This Astro Blog is in the process of being created. This will contain a record of my astronomical observations with scanned images and actual webcam footage along with still images. Most of my observations will either be at Austerfield Field Study Center when Doncaster Astronomical Society ahs two domes with a 10 inch Vixen and a 14 inch Meade. I will also do some observing from my garden 5 miles away with my 8 inch Meade.

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February 2012: Venus, Jupiter and the Moon.

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Sunday 19/2/2012 Over the next few months, the planets Venus and Jupiter, seen as very bright 'stars' in the western sky will perform an astral ballet as they swap positions in the sky and partner the waxing crescent Moon for several wonderful photo opportunities. All these photos were taken with my Fujifilm HS10 digital camera which was mounted on a tripod for stability. Fuji HS10 digital camera:  ISO-400 exposure 1/4 secs @ f3.2 with optical zoom of 36mm lens. Shot at 17:58 hrs UT. Don't you just love these daylight shots! Fuji HS10 digital camera: ISO-400 exposure 4 secs @ f5.6 with telephoto set to 126mm which equates to an optical zoom of 720mm! This has to be one of my best ever shots of Venus not done with the aid of a telescope! Fuji HS10 digital camera: ISO-400 exposure 4 secs @ f2.8 with 24mm lens, shot at 18:44 hrs UT. I was caught unawares not realising that the International Space Station was doing a fly-over tonight! ...
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Constellations and Planets

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Monday 17th August: I got to the Observatory at 10:30pm and Brian was there gathering images of the Veil Nebula. The sky was crystal clear, the Milky Way was a very prominent misty arc stretching accross the sky from horizon to horizon. Jupiter stood shining brightly to the SE as you can see by this photo that I captured with my Finepix digital camera. So I started the night with photgraphing Jupiter as a bright star-like object against the backdrop of the Study Center. If you click on the image, as well as the planet, the stars Deneb Algeidi and Gamma Capricorni (V3.6), become visible (to the SSE and S resectively). Through 10x50 binoculars, two of the Galilean moons could easily be seen. I ended the observing session in the morning at 4:30am by imaging the star-like planet Venus and the wanning crescent Moon. Unfortunately, I didn't get any webcam footage of Venus as it became obscured by a tree and then the patchy cloud rolled-in. Both Brian and I departed at 5am.
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DAS Observatory - First magnitude estimate of Chi Cygni

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Friday 21st August: A very clear night so went to the Society's observatory with Sandra. Surprisingly when we got to Austerfield at 11:30pm only Brian and Phil were there. Usually on a Friday night when the sky is clear, a host of members are observing the night sky. After looking at Jupiter, Phil retired for the night leaving just us three. We began by looking at Jupiter using the Super wide angle 40mm lens in the 14" SCT. We then took a tour of the sky. M27, in the constellation Vulpecula, the Dumbell nebula was very easy to see, the object is very apparent in the fov. It looks very similar to an apple core but grayish in colour. still in that area we turned the scope to Lyra and M57, the Ring nebula. Again easy to view and grayish in colour as well, though averted vision was needed. Swinging up to Hercules, we dropped onto the Globular Cluster M13. This is a splendid sight in any scope. but low powers are needed. In the 40mm wide angle lens, it was breathtakingly 3-dimensi...
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