Thursday 18 February 2016

When the North wind blows.

Gibbous moon February 18th 2016 - Jason 60mm/f15 refractor.

I think I might have the makings of a cold, so I've been keeping away from that Northerly biting cold breeze that has been hanging around our village today.

The gibbous moon looked glorious in the early evening sky..... I just had to grab a quick photo of it.

Out came the Jason refractor, the digicam at the ready....

Part of Gassendi's crater wall was brightly lit, Copernicus looked magnificent, Eratosthenes was amazing and the Moon Maiden looked beautiful... 

I didn't stay out long, the cold was eating into my bones.... must be getting soft in my old age!


Polaroid type photo of tonight's Moon

I will no doubt be out later on this evening.. but for now it's feet by the fire time and something to eat.


Clear Skies

Mark

Tuesday 16 February 2016

Solar day - Cold Lunar night.

Jason 60mm/f15 refractor

Today the Sun came out to play....
I grabbed the Jason refractor and took a solar projection of the  Midday-ish Sol.

Solar projection

Later I cropped the above photograph and processed the image to within an inch of its life!


The active region (AR2497) at the ten o'clock position could easily be seen in the projection.

There was another active region (AR2501) at the three o'clock position, this only showed up after a bit of teasing with Photoshop.

It's time again to buy some solar film and set up my digicam.

With solar film I will be able to photograph sunspots with higher quality, as you see below:

August 2nd 2011

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Later in the evening, the Moon was up high, I couldn't resist setting up both telescopes and grabbing some Lunar images.

Lunar light on a cold February evening.

Schmidt C8 40mm Kellner - Afocal

I wanted to try some Jupiter sketching , but as it was so cold last night, after half an hour of Lunar watching I packed up the telescopes.

It was time to go indoors and sit by a warming fire.

Observing and sketching Jupiter would have to wait for another night.




Clear Skies

Mark......





Tuesday 2 February 2016

Simply the Analogue Sun.

February Sunlight

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Pencil and paper
Simply the Analogue Sun
I capture the day.
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Today's big idea was to take a picture of the Sun with my digicam....NO CHANCE!!! 

The digicam refused to focus, then the battery died. 
After a quick recharge I tried again..... Still no luck!.... The camera again failed to focus...

After a bit of tutting and mumbling I thought stuff it. The "digital" gremlins had won the day......

I grabbed a HB pencil.

Pencil and Conte Crayon

I simply sketched the Sun, nothing complicated, just a quick outline of the features that I could see, namely the Active Region 2489.

The sketch only took a couple of minutes, nothing went out of focus, batteries didn't run out, and there was no tutting and cursing.

It was a lovely "analogue" solar observation.

Sometimes all you need is a pencil and a piece of paper.

Wednesday 27 January 2016

First Light for the "Jason" 60mm/f15.2 refractor.

“I've never owned a telescope, but it's something I'm thinking of looking into.” - George Carlin
 
Since November of last year it has rained almost everyday in Pembrokeshire, the starry skies have been few and far between.

Needless to say I've had a bit of astronomical "cabin fever"!

There has been the odd clear night, plus several small windows of viewing opportunity, but usually only some ten minutes or so, not enough time to set up the Schmidt C8. 

The skies that have been clear returned poor to average seeing.

The Schmidt did not fair well peering through that most murky of Pembrokeshire gloom.

To beat the poor seeing and the slow setup time of the Schmidt telescope, I decided to buy a smaller aperture telescope, with quicker and easier set up time.

I had my mind set on a long focal length 60mm refractor.

60mm/f15.2 Jason refractor

Within a week of searching I had found a lovely 60mm/f15.2 Jason refractor (Thank You Alan). 

Perfect for the temperamental Pembrokeshire skies.

First Light with the Jason went to Jupiter. The North and South Equatorial Belts  were easily spotted.

Jason 60mm/f15.2 refractor x101 (9mm Ortho)

My 9mm orthoscopic (x101) eyepiece showed pleasing detail even though the seeing was at best AIII.

The thermals from the nearby houses were making Jupiter dance and shimmer a bit, but considering the murky sky, the Jovian giant stood up well.
So far a promising result for the tiny refractor.

Sirius was next on the list. Through the Jason it was a beautiful white Airy disk, with a partial Airy pattern.

With the 9mm ortho eyepiece Sirius was ice white. With the 6mm plossl (x151) eyepiece Sirius hinted at a slight white/brown ochre colour. 

The Pleiades fitted completely within the field of view with the 40mm Kellner (x22) eyepiece.  

The moon looked pin sharp with the 9mm (x101) eyepiece.  

Along the terminator of the almost full moon the crater Pythagoras stood out sharply with plenty of inky blackness beyond the limb.


The evening was cold, the clouds were many,  and the near full moon sky had washed out most of the stars below the second magnitude. 

I had to cut the observing session short, for after only fifteen minutes of observing, in came the clouds and they parked themselves over the county for the remainder of the night..... 

Still, that first fifteen minutes has proved the Jason refractor to be a little champion of a telescope.

I now have a small lightweight scope that I can quickly grab and be outside observing in less than a minute.

Come on clouds clear off, I want to see what this tiny refractor is capable of.....


Clear Skies

Mark.

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...