First for 2013

After a 40 degree day the evening was still in the high 20s and the sky was fairly clear. A sliver of moon had nearly cleared the sky and it was about a dark as you could expect.
Started with Jupiter, looking great with two bands clearly visible. 3 moons to the left and one to the right of the disk. Tried to get a few snaps with my mobile on the eyepiece, just to see how it looked.
Checked out M42 in Orion, just because I love looking at it. Resolved the four stars at the centre clearly.
Also checked out open cluster M41, Sirius, and Betelgeuse (which stubbornly still refuses to go supernova)
Shifted the scope to cast about the Zenith and happened to have a satellite pass through the field just as I put my eye to it, which was a nice novelty.
Spent some time star hopping trying to line up Globular Cluster M79, but gave up (probably not dark enough to make it out, I'm pretty sure I was in the right spot)
Finished the session just casting around the sky a bit looking through the 25mm P enjoying seeing the lower mag stars.
Packed up still very warm but fortunately not humid. Still about 27 now at 2am.

Partial solar eclipse

Wednesday, 14 November.  0730 - 0900

A beautiful clear morning dawned for the 54% partial solar eclipse that we were to enjoy today.  We had decided at short notice to take the telescope and light box to the school again.  
As the show was going to be over by 0845 there was going to be a fair opportunity for the kids and teachers to see what was going on if they wanted.
By the time we were set up the eclipse had started and there was about an eighth of the moon already over the face of the sun.  
We took a couple of photos and the kids started arriving soon after that.  

 Setting up at the school.

 Just in time - the moons moving in now.

 Almost as good as it is going to get.  A good amount of sunspot activity to be seen as well.

 That's the max for today!

 Some of the kids checking it out.
Again, like for the transit of Venus, it is so much fun sharing this with the kids (and teachers!) at the school.  Lots of questions kept me on my toes, and it was clear they were thinking about what was going on.

Will have to find an excuse to do this again next year somehow.

Northern lights?

Just back from holidays in Singapore and Hong Kong.  Would have been nice to record some thoughts about the night sky in the Northern hemisphere... but unfortunately the atmospheric haze and the light pollution from these major cities meant the most stars I saw was one night in Disneyland, when they dropped all the lights in the park just before the fireworks.
Four.  I saw four stars.  Not even in the same constellation.
Nice to be home and see so many more stars from my front steps last night.

Interplanetary Olympics - Curiosity sticks the landing!

Wahoo! Watched the Universe Today hangout and NASA TV cast this afternoon at work (still working at the same time... well, mostly) as Curiosity went through all her convoluted gymnastics while landing. The seven minutes of terror were pretty nailbiting, although it helped that all the checkpoints were being hit smoothly. Listening to the confirmations as each step of descent went smoothly was incredibly exciting. Sending out the txt updates to Weis every minute was fun too! Congratulations to NASA for a great start to the mission, and the Universe Today crew for a great simulcast.

A quick look around

Friday, 15th June
2045-2100
Melbourne suburbia

A clear night after a cloudy, drizzley day.  Moonless.

Had a quick look at Scorpio and enjoyed a couple of clusters found there.

The Transit of Venus

June 6 2012
Suburbian Melbourne Primary School - one of the most satisfying days I ever had

After nearly a whole week of overcast and mostly rainy days, Wednesday 6 June 2012 dawned clear and bright.  Fantastic!

We made it to the school and set up in time to see Venus just complete its entry onto the disc of the Sun.

We were soon swamped by kids wondering what was going on,and the interest they showed was wonderful!

The rest of the morning went fast as a couple of the 5/6 grades and some 1/2 cycled through, listening with interest to my little blurb about the telescope (a 'reflector', bouncing light around), the history (Captain Cook in 1769), the significance (measuring the solar system), and how long it would be until this ever happened again.
The afternoon clouded over, but was patchy enough that we still managed to grab short views of the transition, right up to the end - when the clouds finally parted again at the last minute to let us see Venus move off the disc of the Sun.

My home made light box, allowing the projection of the Sun to be seen by the audience beside the scope.

Venus and sunspots were clearly visible.

Another shot of Venus and some sunspots.

First Winter night

1 June 2012 2315 - 0030

Melbourne suburbia.

A beautiful clear night, but with a very bright waxing gibbous moon high in the sky adding to the general light pollution of the city.  And cold, very cold - but not the coldest it will get later in Winter!

Checked out the moon first.  Very bright - dazzling through the scope even using the cover with the hole exposed.  Looked for the volcanic crater that I read about in the Sky and Telescope mag recently, but no joy.

Then moved to Saturn.  Beautiful views of the plant and rings.  One small point of light to the left of the planet possibly a moon.  

Then to Alpha Centauri, very bright and was able to make out the binary system.

Beta Centauri was noticeably a much colder bluer colour.

Found some nice looking open clusters in Scorpio, and spotted an interest trio (plus one?) of very faint, but very red stars.  Very pretty.

Then casting about in Sagittarius stumbled across a fuzzy.  Looking closer and trying to block out any extra light by cupping my hands around the eyepiece, I could make it out better.

At first I thought it could be a galaxy, but looking a bit longer and better it seemed more like a cluster.  Skyeye on the phone helped and I'm sure it was M75.  A tight Globular Cluster some 65,700 LY away.

M75 (Image copied from Wikipedia)

On that success, packed up and back into the warm house.