Lunation 1058: 3 July - 31st July 2008

Dorset Skies - late July 2008

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Wiltshire's Ancient Lunar Observatory?
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Glimpsed the low, late moon in trees!
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Clouds - but glorious sunset On a clear night, with skies darker than over the north western Backyard, Jupiter with moons.  Watched through Bresser 10x50 binoculars on a tripod.  Pic via Lumix

Space Weather News for July 16, 2008
http://spaceweather.com

PRETTY SKY ALERT: The brightest lights in the night sky are having a get-together.   On July 16th and 17th, Jupiter and the nearly-full Moon will be side-by-side in the constellation Sagittarius.  The pair rise in the southeast just after nightfall and remain visible all night long. That's not all: The International Space Station is making a series of evening passes over Europe and North America and it will join Jupiter and the Moon over many towns and cities. Check the Simple Satellite Tracker to find out when to look: http://spaceweather.com/flybys

15th July 2008 - 12 day moon

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Around 22:30 BST Jupiter and 12 day moon low in southern skies Clouds and television aerials smear the SE but Aristarchus is clear in the NW with the walls of Sinus Iridum - and the dark of the seas can be clearly seen over the northern part of this 12 day moon

10th July 2008 - 8 day moon (rain on the 9th July)

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Hiding in the street lights and clouds - the low 8 day moon around 11pm BST from car park Mottled with cloud - Lumix zoom - low in SW Alt 9 Cloud thicker than first appeared

Jupiter

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Low but bright - Jupiter in the SE at same time, lower than moon around Alt 7 - 8 Still too low for a telescope in Backyard - again Jupiter at almost its nearest - see Space Weather below
Space Weather News for July 9, 2008
http://spaceweather.com

JUPITER AT ITS BRIGHTEST: Jupiter reaches maximum brilliance this week, on July 9th, when it makes its closest approach to Earth for all of 2008. At sunset, look low and southeast for a beacon of light brighter than any star. That is Jupiter rising for an all-night transit across the southern sky. During this time of closest approach, Jupiter makes a wonderful target for backyard telescopes. Even small telescopes reveal the planet's cloud belts, its four largest moons, and the Great Red Spot, an anti-cyclone twice as wide as Earth. Just a few days ago, the Great Red Spot ran over a sibling, the Little Red Spot, and may have destroyed the smaller storm.   Amateur images of the collision are featured on today's edition of http://spaceweather.com .

8th July 2008 - 6 day moon - Bresser Skylux - and Lumix

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Interlude in cloud cover Lumix on zoom Bresser Skylux  15mm + Caplio

 

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Bresser Skylux + 15mm E/p + Caplio zoom  Soft pic of Mare Nectaris and its trio of craters Cloud break over for now Later - just going down in the west

7th July 2008 - 5 day moon - Bresser Skylux and Bresser binoculars

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After a day of downpours the skies cleared as the sun went lower.  Too pale and bright for the TAL Waited till the sky was less bright - moon was now behind the house - used the Bresser Skylux from inside Had a look through the Bresser 10x50 binoculars as well.   Good clear views - just poor pics ;-) Had about an hour till the clouds came up at 10pm BST.   Sky still light and making for poor pics (that's one excuse, anyway)

Bresser Skylux + 20 mm eyepiece and Capilo RR730

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Had only the 20 mm eyepiece up with me but used the zoom on the Caplio.  Hercules and Atlas Crisium - views through 'scope much clearer.  First look through a telescope since May South highlands with rabbit eared Janssen visible Attempted some stacked videos with the Capilo but the light was bright and the results fuzzy

6th July 2008 - 4 day moon

On the 6th July look in the West just after sunset and see if the young crescent moon, Mars and Saturn are visible ... Here the cloud was closing in - and the rain returned.  Brief glimpse of crescent to right of inset - no chance of viewing Mars or Saturn tonight!!

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