Thursday 26 February 2015

Meditative "Little Zen".


Early this evening the Moon was shining down on a cloud-free Pembrokeshire; perfect for testing my new homemade tripod. 

A few weeks ago, I spotted a dusty old eq mount in the back of a local junk shop. 

It was all working, but alas the tripod legs were missing! Still worth buying I thought.

For a few weeks  I simply used it as you see below.



The above method works quite well, though my back thanked me whenever I placed the whole set up on our coffee table.

It was time to fabricate a tripod and I decided to keep the height of the tripod about the same as the coffee table.

Today I made that tripod.. just in time to catch this evening's gibbous Moon.

Little Zen

It may be a small tripod, but with a cushion and the lotus position the views are comfortable enough for many minutes of observing. 

Maybe next time I'll make myself a small stool to sit on. 

This setup would be perfect for the Zen practitioner....  sitting meditation and peeking at the Universe with a 60mm/f5 glass...  an excellent combination.!

Helen meditating on the Luna light

This little scope, (fingers crossed), will be out and about around the county next month for the solar eclipse on March the 20th... I must remember to bring a cushion!

Clear Meditative Skies

Mark & Helen

Friday 20 February 2015

Mars Venus and the Moon

Mars,Venus and Moon - 20/02/2015 -  Nikon D3000

Thanks to this evening's merry dance of Mars, Venus & the Moon, tonight's supper was almost ruined!

Helen was the first to spot this beautiful celestial display.

I quickly ran inside,grabbed the camera and frantically searched for a tripod.  
Meanwhile, the evening meal was fast cooking on the stove, with neither of us attending to it.
 
Despite the frantic camera setup and the possibility of burnt food, we managed to capture the above image.

Mars Venus and Luna in the same field of view, WONDERFUL.

A good start to the evening, plus we managed to save the supper.


Mark & Helen

Sunday 30 November 2014

Log Entry for November 2014.


Since the beginning of November it has been slim pickings astronomy wise from here in Pembrokeshire.

So few have been the clear nights, that one sticks out in my mind - it was the first week of November.

The best night in November was the night of the 7th  .

I decided to concentrate on some Messier objects and put the Celestron through it’s paces.


Celestron C8 SCT
M57 was glorious, it shone brightly with averted vision. 

My 20mm Erfle eyepiece did a grand job of teasing out the photons.

M13 in Hercules was easy to locate in the finder scope. 




The Erfle ep really revealed a lot of detail, a beautiful sparkling globular.

I trained the finderscope onto nearby M92,  a vague hint of it could be detected. 

The Erfle revealed a beautiful sparkling globular, not as big as M13, but well worth spending  time observing.

M31 The Andromeda Galaxy was a magnificent sight high up above, near the top of the sky. 

Nearby companions NGC 205 (or M110 if you prefer, I prefer NGC 205)  and M32 were easy to locate. 

The last time I saw M32 that clearly I was peeping at it through a 6 inch refractor.

To test the seeing, and to give the Celestron a challenge  I trained it  towards Epsilon Lyrae, the double double. Both stars revealed their companions easily.

Albireo in nearby Cygnus delivered a striking Yellow primary with a lapis lazuli blue. 

I’m glad Albireo was on top form tonight, these past several months this most favourite of stars was noticeably washed out, until tonight I was blaming the lack of colour on my ageing eye. 

Thankfully tonight the clear skies restored faith in my eyesight.

Gamma Delphinus had to go and spoil it though by returning a lack lustre green and yellow, not the bright lemon and lime colours usually detected. 

I reckon the skyglow of  Milford Haven might be the culprit for lack of detail in this most beautiful of double stars.

At midnight I began turning my eye towards Jupiter who by now was well above the roof tops and some distance away from the blessed trees of my next door neighbour.


An old sketch from my first printed astronomy book.


By chance I witnessed the emergence of Europa from behind the gas giant, plus at the same time a transit of Ganymede was also in progress.

It was complete luck that I happened to witness Europa emerging from behind the gas giant.

The satellites of Jupiter are a source of constant fascination, though I do have some trouble teasing out the details in the belts. 

This I know is in a large part due to the seeing conditions from my location.

The Celestron performed really well, though the mirror image of the planet is a bit strange, though I will undoubtedly become accustomed to it!

That dance of  Europa and Ganymede was  a beautiful grande finale to the evenings viewing. 

Late evening Aurora.

Last night the Aurora Borealis was visible throughout a large portion of the UK. Here in Pembrokeshire it did not disappoint, though in my c...