November 17, 2008
this was taken on the 27th of October Venus, one of my first shots of venus.
this was taken on the 27th of October Venus, one of my first shots of venus.
November 10, 2008
there are times when I question this hobby, (Im not even sure if Im that comitted to call it a hobby yet), and there are times when I get so much satisfaction out of doing the crappiest imaging and stitching session. at one point i started seeing little comical skulls over the surface. theres plenty of crater formations that look like heads. the weather is still pants.

there are times when I question this hobby, (Im not even sure if Im that comitted to call it a hobby yet), and there are times when I get so much satisfaction out of doing the crappiest imaging and stitching session. at one point i started seeing little comical skulls over the surface. theres plenty of crater formations that look like heads.

the weather is still pants.

October 27, 2008
This is the first time Ive actually seen any other planets, how sad. Venus 18.28 21/10/2008 around sunset. poor quality image as it was so low on the horizon there was much shimmering going on, but the colours were pretty special and I decided to enjoy it rather than pfaff about with the camera. I only had 3 minutes. the next morning at around 7am I saw Saturn for the first time.

This is the first time Ive actually seen any other planets, how sad.

Venus 18.28 21/10/2008 around sunset. poor quality image as it was so low on the horizon there was much shimmering going on, but the colours were pretty special and I decided to enjoy it rather than pfaff about with the camera. I only had 3 minutes.

the next morning at around 7am I saw Saturn for the first time.

September 25, 2008
one of many impromptu video sessions stitched together.
one of many impromptu video sessions stitched together.
August 11, 2008
craters - making the most of a very cloudy night and doing some wikipedia seraching. Aristillus (fl. ca. 280 BC) was a Greek astronomer who created the first star catalogue. The prog rock band Camel had a Song called Aristillus on their moonmadness album. itunes an amazing video covering some of the same features im looking at

craters - making the most of a very cloudy night and doing some wikipedia seraching.

Aristillus (fl. ca. 280 BC) was a Greek astronomer who created the first star catalogue. The prog rock band Camel had a Song called Aristillus on their moonmadness album. itunes

an amazing video covering some of the same features im looking at

July 31, 2008
thankfully Ive been sleeping early and getting up early every morning for the past week, I cant wait to see it. image eclipse.org.uk

thankfully Ive been sleeping early and getting up early every morning for the past week, I cant wait to see it.

image eclipse.org.uk

Common Stargazing Terms

Ive collected quite a few astronomy /stargazing in your backyard books now, most are aimed at beginners but genuinely neglect informing you about some of the pretty basic terms you would across reading any astronomy magazines.

When you do come across a term youre unsure of and then start googling it, it does point you to some very dense information about it. Today I found an astronomy blog called my dark sky and trawling through the old posts

I came across these two gems:

http://mydarksky.org/2008/04/15/common-stargazing-terms-1/

http://mydarksky.org/2008/04/16/common-stargazing-terms-2/

although not exhaustive, it does a pretty good job of describing the most common terms.

July 20, 2008
nice long capture session, you could really make out the detail. funnily enough the recorded video isnt as pin sharp or am I just imagining things. This is effectively amplifying by means of lcd what the webcam sees and capturing using a dslr in a fraction of a second, sure theres some freaky moire noise but i can see that crater sharper than a video still would capture ( i do have some better shots), in a weird way its almost like what ant does with his lcd photogram technique!
nice long capture session, you could really make out the detail. funnily enough the recorded video isnt as pin sharp or am I just imagining things. This is effectively amplifying by means of lcd what the webcam sees and capturing using a dslr in a fraction of a second, sure theres some freaky moire noise but i can see that crater sharper than a video still would capture ( i do have some better shots), in a weird way its almost like what ant does with his lcd photogram technique!
July 19, 2008
July 17, 2008
the purpley colour is from the light pollution filter.