Hawksmoor

Clouds and rain yesterday but at 22:20 last night, between the clouds and just above my neighbour's fence I glimpsed a pretty crescent moon (apologies for the Jane Austen like prose). So I dashed out with my camera and took a 'lucky snap' or six balancing my Altair Astro 66mm Lightwave frac with 0.6x focal reducer - 'telescopic lens combo' on top of our water butt. The break in the cloud only lasted for five minutes. Not the best of images but I'm suffering from 'wet weather front fever'.

Managed at about 1:30 this morning to clearly see and identify comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner through my big 11x80 bins.  Much less bright than I was expecting from my reasonably dark site. Must be my old eyes failing? ×

Further to my last post from the Lake District, I'm back in Lowestoft and I have plugged an old keyboard into my Laptop and all is well.  So I haven't done anything more expensive than breaking some connections associated with the keyboard. Off to see the computer chap in Oulton Broad to see what can be done for a few pounds.  If too expensive, I will swop this laptop with the one operating my software defined radio meteor catcher - 'The LVST' at 'The Jodrell Plank Observatory' as this activity is 'keyboard light'. Thanks all for your comments .

Perseids -Smershieds! - 100 percent of your classic 'British Clouds' overhead. Now going to bed with the hump! -Full on dromedary!  'Remote Robotic Scopes' are looking more attractive by the minute!

Disgruntled of Lowestoft

Nice clear and dark night tonight. Spent some time in the backyard with my big bins. Watched a big jet plane lumber across the sky, lights flashing and contrails straddling Cygnus left in its almost silent wake.  Made me feel slightly sad. Not sure why?

George about to turn out the light in Lowestoft.

Ironically, tonight I watched the full moon rise serenely above the North Sea. Very beautiful but 24 hours too late.

George eclipseless in Lowestoft.

Well last night I could have photographed the Moon full on 'Lionel Richie' but tonight at 20;50 BST, no chance. Up on the cliffs at Pakefield with all my travel kit, I was nice and early at about 19:45. Clear view across the North Sea with just a little mist and some light cloud on the horizon. So I say to myself with a bit of luck I will capture a snap or two through the mist and cloud - very atmospherIc!  So we lug my kit from the car and set up. But oh no that 'e' word was about to work its magic and right on queue at 20:45 darkness fell and the four riders of the apocalypse obliterated all photons through south to east. - And then! - "hang on what light through stormed cloud breaks"? - "could that red disc be the Moon"?  A burst of 10 rapid shutter movements broke the cliff top silence.  - So, if anyone wants to see 10 images of the Saga around  the UK cruise ship heaving to off Lowestoft -  I'm your man. If you want to see a photo of me taking said saddo snaps, my wife kindly posted the one she took, on Facebook. She did not stop laughing for some considerable time after.

George in a stormy and wet Lowestoft

Hurrah! Finally captured this year's blurry image of Saturn resting on top of the ridge tiles of my neighbour's roof. My 18 year old 90 mm. Meade ETX Ra Mak riding on my Star Adventurer mount provided a video clip or two of the 'ringed one' at F12.5. All a bit ' Roger Moore' and ' noisy' but just enough 'signal' to satisfy my annual Saturn needs.

Very nice night in Lowestoft tonight but as we have been to the Indian restaurant and have rather overdone the 'Kingfisher' I decided to give 'juggling astronomy-kit in the dark' a miss. Nice to eyeball three planets - Saturn, Jupiter and Venus - plus the Summer Milky Way.

Nighty night all

Stars tonight over Lowestoft. ? Realised that Saturn is too low for my big refractor on its pier. Only way to get a snap will be with my mobile rig from another site. My old 90mm. ETX RA to the rescue - now mounted on a Star Adventurer.

George hoping for another clear night this week in Lowestoft.

"and today's and tonight's weather in Lowestoft has been brought to us by clouds".?‍♀️

Just back from a 14 day holiday in India. Had a great time. Levels of atmospheric pollution in and around Delhi and other cities visited made stargazing difficult! Many reasons not to moan about being located by the sea in Suffolk.

George back home in Lowestoft.

Last night I actually captured some photons from the old backyard. Up until 3am. waiting for Jupiter to clear my neighbours' roofs and our olive tree. Very noticeable how much smaller the GRS has become since I first viewed it through my old 90mm. ETX RA Mak some 17 years ago. Also I remember Jupiter riding high in the sky rather than grazing my southern horizon. Trouble with astronomy is that it often reminds you of the inexorable passage of time and your own brief relationship with the Cosmos.

George awaiting the blissful sleep of the innocent in Lowestoft.

Pulling an all nighter as the clouds that were supposed to disappear at midnight have inconveniently not consulted a meteorologist. I've given up trying to obtain 4min subs at ISO800 in favour of 2min subs at ISO1600 whilst cloud dodgin' without a 'G'. Why is it that 'mainly clear' isnt and that mainly it isnt clear in front of the thing you're trying to photograph?  It is also mind numbingly cold in our Backyard - my nose has started to run and my clumsy rating has started to climb exponentially.

Nighty night stargazers wherever you are.

George not asleep in Lowestoft

First night for some time that was billed as 'mainly clear', so got out my scopes even though it was a full moon.  It also rained as soon as I connected my NEQ 6 to the National Grid. Didn't mention rainfall on any of the weather sites.

Used my new fixing plate to piggy back my Altair Astro 66mm Refractor on the 127mm Refractor. Obtained two video clips to put together a two pane full moon image. Also captured some video of Neptune using the 127mm Refractor and a x3 Barlow. Very low near my horizon so lots of colour dispersion and the very small image was wobbling about in the thermals rising off my neighbour's roof.

Now in bed, photons viewed , collected and stored on my orange clockwork laptop computator ,tired but happy of Lowestoft.

Nighty-night stargazers

Misjudged the weather. Set up my scopes for a night of adventure. All my kit and software working in concert. Then the clouds rolled in. I waited and waited whilst the cloud thickened overhead. I consulted Metcheck. The cloud was predicted to worsen. So at 23:45 I packed up my kit and retired to the warmth of the living room. By 00:15 the sky over Lowestoft was as clear as a bell. As protocol forbids the use of swear words and common oaths - "Oh dear, what an unfortunate decision I made"

George currently fuming in bed in Lowestoft.

Foggy tonight in Lowestoft and I'm the worse for alcohol - so no astro -imaging tonight.

George inebriated in Lowestoft.

Very clear and chilly night in Lowestoft. Spent a half hour in the garden after the street lights went out. Nice to scan the winter sky with my big bins. Lots of interesting clusters and fuzzies to see this time of the year. 

Leo Major just about due South and at a good elevation - lots of galaxies just about visible through my 11x80 bins as tiny smudges or fuzzy stars. A bit further east and lower in the sky Virgo is now on show with a few more fuzzies on the edge of visibility.

Had a look at Mellotte 111 in Coma Berenices - a large and beautiful open star cluster. Not far away the globular star cluster M3 was an easy spot.

Galaxies M81 and M82 were easy to find near the nose of the Great Bear. This time of the year he stands on his tail and has moved sufficiently East so as not to be hidden by the bulk of our house.

I finished off my session with a quick look at the Beehive Cluster, M35 and the three Messier open clusters in Auriga.

A quick trip around the Universe in 30 minutes. Not many hobbies can offer so much in so little time.

George in bed in Lowestoft.

Cold but clear night here in Lowestoft this evening. Too tired  for astronomy as have just driven home from Sheffield via Barton on Humber. Off to bed to catch some zzzzzzzs.

George 'counting sheep' in Suffolk.

Some of last night's images were spoilt by the gusting wind but some have turned out OK. Did manage to capture an image of Comet PanSTARRS in Taurus so mission accomplished. Very pleased that my partner has purchased two tickets to see and hear Dr Michael Foale at the UEA towards the end the month. Quite excited!

Nice clear night here in Lowestoft. Still up waiting for my camera to stop snapping NGC 2244. Have captured some wide field images using my Altair Astro 66 mm Doublet and my Meade 127 mm triplet refractors with combined x 0.8 focal reducer and field flattener. Hopefully, I managed to image the comet in Taurus - very faint.

I've come indoors to warm up leaving the intervalometer to do its business. My Canon 600D DSLR has been eating up batteries, I'm on my third one. The wind is getting up so the guider is working extra hard - hope I'm not going to get a lot of wiggly lines. The moon is now well and truly above the hedge - so i'm going to call it a night soon. Partner went to bed some time ago as she has caught my 'man-flu'. My life will not be worth much if I wake her up particularly, as I said it wouldn't be long before I joined her- some 2 hours ago!

How time flies when you're catching photons.

George 'still awake' in Lowestoft.

Feeling somewhat better. Man flu receding and coughing less. Hoping the clouds part this weekend so I can get a photo of the comet passing thoroug Taurus.

George 'wanting to play with telescopes again' in Lowestoft.

Terrible night, rain and gale force winds. In bed as I've got a dose of 'man flu'. Off to sleep in a Vick micro environment of self pity.

George 'snotty' in Lowestoft.

Nice clear night here in Lowestoft. Moon waning about third quarter, "on its back" as my late mother in law used to say. Very busy 'Christmas Cwafting' making those 'you can't buy them in the high street gifts' at the moment, so not much time for astronomy. Quick ten minutes with my bins amongst the festive garden illuminations before bed. Bah humbug I hear you say!

George

Clear night in Lowestoft. Spent an hour in the backyard with my big bins. Counted 70 stars in the Pleiades with the bins handheld. Not bad for an old bloke and with the 'Seven Sisters'  just above my hedge. Best bit of the session was seeing a proper fireball meteor fall out of the sky following a slow arc from directly over head and the direction of Perseus to my southern horizon. A  beautiful orange colour too! 

Nighty night one and all from the old man by the North Sea .

As my partner's aurora alarm went off, so did we to the dark delights of Corton beach car park. Looking north we thought we could see something other than the Orange glow of Great Yarmouth 10 miles to our North. So I took a few 20 second images at F3.5 and ISO1600. I then realised how dark the site was and decided to take a few images of the Milky Way running through Cassiopeia and Perseus. Andromeda was naked eye bright as was the Double Cluster. The Seven Sisters had just appeared out of the North Sea horizon. Quite a lot of people lurking about in the dark on and around Corton Car park and I'm pretty sure few of them were Stargazers. Hey - ho it takes all sorts. 

George now in bed after an hour or two of image processing. Will post the results tomorrow in blog format. Nighty night stargazers wherever you are.