Hawksmoor

When you see wide field photos  in AN and S@N they usually have a wonderful foreground landscape.  A wild lake, a dark forest,  a deserted beach with abandoned lighthouse or an engineering masterpiece all adding grandeur to the night sky phenomenon pictured. So tonight I give you Comet 2020F3 NEOWISE over my neighbours' guttering - awesome !

The sky has ben briefly clear for a change so captured some data. A spectrum from the carbon star La Superba and some video clips of the Full Moon. The Lunar data gave me the opportunity to try James Ritson's latest lunar disc macro for AFFP02 which was in his last update. Excellent for high definition, even when using my mini rig and 66mm Altair Lightwave scope. Have put image of Full Moon in my Moon Album. Still working on processing the spectrum.🧐

In the absence of a clear sky to  photograph  for the 'Sky and Landscape' competition I made one up for a laugh.

Have an excellent Christmas Reggie!

best wishes from George and Anita (Mrs H)🎄🎄

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.

Lovely night here on the East Coast. Most unexpected as Metcheck was less than encouraging. Set up my pier mounted scope and managed to capture some video of Saturn and Jupiter. Been a long time since I've done any planetary imaging, so not expecting great results with both planets so low. Plenty of heat was coming off my neighbour's roofs and the planetary images were wobbling all over the place. Decided that I would have to get Mrs Hawksmoor to remove some more hedging if I'm going to be able to image Mars anytime soon. Poor long suffering woman, she deserves better!

Nighty night stargazers wherever you are.

George in bed in Lowestoft.

Returned from an enjoyable holiday break in Northumberland. Got to use my newly acquired Nikon 8x40 Action EX cf bins on seals and stars. Well pleased with these bins for hand held observations by the older gentleman!

Weather in Lowestoft however, remains poor and much as it was when I left. Will I ever get to image Saturn and Jupiter with my pier mounted scope or will the hedge grow back closing my window of opportunity ? A snap or two of Mars would be nice too!

George in bed and under a cloud in Lowestoft.

Cloud remains almost unbroken. Noticed number of reflections being detected by my sdr meteor set up has increased. Clearly the Delta Aquarids and Perseid showers are making there mark. Would be nice if the clouds departed by the night of Perseid maximum so I could capture a few visual images.

Night all and hope the weather is more astro-friendly for you than here in Lowestoft.

Wall to all cloud in Lowestoft tonight. Brought about by Mrs Hawksmoor who kindly trimmed back the honeysuckle on our southern fence in order that I might capture some video clips of Saturn and Jupiter with my pier mounted 5 inch refractor as the gas giants transit the small patch of sky between my two neighbours' roofs.  Sigh!

Also acquired some Nikon 8x40 bins which probably put the tin lid on clear skies of any sort within the forseeable future. GRRRR! 

"Does buying new kit make you feel happier" I'll let you know!

George in murky Lowestoft.

Quite a bit of cloud about tonight but I managed to see Comet NEOWISE under the Great Bear. Couldn't help but take a few 'snaps' through our bedroom window. I've had my money's worth out of my little Poundland tripod.

It is a mind boggling thought that this comet last visited our planet in the Neolithic period and will not return for another 7000 years. There was a Neolithic presence on the coast at Pakefield which is only 2 miles from our home. I wonder what our distant ancestors made of it?

Night all

Lovely night again after quite a poor day here on the East Coast. Managed to get some views through my 11x80mm bins of the star clouds and Messiers in and around Sagittarius. Scraping the roofs to my south but remarkably clear and steady. Jupiter and Saturn still too low to be observed through my pier mounted refractor, but very bright to the naked eye. Saturn usually dim is surprisingly bright. I don't often get to see Sagittarius from our Backyard, so a bit of a treat. From our front door looking North Comet NEOWISE is easily visible with the naked eye even before the street lighting is extinguished. Very beautiful in the environs of the Great Bear. Not much photography tonight, just looking and enjoying the beauty of it all. Fabulous evening under the stars!

Night all stargazers wherever you are.

Just opened my Sky at Night Magazine and noticed your fine image of Saturn is 'Photo of the Month'. Well done and well deserved - a beautiful and detailed image.

best regards from  George

Sky over Oulton Broad has just cleared. Little bit of high level scattered cloud remains and some haze towards the northern horizon mixed with light pollution from Great Yarmouth. Comet NEOWISE still visible to the naked eye but not so sharp as when last viewed on the 13th July. It has moved quite a distance west towards Ursa Major. The tail appears longer. A really nice thing to see when viewed through my 11x80 mm bins. Had a quick look at the Double Cluster always a treat. Jupiter and Saturn very bright to the South. Saw a nice white fast moving meteor, going south to north, before I called it a day and came to bed.

Night all

Quite pleased with these two blurry images. Jupiter and Saturn virtually perched on the ridge tiles of my neighbour's roof and imaged with my old ETX 90 Ra balanced (just) on a Star Adventurer mount.

Back to cloud and rain again but I did get to see the comet in the early hours yesterday. Tired but happy in Lowestoft.

Night all!

Been cloud dodging in the backyard. Just captured some SER video clips of Saturn and Jupiter using my twenty year old Meade ETX 90 Ra on my Star Adventurer mount. Image scale a bit on the small side but nice to use my new QHY 5 -11 mono camera for the first time. However small the image, Saturn never fails to amaze me.  Considering both planets were skimming the ridge tiles of my neighbour's roof, the presence of intermittent cloud at various levels and the limited aperture of the scope, the old ETX punched well above its weight! By pushing up the gain, increasing the exposure time and over exposing Saturn, the ETX resolved at least 3 and possibly 4 of Saturn's moon's.

Nighty night Stargazers.

Weather on the East Coast has gone into a serious decline. Rain wind and more rain. Haven't been able to see Comet NEOWISE, the Moon or anything vaguely celestial for several days. In a rush of blood to the head and during a brief period of sunlight yesterday morning, I decided to affix my triangular Australian 'Sun break' to its wall mounted anchor rings. Spent the afternoon regularly emptying the pooling rainwater from its distended fabric embrace. Made the informed choice of taking it down before 'the wind got up' and we all went impromptu wind surfing. Today, the gale has abated but the rain remained tropical until about 23:00 when low and behold we have stars. Wandered the neighbourhood with my 'big bins' trying to find a location with a sufficiently low northern horizon, to enable a quick view of comet NEOWISE, but sadly without success. Eyed with suspicion by a number of late night revellers returning home. Probably a wise fashion choice, not to have worn the knitted black ski-mask!

Saturn and Jupiter looking good but still too low to use my pier mounted refractor. Will try and get some video using my old 90mm ETX mounted on the 'star adventurer'. With my patio doors open I reckon I could capture some planetary pictures without having to leave the house. According to Metcheck, the next cloud free night will be on Wednesday. Will set up the rig tomorrow - just in case.

Now in my Lowestoft slumber chariot awaiting Morpheus.

Night night Stargazers

Wind and rain! Rain and wind!

So rather than "pining for the fjords", I thought to try a bit of astro 'DIY' light. Managed to fit an old Orion EZ red dot finder onto my Altair astro 66mm Lightwave refractor. 

Also decided to reuse my redundant QHY5v planetary camera for obtaining low res spectra. Managed to complete a few basic calculations and mount a transmission grating at an appropriate distance from the imaging chip. Then set about getting my laptop to communicate with the old camera. Went to QHY site and downloaded the most recent driver for the QHY5v.

Downloaded a more recent version of Sharpcap which seems to work with the QHY5v using ASCOM. Need to work on settings as first captures were hyper noisy. Not really sure what I am doing but I've never let this stop me in the past. "Ever backwards and downwards"!

George now tucked up and pleasantly cosy in my sleeping chariot.

Last night I managed to keep going until about 1:30am when the threatened clouds turned up along with a sudden squall of icy precipitation. Just finished sorting out my flats before I was forced to dash carrying my mobile rig into the kitchen to escape the sleet.Opp

Been busy today so not much time available for data processing but the 3 hours of data captured seems to have yielded two hours of lights worth stacking. My widefield 'Orion Dagger' project appears to be going well!

Using a x0.6 focal reducer and field flattener on my Altair Astro 66mm. Doublet refractor enables the Flame, Horeshead, Running Man and OMC nebulae to fit on the chip of my Canon 600d DSLR.

Quite excited and looking forward to the  next stage.

Weather tonight very poor with no stars visible.

After sorting out my shed I decided to treat myself to a bit of 'mini rig astro imaging' of Orion before the clear sky 'clouds up'.  Trouble is before the street lights go out at 11:30pm light pollution in Lowestoft is a big problem. No prizes for guessing what time the cloud is predicted to roll in overhead?

Went out for a meal at 'the Crown' In Southwold - Very clear night and even with street lighting on could clearly see the winter Milky Way stretching from horizon to horizon. The stars between Auriga, Taurus and Orion were spectacular! According to Metcheck,  Lowestoft weather is set fair for 'Sunday Night and Monday Morning' so may try some widefield  imaging in this area.

Night all.

Orion splendid over our backyard!

'rah'! -  finally, I was able to spot Comet W2 AFRICANO sailing through Andromeda. Managed to get a few widefield images of it but sadly through high level cloud and brightening moonlight that rather spoilt an otherwise good night with my little 66mm Altair Astro Lightwave scope.  Will have a go tomorrow at processing what I gathered tonight. Weather forecast for Lowestoft over the next couple of days is quite poor so I need to make the best of my blurry images as I'm unlikely to capture anymore anytime soon.

Nighty-night Stargazers