Hawksmoor

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!  

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!

I'm getting really envious of the rest of the UK, high pressure and transparent skies.  In  Lowestoft wall to wall cloud and cold for days on end. The weather is very weird here. Did a crop and enlargement of another video clip of the sun in white light that I sneaked during a very brief break in the clouds the other day. Surprised how much detail my new planetary camera delivered whilst using my 66mm Altair Astro ED scope a a telephoto lens. QHY make fine value for money cameras!

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

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

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

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

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 

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

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.

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

I now possess an operational Dell laptop upgraded with some of the better functioning components from the dead Lenovo. I am currently reloading software and folders from the Lenovo ssd. Much happier today and who knows, tomorrow I may be back on line processing more of my signature blurry Technicolor astro images.

George in cloudy Lowestoft

It’s official my Lenovo is intermittently expiring and in doing so corrupting the operating system. It is time for it to fade into the cloud. I’m hoping the recently acquired video clips of Syrtis Major can be saved.

Tottering start to imaging in 2023. Managed to get some video of Mars in between the clouds. Unusually all my kit performed faultlessly.Then when I brought my laptop into the house it stuttered and appeared to expire. It has seemingly died before only to be revived by the local IT legend Robin. It is with him as I type!    
George laptopless in Lowestoft.

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Observing and Imaging Year to all at FLO and Stargazers every where. Thanks for all the help, likes, laughs and kind comments you have sent to me over the last 12 months. Mrs H has asked me to add her best wishes to you all.

Just got in from the backyard after a ‘cold night’ imaging a wobbly Mars. Had an unexpected shower of something similar to fine snow and a low of -4C. I’m getting too old for this malarkey in winter. Now on an intravenous Horlicks drip courtesy of Mrs H.

George the human icicle in Lowestoft next the sea.

A few  rather beautiful rockets of the more terrestrial kind over Lowestoft tonight also a very pretty Jupiter Moon conjunction. Took  few stills with my Canon 600d and a zoom lens (f between 200 and 300mm). Messed about with the images to bring out Jupiter's moons Callisto and Ganymede. Io and Europa were lost in the glare from Jupiter. Our Moon was waxing gibbous with the terminator highlighting the 'Bay of Rainbows'. All very lovely and even a few clouds couldn't spoil the view.

Beautiful sunset and new Moon over Cambridgeshire tonight.

Our daughter and three of our grandchildren are with us for half term so was able to show them the partial solar eclipse safely from our backyard. Lots of medium and high level clouds about over Lowestoft this morning, so images up to my usual blurry standard. Will post a couple of the least worst tomorrow.

Was also coerced into buying lunch from Burger King. The veggie burger was tasty and better than I had envisaged but by teatime I was suffering from spleeny 'burger regret'.

George recovering in bed in Lowestoft.