Pembrokeshire Astronomer

The skies were cloud free at 5.00 am , I decided to grab the C8 and does some observing, with perhaps a bit of astrophotography. Jupiter was a splendid object, very bright in the 20mm erfle eyepiece. All four Galilean moon were easily spotted. With the 9mm eyepiece in place the planet's North and South Equatorial belts stood out easily. The North and South Temperate belts were not that noticeable, the seeing wasn't as good as I had expected. The North and South Polar Regions were visible, the South was noticeably the brighter of the two. Here is this morning's quick sketch: As the night turned to day I tried a bit of daylight Jupiter observing. The image detail of the planet in broad daylight was slightly better - I took a few shots.

  Early this evening the clouds cleared long enough for me to capture a few images of Selene. I'm still working my way around using my C8 Celestron as an imaging platform.  The above lunar picture is my first attempt at astro imaging with a Schmidt Cassegrain telescope.

This morning's solar image taken with the Tal2 reflector. Not much photographic detail I'm afraid. The atmosphere wasn't in a cooperative mood, although the naked eye view did reveal the presence of faculae detail around active regions 1820 & 1830. There was also faculae detail to be found some 180 degrees further around the solar limb. Considering today's poor seeing, I was pleasantly surprised at how well the faculae stood out. Tal2 6 inch f8 Newtonian  Solar imaging - Tal2 verses Tal1. These past few months most of my solar images have been taken with the Tal2 Newtonian.  But is the Tal2 the best scope for solar imaging? Tal2 is delivering some lovely views of the night sky, but I'm not sure its up to scratch for day sky imaging.  Often I blame the seeing for the lack of solar detail, but maybe my choice of scope is not helping. My 4.5 inch Tal1 reflector over the past two years, has consist

Thanks to the mild weather of July and most of August, Helen and I have spent most of our evenings observing the stars from the comfort of our garden shed. The only astronomical equipment I have used these past six weeks, apart from a few quick peeks with Tal2, has been my sleeping bag. Simply lying in the shed with my head stuck out the door entrance has been a welcome change.  It must be about six years since we were last able to sleep outside for extended periods. At the start of July it was interesting to note that Vega around midnight was somewhat East of the zenith, whilst now around midnight some five weeks later, it has noticeably passed the zenith and is making its way Westward. As a child, at this time of year I would spend many an evening on my parent's farm, lying in a field and watching the stars pass by. Alternatively I would be found in my grandmother's garden lying on the garden bench, stargazing till the early hours.. often I would fall asleep!