My first clear night evening in the observatory since breaking my foot and having the bone pinned in November. At long last the cast is off and the pain & […]
Inghirami Valley and Ricciolo Crater
25 February 2021: Gibbous Moon Cold but calm, no wind and beautifully clear. A bright moon, nearing full, is lighting up the frosting grass. Examination through the eyepiece reveals a […]
Mare Orientale: 26 February 2021
Mare Orientale is a huge impact basin on the far side of the moon at 95degW. Like most impact basins, it is a series of impressive mountain rings arranged concentrically […]
Tuesday March 16 2021: Herschel 400 Galaxies in Leo
Celestron C11 EQ6 using Sky Safari 20mm APM eyepiece (x140, 0.7deg FOV) unless noted Clear skies after work. Beautiful evening! I watched the crescent moon descending into the treeline before […]
Jupiter – Saturn Conjunction December 2020
2020 has been a pretty strange year but the stars and planets carry on regardless including December’s Jupiter and Saturn conjunction – an event I had in my diary for […]
3 Hours on Mars: 8 October 2020
Another clear night. I have got my planetary imaging workflow down to a tee now. Once the roof has rolled back and the telescope aligned, I can have Mars in […]
Clear Skies Over Tharsis
Wednesday 14 October 2020 With the skies clearing after work, it was time to head to the observatory to catch Mars – now a few days past opposition. After rolling […]
5 Volcanoes Visible from My Garden – on another planet
Here is a derotated image from 13 September of Mars under quite exceptional centred between Solis Lacus and Tharsis. Arsia Mons seen as a bright region, I assume as the […]
The Curious Incident of the Cloud in the Nighttime
I staggered to the observatory with mug of tea in hand after the horrors of an 0300 alarm clock. Thank goodness for summer leave. The clear forecast, unfortunately, had been […]
Venus through the C11
9 April 2020 Week 3 of the Cov-19 lock down. Luckily it has coincided with a period of clear albeit, somewhat hazy, skies. With no need to commute, I can […]