Mars before 19:00 - clouds rolled in soon after

Mars

in Aries

16:45 UT Venus drops behind chimneys in SW ...

... and Mars climbs out of the trees in the East

Venus going down in the SW around 17:10 - can't get the Tal on it

Mars up in a clear early evening.  Cloud came around 20:15 so probably no Saturn later - maybe the moon will be clear in the SE around 04:00 but not a good direction for viewing at that hour

Mars with Syrtis Major - 24 Nov

Freezing!!!

 Strange looking body - yellow with ears :-)

Moon following with Leo in a few hours around 0200 UT in east - might have defrosted by then!!

M42

Wonderfully clear and dark - 'sketched' the trapezium of stars in the Orion Nebula - just think, stars are forming here ...

02:10 UT - the 23 day moon competes with street lamps and security lights (and wins on style!)

Forgot to set up 20 x 50 binocs on my tripod in east bedroom - too cold to mess about!!

Again - took short video with my camera (still hand held and shaking) - used Registax to stack frames then did brief twiddle

Same with Saturn - but it was low in the sky bobbing in trees in the east so not the clearest of viewing

Used cheap zoom eyepiece to separate the 4 trapezium stars in the Nebula in Orion's sword. Watched low Sirius through the gap in the houses,  shining and changing colour - just as Patrick Moore said in "Exploring the Sky through Binoculars" - took video (see right)

20 Nov - taken through window! Icy fog drifting below - about 21:30 UT - in NE

Much later on - after midnight - with yellow Saturn just about a hand-span below - murky seeing - in the East

sorry folks, lovely moon arising but can't cope tonight

more later ...

North East

East

Mars

South East

Late Venus in the SW 

17:15 Alt 7 Az 202

Early Mars in the east - Saturn there after midnight :-)

17:20 Alt13 Az 81

Moon later - blinking freezing!!

More when thawed out ...

Clear skies!  Good seeing! 

More photos later ...

 Mars bright

Sunset looked promising - 16:26

Moon looked nearly ready from upstairs 17:06

But was still stuck in the trees in the NE from ground level!!!

There was an ice halo round the moon last night 

Just past full - terminator showing round the eastern rim

Terminator creeping in towards Mare Crisium - compare with last night

This graphic gives a rough idea of the size - almost reached out to Mars to the top right - very beautiful sight. It measured about a stretched-hands width in radius so was probably a 22 deg halo

Beautiful photo of the halo by Peter Eckersley here

See SUNDOG website for  photos and explanations

Mars was up and glowing - dodging the high cloud - see Planets

North east rim - through the Tal the mountains on the edge could be seen standing tall against the darkness  - more coming ...

Clear and bright between the weeping cherry and the bamboo - with Mars on her right

Younger generations have a peek

then the rains come!

Ever threatening cloud and rain on off on off on .................

ALBEDO

Great time to see the differences in the ancient rocks of the south and the younger darker lava fill-ins further north - and, youngest of all, Tycho throwing the lighter rock out in streaks across the surface

No - not albedo - just blessed trees in the way!!

Use the Warping program  Planetwarp (free) on a clear photo of Mare Crisium and see if you can find the impact rings ...

Dark, lava filled Crisium and the other eastern maria

Crisium is a huge multi-ringed basin formed by an impact around 3.85 - 3.92 billion years ago and later filled with lava about 3.5 billion years ago

Misty, moisty moon  - Mars on the Planets page

Mare Frigoris above Plato

Bright Aristarchus to Copernicus and Kepler

The smaller craters round the huge Bailly crater on the southern edge ...

Spot the Moon!  Clear sky around 16:30

Mars fled as soon as I set up the Tal.  Clouds came racing in.  Compare the 'floating' Sinus Iridum of yesterday with the full bay tonight

Now it's the turn of the Mare Humorum to stand out on the edge of the terminator

'Floating' Bay of Rainbows and Plato with the Straight Range of mountains and Mons Pico between  

Nov 11th - 10 day moon 

Copernicus to Plato

Young Tycho, with the massive Longomontanus to the west and Clavius further south

2nd Nov 2005 - moon less than 1 day then Rain on 3rd Nov!!

4th Nov - 2 day moon - alas not seen yet

Later 19:30 UT

No chance yet - Very young moon (about 15 hrs) lower than the sun tonight - both set in the SW - bad direction for me, better luck to you tomorrow

Ah well - it rained the next day here!

2 day moon would still be low and setting in the south west - just where the clouds were gathering. Too sick to search long.

Hope you had clearer skies ...

Brief break in clouds, too late for moon - just caught Mars.  Aonia Terra? dark in south.  Volcano Olympus Mons and the 3 in the  Tharsis Montes would have been to the N with the deep Valles Marineris running to the east.  Got a good imagination? see Planets

While you're waiting for the New Session - have a look at Charles Wood's LUNAR 100 - 100 things to discover on the Moon

Dr Wood writes the Lunar column in Sky and Telescope and wrote Modern Moon

New Moon book by Peter Grego now out

'The Moon and how to Observe it' - not seen it yet but will be interested to see what's in it.  Peter writes the Lunar column in Astronomy Now,  edits Popular Astronomy and runs the SPA Lunar section (see Links and Books)