Astronomy

Latest Events

Winter has given way to spring in the night sky and as Orion slips into the west the constellation Leo takes its place high in the southern sky. Spring is galaxy season and my aim this year is to spend more time observing the galaxies in the Coma-Virgo cluster. Sadly the nights are rapidly shortening but I hope to make the most of this early part of the year and will try and do some final astrophotography projects.

Introduction

Whilst at University I became a keen amateur astronomer, interested in a variety of different areas including deep sky targets, the planets and Moon, comets and phenomenon closer to home such as Noctilucent Clouds and the Aurora Borealis.

I have two telescopes - an 8" Newtonian reflector (pictured right) and a 3.5" apochromatic refractor and the majority of the reports found in my Observations Log, which contains images, information and observing reports, were made with these 'scopes.

Whilst at University I was a member of the Durham University Astronomy Society serving as both Obs Officer (2004-2005) and President (2006-2007). The Society Website contains a lot of information as well as articles and observing reports.

I was a member of Aberdeen Astronomical Society from 2007 to 2010.

To see all my blog postings related to astronomy please click here.

Latest Image

Above: NGC7000 - The North America Nebula taken on 2021-05-17T00:00:00Z with my Vixen ED80sf and Canon 6D camera.

Special Events

Since becoming interested in astronomy I have tried my best to observe some of the more special and unique events and targets that have cropped up in the skies over the UK. These are reports from some of the best.

• Total Lunar Eclipse - 28th September 2015
• Partial Solar Eclipse - 20th March 2015
• Partial Solar Eclipse - 4th January 2011
• Total Lunar Eclipse - 21st December 2010
• Total Lunar Eclipse - 3rd March 2007
• Partial Lunar Eclipse - 8th September 2006
• Partial Solar Eclipse - 29th March 2006