Backyard M
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Backyard Mn
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Areas of the Moon | |
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Present lunation in Latest Photos - recent lunations in Recent - further back try Archive from above menu (this is a rambling website - just rummage through it!)
Lunation 1027 - December 2005 to January 2006
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28th January 2006 End of the lunation so no Moon to catch - but a clear frosty sky was too good to miss. Went out early (18:15) to have a 'last' look at Mars - beautifully placed near the Pleiades, Aldebaran and the Hyades. Tried ground shot from tripod with as much exposure delay as camera would allow (8 secs). Later (20:00) went out to catch Saturn in
the Beehive below the Gemini twins..
Orion was glorious once it had
stopped hiding behind the outhouse chimney! Again, tried ground
shots. Caught some of the Seven Sisters
(Pleiades) through binoculars. Then Menieres struck so
nothing till I got a glimpse of Jupiter
in the south at 04:30 next morning ... |
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Clear skies west and east as the sun went down around 17:15 |  |
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Mars was showing less than full - still
glowing but difficult to see much detail other than a possible smudge in
the south
Saturn was glorious - with faint bands just showing above the rings |
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| Photos from last night
- the large ones put into greyscale to save space.
The Pleiades show blue - whether nebulosity or artefact from enhancing I'm not sure ;-) Would guess at the biggest being Alcyone with others possibly Merope, Electra, Maia and Taygete???? Suspect some of the stars are dust on camera lens ;-) |
| 27 Day Moon rises around
7.20 tomorrow, Jan 27th
Jupiter is up earlier around 2.15 Venus gets up around 6.15 Sun rises at 8.03 with Mercury at 8.22 Saturn this evening is at its closest to the Earth this year - hope for clear skies, folks! |
Jan 26th 2006
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| Not much chance of seeing the Moon
for a few days from the Backyard but the sky looks promising so here's a
few easy things to see - looking East at around 20:00UT
Saturn - missed the occultation but the planet is nudging up to the Beehive cluster still in Cancer and is looking good! Castor, in Gemini, is a double star through a 'scope. Pollux is orange in binocs. Procyon in Canis Minor is worth a look - very bright, 11 1/2 light years away. Sirius, the dog star, flashes colours when low in the sky, beautiful naked eye observation And of course there's always Orion ... |
If you can watch Saturn tomorrow night (Jan 25th) it crosses in front of one of the Cancer stars
Jan 24th 2006 - 24 day moon won't rise till around 04.40 tomorrow but Saturn and the stars are out tonight
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Saturn had spells of great clarity despite the drifting cloud. Could see Titan and one other moon. They were all close to the stars of the Beehive cluster. |
Betelgeuse the big red supergiant of a star!! Very bright tonight. Got the Tal on white Castor to see the double - two for the price of one!! |
Jan 21st 2006 early evening
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5pm - West - hopeful |
5pm - East - seen worse ... |
6pm - Capella struggles through high in the east - as does Mars in South |
Drat |
er, later still, just into Jan 21st, definitely not ranting now ;-)
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After midnight, into Jan 21st, 00:30, and the 20 day moon climbs out in the SE, negotiating trees and chimney pots - and appears in the clouds of course - no, won't rant again ;-) Very low and not in 'scope or tripod range Alt 8, Az 113 approx |
Could see no detail - clouds keep covering the area. Took this reference shot through binoculars, balanced on the window frame!! In the East Arcturus was showing, with stars from Hercules visible further north. Moon was clear in the sunny sky at 0800 later on, but just out of telescope range again |
er, later, Jan 20th, not ranting now ;-)
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After the rants below, the clear skies - so clear that with 10x50 binoculars I found the M 36 Open Cluster in Auriga, high in the east around 20:00. Found it again later on, almost overhead!! Couldn't make out the other 2 clusters this time |
Here is the 'map' of the stars in Auriga which helped me to find the faint fuzzies in binoculars at the end of last year. I'd tried the advice of all the books but eventually found them by starting with the pattern of stars at the top and working down. |
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Well, hush my mouth. After ranting (see below) I checked the sky and there they all were. Set the Bresser up and found Saturn and the Beehive cluster just above. (graphic above shows rough idea of them through 10x50 binocs) Had a quick look at Orion's Nebulae ... then the clouds, fluffy but lots, came back. But there were breaks in the clouds still so took to the binoculars for further peeps |
Mars was still high in the south around 20:00. Later I found Aldebaran shining almost as bright and almost as red. Betelguese in Orion was glowing, too. The books say that this star is so big that if it were in place of our Sun it would fill the space up to the orbit of Jupiter. Wow! |
January 20th 2006 (ranting cos there's not a star to be seen again)
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Pink Clouds again!! And while you're at it what about Will changing to long-life light bulbs stop the skies being cloudy all the time??? ;-) remember folks - all links at your own risk - keep your firewall up to date |
No moon till after midnight - then it will be low in the sky which will probably be covered in clouds (rant) But there was a poor Whale in the Thames (photo BBC news web site) and stop World Poverty?? Anything Else?? Cetus (the Whale) constellation just west of Mars at present Maybe it will be clear tomorrow ... |
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NASA New Horizons launches for Pluto just after 19:01 19th January 2006 |
Photos from BBC News Web site |
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16:30 - another beautiful sunset in the West ... |
... but the viewing areas in the East are not looking promising :-( |
January 17th 2006
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Venus and the Sun go down around the same time today |
January 15th 2006
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Stardust Mission returns to earth!! The dust from Comet Wild 2 was brought back at 10 am this morning. Now NASA needs YOUR help to look for stardust sticking to the aerogel. You can use your own computer at home - alas, my eyes won't cope!! |
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5 am and Moon high in the West , Saturn following - icy rooftops had silvery glow. In the NE shone Vega, main star of the Lyra constellation, with Double-Double clear (a double star with both stars also doubles) Lower in the South was the brilliant Jupiter with maybe 2 moons, Ganymede and Callistro - several small stars so difficult to tell, in amongst the stars of Libra Sketches show roughly the sightings through 10x50 binoculars (checked with SkyMap Pro) but not 100% sure ... ;-) (never am)!! |
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January 14th 2006
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Full moon came up nice and early but ... |
Clouds, trees, clouds ... |
Climbed above some of the wobbly air eventually |
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Egg shaped mars was still glowing high in the south |
The evening was starting on the Moon with the hint of the terminator creeping over the edge |
Yellow Saturn followed the Moon into the clear sky and the stars were bright - but I was fading :-( |
January 11th 2006
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A Birthday Moon for my daughter Happy Birthday Ruth 8-) |
Bresser images of the SW ... |
... and of Mare Humorum |
... and of Aristarchus to say thanks to our friends in need Chris and Alan |
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Tal image of Gassendi |
And of Schickard |
And of Aristarchus |
And the ripples near Marius |
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Seeing poor |
Moon 12 days |
Sky clear |
Moon high |
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Saturn above the rooftops about 20:00 |
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On the left is a frame from a video of Saturn taken with a hand held camera. Saturn is the dull blob in the middle. It was clear in the Tal but the video came out dark.
On the left is an image produced by running the avi file through the freeware Virtual Dub. Running the avi produced through freeware Registax, then twiddling about in Paintshop Pro and enlarging it |
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January 8th 2006
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Dragged the Tal out for a 9 day moon but the clouds came within 2 minutes so snatched some poor pics after a very brief look - thanks to Chris for the alert ;-) |
The northern maria were looking good - much better than in this photo |
This is always a good time to have a look at the massive southern crater Clavius - 225km across |
January 4th 2006
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17:00 UT - didn't look hopeful for the 4-5 day moon (camera on tripod) - it was appearing, vanishing ... |
But the clouds cleared suddenly (Bresser with 25mm e/p from Tal - full camera zoom) Earthshine was bright (again - not in photo) and there was a bright yellowy star in the same field of view |
Added x3 Barlow for closer look - day was breaking over Hercules which still had a darkened floor, but Atlas was in full sunshine |
Mare Crisium again - now the sunlight has caught Proclus and the rays are starting to brighten. Clouds soon came back |
January 3rd 2006
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First moon sighting of 2006 went looking for Venus and found the 3-4 day moon in the SSW - Venus is in the bottom left corner just above the roof. Just visible from the Backyard as was Mars, high in the ESE (left) 15:00 UT |
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The moon was just visible above the roof so got the Bresser out for a better view. Earthshine was clear (but not on this photo!) |
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rain ...
January 2nd 2006
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First sighting of Jupiter this time round 06:00UT Difficult to get at, in SE, around alt13, Az 140. Made a triangle with alpha Libra and another star. Through 10x50 binocs could make out one moon, possibly Ganymede or Europa see Planets software on Planets page |
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At the same time in the NE was the 'summer' constellation of Lyra with Vega almost as bright as Jupiter, with 'Double Double' showing nicely |
January 1st 2006
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Wow - did the skies clear!! The stars looked almost touchable! Even those to the north stood out. Saturn was beautiful just below the Beehive cluster. A good start to 2006 |
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One hour later - caught Venus as the clouds moved on at around 17:00 - Moon lost ... |
And Mars was high in the SE where the clouds had yet to spoil the search. (Photos enhanced to show position) |
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One day Moon, anyone? Venus? Sun setting around 16:00 Moon sets around 17:30 |
All the best for the new year
31st December 2005
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Happy hogmanay, friends Here's to dark clear skies in 2006 - enjoy your observing New moon today in the Archer |
Venus was low in the SW close on 17:00, lovely crescent, soon will appear in the mornings instead of gracing the evening sky. |
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Had a brief peek at the eastern sky at around 02:30 this morning. About an hour or two too early for Jupiter but Arcturus in Bootes was brilliant. Leo was climbing in the SE and the Great Bear shone out to the NE before the clouds reappeared! |
Looked for the early evening Mars but the pink clouds were already advancing in the North and East Saturn will rise around 20:00 in the East and Jupiter will show his face in 2006 around 04:00 in the South East Arcturus will rise with the new Year |
For a great photo (not mine, alas) of an ice halo round the moon click here
