Hawksmoor

I'm on holiday and was sat on the hotel balcony which faces west. Between 21:30 and 22:00 last night there was a bright blue band above the horizon which was clearly noticeable with the naked eye even though the buildings and sky were awash with light pollution. I am pretty sure this was a band of NLC activity as has not been visible on any other night whilst I have been here. I didn't expect this in August and much further west than from home. Could have been just a normal cloud/atmospheric effect but it was super luminous, glowing,temporary and very blue. I managed to get a photo with my Canon IXUS compact camera but no way of up loading to SGL until I get back to UK. 

George currently sunburnt and marvelling at a sky with just a few clouds in it!

Just as well it’s cloudy over Lowestoft as I’m a bit tipsy! Probably the Talisker but it is Skye related🤣

Sadly solid cloud overhead in Lowestoft tonight. Looking at Sat24 I suspect there will be no meteors for me tonight!

George contemplating an early night

Just about finished my  'Christmas Crafting' for this year. Spent the day painting with Hammerite. All I could do to restrain Mrs H from sniffing the methylated spirits I was using as a solvent. She has always liked the smell! The 'Spirit of Christmas' and less than £5 a bottle. Absolute 'stocking' bargain for the woman in your life!

George in bed with the December edition of Astronomy Now.

My birthday today. Yay!

Spent the day making arty farty metal stuff in the backyard under a very blue sky. Mrs H made lobster linguine and caramel panna cotta (served sequentially and separately) for tea and I watched a fullish Moon rise through the window as we ate.

All in all a very fine day for an old bloke in Lowestoft next the sea.

Strange week!  Managed to play an active part in the demise of my old Black and Decker Jigsaw and an inexpensive Chinese mini-vice.  Christmas crafting has its consequences.

No electrics in the backyard thanks to storm Babet accessing some junction boxes previously water-tight. Old boxes removed and new ordered and awaiting delivery. Wiring made safe, jeans covered in mud and one old man needing a rest. So wouldn't you know it - the first clear night in weeks.

Two hours of more or less cloud free night sky and the Moon waning over Lowestoft. Too good to miss. This required drastic measures- a long extension lead out the kitchen window and the telescope lives Igor!

Managed my first proper look at Jupiter this season and captured some avi clips with my newish QHY planetary camera. Hopefully all will process well but they call it 'lucky imaging' for a reason.

Mrs H was making jam and baking Christmas cakes today so the house smells great! Now off to bed with the promise of Santa and reindeer in the air.

Nighty night stargazers.

According to Metcheck we are in for 102miles per hour winds this evening in Lowestoft, followed by three days of rain!  Only got snow left to go now! 

George bracing himself in Lowestoft next the sea!

Last night the sky was very stable for an hour or so. I'm sure that I could see the whole Veil Nebula using averted vision and my Nikon 8x40 bins. Tonight sadly I'm back to cloud and dropping temperatures. Oh to be an astro-imager in warmer southern climes!

Saw a few stars over Lowestoft last night👍 Plus two meteor stragglers from the shower.😀

Home in Lowestoft and guess what lots of clouds - so no Perseids for me tonight!🥹

Partial sun halo or dog as imaged by Mrs H with her iPhone.

Moon balanced on top of a parasol. Old bloke with an iphone

I have now acquired a new Lenovo laptop and StarnetV2GUI has loaded up a treat. Thanks for your help StevieDvd🙂

Thanks Admins for getting me back into my profile.  cheers George.

Very proud of Mrs H! Her sun halo image was published in the July edition of Astronomy Now magazine.❤️

Nice transparent night in Lowestoft tonight. Found a spot at the top of our short drive where I could image Antares and colourful chums using my DSLR on my Star Adventurer eq mount. Just able to see Antares over our carport roof and between ours and our neighbour’s houses. 
Night night Stargazers🔭📷

Heads up regarding a considerable chunk of AI software which seems to work rather well on deep sky  images . Anyone who has looked at my deep sky photos will know that they are invariably blurry and have considerable room for improvement!  Well I came across this as a reference on the wonderful internet resource 'Professor Morison's Astronomy Digest' . It is his latest post https://www.ianmorison.com/astrosharp-astronomical-sharpening-tool/. . Astrosharp is a freeware AI based sharpener which uses a model trained on Hubble images. Very much worth a donation to its creator!

Unlike Russel Croman's  excellent Blur Exterminator which currently is only available as a Pixinsite plug in, this works as a standalone program. (I don't have Pixinsite)

I have inserted one of my  blurry photos which has had a 60% sharpened layer blended into the original. This was applied to a pre-sharpened image so if astrosharp had been applied earlier in the workflow it would have been better. Definitely worth downloading in my opinion!

Tried out a low light app on my iPhone and had a go at the Scorpion rising over the Med. Loads of light pollution from Hotel we are staying at.  Overall a bit of fun and preferable to the ‘evening entertainment’ by the pool. Ted Bovis, Spike and the comedy octopus weren’t as bad in retrospect 🤣

Currently in North Cyprus, very dark skies but quite a lot of wispy cloud. In a moment of transparency I saw Venus at about maximum magnitude. Absolutely stunning! Looked like a bright lamp hung within a dusting of faint stars. You can see why the ancient civilisations gave it goddess status!

Strange day weather wise. Started off with loads of high wispy cloud then it cleared. Managed to capture some good video clips of sunspots in white light. Old Dell laptop that I use for capture and guiding started playing up so didn't get any clips of Venus as intended. Also my ancient NEQ 6 ended the night by not 'parking' properly. Hopefully it isn't expiring. If it does die on me I think my days with the 5inch refractor will be over as at 73 years I don't think spending over  a £1000 on a new mount is a sensible use of the cash. Anyway, I am finding getting the covers off and on the beast in the dark balancing on rickety steps a bit scary, so going astro-lite with my mini rig is probably more 'old bloke' friendly!

George considering his future and health & safety issues in Lowestoft

Mrs H and I had a great day, today at the Practical Astronomy Show  Kettering. Excellent venue, interesting talks and lots of exhibitors with great kit to look at and buy? I resisted a fan cooled colour CMOS camera but I'm sure my resolve not to buy anymore kit is weakening!

George back home in Lowestoft

Through a brief break in cloud I observed the ‘old Moon in the arms of the new’ with Venus and Jupiter nearby. Quite beautiful without any visual aids!

George just off to bed in Lowestoft 

The help you receive from the members of SGL, when you are struggling with some bit of kit, software or astronomical knowledge, is both welcome and heart warming. 

George about to go to sleep in cloudy Lowestoft.

Lovely clear night in Lowestoft this evening. Been trying to spot the comet in Cassiopeia and or image it with Camera on Star Adventurer eq mount. Certainly couldn't spot it through my 11x80 bins so maybe tomorrow I might find it on an image.

Nighty night Stargazers.