Total Eclipse of the Sun ~ Sixteen years ago today.

Hard to believe it was 16 years ago today.

What a special day that was, I bet everyone can still remember where they were that day. 

I was set up with a 60mm refractor, taking solar projections of the whole event outside our flat near Cardigan town. 

Considering the many clouds that day, the weather was kind for eclipse chasers.

The refractor did a great job projecting, even though my focuser was a piece of rolled up cardboard, with a 25mm plossl stuck in the end.

Today I made some watercolour sketches of four of my original drawings.

09h28m

09h59m

10h18m

11h32m

After completing the watercolours I made this image with the help of Instagram and Photoshop.

Sixteen years ago today I had no camera set up to record the event, luckily I was able to make several drawings via the projection method. 

I enjoy photographing the heavens, but my favourite will always be the sketching.

I now always carry a camera, but a pencil is never far away, usually behind my ear.

Hope you managed to see the Aug 99 eclipse, and hopefully some of you actually managed to see totality.

Clear solar skies 

Mark.

Transient Lunar Phenomenon (TLP)

June 4th 2006

 

Recently, whilst looking through my 2006 journal,  I found an interesting entry under the heading of TLP.

TLP stands for Transient Lunar Phenomenon, a term coined by the late, and much missed, Patrick Moore. 

For an introduction to TLP visit: Wikipedia - Transient Lunar Phenomenon

Red Flash (TLP) June 4th 2006 - 22h25m UT

If ever you see something strange whilst observing the lunar landscape, maybe a glow near a crater or a sudden flash of light, perhaps what appears to be mist on the crater floor, or a multitude of other unexplained sightings, this maybe a TLP. 

Many amateur astronomers totally dismiss the idea of TLPs, but who knows. 

All I can say is that on the night of June the 4th 2006 I was observing near the craters Janssen and Lockyer, and happened to witness a bright red flash from the crater Pitiscus.  

I have no idea what the flash was, it could have been lunar based, or maybe lunacy based and all made up in my head..  :0)

I like to think it was one of H.G. Wells' "Selenites" flashing a laser pen at me! 

To find more about those Selenites click this link:  The First Men In The Moon, 

This Beautiful Cosmos

The teapot disappears into the West

The teapot of Sagittarius slips by almost unnoticed, hidden by trees and hedges. 

A lone telegraph pole points to the star Nunki. 

From our garden vantage point, only the handle of the teapot is seen. 

Kaus Australis and companions  are hidden by the damn hedge!

Hercules leans over, seemingly intent on grasping Lyrae the Harp. Vega shines so brightly…

Jean Michelle Jarre plays through my headphones. 

The songs are full of cascading arrangements, beautifully composed to fit in with the stars above my head.

The "Oxygene" album is the perfect accompaniment to the twilight of a summer’s night.

A warm midnight breeze blows over my face and arms.  

I lie back on my ground blanket and survey this Beautiful Cosmos.

Westward, Arcturus  greets the roof ridge of my neighbour’s house.

Like moths to a flame, a scattering of artificial satellites track and race towards the Northern twilight.

Izar is gleaming tonight. Another satellite grazes Cor Caroli

The Milky Way is spread like much glittering white sand. 

Each time I walk the Milky Way I am once again a child.

Perseus and Andromeda stand watch in the East.  

Not long to wait for the meteor shower.

At my grandmother's house some forty years ago, I eagerly awaited the Perseid meteors.

To this day I am still captivated the Perseid fireworks.

Solar Vixen captures the spots in June.

After a refurbishment and a lick of paint, my 60mm/f5 Vixen refractor is yet again ready for astro travelling the heavens.

I decided to turn the scope into a dedicated solar imaging/observing platform.

With the solar filter and Nikon D3000 in place I can quickly capture the day's solar image, plus the scope is easily transportable.

Here are some Sol images from the last week.

The Vixen 60mm is perfect for quick Sol imaging.  Fingers crossed for some July Sunspots.

Solar Eclipse from Mynachlog Ddu

The car was packed with two telescopes, two deck chairs, two cameras and a picnic for two astronomers.

The early morning mist had burnt away to reveal a glorious sunny Pembrokeshire morning... NOT A CLOUD IN THE SKY!

Helen and I made our way along the Cardigan road, we had the idea of stopping at the ancient burial chamber at Pentre Ifan...  

As we neared Maenclochog we decided to forget about Pentre Ifan and take a detour to  Mynachlog-ddu  to set up camp at Carreg Waldo.

Carreg Waldo is probably one of the best sites in the whole of Pembrokeshire for astronomical observing; there are very few street lights to spoil the night time viewing.

Carn Menyn

To the North you can see Carn Menyn, source of the  Bluestones of Stonehenge.

Cwm Cerwyn

 North West and to the highest peak in Pembrokeshire, Cwm Cerwyn.

Looking East

Moonrises can be spectacular over those hills, and the Moonlight of a Mynachlog-ddu Autumn is especially magical!

Looking South - Carreg Waldo

It was an amazing event, the sky gods behaved and the whole eclipse was bathed in a backdrop of faded-blue sky. 

The surrounding landscape, including the distant low-lying haze, exhibited a brownish tinge (the eclipse of 1999 exhibited a greenish tinge) for roughly half an hour each side of the maximum phase.

This eclipse was also memorable for its drop in temperature, much more pronounced than any other partial eclipse I have witnessed. 

08h40m  temperature was 9.5 degrees C 

09h38m  temperature was 4.7 degrees C  

09h43m  temperature was 4.8 degrees C

09h53m  temperature was 5.9 degrees C

10h15m  temperature was 9.7 degrees C

Here's a black and white photo taken with the C8 Schmidt Celestron.

Plus a photo montage of several shots.

What a wonderful unforgettable solar morning.

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

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

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

Fly me to the Moon.

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 7^th  .

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. 

Guy Fawkes Moon.

Close to the Equinox.

Returning Subaru echoes the Autumn.

The Pleiads, rising thro the mellow shade,

Glitter like a swarm of fireflies

Tangled in a silver braid

Tennyson

 

A clear night with a whisper of a cooling breeze.

High up Vega is now noticeably Westward bound.

The Pleiades now spotted in the East.. here comes the Autumn.

There are many names given to this most wonderful of star clusters, The Seven Sisters, The Starry Seven, Children of Atlas, The Seven Atlantic Sisters, The Hen and her Chicks to name just a few.

But my favourite name for the Pleiades has to be the Japanese name of SUBARU.

 

The Japanese language contains some lovely astronomy related names e.g. Hoshi=Star, Hi=Sun, Tsuki=Moon, Milky Way=Ama-No-Gawa.

Viewing Subaru through 8x40 binoculars never fails to bring a smile to my face.

This cluster was made for binoculars. Subaru along with the Orion nebula can always guarantee a spontaneous WOW! followed by a dance around the garden.

Clear Skies

A Swift view of the Milky Way.

This evening’s sky was a delight , even with the nearby streetlights shining, the Milky Way stretched far and wide overhead.

At about 11.00pm I grabbed my Swift 8x40 binoculars and planted myself in the front garden.

Thanks to an earlier collimation my new binoculars were spilling out sharp pin-point stars in all directions.

My Swift Auburon 8x40’s cost £15 at a local bootsale, and I can highly recommend that particular model.

One thing is to always make sure that any prospective binoculars have collimation grub screws.  

These four tiny screws are easy to find (with a magnifying glass!) and are necessary to properly align the stereo view you see.

Without the ability to adjust this double view, you will quickly go cross-eyed and relegate the binos to the dustbin!

For astronomy usage I would never buy binoculars unless they have the four adjustment grub screws.

When I first tested the 8x40’s, I mounted them on a tripod and placed Arcturus in the field of view. 

I was rewarded with a lovely view of Arcturus and what appeared to be its identical twin! 

After a slight adjustment of all four grub screws, the double image of Arcturus merged back into one sharp starlight point.

Do they work?

Most definitely, so far I’ve had good views of M13, M33, M31, M81/82,  Kembles Cascade, the Sword Handle and The Coat Hanger.

Plus, ambling through the river of the Milky Way is a joy with those little 8x40’s.

Gibbous Moon and Chasing the ISS

 

 

This evening I took the Schmidt outside to spy the gibbous moon.

I wanted to have a good look at the Moon Maiden and Gassendi before they slipped behind the trees at the end of the garden.

After about ten minutes of viewing the moon slowly but surely slipped behind the blasted trees.

Never mind.... across I went to my favourite double Albireo.

With the 20mm Erfle in place I was able to distinguish the blue and yellow of this lovely double.

By defocusing the image the two stars exhibited an even stronger yellow and blue colour contrast.

Copernicus and Gassendi

Plato and the Moon Maiden

 Chasing the ISS

THEN..  in the west I noticed the International Space Station racing towards me.

I wondered if I would be able to capture its image in the Schmidt?



After a bit of frantic repositioning I centred the ISS in the field of view.. for about a SECOND!

I quickly tried to manually keep up with the ISS.

For several seconds I managed to see a decent image of what looked like two long horizontal bright bars, connected to a much shorter vertical bright bar.   

Did I see the space station, or was my brain playing tricks with me? 

I'm not sure, but at least what I saw was not the usual star like point of light, as seen through my binoculars.

Misty Solar Sunrise.

Up at 5.45am ...just missed the Sunrise.

 

Captured a few shots of our mist shrouded village.

-----------

 

Last night we slept in the shed again. 

Around about midnight I spotted a lovely meteor trail.

The meteor started its journey around Vega and continued over towards Altair.

 

 

At around 02h30m I was awake again and watching a gibbous Moon as it perched itself on some nearby treetops. 

The air was still, no cars to be heard,  a beautiful calm morning.  

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.