Last week started off with a little bit of excitement. A BAA news email on Monday announced that Comet C/2011 L4 had a few sightings by BAA members in Southern England. Here in Cornwall, we are more Southerly than most, but as yet , this little puppy has eluded all attempts to observe it. While we have had a few clear days this week, the 20 degrees above the horizon where the Comet is,…
Thief
It’s been a pretty busy week for the wildlife here. The technological highlight is that Sand’s Swann Outback camera is starting to perform. She placed it on what looked like a well used animal track and to tempt whatever wildlife did come along, she placed a stale loaf of bread about 8ft from the camera. We were rewarded with something bigger than a Rook and at night. This little fella looks rather suspicious of…
Weekend Jolly
Last weekend we both went up to Cheltenham for the British Astronomical Association’s Annual Deep Sky Section Meeting, While I have been to the BAA’s Winchester weekend for the last six years, this was my first visit to one of their section meetings. The itinerary for the day was a follows. Stewart Moore: A review of the deep sky year Nick Hewitt: Barnard, Gordon and the darkness Paul Curtis: Deep sky imaging and processing…
Imaging/Observing Session 19, Feb.
Wow. Two clearish nights in a row. Objects: Jupiter, Clavius Crater- The Moon, The Double star Almaak, M51 and two Caroline Herschel objects NGC2204 and NGC381. Session Started 19:27Seeing: II Slight quivering of the imageTransparency: Poor. The Milky way was invisible and only principle Constellations stars were seen below a altitude of 45 degreesAirmass at time of observation: Jupiter – 1.2 , Clavius Crater- The Moon – 1.2 , Almaak – 1.3, M51 – 1.8, NGC2204 –…
Imaging/Observing Session 18, Feb.
Session Stats Session Started 18:56Seeing: II Slight quivering of the imageTransparency: Poor. The Milky way was invisible and only principle Constellations stars were seen below a altitude of 45 degreesAirmass at time of observation: Jupiter -1.2 , Moon- 1.2 Objects: Jupiter and Magnius Crater, The Moon The new weather station has now been up and running for the last three weeks and has been logging all sorts of data. I’m not sure which data…
Country Life
While astronomy and photography are my two main interests in life, the ongoing refurbishment of a small cottage set in 8 acres has given me an appreciation of living in the country. While sailing, walking and being away from anything involving a big city has always been pleasurable, it’s not until you live in the boondocks for a while, that you start to notice what’s going on around you on a daily basis. This…