A New House, Noctilucent Clouds and a World War 2 Dodge! - June 18th 2021

[ArmyAirForce]

After 21 years living in Washington in NE England, in late February 2021, we moved to Durham. I swapped a bortle 8 sky to a bortle 5 sky, with a much better view of much of the sky. My old observatory was to the North of the house which blocked the Southern sky below 25 degrees. My daughter's playhouse blocked below 41 degrees to the North. The new garden gives me views down much closer to the horizon in most directions except North West and East North East. There's still some garden clearance needed before my new twin pier observatory can be started, so for now, I'm back to setting up on the patio.

Having a much better Northern view and darker sky, allowed me to see a great display of Noctilucent Clouds last night. Alerted by the local astro group Facebook page, I took my Nikon DSLR and tripod out to see what I could manage. Previous attempts in Washington haven't been great, partially due to the limited view but the image were always grainy. This time, I was very happy with my captures. Some of you may know I'm also a collector of WW2 military vehicles and while waiting for some builders to alter my garage, my 1944 Dodge truck is living out doors. After a few cloud only images, I decided to frame the Dodge into the shot and combine three of my hobbies - astro, MV's and photography! Here's a few of the pictures.

[FenlandPaul]

That looks like a great display, and a fantastically original foreground! 👍

Great to hear that your move enhances your Astro opportunities. 

[skyhog]

Nice shots. I witnessed a similar display last night. I particularly remember the area to the right where there was a bright very large cloud as you have nicely shown there. Was getting a tad chilly mind you. I was stood in the garden admiring the gibbous moon with just a tee shirt on... ❄️