Ludd

How am I supposed to do a day’s work tomorrow with this going on through the night?

This red band from Jupiter, past the Pleiades and up through Pegasus seems unusually far south, given that I am down in Bucks

Good outburst between 9 and 10 seen here in Bucks

I am racing home from light-polluted London and hope there will still be something to see when I get back to our dark village in Bucks. Someone there has just shared this photo.

I had a lie down on a sun lounger as darkness fell over Buckinghamshire. Lovely to watch the Milky Way emerge from the blue twilight and to see four meteors, two of which were probably perseids. Wish I had been able to stay out longer, but had to be up for work before 6am.

I do remember a snazzy green machine on the observatory ride all those years ago

Diving right in with some classy kit! Looking forward to seeing some shots in due course on LFGSS!

A quick timelapse NLC faster.mp4

One of the best displays I have seen, but I am not a regular searcher

Beautiful here in Bucks right now - this is with an old phone while I try a timelapse

Amazing video Paul! Thanks for all the work you put into these. Your excitement when you realised the whole sky was purple was brilliant, exactly my reaction when it dawned on me that I was not looking at hazy cloud.

Fantastic shots! I am currently not far away near Nantlle and spent a very happy 80 minutes gawping at the display.

Likewise - caught my first glimpse of it in bright moonlit twilight this evening, it was fairly easy to spot in 8x42 binoculars and a few shots with a DSLR showed a tail and a lovely green hue.

Faint visual display in Bucks tonight, better on camera

I was wondering if the clear sky we’ve had all day might last into the night. Forecast was for cloud later but it’s still clear. Sadly I don’t have the energy or mojo to get a scope out, not even the diddy little 70mm one.

I made the jump up to a 17.5” dobsonian a while ago and it is just about manageable by a mildly unfit 56 year old with coronary artery disease, short legs and minimal upper body strength (I am a cyclist). I have a few steps in the garden but the main challenge is the width of the base, which almost matches the width of my shed door. The jump from an 8” aperture was astonishing but it’s not really ideal for quick observing sessions as it requires a bit of setting up, including a stepladder to reach the eyepiece. I do wonder if 12” would have been more sensible (and cheaper)

Very sad to hear this news. I feel privileged to have one of his scopes, and he made me an eq platform last year which has brought joy to my observing.

I was a bit lucky to get an alert from AuroraWatch at a moment when I could grab a camera and tripod and walk down to the dark field on the northern edge of the village. I thought I could actually see a hint of red in the sky and sure enough, a few seconds with a 10mm lens was enough to confirm that the aurora were showing this far south. And then a chain of starlink satellites put in an appearance.

Yes, straight towards Ursa Major, over the top of our local sewage treatment works!

…and now completely clouded over!

Looking good in Bucks

I’m not really a fan of these headline events - they are rarely as exciting as the journalists would have us believe - but I had a spare moment this evening and took my 150-600mm lens up to the playing field where there is a decent view across to the Chilterns.

This morning, as Jupiter is so close to the last quarter moon, I thought it would be fun to see if I could see it in the bright sunshine here in France. It was very easy to spot in binoculars and then, knowing where to look, it is easy to see with the naked eye. If you have clear sky where you are, give it a try! Here it is shot through a 600mm lens.

First night under the stars in many weeks, even months. A single shot as the moon rises.

This evening I spotted a plane heading for the moon