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About this blog

The diary of a new observer.

Entries in this blog

The WOW Factor

On Wednesday night I had arranged to take the scope over to a friend's house, deep in the beautiful, dark countryside so show her and her dad the night sky. Everything was packed up in boxes and off I went. Only to arrive 20 minutes later without the tripod and mount! Grrr! A swift journey home and back again ensued and while there was still some light int he sky, I managed to set up in the back garden, cerfully positioning the scope so the only streetlamp for miles around was obscured by a thic
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Observing Buddy

I was out having a look at the moon and stars this evening, trying to get a few images with my DSLR. I could hear a rustling in the bushes behind me but I was taking long exposures of M81 at the time and in any case, I'm used to the cat turning up unannounced. But the rustling got louder and closer and it definitely wasn't the cat. The head torch went on and I fully expected to be face to face with a rat. Instead, I got a friendly look from a hedgehog. It wasn't a bit concerned about me or the l
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The Evening Star(s)

My first ever view of an astronomical 'thing' through a telescope was Venus, way back in the mists of time (some time in the late 70s). Prompted by a little section in this month's Sky at Night programme, I went looking for Venus again in the evening sky. I was hoping to spot Mercury, too. I was intrigued by the statement on the programe that only 1% of the population had knowingly seen Mercury. For the last few nights I've been thwarted by low cloud in the West. My view of the Western horizon i
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Dark Skies

I've read a lot of posts where people mention their 'Dark Sky Site'. My garden is pretty good for a suburban location, but I'm hemmed in by trees, bushes and houses. Short of cutting a groove through the kitchen extension and house roof, I have to wait ages for Saturn to pop into view at the moment. So I thought I'd go and find my own Dark Sky Site. I had some ideas and visited them during the day to get some orientation, find a flat, dry spot, safe parking and to make sure it wasn't some fly t
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Sleep

I’m enjoying my new hobby. The sense of awe I first experienced as a child hasn’t left me all these years later. I can look up into a clear sky on a cold spring night and try and imagine distances and scale. I can wonder at all the things I can see. As a student, I spent more time than I should sitting or lying on the ground with a few mates watching for meteors and satellites and discussing ‘infinity, man’. I find that when I’m looking through the telescope, I lose track of time, in a good w
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Imaging

I’m a photographer, born and bred. Well, almost. I took it up in school, dabbled with film making, got a degree in scientific photography and, after working in the field for a while moved on to training (where I spent a lot of time writing and directing training videos). So I know how to take a picture. Except I don’t any more. For the last few clear nights, the cat (she doesn’t have a name that I know) and I have been out trying to take photos of the things I’ve been looking at through the ey
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Accessorise

Accessorise I’ve had my telescope about three weeks now and already I feel the need to accessorise. Is this a male techno-toy thing? Yes, probably. Does it appeal to the gadget gene found in most men? Yes, almost certainly. Is it an astronomical thing? Probably not as I’m also a photographer and have felt the accessorise bug strike before. It’s like the tool bag (or box) – you always need a new screwdriver/chisel/ hammer/drill bit. So what did I need? Well, technically, nothing. But that wa
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Unidentified Flying Object

I used to ‘believe’ in UFOs. I had loads of books. I lived within 2 hours of the ‘Welsh Triangle’ (off the Pembrokeshire Coast). I’d seen Close Encounters of the Third Kind – the original and the special edition. But over the years I grew to believe that people are easily influenced or quick to mistake one thing for another. My interest waned (although I am still convinced that in a universe so large, we can’t be the only ones here). So imagine my surprise when, while observing the Pleiades w
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Learning to see

I have been very fortunate after my first clear sky to have a number of cloudless nights. Each one seems to have brought better viewing conditions than the last. Although this might be due to me ‘learning to see’. I was sceptical about the concept of learning to see. I’ve been practising seeing for, ahem, 21 years (and another 21 and a further 4) so I thought I was getting pretty good at it. Okay, I use glasses but the basic concept of ‘face the thing I want to see, open both eyes and look’ is
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What does this bit do?

I got my telescope one lunchtime, on a break from work. The shop was about 15 minutes up the road from the office and I’d spent ages doing all the research in magazines and on Stargazer’s Lounge. The staff were very helpful and although I knew what I wanted – a nice Skywatcher Skymax 127 Mak Cat f/11.8 Goto Alt Az – it was good to go through the options and confirm I’d made the right choice. At home, everything fitted together easily and suddenly, there was a proper telescope sitting in my liv
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