is one of the best meteor showers to observe.

Many people are on holiday at this time of year, so staying up all night is less of a problem.

Plus the weather is usually warmer, meaning we can all sit outside for longer periods of time.

Though you will usually still need some warm clothing at hand for observations between midnight and Sun up the next day.

  

Capturing the Perseids

28mm -  f3,5 - 1600ISO - 45 seconds

This image was taken with a digital SLR camera, with around 45 seconds of exposure.

The trouble I find with digital SLR cameras is that the shutter staying open for long periods of time is dependant on the condition of the battery. 

I don't trust the battery to perform for the long exposures that I require.

Plus, leaving a camera out all evening might allow night dew to find its way into the camera body.

The last thing an electronic digital camera wants is water ingress across its circuits!

Zenit 35mm SLR

This year to avoid that possible headache I'm going to set up my old mechanical "no battery required" Russian Zenit 35mm film camera.

If need be I can leave the Zenit shutter open all evening without a problem.

Those Russian cameras are built to last.

Leaving a £500 digital camera out overnight on a tripod is not something I would happily try.

But leaving a £5 Zenit "tank" outside overnight is not a problem.

With any luck over the next couple of weeks, I will capture several "long exposure" meteor trails.

Final thoughts:
Even though it will be fun to capture the Perseids, I don't aim to be spending that much time fussing and fiddling with cameras, tripods and film.

For me the enjoyment of meteor watching is simple.

Grab yourself a good deckchair, failing that a decent dry grassy spot and sit back and ponder the Universe.

For many of us, our daily lives are saturated with stress and fear.

We all need quiet moments to recharge and reflect.

These warm August "Meteor" nights allow us that time to recharge, reflect and dream.

Vincent Van Gogh had it right when he said:

For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream. Vincent Van Gogh
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/v/vincentvan385867.html

For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream. Vincent Van Gogh
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/v/vincentvan385867.html

“I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream".

Two Sun Dogs in the sky.

Whilst driving home last night, Helen noticed a familiar, but not often seen sight in the sky....
.... a Sun dog.!

These subtle patches of brightness can appear at anytime of year, though usually in Pembrokeshire, January, July and August seem to be the times that I have mostly noticed them.

The sun dogs are produced by a dance between sunlight and ice crystals in the atmosphere.

Those ice crystals act like prisms and re-scatter the sunlight into the colourful light show you can see in the above photograph.

Usually I only ever see the one sun dog, but opposite and equidistant, if you are lucky, you will find another one.

I have spotted a single sun dog on several occasions, but yesterday seeing both together was amazing.

We have Sun dogs, noctilucent clouds, rainbows, Sunsets, Sunrises, Moonrises and Moonsets, plus countless other day and night time naked eye wonders.

It just goes to show that you don't always need telescopes to enjoy the heavens above.


Clear Skies

Mark

The ghosts of everyday clouds.

I was having a wonderful dream this morning.... and then.... BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!BEEP! BEEP!

Somewhere in the village a car alarm was singing!  The sound was a cross between hyperactive cicadas and a flying saucer attempting to land in a nearby garden!

Here's a recording of this morning's cicada driven spaceship...!

It was about 4.00 am the birds weren't even awake...  I got up and double checked that it wasn't our car making that lovely noise.

Looking out of the north window I was greeted by a beautiful display of Noctilucent Clouds....

All thoughts of the annoying car alarm quickly disappeared.

I haven't seen a display of NLC since July of 2009.

Here are a couple of the pictures I captured that evening.

Can't believe its been seven years since I last spotted the "night clouds".

July 2009

July 2009

After about ten minutes the BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! stopped..!

Simpson Cross was again plunged into a wonderful July morning twilight.
Silence PLUS no street lights...PERFECT.

I simply leaned on the windowsill, and bathed myself in this most glorious of mornings.

July 19th 2016 - 04h06m BST

Noctilucent clouds are the highest clouds in the sky, occurring some 50 miles up in the Earth's atmosphere.

The word noctilucent is derived from the Latin "night shining" and night shine is exactly what they do.

This morning's display had an ethereal wispy glow, its trailing silvered beauty traversed a large chunk of the northern horizon.

If clouds were ever alive, then the noctilucent clouds could be described as the ghosts of deceased clouds.

I may not get to use the telescope much at this time of year, but when you have such beauty as the ghost clouds to keep you company a telescope is not needed.

Clear Noctilucent skies

Mark

Time for tea and cake.

The Teapot: July 2006 : View from nr Wolfscastle

It's that time of year when the teapot comes around.

The teapot is an asterism found in the constellation of Sagittarius.

It contains many interesting objects, so many infact that I will be re-studying the teapot for several weeks to come. 

Tonight I'm hoping to catch a few of the Messier objects that are scattered in and around the teapot.

Screen Shot : Stellarium

If I stay at home tonight, my only real chance of seeing the teapot will be at around 23.45 BST.

As you can see from the screenshot the asterism fits pretty much within the confines of the trees at the end of the garden...   Those trees are a real pain for extended observing of southerly objects...

I really now need to go mobile...!

Talking of mobile astronomy, does anyone fancy doing some stargazing evenings around the county of Pembrokeshire?

I cannot do any mobile observing for the next few weeks, I'm still recovering from shingles and painful abdomen muscles..!

A fortnight ago I nearly gave my self a hernia....!

Thankfully all is OK again, but no way am I lifting anything heavy for the next few weeks.

OK enough moaning ..... here are some "Teapot" Messier objects to see this evening:

• At the base of Teapot: Globular clusters Messier 54 , Messier 69 and Messier 70
• Just above the Teapot lid: Globular Clusters Messier 22 and Messier 28
• Up above the teapot spout: The Trifid Nebula (Messier 20)
• Just below the Trifid Nebula: The Lagoon Nebula (Messier 8)
• Just above the Trifid Nebula: Open cluster Messier 21

That list should keep me busy for awhile...

All this talk of tea has made me thirsty... time for some Earl Grey... and definitely time for cake..!

Clear Skies

Waiting for the sky to clear.

Waiting for the sky to clear...

These past couple of weeks have been terrible for viewing here in south Pembrokeshire. 

There has been almost constant cloud cover on practically every night for the last fortnight.  

I haven't been able to make observations with the big Dobsonian since June 8th. 

Though, due to some strained abdomen muscles, followed by shingles I reckon I wouldn't have been able to observe, even if the weather had been kind..!! 

Over the next week I hope to at least observe Saturn, which will be near due south at around 11.00pm for the next week...

Thanks to the nearby ash trees 11.00pm is perfect for Saturn watching in our garden....  

View southwards from our garden. photo: Stellarium

The above photo is a screen shot from the excellent Stellarium astronomy program.

It just happens that the "trees" template in that program looks exactly like the south side of our garden...

At this time of year the gap in our southerly tree line allows maybe half an hour of planetary observing.

As you can see I have to time my southerly observing  precisely...!

Maybe I should try my hand at mobile astronomy.


Clear skies

Mark.