Phil's Astronomy Amateur Page
I've been in and out of astronomy over the years and now I'm back 'in' - it's a bit like Sunspot cycles, really! Now I'd like to share development of it with you.Thursday, 24 September 2009
Hello old friend!
I mentioned the other day, that I'm so 'cream crackered' after early starts and busy days, that I often fall asleep watching TV before 10pm. Sad, I know.... being the wrong side of 50 probably doesn't help either.
What I didn't mention was that I tend to wake up in the wee small hours - generally between 2 and 4 am, normally because I'm feeling a bit chilly or possibly because a particularly loud program has just come on the TV and disrupted my slumbers!
It's about then that I decide "Well, off to bed for a couple of hours, then..." so proceed to turn off the TV and put out the lights. However the last thing I do without fail, is take a look out the front door to see what's in the sky.
Very often it's just cloudy up there, but the last couple of days it's been very clear and the sky has been peppered with beautiful bright stars and there, in prime position south-south-east, is my favourite constellation, Orion.
To be fair, the whole quadrant of sky is beautiful, possibly the best of the year in my opinion, but the Celestial Hunter takes pride of place and I can hardly wait until January before he's in that position at a more human hour - like about 22:00hrs - when I can get the camera out and try to image M42, the nebula in his 'sword'.
Down at Orion's left foot is Sirius (Canis Major), brightest star in the northern hemisphere and high to his left are Castor and Pollux (Gemini).
High to Orion's right are the Pleiades (the Seven Sisters plus mum and dad and a load of relatives too - around a hundred stars in all in a hazy open cluster) and in between them and Orion, the Hyades, a smaller cluster right next to Aldebaran, Taurus's eye.
About 30 degrees above Orion is Auriga and to the right, Perseus. Keep going another a bit further and you're in Cassiopeia and just below, Andromeda where the spiral galaxy M31 just beckons you to show some interest.
If you have the good fortune not to suffer light pollution, you'll see that these constellations (with the exception of Orion and Taurus) are all pretty much strung out along the Milky Way. Sadly it's not a sight I've enjoyed since I was a kid. No, I tell a lie - Back in 1981 in rural Gloucestershire, following a wedding reception in the village hall, a group of friends and I walked back to our digs across fields, by torchlight. That was a fantastic experience and the Milky Way was there in its glory.
28 years later though, and I doubt even Dumbleton skies are free of the curse of the streetlight.
I do, when I get the chance, though, take a ride up to Box Hill (Headley, in fact) just south of Dorking, where Ewell AS hold their viewing sessions once a month. In fact it was as a member of said club that I was introduced to this site, but circumstances prevented me from attending more than 3 or 4 meetings and that was the end of my liaison with Ewell. Which was a shame really, because they are a good bunch and being a solo astronomer isn't always the best way to go - you can always learn - or teach - something new.... I really ought to make the effort and get over there again.
If you're interested in visiting or joining a club locally, why not check out my astronomy clubs guide? At the moment it's limited to UK but I will be expanding it to Canada/USA when I summon up the energy to take on such a huge task!
And next time you wake up in the night, don't just turn over and doze off again - have a look outside - you may be pleasantly surprised by what you can see :o)
What I didn't mention was that I tend to wake up in the wee small hours - generally between 2 and 4 am, normally because I'm feeling a bit chilly or possibly because a particularly loud program has just come on the TV and disrupted my slumbers!
It's about then that I decide "Well, off to bed for a couple of hours, then..." so proceed to turn off the TV and put out the lights. However the last thing I do without fail, is take a look out the front door to see what's in the sky.
Very often it's just cloudy up there, but the last couple of days it's been very clear and the sky has been peppered with beautiful bright stars and there, in prime position south-south-east, is my favourite constellation, Orion.
To be fair, the whole quadrant of sky is beautiful, possibly the best of the year in my opinion, but the Celestial Hunter takes pride of place and I can hardly wait until January before he's in that position at a more human hour - like about 22:00hrs - when I can get the camera out and try to image M42, the nebula in his 'sword'.
Down at Orion's left foot is Sirius (Canis Major), brightest star in the northern hemisphere and high to his left are Castor and Pollux (Gemini).
High to Orion's right are the Pleiades (the Seven Sisters plus mum and dad and a load of relatives too - around a hundred stars in all in a hazy open cluster) and in between them and Orion, the Hyades, a smaller cluster right next to Aldebaran, Taurus's eye.
About 30 degrees above Orion is Auriga and to the right, Perseus. Keep going another a bit further and you're in Cassiopeia and just below, Andromeda where the spiral galaxy M31 just beckons you to show some interest.
If you have the good fortune not to suffer light pollution, you'll see that these constellations (with the exception of Orion and Taurus) are all pretty much strung out along the Milky Way. Sadly it's not a sight I've enjoyed since I was a kid. No, I tell a lie - Back in 1981 in rural Gloucestershire, following a wedding reception in the village hall, a group of friends and I walked back to our digs across fields, by torchlight. That was a fantastic experience and the Milky Way was there in its glory.
28 years later though, and I doubt even Dumbleton skies are free of the curse of the streetlight.
I do, when I get the chance, though, take a ride up to Box Hill (Headley, in fact) just south of Dorking, where Ewell AS hold their viewing sessions once a month. In fact it was as a member of said club that I was introduced to this site, but circumstances prevented me from attending more than 3 or 4 meetings and that was the end of my liaison with Ewell. Which was a shame really, because they are a good bunch and being a solo astronomer isn't always the best way to go - you can always learn - or teach - something new.... I really ought to make the effort and get over there again.
If you're interested in visiting or joining a club locally, why not check out my astronomy clubs guide? At the moment it's limited to UK but I will be expanding it to Canada/USA when I summon up the energy to take on such a huge task!
And next time you wake up in the night, don't just turn over and doze off again - have a look outside - you may be pleasantly surprised by what you can see :o)
Monday, 21 September 2009
New beginnings
It's been a month or so since I last blogged and my personal circumstances have changed for the better, I'm pleased to say!
'How so?' you may ask.
Well a couple of weeks ago I started a new job. After nearly 9 months unemployed, I'm finally back in the land of the gainfully employed, and really happy about it too. The bizarre thing about it is that after spending 24 years in PC support, I've completely changed my career and am now in the public sector, a Design Technology Technician at a local school. And it's great! It's like having a hobby and getting paid for it! OK, it gets a bit repetitive and tedious sometimes when I'm putting together dozens and dozens of sets of course hardware and there's obviously pressure to 'get it right' but there's no stress! Trouble is I'm knackered by the time I get home so haven't really spent much time in the garden with the telescope.
That said, this weekend I decided it was about time that I used the sheet of Baader AstroSolar film that I bought from Astronomia in Dorking some weeks back. As my kids were visiting I got my son, Alex, to do the work whilst I supervised. At the end of an hour or so, we had a functional Solar filter fitted to the business-end of my 10" scope and were ready to test it. Sadly (and not unexpectedly if I'm honest) the Sun decided to hide behind clouds for most of the weekend.
Nevertheless on one of the less-overcast moments when there was but a haze of cloud, we managed to focus on our local star and get a picture with the EOS. Nothing spectacular, you understand, because there aren't (and haven't been for some time) any sunspots to look at, this being the rock-bottom of the 11 year cycle...
Anyone who's used Baader film will know that what you see is grey in colour but by putting a Deep Yellow filter on the eyepiece, the image was much prettier!
Hmmm... Nice and yellow but a bit boring. Let's hope that we get some clear skies and sunspots then the images should be a little more interesting!
If you want to see how we went about constructing the filter and applying it to my 'scope, please check out the projects section on my main site, www.simpleamateurastronomy.com/projects.htm
(Sorry, I can't get the hyperlink to work on this blogsite :o(
'How so?' you may ask.
Well a couple of weeks ago I started a new job. After nearly 9 months unemployed, I'm finally back in the land of the gainfully employed, and really happy about it too. The bizarre thing about it is that after spending 24 years in PC support, I've completely changed my career and am now in the public sector, a Design Technology Technician at a local school. And it's great! It's like having a hobby and getting paid for it! OK, it gets a bit repetitive and tedious sometimes when I'm putting together dozens and dozens of sets of course hardware and there's obviously pressure to 'get it right' but there's no stress! Trouble is I'm knackered by the time I get home so haven't really spent much time in the garden with the telescope.
That said, this weekend I decided it was about time that I used the sheet of Baader AstroSolar film that I bought from Astronomia in Dorking some weeks back. As my kids were visiting I got my son, Alex, to do the work whilst I supervised. At the end of an hour or so, we had a functional Solar filter fitted to the business-end of my 10" scope and were ready to test it. Sadly (and not unexpectedly if I'm honest) the Sun decided to hide behind clouds for most of the weekend.
Nevertheless on one of the less-overcast moments when there was but a haze of cloud, we managed to focus on our local star and get a picture with the EOS. Nothing spectacular, you understand, because there aren't (and haven't been for some time) any sunspots to look at, this being the rock-bottom of the 11 year cycle...
Anyone who's used Baader film will know that what you see is grey in colour but by putting a Deep Yellow filter on the eyepiece, the image was much prettier!
Hmmm... Nice and yellow but a bit boring. Let's hope that we get some clear skies and sunspots then the images should be a little more interesting!
If you want to see how we went about constructing the filter and applying it to my 'scope, please check out the projects section on my main site, www.simpleamateurastronomy.com/projects.htm
(Sorry, I can't get the hyperlink to work on this blogsite :o(
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