orion25

Just to say thank you to FLO for hosting SGL and to all of the members who post and bring a bit more joy into my life and the world. Mrs H and I send our best wishes to you all  this Christmas.🌙🌞🪐🌟

Very pleased that one of my granddaughter's Jasmine, has shown an interest in astronomy and astro-imaging.  She managed to use her iphone and eyepiece projection with a Celestron 70 mm refractor on a wobbly plastic tripod to image the Blue Moon. She also took a nice landscape image of the moonlight illuminating the mist over Blythburgh Mere which I have uploaded to my Flikr account and blog.

It is downright uncanny! Have I the power of telekinesis?

Mrs H had me in the backyard doing something vaguely constructive and helpful when, looking up, I thought "there are plenty of gaps between the clouds why don't I take the covers off the telescope and do some white light solar"? It was only a fleeting thought, I never said a word nor did I move towards the pillar. As if by magic a clap of thunder exploded above my head and almost simultaneously the heavens opened - 'rain drops keep falling on my head' -well they do in Lowestoft!  

Our son Chrissy managed to catch Venus, Mercury and the Pleiades over the fields near his house just outside Cambridge. He used his iPhone with a low light app. I denoised it a bit and removed a TV aerial using Affinity Photo 2

Jupiter and Venus having a moment over the garden fence. Quick snap with my iPhone.

Jupiter and Venus having a moment over the garden fence. Quick snap with my iPhone.

Brief window just after 18:00, before the cloud and whilst the Moon was still behind our neighbour's roof, during which I managed to see the comet through my 8x40mm bins. E3 sitting nicely in the triangle formed by the 'kids' in Auriga. Managed to capture a few widefield images of Auriga at f=18mm . Will process tomorrow if worth the time and effort. Lots of light pollution and sky plus small dim comet!

George in bed in Lowestoft

In between the fast moving clouds tonight, I tried out my recently acquired Samyang F2 135 mm lens for the first time and in concert with my modded Canon 200d. Nice hefty bit of glass delivering  circular stars right across the APS-C sensor at F2. I am looking forward to using this combo on my Star Adventurer mount once the nights get a bit darker and longer.

George in Lowestoft next the sea.

Woo-hoo! Got my Lenovo laptop back from the menders with a new screen, runs like a greyhound!

You know I mentioned it never rains but it pours. Well Mrs H with her 'new hip' has now tested positive for Covid and in a fit of dyspraxic stupidity I sat on my Lenovo laptop and broke the screen. Lenovo's may be robust enough to withstand a trip to the ISS but my 'backside' is obviously a more stringent test of robustness! I am now typing on an old Dell which is 'clunky' to say the least and will have to wait until I'm Covid free before I can have it replaced. Lets hope today goes without further unfortunate incidents in the House of the Hawksmoors!

The weather tonight in Lowestoft followed the Metcheck forecast to the letter. I managed two hours of fun with my mini rig before the clouds arrived. Have purchased a new toy before my increased monthly payments to Octopus Energy kick in! I seized the opportunity to buy a used Canon 200d astromodded camera in mint condition with only 10,000 shutter actuations for a remarkably good price. Have been trying it out with my Sigma wide lens and my Altair Astro 66mm Doublet refractor. The processing is more demanding than I'm used to with an unmodded camera but so far I am pleased with my purchase. On a different  tack, I was happy to receive a letter from CEFAS informing me that, after careful consideration of my requests for them to address the light pollution coming from their new HQ building, they would in future limit the hours of operation of their external lighting. A good week for stargazing in Lowestoft all round!

Nighty night stargazers.

George now in bed.

Stargazers

The weather tonight in Lowestoft followed the Metcheck forecast to the letter. I managed two hours of fun with my mini rig before the clouds arrived. Have purchased a new toy before my increased monthly payments to Octopus Energy kick in! I seized the opportunity to buy a used Canon 200d astromodded camera in mint condition with only 10,000 shutter actuations for a remarkably good price. Have been trying it out with my Sigma wide lens and my Altair Astro 66mm Doublet refractor. The processing is more demanding than I'm used to with an unmodded camera but so far I am pleased with my purchase. On a different  tack, I was happy to receive a letter from CEFAS informing me that, after careful consideration of my requests for them to address the light pollution coming from their new HQ building, they would in future limit the hours of operation of their external lighting. A good week for stargazing in Lowestoft all round!

Nighty night stargazers.

George now in bed.

Stargazers

The weather tonight in Lowestoft followed the Metcheck forecast to the letter. I managed two hours of fun with my mini rig before the clouds arrived. Have purchased a new toy before my increased monthly payments to Octopus Energy kick in! I seized the opportunity to buy a used Canon 200d astromodded camera in mint condition with only 10,000 shutter actuations for a remarkably good price. Have been trying it out with my Sigma wide lens and my Altair Astro 66mm Doublet refractor. The processing is more demanding than I'm used to with an unmodded camera but so far I am pleased with my purchase. On a different  tack, I was happy to receive a letter from CEFAS informing me that, after careful consideration of my requests for them to address the light pollution coming from their new HQ building, they would in future limit the hours of operation of their external lighting. A good week for stargazing in Lowestoft all round!

Nighty night stargazers.

George now in bed.

Stargazers

Happy clear New Year All.

A very Merry Christmas to all my chums on Stargazers Lounge around the world. Over the last couple of years, whilst Mrs. H and I have been prevented from travelling, Stargazers Lounge has provided opportunities for us to see images captured from locations around the UK and the wider world by imagers located in many different places. SGL has enabled a wider perspective for us 'lock down oldies' which we both value.

Many thanks to FLO for sponsoring this site and for the excellent mail order service. Dave Eagle's guide to Affinity Photo arrived yesterday, so I shall be  producing even more of my blurry  technicolor images in the New Year but from now on using a different workflow! A change is as good as a rest!🧐 (I chose this emoji because I thought it look like Sir Patrick.)

Hi Reggie

May I and Mrs.H  wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New (Stargazing) Year.

Best regards George

Had my 72nd Birthday today and the excellent Mrs H purchased GradientXTerminator for me!

The remarkable Mrs H has today cut the hedge on our southern boundary. This is even more remarkable as we are awaiting the results of xray imaging of her knee which is giving her considerable chronic pain. I have never considered it wise to cut any of her plants without very clear authorisation and instructions. On this occasion however, I am ashamed to have left her to it! I may be a cad and a poor excuse for a husband but I now have the opportunity to image Jupiter and Saturn with my pier mounted telescope. In the partner stakes, you cannot improve upon a kind, smart and sturdy northern woman!

George now in bed dreaming of spots, festoons and rings in Lowestoft

Nice night until the fog rolled up. Mars below the Pleiades very photogenic, so took a few snaps with a tripod mounted DSLR. 1sec exposures at ISO6400 and f=55mm. Lovely full Moon over my hedge.The night sky from a semi rural location is a very beautiful thing!

Night night Stargazers.

Nice night until the fog rolled up. Mars below the Pleiades very photogenic, so took a few snaps with a tripod mounted DSLR. 1sec exposures at ISO6400 and f=55mm. Lovely full Moon over my hedge.The night sky from a semi rural location is a very beautiful thing!

Night night Stargazers.

Nice night until the fog rolled up. Mars below the Pleiades very photogenic, so took a few snaps with a tripod mounted DSLR. 1sec exposures at ISO6400 and f=55mm. Lovely full Moon over my hedge.The night sky from a semi rural location is a very beautiful thing!

Night night Stargazers.

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my friends on Stargazers Lounge from 'the old man next the sea' in Lowestoft.

Weather terrible but Metcheck advises me that there is an imaging window of opportunity in Lowestoft  between 22:00 and 2:00 tonight - so going to set up at 21:00 and hopefully capture some more Mars video clips.  I have become so stir crazy that I've started buying air plants. on-line and am making little  rock, driftwood and Tillandsia tableau. 🙃

Nice to see Mercury again. Managed to spot it in my binos the last evening, then through my ‘fracs this evening.  

I dont know!

I decide to get my 5inch refractor out and on its pier, first time in a while. Lovely sunny day here on the coast. Beautiful blue sky, as you can see on the photograph from this pm. Within literally minutes the sky turned as black as thunder and has remained that way. 'Metcheck clear sky' completely ignored by the weather. This hobby is not for the faint hearted. You can probably work that out for yourself if you noticed my 'tidy' wiring festooned over the scope and its locale. Don't do this at home kids!