Hawksmoor

Meteors and a bright comet up there but now I've returned from Berlin, what do I see before me .....?  Clouds.

I've looked at clouds from both sides now both up and down and still somehow it's clouds occlusions I recall I really can't see stars at all.

George in lyric mood, in bed and in Lowestoft.

Excellent data outcome. Having grasped the basics of INZight data analysis software, thanks to OU free course and Department of Statistics Auckland University, I managed to load Spectrum Lab event logs for August 2016 and started compiling relationship graphs relating to various aspects of radar reflections from Perseid meteors. Next step : to filter out data outliers, but I probably need to finish the course first and attain the required skill set!  At least I can do something with the data stream generated by the LVST (The Lowestoft Very Small Telescope).

Now retiring to the slumber pit. Last night I fell out of bed only to be  rudely awakened at 3am as I collided with the Cyril Lord. 

Nighty night stargazers from George in Lowestoft.

Last night I put out the 127mm refractor to image M 87 at approx f=750 mm. Very cold, a tad windy , lots of low-level cloud and too much moonlight but otherwise just what the old amateur astronomer dreams of! At least I managed to get a snap. Used my homemade Batinov mask for the first time - worked effectively so well pleased. 

George now in bed - Nighty night all.

Earlier this evening I watched a large moon rise over the end of our street. Just a bit of cloud about to add some perspective and reflect some of the deep warm yellow moonlight. A real pretty thing to see.

More cloud now so off to bed after a day spent on new woodcut print.

Nighty night stargazers.

After a grey and cloudy day the sky cleared for a quick look at the Moon. The crater Aristarchus was well clear of the terminator and shining brilliant white against the darker mare lava.

Nighty night stargazers

George the old man by the sea.

Went for a walk in Norfolk today and came face to face with a hare. Completely mad of course and it isn't even March!

Night all.

George in Lowestoft

Interesting evening under starry skies in Redgrave, Suffolk. Sat next to a guy in the pub who played an officer on the Death Star in the first Star Wars film. Fell three feet into a sunken garden in the dark. Luckily the earth 's crust broke my fall. Survived to tell the tale and now back in bed in Lowestoft.

 George shaken but not stirred in Lowestoft

My word the early hours of this morning in our backyard were very very cold, so cold that my laptop stopped working properly! Didn't get to bed until 5:30am but enjoyed seeing a fine lunar eclipse. By and large the clouds stayed away until 5:00am. so cannot complain.

George contemplating an early night in Lowestoft

Metcheck currently predicting clear skies for the lunar eclipse as seen from Lowestoft. Very excited! At the moment it is -3 C outside. Hope it warms up a bit in the next 24 hours or I will be hitting the hot marmite quite hard by the time it reaches totality.?

George in preparation, looking for his mittens in Lowestoft

Weather remains inclement. Spent the day, off and on, assembling 3d printer kit. Off to bed as no stars and have just finished watching Modus, some violence, moderate swearing and a preposterous story line.

Nighty night stargazers from George in Lowestoft

Nice waxing gibbous  moon shrouded in hazy high level cloud over Lowestoft tonight. Watched a plane and its vapour trail fly silently past. The jet condensate illuminated by moonlight shone pale yellow against the dark grey sky. Made me feel sad, I don't know why.

Nighty night stargazers.

Every time I go to bed and post on here that the weather in Lowestoft is terrible, it immediately clears up. My partner woke me up at 2:00am yesterday morning and told me she should could see stars through the bathroom window. Downstairs I went in my dressing gown and through the kitchen door I could see the Pleiades. Minutes later still in my dressing gown but now equipped with big bins I took my first glimpse of Comet 46P Wirtanen as it sailed past the Seven Sisters. It then got a bit silly as I tried to get a photo using my Dslr on a Poundland mini tripod balanced on a set of boxes placed on a chair in my kitchen 'lean to' with the door open. No more than one out of ten for scientific method. Well I did manage to get a 'snap' or two of the 'blurred kind'. Will post something in the near future. Nice view of the comet through my 11x80 bins. It has quite a big coma when I compared it with the nearby Pleiades.

Weather closed in again and I'm back in bed.

Weather has actually managed to deteriorate today. Didn't think this was possible but I was wrong!

Was going to image the Comet last night. My 'astro-mini-rig' was up and running by midnight and Metcheck for Lowestoft was showing 'clear all night'.?  Looked up at a sky predominantly cloudy but with an occasional blurry star just to engender that "if I stay up it just might clear" sort of feeling. I finally gave up and went to bed just after I tripped over a large hedgehog.?

George feeling prickly in Lowestoft (no hedgehogs were hurt in the making of this post)

Tonight In between the clouds I had my first go at Mars. Small but still bright and now above the houses at the rear of our house. Wobblin' about like a jellyfish in the surf, but having been inspired by Reggie and his excellent October Mars post, I thought I would give it a go whilst the Moon was out of the way.  Haven't processed the AVIs yet but fingers crossed I might have one recognisable image to post sometime soon. I also tried taking a few stills of Uranus hoping to capture some moons but the the combination of too much murk, light pollution and high ISO probably will have ensured noise overwhelmed signal. Weather tonight very mixed and out of sink with Metcheck forecast.

Nighty night all.

Had a very nice evening at Sheringham Park - the landscape architect Humphrey Repton's swan song in Norfolk. Our friends treated us to a son et lumiere in the woods. Now I know one man's son et lumiere is another astronomer's light pollution but I must say The National Trust did it wonderful well. Light levels reasonably low and lamps well located and mainly red enabling night sight to be, in the large part, maintained.  So much so that the North Norfolk dark skies put on their own show for the naked eye to see.  I counted at least 10 Pleiads, could not only see M31 but could discern it's disc like shape and the Cygnus rift dark against a very bright Milky Way and the double cluster were all very prominent. I had the best views ever of the constellation Hercules, even the dimmer stars were visible, so for the first time, I could see just how big a constellation it is. Usually I just see the keystone and the rest is lost to the background. Similarly, Ursa Minor was clearly visible as a mini 'Plough'. Great night out for an old man but unfortunately I did miss a couple of bright meteors as I was looking the wrong way.

As a consolation prize, I purchased a bag of chips from the chip van in the car park. Result!

George back home and tucked up in bed. Nighty night stargazers.

Changed my profile photo. At the weekend we attended a day long course at the London School of Mosaics. -  My effort - " Can you guess what it is yet"? -  A 'bright' comet with ion and dust tails plus three red and ancient stars.

Weather still very mixed and suddenly winter cold here on the coast. But on a positive note our Tai Chi DVD has dropped through our letterbox and I have ordered a digital vernier caliper from Amazon for £13-99. I really wish the delivery man from Hermes would dress the part. A golden helmet and winged feet would be excellent. I've always felt rather let down by our local 'Badger Builders' whose workman don't wear black and white striped safety helmets.

George waxing philosophical as the Moon wanes in Lowestoft.

Bright full moon - (big wink for Neil) - with lots of high level wispy cloud. A few big jets flying silently across my field of vision. All rather beautiful through my big bins.

George now in bed wondering when he might go 'imaging' again?

Yet another lovely autumnal day in Oulton Broad with cloud moving in as night falls. However, my partner on her daily walk took this lovely photograph of the sun heading for the horizon over the Broad.

Today I started building my 3d printer in kit form. Bewildering number of parts! Thank goodness they are well labelled. This will not be a fast process - after all I'm a 'simple country architect not an engineer Jim'! ? My partner is already getting twitchy with all the parts laid out in the 'clean room' or kitchen as she prefers to call it. Not sure how long she will be 'comfortable' with the kitchen table out of action?

George in his slumber chariot considering 3 dimensional possibilities.

Have just about cleared a backlog of projects and ready to go on my 3D printer kit that I had for Christmas last year. Made a great 'connection' today, for some time I have been wondering how to combine my digital photographic and artistic/ block print making  interests. Well on line I found an article in 'Print Making Today' all about using 3D printers to make - printing plates!  Job done!?

Obtained a 'book recover', preowned in excellent condition, hardback version of Chris Hadfield's 'An astronaut's guide to life' for £1 from Poundland.?

Well yesterday morning after 2:00am turned out clear and transparent. So I stayed out in the backyard until 4:15am when I called it a day. Used my 66mm Altair Doublet on my Star Adventurer mount to take some nice widefield images. Managed to get lots of snaps of the comet as it passed M35 in Gemini. Really enjoyed sweeping the sky with my big bins - M33 very obvious and the Andromeda Galaxy virtually went right across my bins fov at 11x. Could see the double cluster and M31 unaided and the Milky Way virtually overhead was breath-takingly bright. Also noted 5 bright meteors. Great to see Orion striding up and over my hedge to the South east. Guess winter is on its way. I will post an image of the comet tomorrow.

George now in his Lowestoft slumber chariot awaiting sleep

Weather currently a bit mixed here on the edge of the North Sea.  Just got back from the Lowestoft Seagull Theatre - really enjoyed the Liane Carroll Jazz Band/Trio - brilliant!  Now trying to capture a few images between the clouds with my mini widefield rig whilst awaiting earth spin to enable the comet now in Gemini to climb above our hedge. George out in the dark in Lowestoft.?