Partial Eclipse from Pembrokeshire.

A few photographs of the eclipse, taken on a beautiful sunny day near Mynachlog-ddu.

Vixen 60mm f/5 refractor (afocal digicam) 20mm Erfle eyepeice.

I have several other eclipse photos taken with a Schmidt C8 scope, I'll put them on the blog sometime next week.

Englyn Y Ser

Through trees the glowing starlight

Falls upon my eyes this night.

Sirius is oh so bright, further on 

Orion fills my sight.

Mark Lee 10/03/2015

* Englyn - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Englyn

Sol new filter "First Light" March 10th 2015

THANK YOU Telescope House... the solar film arrived this morning.

A quick delivery service,  I was very pleased with my purchase.

All I had to do was mount the solar film into my homemade filter holder and within ten minutes I was observing my first sunspot group.

The Sun was shining down from a clear blue sky, a perfect test for the new filter.

It must be at least a year since I last took any decent solar shots through mylar.

I hooked up the Nikon DSLR and fired away.

 

Today's solitary sunspot group AR 2297 stood out sharply through the eyepiece, and the Nikon did a fair job of capturing some detail.

It's good to be back shooting Sol.

Clear Solar Skies

Mark

Astrophotography on a cold St David's Night

Tonight skies were clear, and the Moon shone down on a cold windy Pembrokeshire.

I didn't fancy staying out long tonight, moonlight may warm the heart, but it doesn't warm the hands! 

Before I escaped to the warmth of the house I set up the Nikon D3000 and tripod for a quick shot of the Plough.

The Plough above the moonlit shed

The above picture is my first D3000 attempt at a night shot of the constellations. 

The biting westerly wind was beginning to chill, time to get out of the cold. 

But as usual I couldn't resist taking a few more shots.

Looking North West

Taurus and the Seven Sisters

Smoke on the Chimney

As long as I kept the ISO at 800 the D3000 delivered some fairly good images.

In the above picture you can see the wood smoke in the chimney.

After a shivering quick hello to Perseus and Cassiopeia, it was time to pack up.

Astrophotography will have to wait for another night!


Clear Skies

Mark