Nick's Astronomy Blog

Comet C/2010 X1 (Elenin)

2011-05-22T19:57:00.002+01:00

Going for my second attempt on Comet C/2010 X1 (Elenin) in T2 and being Joined by Craig Markillie on that Target, I caught this Image out of Slooh T1

Observing Session.......and Observatory Upgrade News

2010-09-19T01:18:00.001+01:00

Just observed Venus to the SW of me with my 20x 80 Zhumell's, then as its International Moonwatch tonight, got a nice view of the waxing gibbous moon , the terminator highlighting Plato nicely, The moon was framed by Cirrocumulus. The Observatory here now has a WS1080 weather station coming so there will be real-time weather here too

Megan Argo on The Event Horizon

2010-05-22T16:31:00.000+01:00

Well last night i got to interview Megan Argo of the Jodcast live on The Event Horzion The topics included her work at Jodrell Bank, Music and how to get started in Radio Astronomy ...... Links from last night

High velocity resolution observations of OH main line masers in the M82 starburst
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1001/1001.4849v1.pdf

MERLIN monitoring of recent core-collapse supernovae
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/astro-ph/pdf/0505/0505487v2.pdf

Discovery of an unusual new radio source in the star-forming galaxy M82: Faint supernova, supermassive
blackhole, or an extra-galactic microquasar?
http://arxiv4.library.cornell.edu/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1003/1003.0994v1.pdf

UKARA
http://www.ukaranet.org.uk/

The European Radio Astronomy Club
http://www.eracnet.org/

Merlin
http://www.e-merlin.ac.uk/

Radio Obs of Hanny's Voorwerp
http://pos.sissa.it/archive/conferences/082/009/EXPReS09_009.pdf

The Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers (SARA)
http://www.radio-astronomy.org/

Imaging Course !

2010-03-27T19:23:00.001Z

Well after enjoying the Black Hole course i've decided after watching the BAA dvds of Developments in Amateur Astronomy Past, Present and Future with Sir Patrick Moore FRS and listening to the Martin Mobbersley talk on imaging it seems Damian Peach has a Imaging course on DVD which covers how to set up your scope and CCD as well as processing and when the best time to image is so watch this space ........

Courses.......

2010-02-25T01:53:00.001Z

Well I'm 3 lectures in to Black Holes Explained , taught by Prof Alex Filippenko, Its fun !

New Horizons

2010-02-17T15:42:00.004Z

Well i know it been a while since i was here but there have been some new things going on one of which has been me joining Marty Kunz and Dr Marleen on AFM Radio shows and doing a Lunar Skylog and of course aquiring a power tank for my Telescope. I also got my Technicians Amateur Radio license, I'm now KC2VWR, I also rejoined the BAA and its Comet and Lunar Sections so fun times ahead ..... I have to admit this is still my favorite astronomical music video from last year...... The Jupiter Impact of 2009, by Kelly Fast: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie_eiv4zzxk

Jovian transit by Ganymede & Europa, Io occulted

2009-08-20T14:38:00.008+01:00

Here are my images from last night via Mt Tiede in the Canarys. Last night saw the Transit of Jupiter By Ganymede & Europa and the occultation of Io, Here is the sequence of Events and images.....

2009. 08.19 19:10:02 You can clearly see Ganymede's disk and its shadow above the GRS

19:55:27 You can see Europa as a white spot on the left edge of the disk

20:13:58 Ganymede & Europe Transiting and Io about to be occulted

21:24:44 Ganymede and Europa in transit, Io occulted

21:45:26
( i know the image got flipped )

21:59:34

22:09:52 I was Tweeting the Images and got this ksastro @NickE070812 Do you mind if we post your pics on AstroTwitter? http://astrotwitter.wordpress.com/ with proper credits of course!( Made sure Slooh gets credited too! since i did use their equipment for these images)

22:31:05

and Europa on the edge of the disk,

All times here are in EDT....

Last night was fun and we are looking forward to many more night like this !

Jupiter Impact 2009

2009-08-10T06:05:00.005+01:00

Well with work i've not had time to finish assembling my scope but a good friend sent me this link ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie_eiv4zzxk a great song about Shoemaker-Levy 9 and Weasleys impact on Jupiter done by NASA's Kelly Fast, You Rock Gal !!!

Its Here !

2009-07-18T22:25:00.002+01:00

Saturday was a blue ribbon day ... my C10-NGT has arrived ! Due to the size of the boxes and lack of sleep I will have to pick up the C5 Mount for it tomorrow but I have the OTA home now !

Good News .......

2009-07-14T19:01:00.002+01:00

Well i have heard from Celestron .... my C10-NGT arrrives Friday.......

Courses....

2009-06-18T00:19:00.003+01:00

Well i'm back on my course schedule , this Oct see's me doing my Amateur Radio Technician class as my course book arrived today as i slept ..... wonders i f i can have W2ASTRO for a callsign ::giggles:::: Come Spring i want to go to Hudson Valley CC and do Intro to astronomy . ( See link below for Astro course details)
https://webfor.hvcc.edu/pls/PROD/bwckschd.p_disp_listcrse?term_in=201010&subj_in=PHYS&crse_in=105&crn_in=13959
Its a 3 credit course that i can use to get in to other places like UTenn etc.
I also got a slightly better Moon map and the 20ft USB cable for my Imager arrived too, just waiting on the scope now !

Moon Watching

2009-06-01T20:50:00.005+01:00

Last night i took the 20x80 Bino's out and tried to image the moon with my digital ( it was a flat bust as too much light was hitting the CCD). So with my daughter we decided to look at the moon which was a nice 1st Quarter which she enjoyed and wanted to know when the scope was arriving !

Saturn in Bino's

2009-04-15T07:20:00.006+01:00

Took my 20x80's out on to the front porch during Tuesday evening and viewed Saturn, then called my Daughter out to see it, she was thrilled ! and commented Daddy will we see it in the new Scope? Smiles another one hooked on astronomy ! Thanks to Phil Harrington for his monthly sunday night show on Slooh for reminding me that Bino's are fun to use for astronomy !(and for the handy collimation tips for my bino's) Thanks Phil! (http://www.philharrington.net/). We have also been watching The Universe season 2 together ..... and my daughters reaction to seeing a goth (Dr Beth Biller) talking about exo-planets was WOW she is like Abby on NCIS cool!!

2009-03-02T23:40:00.004Z

With cold weather i'm glad i have Slooh. The Treats of both Northern and Southern Skies are well worth staying in :) Comet Lulin(above) has been one such highlight of February! Thank you Slooh :)

The Moon & Venus

2009-02-28T23:06:00.001Z

Well attempted to photograph the Moon & Venus with my handheld not bad!