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The personal blog of me, Tim Trott. What I get up to, photography, news and so on.
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First Clear Night In Ages - And A Comet!
Monday 29th October 2007
It was a nice cold, clear night tonight, and I was finally able to go out and see what all the fuss was about over this exploding comet I’ve been hearing so much about. Comet 17P/Holmes mysteriously exploded a few days ago, creating a large bright aura around the nucleus. Possibly formed by vapor erupting from vents on the surface, the exact cause is a mystery to astronomers, but it does make an interesting sight in the sky.
I was extremely (and pleasantly!) surprised at how easy it was to find in the sky. With the constellation of Perseus moving into light polluted territory, I was amazed that I could see it through binoculars, and the view through a small telescope was fantastic. Once I knew where to look, it was clearly visible with the unaided eye. I took quite a few pictures as this is the first actual comet I have been able to photograph, let alone observe, so this comet is a little special for me! I have selected two photos to share here; a wide angle shot showing the Perseids where the comet is marked with red pointers. The second is a closeup with my baby Skywatcher and camera mounted at prime focus.
It wasn’t long however until the Moon decided to put in an appearance, which greatly reduced the visibility of the comet. Still, I had loads of pictures and I took the opportunity to photograph the Moon some more.
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This post is filed under Astrophotography, Light Pollution by Lonewolf at 11:42pm
Thursday 27th September 2007
Time for a quick update, the pain and swelling from my wrist operation are subsiding now which is good, and i’m sleeping better at night which is also good. Central heating has been broken all week, and last night was particularly cold. The cold doesn’t usually bother me, but this morning my fingers on be bad arm were freezing cold! They’re ok now though.
Last night was the Harvest Moon, so called because its brightness and high position in the sky mean that farmers can stay out well into the night to continue gathering the crops. Early evening, the Harvest moon is typically very orange, due to the Earths atmosphere, and last nights was no exception. Unfortunately I missed the shot I was hoping for (stupid clouds getting in the way) but I was able to get this one a bit later on. Still orange, but not as much as when it was touching the trees.
A few nights ago I was able to get my baby telescope (StarTravel 102) out to view the three quarter moon. My dad helped me out with all the equipment and I was able to take a few pictures through it at prime focus. The pictures never look as good on screen as they do through the eyepiece, I was a little disappointed with them as they just look ‘flat’. If anybody gets the chance to look at the moon through a telescope - do it! It is totally different than looking at pictures, or even binoculars.
Finally, I would like to thank my new laptop (HP TX1250 Entertainment Tablet) for helping me write this post! - My operation makes typing a little difficult and slow, but my new laptop has a swivel screen, making it a tablet with touch sensitive screen and with Vista’s handwriting recognition I can write reasonably fast. 
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This post is filed under Astrophotography, Car Crash, Injury and Recovery, Computers by Lonewolf at 12:17pm
Saturday 15th September 2007
Its been a while since I have done any astrophotography, mainly due to all the clouds and lack of a summer this year! But anyway last night was a surprisingly good night. For some reason the sky was particularly clear and dark, and I could even just about make out the summer milky way in the sky! That was the first time I have seen it!!!
M31 was my target for the night, so I set about looking for it - and there it was! Visible by averted vision!!! The skies where I live are usually very light polluted which make finding DSO’s difficult, let alone imaging them.
These images were taken with my unmodified 350d mounted on an HEQ5 with a 70-300mm IS lens. The mount was not accurately polar aligned due to a tree being in front of Polaris. I used the drift method, which was good for 45 second exposures, however I used 30 second exposures because I broke my remote switch and couldn’t use the bulb setting. This image of M31 was created using 15×30 second exposures aligned and stacked with Photoshop.
My first attempt was nearly a year ago and can be seen here: M31 - Andromeda Galaxy
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This post is filed under Astrophotography, Cars, Light Pollution by Lonewolf at 1:45pm
Finally some clear skies when I’m not in work!
Sunday 3rd June 2007
Sunny during the day while I’m stuck in the office, get home and the skies cloud over. Bank holiday weekend was cloudy and rainy, but finally Saturday was reasonably clear (until it got dark!). I managed to get a shot of new sunspot 960 as it emerged over the Suns eastern limb. This complex of sunspots is over 140,000km long so it makes for an easy target with the camera. I will try and get a lot more as it moves around the Sun.
Last night was also a conjunction of Venus with Castor and Pollux in Gemini. All three line up with Venus in the lower left, then Pollux in the middle and Castor at the top right. Saturn also tries to make an appearance in the left of the picture. M44, although not visible in this picture due to clouds on the horizon, is located about half way between Saturn and Venus.
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This post is filed under Astrophotography, Solar Observations by Lonewolf at 11:56am
Tuesday 15th May 2007
Discovered in March 2007 by Australian Terry Lovejoy (using only a Canon 350D), this very Green comet is now moving through the constellation of Draco. On May 14th it passed very close to Eta Draconis making it relatively easy to locate.
Comet Lovejoy (C/2007 E2) has a green appearance due to the presence of Cyanogen (C2N2) compound in its core.
This is the first Comet that I have chased and photographed. Its not as spectacular as this photograph by John Chumack, but its still a good first effort I think!
Seeing and transparency were poor, light cloud cover was interrupted by the occasional thick cloud. As per usual, light pollution was the limiting factor to the exposure length which was about 10 seconds at ISO800.
Update
Looks like I was mistaken, this is not Comet Lovejoy after all. I’m still trying to locate it though…
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This post is filed under Astrophotography by Lonewolf at 9:05pm
Monday 23rd April 2007
NASA’s Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) satellites have provided the first three-dimensional images of the sun. For the first time, scientists will be able to see structures in the sun’s atmosphere in three dimensions. The new view will greatly aid scientists’ ability to understand solar physics and there by improve space weather forecasting.
The STEREO spacecraft were launched October 25, 2006. On January 21 they completed a series of complex maneuvers, including flying by the moon, to position the spacecraft in their mission orbits. The two observatories are now orbiting the sun, one slightly ahead of Earth and one slightly behind, separating from each other by approximately 45 degrees per year. Just as the slight offset between a person’s eyes provides depth perception, the separation of spacecraft allow 3-D images of the sun.
STEREO’s first 3-D images are being provided by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and can be viewed on the NASA website. You will need some 3d glasses to get the best experience. The glasses need to be Red on the left, blue on the right in case you wish to make your own.
This image is a smaller version of one of the images that can be found on the NASA website.
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This post is filed under Astronomy, Astrophotography, NASA by Lonewolf at 5:25pm
