Latest Photographs and Observing Log (low tech)

Backyard Moon made Lunar Photo of the day! - see Chuck Wood's LPOD for March 31st 2007

2012

Wishing you all health and happiness for this new year

Early evening on the 2nd  - 8 day Moon and Jupiter - 17:00

New Years Day 2012 - a glowing sunset after a day of rain

At the same time in the SE, the 7-day moon was behind the clouds (LUMIX)

Lunar Eclipse December 10th 2011 - partial from UK

For details see SPA pages

November/December peeps - still grounded!!

Close up to meteorites ...

I took these photos of a chondrule (2 mm diam - below, centre left) in a carbonaceous chondrite (CV3)  meteorite (see below) using my old petrographic microscope.  The mineral Olivine shows its refraction colours in the second photo using crossed polars.

Close up of the inside of a meteorite - round chondrules can be seen - formed as our our Earth was starting off

Coming soon - health permitting - enjoying the skies ...

50 years since Yuri Gagarin went into Space!!

Photo shows the sleeve of a vinyl 45 recording from Yuri in Space

Ah memories - was in Moscow in 1964 - everywhere was buzzing with Sputniks and Yuri and the other Space pioneers.

Battered model of the Sputnik brought back from Moscow 1964

News from Jodrell Bank - April 4th 2011

Photo: Jodrell Bank from the air - by Keith Summers

An email received today  - 4/4/11 - says that the SKA Project Office (SPO) will be based at the Jodrell Bank Observatory Cheshire.  Congratulations !!

from email:                                                                                   

"About the SKA :   The Square Kilometre Array will be the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope. The total collecting area will be approximately one square kilometre giving 50 times the sensitivity, and 10,000 times the survey speed, of the best current-day telescopes. With thousands of receptors extending out to distances of 3,000 km from the centre of the telescope, the SKA will address fundamental unanswered questions about our Universe including how the first stars and galaxies formed after the Big Bang, how galaxies have evolved since then, the role of magnetism in the cosmos, the nature of gravity, and the search for life beyond Earth. More than 70 institutes in 20 countries, together with industry partners, are participating in the scientific and technical design of the SKA telescope which will be located in either Australia – New Zealand or Southern Africa extending to the Indian Ocean Islands. "d Link: Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics

Lunation 1088:    5th Dec 2010 to 4th Jan 2011

Happy New Year folks - look out for Partial Eclipse of the sun as it rises on the 4th Jan 2011

 (and, even earlier - METEORS - see Spaceweather below)

Be careful - DO NOT look directly at sun - it can blind you - see safety advice

TAL-1 users - see projection set up on my Solar eclipse page

Notice from SPA Bulletin:

New to Star-gazing?  Want more information?  Check out SPA site (Society for Popular Astronomy)

If you're up even earlier - look out for meteors!!  Details on Spaceweather!

Total Eclipse of the Moon on Winter Solstice morning on 21st December

starts about 06:30 am till around 10:00 am GMT

details for UK Eclipse of the Moon on SPA website

for webcam display see Peter Grego's site www.lunarobservers.com Cosmic Backyard homepage

Clouded over here in Manchester had been clear last night ...

Peter Grego in Cornwall also blanked out :-( ...

Finally found a webcast in Miami - thanks to Miami Science Museum and WPBT2

Lunation 1087:    6th Nov  to 5th Dec 2010

24th November

Venus before dawn in the SE and the moon going down in the NE shortly after on a frosty day ...

23rd November - a Bresser moon

The 16-day moon by Chris Bailey via Bresser Skylux and Finepix A170

20th November 2010

Looking East, just before sunrise, Arcturus outshines Saturn in the SE but Venus is bright even through the clouds

16th November 2010

15th Nov 2010

Venus in the SE at dawn

And later, the early evening Moon in almost the same place ...

Bresser Skylux out on the 14th November

13th November - low 7-day Moon

Near sunset 17:15 9th November 2010

The young moon in the SW and Jupiter bright in the SE at the same time

Lunation 1086:    7th Oct  to 5th Nov 2010

27th October 2010

24th October 2010 - out with the TAL-1 again

Hazy Lumix shot of the waning moon with views of Jupiter, taken with Ricoh on video and stacked with the free Registax program

Mare Crisium with the 

19th October - 11 day moon

TAL-1 view with Ricoh

Western terminator with 11-day moon - Aristarchus via TAL-1 with Ricoh

Southern edge of the terminator - TAL-1 with Ricoh

16th October

Two highly messed about with  (via AnyVideoConverter, Registax, PaintShopPro) photos of Jupiter

(probably more process than planet)

 taken video with the Lumix via the TAL-1 on the 16th of October  - still from video below (Moon too low)

Sunset on the 8th

Good viewing but poor crop of photos on the 7th - via Celestron and Ricoh - superimposed on photo of the moons ...

Lunation 1085:    8th Sept  - 7th Oct 2010

September 25th 2010  -  Out with the TAL

Jupiter and the 4 large moons were very clear.  Photos weren't!!

With Ricoh camera via TAL

  Here is a very murky still from a Jupiter video made with my Lumix through the TAL followed by the processed

version run (in my usual careless manner) through Registax ,  followed by even more processed version.

The moon via the TAL and Ricoh camera

Lunation 1084  10th August to 7th Sept 2010

Taken from an iphone via 120 refractor.  Flip for actual orientation (thanks to Jonathon Cary for photo)

Shows the huge craters of Theophilus (104 km across, made between 1.1 and 3.2 billion years ago), Cyrillus and Catharina

circling the Mare Nectaris (formed around 3.92 billion years  ago)

Moon round about 6 days

14th August 2010 - 1 meteor spotted!!!  (but I missed it!)

12th August - peak viewing time ... ah well! hope you fared better

 but here's  the information from Spaceweather:

EARLY PERSEID METEORS:  The Perseid meteor shower doesn't peak until August 12th, but already late-night sky watchers are seeing a nice display of shooting stars.  Observers are counting as many as 20 Perseids per hour from dark sky sites, a number that could increase 3- to 5-fold before the week is over.  Visit http://spaceweather.com for more information.

Lunation 1083  11th July to 9th August

7th Aug 2010

If, repeat if, you have a clear view of the Western horizon after sunset then look for four of the planets as the sky darkens

Jupiter rises in the East around 11 pm - lovely sight for binoculars, see the moons

(graphic from Starry Night software)

5th Aug 2010

If you're star-gazing after midnight on the 5th August you may see this in the East around 01:30
(graphic from Starry Night Enthusiast software)

From NASA's Earth Observatory:

Summer was approaching in the Northern Hemisphere on June 12, 2010, when the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter looked home to acquire this image. In orbit around the Moon, the orbiter was about 372,335 kilometers from Earth. Skies over the Middle East were clear, providing a cloud-free view of Arabian Peninsula and the mountains of Iran and Pakistan. Bright clouds stretch in a line from India northeast over the North Pacific Ocean. The other bright region in the image is the polar ice cap over the Arctic Ocean.

Full story and more photos on Nasa's Earth Observatory

Lunation 1077 - 1082 :  Jan to July 2010 

coming when computer behaves ...

Waning and waxing moons in March

waxing again - ever changing

waning moon ...

Some February Moons ...

A near-full moon in clouds on Feb 27th and a daytime half moon on the 22nd Feb 2010

A 2-day moon with the evening clouds at sundown on the 16th Feb

6th Feb, a 22 day morning moon with plane

1st Feb early morning 17 day moon over snowy rooftops  and a low 18 day moon in the trees on the 2nd Feb

January 2010 snaps ...

Snow on the last day of January - Backyard covered - not standing out in that! 

Clear skies ... here's Orion rising early evening on the 30th

and later the 15 day moon rose with Mars high above

Blurred snap of Mars on the 29th January - should have used my tripod!  (tidied up version looks smoother ...)

Archives since May 2006 - click archives on side Index

For previous Lunations and Logs before May 2006

Click here for Original Backyard Moon Archives

Archives, planets, books, links and other pages still on Original Backyard Moon site 

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