Credit: European Space Agency. All rights reserved. |
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Lunation 1043 - 17th April - 16th May 2007
May 15th 2007 - cloudy
so here's a photo from ESA satellite Envisat
Credit: European Space Agency. All rights reserved. |
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May 14th 2007 - Venus with clouds
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| 9pm BST : Mercury already lost in dark mass coming in from the NW - Venus in the West appears briefly fighting the clouds . | but loses out as the sun goes down. 27 day crescent rises about 4 am BST in east tomorrow just before the sun. New moon on 16th 19:28 UT |
SPA Visit to Jodrell Bank - May 12th 2007
Many thanks to Ian Morison for a great afternoon's look behind the scenes!
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| Watching the Pulsar in the Crab nebula (13 metres diam) |
The Lovell Radio Telescope - 50th anniversary 1957 - 2007 (76 metres diam) |
MK 2 Scope, part of the MERLIN
array (26 metres diam) |
| Jodrell Bank website | More soon ... |
May 10th 2007 - 21 days - too early and too low!
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| ~04.30 BST Low in the trees, where else! (Lumix) | Dawn Chorus in full swing - thick cloud - SE | Brief breaks ~Altitude: 9° ~Azimuth: 138° |
May 8th, 9th 2007 - rain, clouds!
| No Moon yet? Getting withdrawal symptoms? Make a free Moon
Globe - from USGS
More globe links and lots more to try on Original Backyard Moon here |
| Need a Moon Map? Best free one to download is Virtual Moon Atlas
(big) More links to free maps and atlases on Original Backyard Moon here |
May 7th 2007 - clouds!
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| Rain in afternoon, clouds at sunset coming in fast from the North West | Just caught Venus in West, then Saturn in the South West - then Arcturus in the South East! |
Even Mars had clouds!
 NASA/JPL/Arizona State University |
| The dust storm season in the southern hemisphere of Mars
is well underway. This image of an unnamed crater southeast of Hellas Basin shows the
encroachment of a storm in the region. More from THEMIS at http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20070503a |
May 6th 2007
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| Poor pics of Saturn going down - insert via video thru Bresser |
May 5th 2007
Not able to view. And Moon late 'n low, Saturn going west, Jupiter low. So - what's on its way round? Arcturus in Bootes is moving into the south. Corona Borealis follows. Then Hercules. Rising earlier in north eastern skies now comes Vega in Lyra - lots of goodies there ;-) Like what? Have a look at a great site for Constellations (maps and data) and work it out |
May 4th 2007
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| Just into May 4th, Jupiter low in the murk a little to the left of Moon but refusing to be in the same photo. Antares, a red giant in Scorpio, is in the trees, I think! |
May 3rd 2007 - 16 day Moon
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| Not the clearest of nights - clouds drifting about | Moon late and low and in the trees to SE | Terminator creeping back over Mare Crisium with bright Proclus showing on western edge |
May 2nd 2007 - 15 day Moon
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| Caught it later, low in the south (Lumix, hand-held) {Shutter mode, 1/200, f3.3, ISO 100, -2 exp} |
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| Moon still in bed - here's Venus with new friend - and a few stars below (Night Scene mode) |
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| And some stars - with Saturn soon going out of my view - but Lyra with Vega is coming higher in the NW earlier now (Starry Skies mode, 15 sec, lightened in PaintShopPro)) |
May 1st 2007 - Full Moon - Flower moon in Virgo (almost - full at 10 am tomorrow))
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| Full and Low - Lumix on zoom (f3.3 1/500 ISO 100) |
April 30th 2007 - 13 day moon
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| 13 day moon 19:30 UT - Lumix - hand held (P-AE 1/250 f5.6 ISO 80 -2exp) :-) |
Hazardous night!! - Low moons and high planes ...
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| Attempting to take video of Venus - still from
movie (Lumix on tripod) |
Next attempt - plane even closer this time ;-) Still from video. Lumix with x48 zoom - on tripod |
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| Moon avoids trees - just | Skims over gate - telegraph pole next obstacle | Hides for a rest behind outhouse chimney! |
Sunspot via Bresser
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| 1. Check out sunspot on Spaceweather.com and take all SUN precautions see SPA | 2. Prop paper on friendly bear, Cap the Bresser and point FINDER at paper till shadow is smallest. (DON'T look at sun thru 'scope or finder!!) | 3. Spot where the sun image appears and move it over the paper | 4. Make sketch or take photo before sun goes down in trees. Remember to point Bresser away from sun when finished |
April 29th 2007 - 12 day moon
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| Cloudy 12 day Moon (TAL-1) | Venus high and bright - more later |
April 28th 2007 - 11 day moon
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| Getting lower - eyeing the outhouse chimneys up! | Seeing still dodgy but more clear spells |
More experimenting - TAL-1 out tonight
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| Still photo via TAL with Caplio 25mm x3 Barlow x3 zoom | Stacked Video via TAL with Lumix 25mm x12 zoom |
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| Still pic - TAL and Caplio as above | Bleary stacked video, TAL and Lumix as above |
April 27th 2007 - 10 day moon
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| Getting lower but still decent height for back yard | TAL-1 via 25 mm ep - Caplio x3 zoom - 10 day moon |
TAL-1 stills - hand held Caplio
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| Lot of thin cloud, seeing poor but this was via TAL-1, 25mm ep, x3 Barlow, hand held (standing on a brick) Caplio on x3 zoom. View of the south |
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| 2 views of same region near Bullialdus - early on when sun was still up, then later. Again TAL-1, 25mm x3 Barlow, hand-held Caplio x3 zoom. Difference in size merely due to cropping - edited to take out splodges from damaged Caplio |
Experiments with TAL-1 using videos via Lumix camera
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| Over-processed experiment with Lumix on video, stacked (see TAL page via equipment) zoom ~ x12 with just 25mm ep - Clavius | Again TAL-1 25m ep but less zoom on Lumix - region round Tycho | First attempt at Lumix video via TAL-1 with 25 mm ep - can't remember zoom ;-) Sinus Iridum |
Venus video via Lumix on tripod
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| Just caught Venus before clouds covered her |
April 26th 2007 - 9 day moon
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| Moon high at near 20:00 BST - lot of drifting cloud - sky light | Took the Tal out for a few minutes - this with 25mm and Caplio on about x2 zoom |
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| Tal with 25mm and Caplio on x3 zoom - North | and South - misty, thin cloud, light skies, pale moon. Cleared later but unable to view |
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| TAL-1 again:
Took some pics with x3 Barlow and 25mm but too grainy in
this light Plato - Poor pic but had to pack up - light would have been better later |
| Press release from www.goZeroG.com as Stephen Hawking takes zero gravity flight!! |
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April 25th 2007 - 8 day moon in clouds
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| Skies cloudy but still light at 20:23 BST Lumix on tripod |
Moon still high in south - no sign of nearby Saturn - 21:08 BST | Very short breaks in the swift moving cloud 21:39 BST |
April 22nd, 23rd, 24th - rain, rain, cloud ... moon now at first quarter
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| Dull innit? Not even dramatic clouds ...
19:15 BST And in the south right now, the 7-day moon is just past Saturn ;-( |
April 21st 2007 - 4 day moon
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| Still high, still light skies yet 20:40 BST Venus ~29 alt Moon ~44 alt |
Lot of cloud around still - moon almost accessible by scope
from Back yard Will get later in darker skies but lower - will be struggling with low moons by the time it gets to full |
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| Pictures from BBC News 24 as Space Tourist leaves Space Station | Details on BBC Website |
April 20th 2007 - 3 day moon
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| Lot of swift cloud drifting - hid Venus at first | 3 day moon with Mare Crisium clear - photos with Lumix in tripod | Finally got Venus and 3 day moon together! |
Menieres :-(
April 19th 2007 - 2 day moon
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| Venus, 2 day Moon and trees (Lumix from inside) | (Lumix on tripod, x 10 zoom) | Or Venus, 2 day Moon and Chimneys! (Lumix from Back Yard) |
April 18th 2007 One day Moon
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| Experiment with Lumix (held on body of C8) - got this of M51 Whirlpool Galaxy |
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| One day moon caught as it hid in the trees 20:00 BST - earthshine showing whole moon |
April 17th 2007
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| Sun near rising round ENE - moons will be high for first quarter of this lunation - but skies will be light till later!! By the time of the full moon on May 2nd it will be very low, rising more SE and scuttering about the trees with Jupiter in the south. | Snippet from SkyMap Pro around time of photo -shows last of old moon just racing to rise before the sun. New moon will be about 11.30 UT today. Round Days 7 and 8 the moon should be near Saturn. More on moon heights on Moon Watching page |
Archives since May 2006 - click archives on side Index
For previous Lunations and Logs before May 2006
Click here for Original Backyard Moon Archives
