Spying on Venus.

This morning whilst waiting for the sunrise I spotted Venus shining brightly over towards the Haverfordwest area...  it looked amazing.

 

 

 

From the front garden it looked even better as it hovered above the rooftops.... 

 

What a beautiful start to the day.

  

iPhoto Solar Projection

 

Today I managed a quick solar projected image...

After a bit of processing using iPhoto software I was able to obtain this final image..

 

Clear Solar Skies

 

Mark

 

Astronomy from our garden shed.

 

Tonight the skies were beautifully clear. I decided to give the 40mm refractor a bit of an airing.

The crescent moon looked amazing as it hung over the nearby rooftops.

I was able to capture a few shots afocally with the digicam.

It was so warm that we decided to sleep in the garden shed, with our heads peeping out of the doorway.

 

The stars after midnight looked amazing, and thanks to the street lights being switched off we could easily see what looked to be Noctilucent clouds way out to the north.

 I haven't seen NLC's since July of 2009......!!!

No Schmidt telescope for me tonight, just the naked eye, a sleeping bag, a heart full of poetry and the stars above....

Clear Skies

Mark....

Barsoom is slipping away.

 It's now obvious that Mars is moving away from us. The red planets gibbous phase is now plain to see.

Due to the present size of Mars the polar cap wasn't distinct, and the whole planet seemed shrouded in a veil of salmon coloured mist.

So long Barsoom see you again in about two years time.


Saturn on the other hand was much better placed.....

The Cassini division stood out really well, along with five of the satellites, Titan Rhea, Dione, Iapetus (with averted vision)  and near the limb either Tethys or Enceladus  not sure which one it was.

Over then to M57 looked good in the 20mm erfle eyepiece bluish grey.

Epsilon Lyrae the double double of Epilon Lyrae in 9mm ortho split but shimmering.

Through the 40mm Kellner Albireo stood out a lovely complimentary yellow and blue.

I was really pleased with the Schmidt tonight, no dew shield needed. 

Outside in the garden it was T-shirt weather, though a chill could be felt from about 23h30m onwards...

The clouds then slowly gathered  from the North West.