Graeme Skinner » Astronomy

From the Moon to the Hills

Graeme — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:40:17 +0000

Returning home from work I paused for a moment after getting out of the car to take a quick photograph of the Moon hiding in cloud…

A few hours later the cloud pretty much cleared and I snapped a bit of snow on the Pennines.

Appleby at night

Graeme — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 15:48:19 +0000

A quick photograph of my office taken during a gap in traffic

Moonlit Morning

Graeme — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 11:00:21 +0000

Went out for a few photographs before the Sun popped up today, quite enjoyed the long exposures with the clouds moving, would have been nice to have had a clearer view of the hills as well though.

Not sure what caused those two lights in front of the cloud on this last photo, didn’t notice anything when I took them, but then I wasn’t looking up there

M45

Graeme — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 10:06:07 +0000

Thought I’d try a zoomable version of this astrophoto

It’s full of stars…

Graeme — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 10:21:24 +0000

I went out early this morning to look at the stars as they wheeled above Ullswater. It was rather chilly but well worth it in the end.

First of all I looked at Orion jumping over the fells -

Then I looked at the Pleiades and then the Pleiades & Jupiter -

Finally I turned the camera towards Cassiopeia, Perseus and Andromeda -

Here’s a full size segment from this photograph of Andromeda -

It’s hard to imagine that the little fuzzy blur actually contains around one trillion stars, not that I counted them myself you understand.

Leaves, Stars, Planets and a Bird

Graeme — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 09:19:30 +0000

Yesterday the weather was up and down, one minute there was rain and high winds, the next there was nice patches of light hitting the trees and fields. Unfortunately all every time the light looked nice I was doing something else or by the time I got out with the camera it had turned to rain again. So, feeling the need to photograph something I opted for some leaves -

This morning, before the Sun had decided whether she was going to put in an appearance or not I was out in the lane watching the clouds flit by and stars appear and vanish. Rather than just stand and watch I decided to grab a couple of photographs, the first is of Jupiter above the trees (it’s the brighter dot lower left).

And then I turned the camera towards the Plough.

After this I went for a bit of a wander and as I returned to the house decided to watch the Sunrise, as the sky brightened I spotted a bird having a morning flight and managed a quick photograph.

Another first

Graeme — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 16:04:28 +0000

Well, another first of the season anyway. Last night (or rather early early this morning) I decided to take a couple of night sky photographs, I was at work so I could not move far (well I could stand at the bottom of the steps at work and still hear the phone ring so that was my range ). Anyway, here’s a couple of night sky shots from Kirkby Stephen signal box, and finally one of the night sky over Kirkby Stephen station.

Beverley

Graeme — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 08:55:30 +0000

We decided to leave the car behind this time and wandered into Beverley, along the way we stormed the dark tower….

Okay, we didn’t storm it, and it may not have been a dark tower, but the mind works in strange ways at times Anyway, after the dark tower and a wander around Beverley we visited the Minster.

Amazing aurora timelapse

Graeme — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 08:22:46 +0000

Don’t you just wish every now and then you could magic yourself to a different place for a while When I watched this video this morning I almost was somewhere else for a while. It’s certainly worth watching full screen. Amazing work by Terje Sorgjerd it must be said.

The Aurora from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

Change of plan

Graeme — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 07:10:42 +0000

When I returned home this morning I thought I’d play with the camera taking photographs of the misty valley and the Moon above; as the morning wore on my plans changed slightly

At this point I thought it would be a good idea to go for a wander with the dog and the camera along the lane -

As I took this photograph I thought, wouldn’t it be good to take the Sun poking its head above the hills through the telescope rather than with the usual lenses, unfortunately I was not too close to the house and telescope at this point and the Sun was threatening to appear at any moment. So, a quick dash back to the house, set the telescope up and I’d just beat the Sun

I quite liked the last one as there are a few small sunspots on view, next time I’ll plan in advance and get the scope set up and focused properly.

Now for the obligatory warning – If you own a telescope* or have access to one please don’t just look straight at the Sun through it as you’ll go blind, which may put a crimp in your day really.

*this really applies to all optical devices such as binoculars, camera lenses….