Astronomy

"To what end, he wondered, had the Divine created the stars in heaven to fill a man with feelings of inspiration one day and insignificance the next?" - From A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Latest Events

It's been a cloudy winter so far in Scotland with observing opportunities few and far between. I was lucky enough to catch Comet Leonard before it moved out of reach and into the southern skies. Otherwise I have been working on my OnStep telescope control project.

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

Image of M42 - Orion Nebula

Above: M42 - Orion Nebula taken on 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.

Observing Projects

Noctilucent clouds in the twilight sky
Noctilucent Clouds
Images and observations of this summer phenomenon
Aurora Borealis in the night sky
Aurora Borealis
Images and observations of the Northern Lights
Solar Pillar
Atmospheric Optics
Generally interesting things in the (daytime) sky such as rainbows and sundogs
Iridium Flares
Images and observations of human-made satellites flaring in the dark

Articles

See the articles I have written (primarily for the Durham Astronomical Society back in 2005) on this page

Links

View a number of interesting astronomy-related links I have gathered over the years.

The Great Orion Nebula.

The Orion Nebula

Sky-watcher 200M

200mm Newtonian 'Scope

Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE, 12th July 2020

Comet NEOWISE

The Pleiades star cluster.

The Pleiades

Milky Way and Aurora

Milky Way and Aurora