With the clouds clearing just had good views of the partial lunar eclipse in the south eastern sky.
sid ashton said
Sun Dec 23 5:26 PM, 2018
Wasn't really expecting to see too many meteors last night as it was forecast to be very cloudy whichever direction you were going to look.
However, the moon did look good when viewed through the occasional break in the clouds
John Watson said
Sun Dec 23 9:49 AM, 2018
With a full moon, you'll see only the very brightest meteors - and there aren't any major meteor showers at the moment. Pre-dawn is a better time to see them anyway, because as an observer you're moving towards the comet debris
This is a great website for all upper atmosphere & some general astronomical events: http://spaceweather.com
sid ashton said
Sat Dec 22 7:39 PM, 2018
The last full moon of the year, the so called Cold Moon is looking very bright but not seen any meteors so far.
John Rayner said
Thu Nov 1 9:58 AM, 2018
John Watson wrote:
Check out his website - it's fascinating !
https://www.atoptics.co.uk/halosim.htm
Thanks John, I have just glanced at this website. There is a lot more to it than I realised.
Cheers, John
John Watson said
Thu Nov 1 8:42 AM, 2018
That's some kind of ice halo, probably part of a 22 degree circle
Les Cowley is a world expert on this stuff. His website documents dozens of types of atmospheric optical effects I've seen quite a few of them. Using polarised spectacles seems to enhance them, as they cut out the glare The Moon & even Venus can also produce some of these effects - long exposure photography can pick them out
They're caused by internal reflections within ice crystals - hexagonal prisms, some longer, some flatter, depends on precise weather conditions Different patterns arise from reflections from 2, 3, 4 faces in various ways Primary & secondary rainbow (& moonbow) and sundogs (& moondogs) are just the more common examples Other effects are caused by diffraction - you can often see hints of red & blue in high clouds near the sun (take care)
Check out his website - it's fascinating !
https://www.atoptics.co.uk/halosim.htm
John Rayner said
Wed Oct 31 5:04 PM, 2018
A nice cloud spectrum at Ludworth Moor today and the moon quite prominent even at mid-day.
Mars is very prominent in the South Eastern sky just now, looking bigger and brighter than I have ever seen it, a supporting cast of Saturn due South and Jupiter to the South West makes it quite memorable. Id love to share it with the family but they are all in bed asleep!
Cheers,
Mike P.
sid ashton said
Mon May 30 8:14 PM, 2016
There is another chance to watch the International Space Station this evening if the heavy clouds stay away. Passage is due to start at 11.12pm at 10 degrees above WSW, lasts 6 minutes and finishes at 10 degrees above east.
sid ashton said
Sun May 29 10:46 PM, 2016
By chance I just had good views of the international space station heading NE shortly after 10.30 for about 4 minutes .
sid ashton said
Mon May 9 8:56 PM, 2016
John Rayner wrote:
If anyone is interested the transit of Mercury is still happening (18.30). Looks like a small round sunspot at 12 o'clock on the sun's disc. Dont look directly, of course, but project onto white card.
Cheers John
Yes John quite interesting to watch once I had worked out how to use my binoculars to do the projection onto the card
John Rayner said
Mon May 9 6:32 PM, 2016
If anyone is interested the transit of Mercury is still happening (18.30). Looks like a small round sunspot at 12 o'clock on the sun's disc. Dont look directly, of course, but project onto white card.
Cheers John
Tim Wilcox said
Tue Oct 13 11:49 PM, 2015
sid ashton wrote:
Just watching the eclipse of the super moon, amazing it really is red. It will be total in about 10 minutes and then partial for another couple of hours.
For any other insomniacs with their optics close by it's worth a look
-- Edited by sid ashton on Monday 28th of September 2015 03:37:22 AM
I got some digiscoped shots from 3am onwards. Rather pleased with the results too (just caught up with this thread)
Mike Passant said
Mon Sep 28 8:55 AM, 2015
Hi Sid, I confess to being another insomniac as well; though I didn't stay up too long. I checked on things at 2.15 and the full moon was dazzlingly bright in the southern sky, illuminating the interior of the house. The local tawny owls were particularly vocal. When I got up again at 4.10 it was ominously dark, but for the right reason; - it wasn't cloudy at all, it was because the moon was in full eclipse; and yes, - it was red enough to remind one of Mars. It only struck me as marginally bigger than usual though.
As the moon very slowly passed out of full alignment the interesting bit started; - a thin crescent of light started to form on the left side of the moon and it was then possible to increasingly assess the edge of the Earth's shadow and its curvature, as if projected onto a screen (i.e. the moon being the screen); - a bit like a tennis ball passing a golf ball all in torch light. Bearing in mind that the Earth's diameter is about 31/2 times that of the moon, Earth must truly have looked stunning for the first moon landers looking back at it.I watched it until 4.53 when the moon was about half obscured and the light was again quite bright. I heard not a sound from the tawny owls during the eclipse; - they obviously didn't consider it much of a hoot?
-This morning the BBC excelled themselves. I'm quite used to TV announcers mixing up billions with millions, but this morning they surely took the biscuit. They interviewed several enthusiasts who had been up photographing events, then with no one to correct them, the BBC reprter twice explained that the moon appeared bigger because it was "30,000 TIMES nearer to Earth than usual" (instead of 30,000 kms nearer). Bless their cotton socks.
sid ashton said
Mon Sep 28 3:05 AM, 2015
Just watching the eclipse of the super moon, amazing it really is red. It will be total in about 10 minutes and then partial for another couple of hours.
For any other insomniacs with their optics close by it's worth a look
-- Edited by sid ashton on Monday 28th of September 2015 03:37:22 AM
John Rayner said
Thu Aug 13 1:52 PM, 2015
12 August 11.20 - 11.50
Great show from the Perseids last night, some extremely bright. Watched well before the maximum peak, and with strong Manchester light pollution to the north, nevertheless saw 8 in 30 minutes. Also 2 satellites passed over.
Cheers, John
Tony Darby said
Sun Mar 22 7:46 PM, 2015
The Moon and Venus looking beautiful in the western sky this evening. A better show, perhaps, than the much hyped eclipse.
Mark Rigby said
Sat Jun 7 11:48 PM, 2014
It's currently over the mid Atlantic!
Mark Rigby said
Sat Jun 7 11:44 PM, 2014
The ISS is due over in 5 minutes. Passing east to west in the southern sky about 55*
John Rayner said
Sat Jun 7 11:05 PM, 2014
Saturn showing well tonight in the south. Can even just make out one of the moons, Titan I think.
Cheers John.
Adam Jones said
Tue May 13 10:20 PM, 2014
Good views of Saturn and Mars tonight. Saturn currently at about 8 o'clock from the moon.
John Rayner said
Fri Apr 18 8:38 PM, 2014
The International Space Station showed really well last night and tonight looks promisingly clear. Passes over at 21.50 from west to south. Even managed to track it in the scope last night despite it travelling at 5 miles a second
Cheers John
Mark Rigby said
Sun Apr 13 10:28 AM, 2014
For anybody interested, the Space Station has been showing very well recently and is due to pass over tonight at 2101 and again at 2237hrs. The first pass will be the best!
A free app, ISS spotter. is available on istore which shows it's current location and optimum times for viewing at your locality. Some of the stats on the app are pretty mind blowing as well (like it travels at 5 miles per second)
brian fielding said
Mon Mar 10 8:08 PM, 2014
excellent view of jupiter and 4 moons tonight, equitorial bands clearly visibal using my standard nikon scope, easy to find just up and right of the moon.
Martyn Jones said
Tue Feb 11 8:05 PM, 2014
Thanks Tony and Keith.
Doc Brewster said
Tue Feb 11 11:20 AM, 2014
Cheers for the one-up on this guys. Had the Leica APO 77 out last night & Jupiter, the 4 moons and even the equatorial bands were clear. All helped by it being a crisp clear night in Cheshire. Can see why the stars near the moons caused a bit of confusion (that's near in the scope view - not in reality of course!!).
Tony Darby said
Mon Feb 10 9:12 PM, 2014
Hi Martin, after your post last night, I got my scope out to have a look, and I can understand why you might think those faint objects might be some of the smaller Jovian moons. They are just distant stars I'm afraid.
Keith Mills said
Mon Feb 10 5:54 PM, 2014
Martyn, If you download the Stellarium app you should get clear pictures of the moons around Jupiter at any prescibed time. I found this a big help when I viewed with my Diascope. Conditions were too hazy here recently. As mentioned on this thread, Bolton Astronomical Socity meet at Ladybridge every month and have a very big(400mm) Telescope. which can look into deep space!
Martyn Jones said
Sun Feb 9 11:28 PM, 2014
Hi Tony, thanks for the info.
I could definitely see six points of light around the planet tonight through my scope, although one was noticeably fainter than the rest. So were two of these points distant stars then?
Tony Darby said
Sun Feb 9 8:08 PM, 2014
Hi Martin, the main four moons of Jupiter are easily visible through a spotting scope, I've digiscoped a few pictures myself of Jupiter and it's moons. However, the remaining moons of Jupiter are so small, you'd need a reasonably large astronomical telescope to get even the faintest image. I'm afraid, like the rest of us, you're going to have to live with just the four moons.
-- Edited by Tony Darby on Sunday 9th of February 2014 08:33:37 PM
Martyn Jones said
Sun Feb 9 6:36 PM, 2014
Great night for looking at Jupiter and the moon through a scope. Definitely five maybe six moons around Jupiter are showing, not sure if the fainter sixth (top right) is a moon or a distant star. Two diagonal bands showing well on the planet though. Amazing how fast it moves out of the field of view. How great it surely was to have been Galileo.
pete berry said
Tue Aug 13 5:18 PM, 2013
Had amazing views last night of the meteor shower up here in Scotland,started about 11pm as it got really dark and was still going strong when I went to bed,well worth staying up,apparently should be visible for next couple nights.Beats the **** out of the Blackpool Hallucinations,stay up and look if its a clear night
Paul Hurst said
Thu Mar 14 4:24 AM, 2013
Managed to see the comet! Even got a few pics out of it (nothing incredible, but its a record shot). It was very faint and I was unable to see it with the naked eye, and even with my 10x42 binoculars it was little more than a dot with a diffuse trail behind it.
Still, dead chuffed to have seen my first comet!
John Carter said
Thu Mar 14 4:22 AM, 2013
I had a good view of Comet PanSTARRS this evening between about 18.55 and 19.10 using the thin crescent moon as a guide. It showed a bright nucleus and an obvious tail but I had to use binoculars to see it. You only get a narrow time slot to spot it at the moment between the sky becoming dark enough and the comet setting. In the coming days the comet will get higher and so will be visible for longer but it will probably get fainter as it is now moving away from the Sun. Catch it while you can in the next few days.
jason fisher said
Wed Mar 13 12:35 AM, 2013
anyone with a clear unobstructed view to the west at the mo should be able to start to pick up a comet very low to the horizon round about sunset to shortly after over the next few weeks.
Doc Brewster said
Tue Mar 12 10:36 PM, 2013
jason fisher wrote:
anyone with a clear unobstructed view to the west at the mo should be able to start to pick up a comet very low to the horizon round about sunset to shortly after over the next few weeks.
I had heard about this and following advice on various websites ventured out just after sunset to try to see Comet Pan-STARRS, but clouds scuppered my attempt. Hope to keep trying as it is supposed to be one of the best comet views we could get according to the BBC site at :
-- Edited by Doc Brewster on Tuesday 12th of March 2013 10:36:58 PM
NIALL GALLAGHER said
Fri Feb 22 3:14 AM, 2013
looking 4 asteriod on the 15;2;13 and saw 30+canidian geese flying over withington heading NW at 21;30 proberbly going to roost [if geese roost] at sale or chorlten warter park by the way i didnt see the asteriod
Tony Darby said
Sat Feb 16 6:53 AM, 2013
No joy for me also Mike. I looked for it later on, when it was supposed to be heading from the Plough towards the Pole Star.
Jupiter and the Moon both looking splendid tonight.
Mike Passant said
Sat Feb 16 4:33 AM, 2013
I had a stab at scanning for asteroid 2012 DA14 tonight at 19.25 but without success. It was supposedly approaching the area of the Plough from the east.
I'm not sure quite what I expected in terms of apparent speed across the sky. I read that in context of an earth collision scenario it would have hit at 12.7 kms per sec. (= 28,500 mph) but expect that its "fly by" velocity (with less gravitational effect) would have been rather slower.
The skies were clear; -did anyone manage a sighting?
Cheers, Mike P.
Keith Mills said
Fri Jan 25 5:47 AM, 2013
Used my 85mm Diascope tonight from my drive,and got good bright views of Jupiter and 4 of it's moons. The twin traverse banding also very clear and running from 11 to 5 O'clock. My first solo venture with my own scope and quite fascinating.
Keith Mills said
Wed Jan 16 3:25 PM, 2013
After my previous post I returned to the car park to get more views from the ''Bolton Big Telescope'' including some of deep space. I was told that it is a Dobsonian Design with a 400mm diameter Mirror. More at http://www.boltonastro.org.uk/activites/bigboltonscope.php
Keith Mills said
Wed Jan 16 4:04 AM, 2013
Taking the dog for his walk just now,I bumped into a large group of people with astronomical telescopes, down on the Ladybridge Community Centre car park. A chap insisted on holding my dog while I climbed the step ladder to look in the ''Big Telescope'' ( Subsidized by Bolton Council,I was informed.) I got a superb view of Jupiter and 4 of the moons. Apparently this is where Bolton Astronomical Society meet each month. Anyway I'm off back for more of it! All welcome.
Robert Farmer said
Sun Jan 13 6:43 AM, 2013
Some good views tonight with the clear sky.
Handy utility here which shows which moons are visible.
Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto tonight. Just the other 59 to find then!
Andy Bissitt said
Wed Dec 12 5:59 AM, 2012
Don't forget the Geminid meteor shower over the nights of 12th/13th. It's a new moon, so the sky is clear of moonlight (not street lights unfortunately), and up to 100 meteors an hour have been quoted in the press (and they're always right, right?). The point from which they should emanate is apparently right overhead. Hopefully we'll get a cloudless night tomorrow at least.
John Carter said
Wed Dec 12 2:11 AM, 2012
For anyone interested in planet spotting now is a good opportunity for seeing Mercury, the most elusive of the naked eye planets and one which even Isaac Newton reputedly never saw. What you need is an unobstructed south eastern horizon and a clear sky such as we have had for the last couple of days. Look just above the SE horizon at about 7 am and you will easily spot Venus shining brightly. Mercury will be found shining much fainter to the lower left of Venus, perhaps about half way to the horizon. If you leave it until about 7.30 you will still be able to spot it but you might need binoculars. Good apparitions of Mercury are not very common so it's a good idea to catch it while you can in the next few days.
Paul Hurst said
Mon Dec 10 6:37 AM, 2012
Jupiter is up high above my window now, and these past few days I've been busy taking photos of it and its moons with my camera (its got a good zoom). Quite pleased with the results, thought last time I was up at half 1 in the morning pottering about trying all my various settings! Also seen the pleiades nearby giving some good views. I'll be giving it another go with my camera tonight, since thankfully Jupiter is getting up earlier and earlier, meaning I don't need to wait until 1 o'clock to get my camera out!
Paul Richardson said
Sun Dec 9 10:37 PM, 2012
Mike Passant wrote:
He did for astronomy what Attenborough has done for wildlife, and like him became a national institution.
Couldn't agree more, Mike. He helped spark my own lifetime interest in astronomy and space exploration, and when I wrote to him as a lad of 12 saving up for my first telescope, wrote me a personal letter in reply which I guess I still have somewhere! Great man who will be greatly missed. As Brian May said - there's never be another Sir Patrick but we're lucky to have had one!
Mike Passant said
Sun Dec 9 9:41 PM, 2012
Marginally off topic this, but sad news about the death of Sir Patrick Moore this lunchtime aged 89.
As much as anyone he popularised the "sky at night" with his long running program of the same title and inspired me (from age 14) and many others of my generation to gaze skywards and to wonder.
He did for astronomy what Attenborough has done for wildlife, and like him became a national institution. He was also superb company, witty, generous of spirit, and appreciated a good malt whisky!
Martyn Jones said
Thu Nov 29 5:25 AM, 2012
Wahey, the moon's lighting up my back garden as if I had my patio lights on! It's so bright that it makes seeing the stars difficult, but there are still good views of Jupiter clearly showing diagonal banding with at least four moons evident.
It's gonna be a cold night and frosty in the morning so check out that can of de-icer before tomorrow so you can find where you put it!
With the clouds clearing just had good views of the partial lunar eclipse in the south eastern sky.
Wasn't really expecting to see too many meteors last night as it was forecast to be very cloudy whichever direction you were going to look.
However, the moon did look good when viewed through the occasional break in the clouds
This is a great website for all upper atmosphere & some general astronomical events:
http://spaceweather.com
The last full moon of the year, the so called Cold Moon is looking very bright but not seen any meteors so far.
Thanks John, I have just glanced at this website. There is a lot more to it than I realised.
Cheers, John
Les Cowley is a world expert on this stuff. His website documents dozens of types of atmospheric optical effects
I've seen quite a few of them. Using polarised spectacles seems to enhance them, as they cut out the glare
The Moon & even Venus can also produce some of these effects - long exposure photography can pick them out
They're caused by internal reflections within ice crystals - hexagonal prisms, some longer, some flatter, depends on precise weather conditions
Different patterns arise from reflections from 2, 3, 4 faces in various ways
Primary & secondary rainbow (& moonbow) and sundogs (& moondogs) are just the more common examples
Other effects are caused by diffraction - you can often see hints of red & blue in high clouds near the sun (take care)
Check out his website - it's fascinating !
https://www.atoptics.co.uk/halosim.htm
Cheers, John
Mars is very prominent in the South Eastern sky just now, looking bigger and brighter than I have ever seen it, a supporting cast of Saturn due South and Jupiter to the South West makes it quite memorable. Id love to share it with the family but they are all in bed asleep!
Cheers,
Mike P.
There is another chance to watch the International Space Station this evening if the heavy clouds stay away. Passage is due to start at 11.12pm at 10 degrees above WSW, lasts 6 minutes and finishes at 10 degrees above east.
By chance I just had good views of the international space station heading NE shortly after 10.30 for about 4 minutes
.
Yes John quite interesting to watch once I had worked out how to use my binoculars to do the projection onto the card
Cheers John
I got some digiscoped shots from 3am onwards. Rather pleased with the results too (just caught up with this thread)
Hi Sid,
I confess to being another insomniac as well; though I didn't stay up too long.
I checked on things at 2.15 and the full moon was dazzlingly bright in the southern sky, illuminating the interior of the house. The local tawny owls were particularly vocal.
When I got up again at 4.10 it was ominously dark, but for the right reason; - it wasn't cloudy at all, it was because the moon was in full eclipse; and yes, - it was red enough to remind one of Mars. It only struck me as marginally bigger than usual though.
As the moon very slowly passed out of full alignment the interesting bit started; - a thin crescent of light started to form on the left side of the moon and it was then possible to increasingly assess the edge of the Earth's shadow and its curvature, as if projected onto a screen (i.e. the moon being the screen); - a bit like a tennis ball passing a golf ball all in torch light.
Bearing in mind that the Earth's diameter is about 31/2 times that of the moon, Earth must truly have looked stunning for the first moon landers looking back at it.I watched it until 4.53 when the moon was about half obscured and the light was again quite bright.
I heard not a sound from the tawny owls during the eclipse; - they obviously didn't consider it much of a hoot?
-This morning the BBC excelled themselves. I'm quite used to TV announcers mixing up billions with millions, but this morning they surely took the biscuit. They interviewed several enthusiasts who had been up photographing events, then with no one to correct them, the BBC reprter twice explained that the moon appeared bigger because it was "30,000 TIMES nearer to Earth than usual" (instead of 30,000 kms nearer).
Bless their cotton socks.
For any other insomniacs with their optics close by it's worth a look
-- Edited by sid ashton on Monday 28th of September 2015 03:37:22 AM
Great show from the Perseids last night, some extremely bright. Watched well before the maximum peak, and with strong Manchester light pollution to the north, nevertheless saw 8 in 30 minutes. Also 2 satellites passed over.
Cheers, John
hyped eclipse.
Cheers John.
Cheers John
A free app, ISS spotter. is available on istore which shows it's current location and optimum times for viewing at your locality. Some of the stats on the app are pretty mind blowing as well (like it travels at 5 miles per second)
might be some of the smaller Jovian moons. They are just distant stars I'm afraid.
If you download the Stellarium app you should get clear pictures of the moons around Jupiter at any prescibed time.
I found this a big help when I viewed with my Diascope. Conditions were too hazy here recently.
As mentioned on this thread, Bolton Astronomical Socity meet at Ladybridge every month and have a very big(400mm) Telescope. which can look into deep space!
I could definitely see six points of light around the planet tonight through my scope, although one was noticeably fainter than the rest. So were two of these points distant stars then?
Jupiter and it's moons. However, the remaining moons of Jupiter are so small, you'd need a reasonably large astronomical
telescope to get even the faintest image.
I'm afraid, like the rest of us, you're going to have to live with just the four moons.
-- Edited by Tony Darby on Sunday 9th of February 2014 08:33:37 PM
Still, dead chuffed to have seen my first comet!
I had heard about this and following advice on various websites ventured out just after sunset to try to see Comet Pan-STARRS, but clouds scuppered my attempt. Hope to keep trying as it is supposed to be one of the best comet views we could get according to the BBC site at :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21717450
-- Edited by Doc Brewster on Tuesday 12th of March 2013 10:36:58 PM
I looked for it later on, when it was supposed to be heading from the Plough towards the Pole Star.
Jupiter and the Moon both looking splendid tonight.
I had a stab at scanning for asteroid 2012 DA14 tonight at 19.25 but without success. It was supposedly approaching the area of the Plough from the east.
I'm not sure quite what I expected in terms of apparent speed across the sky. I read that in context of an earth collision scenario it would have hit at 12.7 kms per sec. (= 28,500 mph) but expect that its "fly by" velocity (with less gravitational effect) would have been rather slower.
The skies were clear; -did anyone manage a sighting?
Cheers,
Mike P.
and 4 of it's moons. The twin traverse banding also very clear and running from 11 to 5 O'clock.
My first solo venture with my own scope and quite fascinating.
I was told that it is a Dobsonian Design with a 400mm diameter Mirror.
More at http://www.boltonastro.org.uk/activites/bigboltonscope.php
down on the Ladybridge Community Centre car park.
A chap insisted on holding my dog while I climbed the step ladder to look in the ''Big Telescope''
( Subsidized by Bolton Council,I was informed.)
I got a superb view of Jupiter and 4 of the moons.
Apparently this is where Bolton Astronomical Society meet each month.
Anyway I'm off back for more of it! All welcome.
Handy utility here which shows which moons are visible.
Jupiter moons
Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto tonight. Just the other 59 to find then!
Couldn't agree more, Mike. He helped spark my own lifetime interest in astronomy and space exploration, and when I wrote to him as a lad of 12 saving up for my first telescope, wrote me a personal letter in reply which I guess I still have somewhere! Great man who will be greatly missed. As Brian May said - there's never be another Sir Patrick but we're lucky to have had one!
Marginally off topic this, but sad news about the death of Sir Patrick Moore this lunchtime aged 89.
As much as anyone he popularised the "sky at night" with his long running program of the same title and inspired me (from age 14) and many others of my generation to gaze skywards and to wonder.
He did for astronomy what Attenborough has done for wildlife, and like him became a national institution.
He was also superb company, witty, generous of spirit, and appreciated a good malt whisky!
It's gonna be a cold night and frosty in the morning so check out that can of de-icer before tomorrow so you can find where you put it!