Astronomy Links

B.A.A.
The Astronomer
Space Weather
A.P.O.D.
S.P.A.
Sky&Tel
UKAI
Welcome to my new astronomy pages! I am an amateur astronomer now living in East Devon, UK.  I  recently moved from Dorset where I established the
 Worth Hill Observatory, and hosted Star Parties with the Wessex Astro Society.  I am now a member of the Norman Lockyer Observatory  where we
have plans to resurrect my  20"  reflector.  I am currently imaging the sky with a MX916 CCD & Celestron 9.25 S/Cass and William Optics  Megrez 110.
My astronomy interests are wide ranging and I will use these pages to post images of planets, comets or deep sky objects  in date order.
I hope to update this site regularly so do call back occasionally! Click on images to enlarge.                                          
  
  
     
N.L.O.
N.L.OObservers
Faulkes Telescope
Liverpool Telescope
BAA Cometsection
CometObservations
      2010  Jan 19th                                                              First Images of Mars
More images here
     2009  Nov  5th                                                               Widefield Imaging at f/2
The Great Andromeda galaxy imaged with C8 and Hyperstar + SXV-H9C. More hyperstar images here.

     2009  July  20th                                                               Cometary impact on Jupiter

     2009  February  22nd                                                       Comet C/2007 N3 (Lulin)
Comet Lulin now visible to the naked eye in Leo.
     2009  February  21st                                                         Venus in the Evening Sky
Venus now at its maximum brightness as it approaches inferior conjunction.

     2009  February 1st                                                             M1    The Crab Nebula
The Crab Nebula imaged at f/10 with C9.25". This image resolves the pulsar (right hand star of central pair).

     2008  December 1st                                                          Lunar Occultation of Venus
This occultation was observed under clear skies from the NLO. More details here.

2008  October 30th                                                              An Autumn Galaxy Tour
Click here for a tour of some autumn galaxies. All images are 10 x 60sec with SXCCD  + 110mm refr.

2008  September 3rd                                                           An Erupting Prominence


A series of 10 sec. AVI's taken with a PST and SkyNyx 2 camera + K3CCD.
A seven frame animation was then composed showing a large prominence erupting
over a  time frame of  21 minutes.

2008  August 13th                                                                          Perseid Meteor                                                                                              


Perseid meteor captured on the first 30 sec exposure taken. It was the only success in over 50 images taken.
The complete image can be seen here. If you look closely two meteors were captured in this image. 
The color is a result of the meteor entering the Earth's atmosphere at a high velocity and ionizing air molecules that glow for several seconds. The glow starts as green because the meteor enters the atmosphere at a very high altitude where the primary color comes from oxygen at 5577 angstroms. The color changes to red lower in the atmosphere from nitrogen emissions between 6200 and 6700 angstroms

2008  August 1st                                                                          Partial Solar Eclipse




Here's a very rough and ready image of the partial eclipse taken today in a very brief moment of clear skies.
Image taken with a Canon 300D and  PST.

2008  July 22nd                                                                               Solar Montage
Who needs an eclipse! This is a four image montage of the Sun taken with a PST and processed in Astroart.

2008  April  30th                                                                Prominences &  a Solar Flare

B3.8 Class Solar Flare and prominence

2008  April  24th                                                                              Supernovae

SN2008ax and SN2008aw taken with FT- North.

2008  April  20th


2008  April 13th
                 
      SN2008ax in NGC 4490                           SN2008ax                                     Comet 2007W1                                       M63
        
2008  January 11th                                                                             Mars

2008  January 7th                                                                    Comet 8P/Tuttle

Comet 8P/Tuttle imaged with 110mm Megrez  and SXVF-M9 CCD. 15 minute total exposure in R:G:B.
Click on image for larger version. 

2007  December 12th                            Asteroid Rotation with the Faulkes Telescope

Image of asteroid Penelope taken with C9.25" and SXVF-M9 CCD showing asteroid motion over 30 minute period.
The NLO were hoping to image this asteroid with the FT North to determine the rotation period as part of a photometry exercise over an 8 hr imaging session. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and the project was postponed. This image was taken later that night here from the UK.

2007  December 29th                                                        Gaseous Nebulae in Orion
    


M42  Great Nebula in Orion  & The Horsehead Nebula
2007  December 11th                                                                     Mars  



2007  October 31st                                         Comet 17P/Holmes in Outburst  

Comet  17P/Holmes now naked eye! Click  here  for more  images on  my Comet Holmes webpage.

2007  September 15th     
                  




2007  July  19th 		                      
 Large Prominences on south east limb




2007  July  8th

                               
First Light images with Coronado PST


Although only a 40mm refractor this little telescope can resolve
great detail on the Sun. These images were all taken with a
Sky-Nyx 2 and 5x Televue  Powermate.


2007  June 18th                                                         Daylight Occultation of Venus


I missed the disappearance due to partial cloud but caught the reappearance with Televue 70mm Ranger and Canon  300D.  Venus was easily seen as a naked eye object at 1700h UT . This was the clearest day time view of  venus that I have ever seen. This animated sequence shows a series of 8 images taken over a period of a few minutes.

 
2007 April 7th                                                          Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies

M51                         

M61
Coma Cluster
    Galaxies identified  

 

2007 March 28th                                                     Imaging  with Lockyer 6.25" at the NLO


We could just make out the 700 m
rille that meanders down the Alpine
Valley. Could also see a few of
the tiny craterlets  on the floor of
Plato


Lunar Apennines 20 sec avi.
Philips Toucam processed in
K3CCD Tools.



2007 March 20th                                              Galaxy Group in Leo                   Interacting galaxies - "The Antennae"

Best time of the year for galaxy imaging. More images from Megrez 110.

M109
NGC 3190
NGC 4038/9
NGC 4559

 

2007 March 9th                                                 First Light images          Megrez 110    Exp: 10 x 30 sec      MX 916 CCD

This short focus telescope is a joy to use.  Great optics and  superb design and engineering.
  

NGC 4565
M81
M82
M101



2007 March 3rd                               Total Lunar Eclipse  imaged  from the NLO      Canon 300D + 300mm lens
       Clear skies over much of UK gave everyone a chance to view this bright eclipse.




2007 January 11th                           The Great Comet of 2007                   Comet (2006 P1) McNaught  

This was sadly the only chance we got to see this fine comet. The views from Australia were spectacular. Images taken with Canon 300D from Branscombe beach.     






 
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