Sunday, 2 October 2022

Tonight's Moon.




Went for a stroll tonight, just before nightfall.  

The Moon was most evident over towards the Preseli mast. 

Loads of rooks were circling nearby fields. The stars slowly made their appearance.

It was one of those memorable Pembrokeshire evenings, great to be outside, and part of the slowly darkening night. 

I grabbed myself a photo of the Moon, framed in the branches of a nearby tree.  

No telescopes this evening, none were needed, the naked eye views alone had this astronomer mesmerised.


Thursday, 29 September 2022

The Plough.

 


It was a quick walk this evening, out and about before the mist rolled in. 

In that time I did manage a few attempts at photographing the Plough. 

This is my first attempt at imaging with our Samsung A71. So far so good, the results are promising.

By setting the camera to four second exposure, and an ISO of 3200 I captured the above image.

I will have to make myself a tripod for the phone, that way I'm sure the images will be a lot sharper.

Can't wait to try my hand at capturing the Milky Way.

Saturday, 10 September 2022

Moonrise & Bats over Pembrokeshire.


Harvest Moon - 20h17m BST


Oh boy was this Moon a wonderful sight to behold! 

This year's Harvest Moonrise near Crymych was exceptional, luckily I was prepared.

My trusty 42x12 binoculars were sat on a nearby fence post, trained on the Moon, and the phone camera was placed (afocal) near the eyepiece.

A couple of seconds later the rising Moon was captured.

Some nearby bats were enjoying the Harvest Moon as much as Helen and I were, their presence was confirmed on our bat detector.  

The sky was now dark, and every so often a bat silhouette could just be made out swooping towards and then hastily away from us. 

The Moonrise was beautiful and the nearby bats added to the magic of the night.

The bat detector's squeeks and chirps made it all the more fun. 

Monday, 29 August 2022

Saturday, 27 August 2022

Hydrogen Alpha - August 26th 2022

 



“We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever.”
― Carl Sagan, Cosmos


Thursday, 4 August 2022

Ha - August 4th 2022

Yesterday's giant prominence was still showing well this morning. 

Though it does look as if the maximum was sometime in the hours of darkness last night. 

Still, as proms go, this is a beauty.


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SOLAR WARNING
Never look directly at the Sun with the naked eye or with any optic (unless you have the proper solar filter). 

Permanent and irreversible eye damage may result.
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Opera glass to the Moon

I didn't manage to sketch the recent Full Moon, but I had a go at the gibbous Moon, as seen with my opera glasses.  It was a cold night,...