Bradford Robotic Telescope.

I've not done much observing lately because I've started a Natural Science course at Open University but I thought I'd share these picture I took using the Bradford Robotic Telescope .

                                                                 M17 The Swan Nebula.

                                                                               M16.

                                                         The Moon (like you didn't know).
These pictures are all copyrighted by Bradford University.
Enjoy ;)

                                                   

M31 Sketch on 18th August 2010.

This is my latest digital sketch. It's of the Andromeda galaxy, M31 and is converted from a sketch I did last night (18/8/2010).
The seeing wasn't perfect because the gibbous Moon was visible at the time.
I used my 130mm Newtonian Reflector at a magnification of X36.
This is the first time I have observed M31 with my telescope and I was pleased with the result.
Also last night I tested a new 4mm eye piece by observing Jupiter.
I was very excited to be able to see most of the bands as at lower magnifications I've not been able to see any detail. I will attempt to sketch Jupiter at a later date.

Perseids observation 12th August 2010

I decided to record what I could of the Perseid meteor shower tonight. I started at 20:47gmt and finished at 22:17gmt. I recorded each time that I saw a meteor to the minute in GMT. I also gave it a brightness score of bright, moderate, or feint and stated if the meteor left a trail. Lastly I recorded the direction it was traveling away from the constellation Perseus. Location LAT=51degrees LON=52' 00"N.

Perseid's on 12th August 2010 20:47gmt to 22:17gmt

Time in GMT	Brightness	Direction
20:47	Bright	West
21:03	Feint	East
21:29	Moderate	West
21:31	x2 Moderate	NE
21:40	Moderate	West
21:41	Moderate	South
21:44	Moderate	SW
21:46	Bright+Trail	West
21:47	Bright	West
21:48	Moderate	North
21:52	Bright+Trail	SW
21:56	Moderate	East
21:58	Bright	North
22:00	Bright+Trail	South
22:02	Bright	SW
22:02	Feint	NE
22:04	Bright+Trail	West
22:04	Moderate	East
22:10	Feint	East
22:17	x2 Feint	NE

At 22:17gmt Cold, tired, needing the loo and having been attacked by a spider, I decided to call it a night.

I've just completed editing this sketch of M81 that I made on the same night as the M82 sketch.
I'm a bit happier with this 1 as I managed to create a subtle glow around some of the stars. I still wish I'd made some written notes to go with this at the time so I could have got the colours right.
Also next time I will wipe down the scanner before I scan the sketch because there are time when I'm not sure if I've drawn a star or if its just a piece of dust.

This is a digital sketch I made of Mizar and Alcor.
I took note of the colour magnitude of the apparently near by stars this time and I think the result is better.

This is a recent sketch I made of M82 which I have made digital using Gimp 2.
I'm afraid I didn't record anything in writing that night so I can't tell you much about the conditions. I hope to impove at scetching as I'm quite new to converting them into digital images and I will remember to make more notes next time.

New web site.

I have just finnished creating my new blog site The Goldylocks Zone .
This acts as a portal to all my astronomy related blogs and feeds online.
On my Blogger page I will post my observations and scetches and even some photographs if I ever get around to buying a DSLR.
For my observations I use a 130mm Newtonian reflecter and equatorial mount or sometimes a 10x50 binocular depending on what I may be observing at the time.
Please subscribe to my feeds and enjoy my blog.