Moving

I'm not physically moving (at least I have no plans to) but this blog is. I have imported the whole lot over to my host in order to keep my website and blog under the 'same roof'. I am using a Wordpress template in any case, so I decided that moving was the easiest option, rather than maintaining two different sites.
Please come and visit! You can find the blog at www.fjastronomy.com.
This one will remain 'live' but not updated, unless some disaster befalls my main site.

And the award for...

... 'Fewest Objects Observed in One Session' goes to me for last night's pathetic effort. The forecast wasn't promising although it was predicted to cloud over around midnight, which would have left me with best part of three hours observing time. Unfortunately things didn't work out as intended. Firstly, for some reason, my collimation was way out, probably as a result of wheeling the scope across a rough part of the lawn, so it took me a few minutes to sort that out and secondly, I wasted ages - again - looking for the planetary nebula NGC 6772 in Aquila which, for some reason, I failed to find.
By the time I'd given up on NGC 6772, clouds were moving in, earlier than the forecasters predicted so there was nothing for it other than to wheel the scope back in and shut up shop. The upshot of all this was that I observed precisely zero objects in one hour, with the sole exception of a glance at Jupiter while aligning my finders. And a creepy-crawly fell on me! I hate creepy-crawlies, especially spiders, of which there are a lot around this autumn. All, with the backdrop of sounds coming down the valley from the 2010 Bestival. A cry of "Rock and f*cking roll!!" was heard at one point! At least, I think that's what he said!

So, why have I failed, on two seperate occasions, to find NGC 6772? It's in the Herschel II list so it's not terribly easy but it shouldn't be that hard either and, as someone who has plenty of experience, I would *expect* to be able to find it! NGC 6772 is not marked on Sky Atlas 2000.0 so I printed off a chart from Megastar 5, complete with Telrad circles, and used that. Despite this, I came up empty-handed. The Night Sky Observer's Guide Vol II has descriptions of this from 8/10" scopes so why was I failing to find the little bugger with a 12" with decent, clean optics under dark skies?
I think the problem is that Aquila is getting low and its altitude isn't favourable by the time its dark enough for observing at this time of the year and, as 6772 has quite a low surface brightness any little bit of murk would wipe it out and the past two observing sessions haven't been the most transparent. I will have to wait until next year when Aquila is higher during darkness, or catch it during the early hours in spring.

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My mum and stepfather moved house from Wootton to Niton last week, so my aunt and me went over to help mum with the last of the packing and the cleaning (steppy had already cleared off!) and it was the end of an era in some ways. We - myself, mum, my sister and stepfather - moved in during November 1984 (I was 14 at the time) and, in the early 1990s, the garden was my first ever observing site where I'd set up my tiny birding scope, my 10x50 binoculars sellotaped(!) to a tripod and, then, my first proper astronomical telescope which was a 6 inch reflector made from a gas pipe, some plywood and a mirror set purchased from David Hinds.
I took my compact camera with me and grabbed a few shots in between packing up and washing floors and walls.

My first ever observing site, looking east. My scope would go where the veg patch is (it was all lawn then)

Looking south (the trees have grown a lot since then)

Many a happy hour was spent in here (the conservatory) planning observing sessions and reading Sky and Telescope, Webb Society journals and astronomy books!

When we drove off, following the removal truck to their new place in Niton, I had mixed feelings. While my teenage years living there weren't the best (an understatement as they absolutely sucked!), it was my first observing site and brought back memories of the excitement of my early years in astronomy. I also lived back there for a few months immediately prior to my 1997 observing trip to Australia and clearly remember the exciting times then when planning that trip. I love the memories of those times and it was nice to revisit them, albeit briefly.

From the notebooks 3 - TSP 2008 galaxies

Some galaxy sketches to brighten up your (and my) day - and mine is in serious need of a brighten up! These were made at the 2008 TSP, while observing with Larry Mitchell's 36".

NGC 5907, Draco
Spectacular, cutting right across the field of view in the 36" at 232x. Prominent dark lane and a bright, elongated nucleus. Very thin, indeed. I am fond of edge on galaxies and this is one of the best.

Hickson 44, Leo.
A nice group of which NGC 3190 is the brightest member. 3190 (below centre) has a prominent dark lane. NGC 3187 (to the left of 3190) is faint and evenly bright. NGC 3185 (top) has a slight brightening towards the centre. NGC 3193 (bottom right) is round with a dense core and a fuzzy halo.
36" at 232x.

NGC 4206 and 4216, Virgo
A lovely view. 4216, the large galaxy at right is very large, very bright and elongated. It also has a very bright compact core.
NGC 4206 is much smaller and fainter and does not have a bright core.
36" at 232x.

M52 and NGC 5195, Arp 85, Canes Venatici
This is one of the best views I've ever had of this pair. You line up the huge dob, go up the ladder and this dinner plate, with the little saucer NGC 5195 next to it, is in the eyepiece.
It was hard to draw, as I was balancing near the very top of the ladder.
The arms are not uniformly circular as they appear in smaller apertures. They are bent, probably due to the influence of  5195 nearby distorting them. There are bright HII regions in the arms.
The bridge of material connecting them is easily seen and quite bright in the 36" at 232x.
5195 is oval, distorted. the side nearest M51 is brighter than the side away from it. Fantastic.




'From the notebooks' does sound a little pretentious (I was going to say 'poncey'!) but it's quite a good title - and this stuff IS from the notebooks! - and posting old sketches is a good way of keeping the blog active while I scratch about for something interesting to post. It's gone dead observing-wise here, due to the most appalling weather (August has been a total wash-out this year, with torrential rain, flooding and gales. I feel sorry for anyone on holiday here, especially if they're camping) and the last few nights the Moon's been in the way. The beginning of the month was okay for observing, with one okayish night, one good night, the Perseid peak, the Milky Way sketching session and that absolutely sensational night we had.
Anyway, some more 'From the notebook' type posts will appear over time, depending on what else I can talk about. It depends on how much observing I get in. I'm hoping the weather will improve during September.

Off topic, but still relevant (which I'll come to in a minute) is my work situation. I'm currently doing a seasonal driving job delivering tourist guides to hotels, attractions, ferries and train stations, etc, which I like very much. It's part time which suits me nicely as I can start what time I like - very handy after late observing sessions and all-night runs! However, with the tourist season winding down soon and just another couple of weeks to go of the main season, my hours will probably get reduced.
I can't find anything else at the moment as the employment situation in the UK as a whole, not just where I live, is appalling. I'm getting interviews but then nothing comes of them, usually it's because there's always some git with more experience than me (although I am sure it comes down to pulling names out of a hat). Even the temping agencies have nothing - indeed the manager of one described the situation to me as 'absolute crap', and when even the agencies use words like 'crap' you know it's bad indeed. The fact that a very real threat of a 'double-dip' recession is hanging over the country (although I do get the feeling the Bank of England and the Treasury are talking us into this, aided and abetted by the media) does not help the situation any.
Despite this, I am still planning to get a 20" dob (I am one of these people who has to have something to aim for - I do NOT believe in just existing, because that's just depressing and pointless), firstly buying that mirror-less scope I've mentioned in previous posts, as I already have most of the money for that. The mirror might take longer to acquire than I previously hoped, though, depending on what happens on the work front.

I am pleased to say the observing shed has held up in the recent bad weather. Some rain got blown in through the vents, as it has been pretty much torrential and blown horizontally for the past few days, but otherwise - touch wood - it seems more or less ok. I did seal up non-vent suspect points with duct tape and also fixed the roof down better, just in case as I don't trust their flimsy method of attaching the roof. I also stuffed an old t-shirt into the vent where the rain was being blown in, I'll remove this when the weather improves. Let's hope it continues to be dry in there. The mirror also looks as if it's remained condensation-free, so the silica gel cat litter seems to be doing the trick.

New Facebook page

**Shameless Plug**

Being bored sat at home with my bad ankle, I decided to start a Facebook page devoted to Astronomical Sketching. If you're a member of Facebook and are interested in sketching - it doesn't matter whether you're interested on the deep sky, moon, sun or planets, all are welcome - then please feel free to join.
Here's the link: Astronomical Sketching or click the 'badge' below.

Astronomical Sketching | Promote your Page too


You can also do a search, via Facebook's search box.

Here we go again

Year after year the debate about changing to permanent British Summer Time (an hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time - incidentally the same as Universal Time) crops up as soon as autumn appears on the horizon. This time the Prime Minister, David Cameron, has joined in wanting the country to adopt BST year round, according to the Torygraph. Not only that, he wants DOUBLE BST which effectively means the clocks going forward by 2 hours in summer and then back 1 hour in winter and doing away completely with Greenwich Mean Time.
It's already hard to practise this hobby here anyway due to our climate and the sheer amount of light pollution - although here on the Isle of Wight, we're more fortunate than a lot of people as we have a higher incidence of clear nights and less light pollution than the adjacent mainland -  and dicking about putting the clocks forward every March just adds insult to injury as summer observing becomes almost impossible, particularly for people having to get up for work in the morning. Putting the clocks forward two hours would mean that any summer observing here would be completely impossible, certainly during the week.

In my opinion, putting the clocks forward in March and leaving them forward until October is a complete waste of time (pun intended) because the evenings are light from May until late August in any case, as are the mornings. When you get to winter, when the time has reverted to GMT, both mornings and evenings are dark. So what's the point of changing? It's pointless and ridiculous and only panders to the general public who seem to think that altering the clocks alters the earth's orbital tilt and rotation!

The excuses for changing the clocks is nothing to do with crops and farmers any more, as was once the case. No the new excuses vary from road accidents during dark evenings to tourism.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents backs a change, saying that it'll prevent road accidents on dark evenings. So what about dark mornings then? There are plenty of RTAs on dark mornings, plus mornings have the added 'bonus' of people being sleepy and not 'with it'.
So that's nonsense for a start and what about the main cause of accidents? It's not the dark that causes accidents, it's moronic and careless driving that causes accidents. Accidents are caused by excessive speed in inappropriate conditions and on badly-maintained roads, they're caused by tailgating, overtaking into oncoming traffic or on corners and the brows of hills, cutting people up and other forms of bad driving. They are not caused by dark and if dark is a factor it's because someone is not driving with due care and attention.
Not only that, I am not a morning person and, long observing session or not, I find it difficult getting out of bed in winter anyway because it's so dark and I am not sociable at all until at least 10am. This change would make that a lot worse.

Environmentalists say we'll use less electricity during the evenings, which conveniently forgets that we'll end up using more electricity in the dark mornings instead. When you have to get up at 0600 to be at work by 0830 and it won't get light until 0900 then you are still going to use a good deal of electricity in the mornings, so I don't see the environmental angle at all.

Another reason is tourism. Who decides to go somewhere based on the time zone anyway? And, considering the country is even more damp and cold in winter than it is in summer (when it's merely often damp and a bit chilly), tourism wouldn't play a part anyway - why come to rainy old Britain in autumn and winter when you could go to the Canary Islands or somewhere else far pleasanter and warmer?

And then there's the completely daft and spurious argument that 'we'll get more daylight'. Er, NO WE WON'T! How many times does it have to be spelled out to some people that we do NOT physically get more daylight?! Some members of the public seem to have difficulty grasping the idea that BST does not mean we get extra daylight, that the hours of day and night remain the same and that all BST does is just move the clocks an hour forward. Daylight just starts and finishes later, there isn't actually more of it.
If people want more daylight, then go to lower latitudes in winter.

I hope that this stupid and halfwitted idea does not become a reality. With a bit of luck the Scots will have a lot to say about it because Cameron has insisted that the entire UK and not just parts of it would have to be included in this hare-brained idea and Scotland is very dark in winter. I know there is a lot of opposition to this in Scotland, where permanent BST would be a big problem for them with no daylight until at least 1000 in winter.
BST in winter would not, admittedly, be a big obstacle for observing as I can usually be observing by 5pm on a clear winter evening during the weekend. If it's a week night, by the time I've got home and the evening meal is done and finished with, it's usually 6.30 by the time I can get outside and still have a long observing session until 11pm or midnight. But that's not the point because I oppose year-round BST on sheer bloody principle! And I especially oppose BST +1 because there is actually no sound reason whatsoever to change the clocks from the present system.

Oh and to add to my good mood, forecasters have predicted that the weather's likely to be rubbish until November. Great. I just hope it's the usual forecasters' trick of making a long-term prediction only for it to be totally wide of the mark, like they have for the past few years. Knowing my luck it will be right for once.

Website

I've just rebuilt my website on Wordpress as I decided to go for a nice modern look and bin the Dreamweaver-built site. I have to start up my Win XP laptop every time I want to do an update, as my old Dreamweaver won't work on Win 7,and it's a drag, expecially as the wireless internet no longer works on the laptop.
I have just pointed the domain name away from the old site and at the new one and as domain changes propogate through the net at the pace of a paralysed snail it'll be a while before the changes take effect. I just hope it works. The previous site will still appear for a while, until the changes, if they work, take effect.

Ok, things seem to have worked as www.fjastronomy.co.uk brings up the new site (it has to have the www in front of the domain or it won't work).

New link: www.fjastronomy.co.uk Let me know what you think!

Fourth of July

Firstly, I would like to wish my American friends a very happy Fourth of July! I hope you all have a great day. :-)

It was clear last night but, as it's only the beginning of July, it still isn't 100% dark, so I didn't take the 12 inch outside (although once the shed's up and the scope installed, that will change as I won't have the effort of lugging it in and out of my room) but I did do a quick binocular session.
My first interesting object - two objects in fact - wasn't a natural celestial body but the International Space Station, at 2300 BST (2200 UT). The ISS flight path takes it over here and you see it about every 90 minutes on a clear night, not much of a big deal these days as it's familiar enough. However, in front of the ISS was a smaller, fainter, satellite on the same course and moving at the same speed. I knew it wasn't the Shuttle, as none are in space at the moment (and soon, sadly, none will be ever again :-( ) so I did wonder what it was, until I remembered an item I'd seen on the BBC News website earlier in the day about the Russian Progress cargo ship which was supposed to dock with the ISS but which had malfunctioned. Progress had overtaken the ISS while the mission controllers were working out how to fix the problem. I asked about it on Facebook and, apparently, it was Progress I saw.

I went back outside later, at midnight, with my 8x42 binoculars and just scanned around once I'd got dark adapted. I just looked for Messier objects and I saw M81, M82, M4, M22, M16, M17, M20, M8, M103, M11, M39, M10, M12 and M24. Ok, I know it's not exactly hard core deep sky observing, but it'll do me for now until observing can properly begin again later in the month.

In Astronomy Now last month it was stated that M7 is not visible from the United Kingdom. That may be true further north but not true on the Isle of Wight. I can't see it from the back garden here because of a low hill with trees on the top of it about quarter of a mile away (last night, I stood on a garden chair to see if I could spot M7 in between the trees on the hill but without success) but, at -34 declination it is certainly visible, if a little murky from being so low down, from the island. I have seen it from the Vectis AS observatory site just down the road and I have seen it from the Military Road. So, yes, it is visible from the UK.

The new 'observatory' is finally under way. At left is the miniscule progress so far. With help - I have a dodgy back and worse knees and my aunt has arthritis! - this should be done this week and the shed assembled.

Two massive boxes

...arrived this afternoon. They contain the 8ft x 6ft shed that will be the new home for my scopes. I got the Argos delivery blokes to dump the boxes on the patio, figuring it would be something of a mickey-take to ask them to take the boxes up to the top of the garden! So, over the weekend (although, that depends on what happens as my sister has invited herself and her kids down for the weekend which will no doubt chuck a spanner into these particular plans. Don't get me wrong, it's always a pleasure to see them but I would have liked to get this done), me and my aunt will have to - somehow - get these huge boxes up the garden so we can put the shed up. In the meantime, I have a slightly larger than 8ft by 6ft hole to dig one evening and blocks to put in.
I just hope this plan is successful...

Stuff

Hopefully the new observatory/shed will arrive on Wednesday afternoon. It means I have to leave work early as I've got to sign for the thing, but as I am doing delivery driving for the summer and can almost work to my own timetable it isn't a problem. I'll be able to dig out a 8 foot by 6 foot hole in the ground and lay the blocks one evening this week and then put the shed up this coming weekend.
I also need to buy some casters for the scope base so I can roll it out onto the grass when I want to observe. I have found some with 4-inch wheels that should do the trick. These are available online and cost about £25 plus postage so I'll send off for them when I have a bit more cash. They will definitely make life easier, as will having the shed, because carrying the scope out of the house every time I want to observe is a pain in the neck, although I put up with it rather than not observe. Something else I need to do is buy a small electric greenhouse heater and attach it to a solar panel, to keep moisture away from the optics.
I'll be posting photos as things progress.

After today, the 28th, the sunsets start to get earlier. In a few weeks the sky will be darker and I can get outside at a more reasonable time. The late hours of darkness, between 0030 and 0300, are as much a pain as the fact it does not get quite properly dark - dark enough for bright objects but not for faint ones.

My old Windows XP laptop, which died not long back, has been resurrected by a friend who is an electrician and a computer repairer. The thing had originally been wrecked by malware but I managed to get rid of it, reformat the drive and restore it, only for the power supply to give out. I bought a Windows 7 desktop and, while it's a good machine, it couldn't run my website creating software and a few other things due to Windows 7's totally crap non-compatability with some older software (another way of screwing money from people, no doubt), meaning I had to go out and buy new, not very good, software which is not as flexible and with an ftp. client which has an irritating habit of uploading the entire site everytime I do an update, instead of just the updated file, despite me selecting the 'upload only modified files' option. Now the XP machine is working again, I am going to rebuild my website.

On an unrelated note, here's a gem I saw on the net following our (England's) dismal, pathetic and gutless exit from the football World Cup after an abject campaign ended in humiliation at the hands of Germany: "The Met Office has issued a weather warning as a shower of shit is heading this way from South Africa". Harsh but fair, I think. Gave me a laugh anyway, which is just as well after yesterday's disappointments! :)

Comet, etc

England v Algeria in the World Cup is on ITV1 and the match is so good, I am typing this. Yes, it is terrible and England are embarrassingly woeful. It's a pity that assistant coach David Beckham can't go on, even in his nicely cut suit he'd play better than this lot. In fact my grandmother would do better than Rooney et al, and she's been dead for nine years.

I did manage to get out and observe Comet C/2009 R1 McNaught the other night, I set my alarm for 0200 and was actually able to get out of bed to do so. I can't usually get up early to go observing, but as this comet is only around for a short while, I made myself get up. I had to walk up the footpath in front of the house to get clear of the trees blocking the view of Perseus (which is why I used my 8x42 binoculars and not a telescope) which the comet is currently passing through. It took me a while to see it as the sky was not that dark (it is June at 50 degrees north, after all), there was a lot of murk in the sky and, hence, a lot of skyglow. The comet was faint and round and I could not see the tail.

My car passed its MOT with no problems today, although yesterday I noticed a judder in the clutch. However this type of electronically-controlled manual gearbox called a 'Sensodrive' is known for clutch judder, so I am hoping it is not a problem. Anyway, the car not needing anything done to it means I can begin saving for the 18" Dob I want to get. I have two months worth of work starting on the 24th, although it won't be anywhere near enough to save up all the nearly £3000 needed, it'll be a start. Providing work keeps coming I should be able to save the money in 6-7 months.
I had been doing a separate blog for the Herschel 400 project, but I have decided to bin it and just put the posts here, after all I am duplicating 99% of the stuff and that's pretty pointless, so I am just going to keep it all on this one.

Home Again

After an uneventful flight (during which I watched Avatar, an excellent film and better than I expected) and bus trip home from Heathrow to Portsmouth, then a ferry ride to the Island, I arrived home on Thursday afternoon. I am pleased to say that my astro-purchases also made it home in one piece. I had been concerned for my new Telrad dew shield, as that's made of brittle plastic but, thanks to a small cake tin and clean underware acting as makeshift bubble wrap, that also made it home intact. It's now been united with my Telrad and it will certainly make life easier on those humid, dewy nights.

I have hundreds of photos to sort out, process and upload and I'll put some here and also on my Flickr page. I can't do much at the moment as I have got a massive infection of my upper arm (again) and it hurts to sit up or do anything for too long but, hopefully, I'll be able to get them done by the start of the new week. I am just grateful this infection didn't happen last week.

I have come home to nice warm weather and clear skies but the moon's now in the way so there'll be no observing, although with this infection I can't do much anyway. Annoying, really, as I'm looking forward to trying out my new purchases such as the dew shield and the twist-lock adapter.

TSP Day 6 - Farewells

I hate the last day of TSP. That Saturday is always a sad occasion, as the party is done for another year - or another two, at least, in my case - and we all have to go our separate ways.
Alvin dropped me back at the Ranch late morning and, after lunch, I packed my bag and then went birding. I did, at last, find Vermilion Flycatchers and I got what I hope are good pictures of one, a lovely bright red and black male bird.

The final meal of the 2010 TSP was steak and, unlike the rest of the meals during the week, it was pretty good, with baked potatoes and corn on the cob. After that there was a talk on meteorites, then observing awards and then the Great Texas Giveaway Part 2 - and I still didn't win a thing. There was a 17mm Televue Ethos up for grabs as the grand prize but, as usual, I didn't win. You'd have thought that, with a lot of people having packed up and gone home the odds would have shortened on winning stuff. Uh uh, no. Oh well, never mind, next time maybe.

Once the meeting was over, we all left the meeting hall, and some people headed home straight away, while those of us staying the night went to the observing fields, which resembled an astronomical Marie Celeste, especially the Middle and Lower Fields with most people having packed their scopes away ready for an early departure next morning.
After farewells to various people and chatting it was time for bed, as the sky had completely clouded over so observing clearly wasn't going to happen. I finished packing and went to bed before a 6am departure back to San Antonio with Robert.

Sunday morning we headed out under the Adios, Vaya Con Dios sign on the ranch gate and, after a six hour drive which I mostly missed as I was asleep(!), arrived back in San Antonio just after lunch.

It had been a good TSP and the weather co-operated - well, co-operated most of the time - and I got some good observing with 18, 36 and 48 inch scopes. Thanks to all those who let me share their scopes: Dennis Beckley, Larry Mitchell and Jimi Lowrey - thanks guys, it is much appreciated. Also, Alvin for the invites and laughs. I got a binocular pin and a coveted Larry Mitchell Advanced Observing Pin and I got a lot of good observations and some good drawings, that I'll post when I get home next week.

It's now Monday and I am going home on Wednesday. That ash is back, though, so things could get a little interesting. I hope not.

TSP Day 4 - Thunderheads and the Skunk Nebula

The evening didn't start out too promising as, during the late afternoon huge thunderheads built up, dominating the eastern and north-eastern sky. At one point, there was one huge and evil-looking cloud that looked unpleasantly like a mushroom cloud, prompting people to make jokes that someone had dropped a nuclear bomb nearby. The effect of late sunlight on the cloud enhanced its hideous appearance and people were pleased when it began to lose its shape. No thunderstorm materialised, although there was some lightning on the horizon.

The skies weren't too great for observing, although useable, and by three a.m. we decided to pack up for the night which was a shame because we were just on halfway through another of Larry's Lists, this time the 2000 list 'Rings Over Texas'. Last night's observing was a mix of the frustrating (clouds right where you want to look, bad seeing, not being able to find things) and the hilarious - a visitation from a skunk who was on the lookout for dropped food items. Unfortunately the little cutie came far too close for comfort and we spent ten minutes keeping an eye out for him and, at one point, abandoned Dennis' 18" and retreated to a safe distance while Mr. Skunk pottered around. He investigated people's tents and my bag (and I was thinking 'please don't spray it, please don't spray it!') before wandering off somewhere into the darkness. We had to use dim red torches and averted vision to keep track of the Skunk Nebula but, luckily, he didn't deploy his chemical warfare on us so the area around us and, more importantly, our possessions remained Eau de Skunk free.

Back to the observing and before being 'skunked' (ha ha) by the clouds and deteriorating sky we managed to observe about 14 of the objects on the list:  NGC 2685, NGC 5122, NGC 2793, AM 1358-221,  MCG-4-33-27, Arp 87, NGC 3681, Minkowski 1-64, 2H24, NGC 4650A, the central star in M57 and Mayall's Object.

I also whipped quickly through the TSP Binocular list and added to my pin collection.

Going to bed at three a.m. at least meant I was able to get up early enough to go birding this morning and I saw some nice species, especially Blue Grosbeaks. I went up to Indian Lodge State Park with Keith Taggart of El Paso, TX and I got some (hopefully good) photos of different species at feeding areas specially set up. Unfortunately Vermilion Flycatchers, a species I'd particularly like to see are still eluding me at present. I am told they're common but to me that seems they're common when I am not about. That's the story of my life when birding!

Epic trek

I arrived in San Antonio, TX, late on Friday night after delays caused by mechanical problems with the Continental Airlines Boeing 767-400 (a fault with the hydraulics on the braking system - very important on landing!) causing us to miss our take off slot from London Heathrow and then a big detour due to the volcanic ash, which meant the flight took 11 hours instead of the usual 8.5 and fighting 100mph headwinds over Canada and the northern US didn't help. Because of this I was four hours late into Houston, and missed my connection to San Antonio.

The detour was interesting as it took us up the centre of the UK and over the coast of northern Scotland (there's still snow in the Highlands), past the Faeroe Islands and north to just over the Arctic Circle. I could see Iceland - the cause of all the ash trouble - to the south and pack ice and icebergs in the Denmark Strait, between Iceland and Greenland. Other jets were in the sky, including one on a parallel course a few miles from us, on our port side, it looked highly impressive speeding along at 500mph with the contrail streaming behind - I expect we looked just as impressive to them.

Excuse the poor quality of the photos, airliner windows are not made of optical quality glass! The crap on the windows is ice crystals; according to the flight path map data, it was -64 outside.

Pack ice in the Denmark Strait

We flew over Greenland, and from the plane there were fantastic views of the coast just north of Angmagssalik; it was clear, displaying incredibly beautiful Arctic scenery with mountains, snow, huge cliffs and, at the coast, icebergs and pack ice. It looked lovely but I would not want to live there, too cold and it doesn't get dark at all in summer although I would love to visit. 

 

Icebergs and pack ice on the Greenland coast

Greenland

We left Greenland behind just south of Godthab (Nuuk) and flew down over Canada (which seemed to take forever), the Great Lakes and into the United States. Our route over the US took us over Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, the top left hand corner of Louisiana and into Texas before landing at George Bush Intercontinental in hot and humid Houston.

I'd missed my connection to San Antonio so, once I'd cleared US Immigration and Customs (the queueing took an hour, the actual process about three minutes) I had to go to Continental Airlines' check in desk, fully expecting to be told there were no more flights to San Antonio that evening and already forming my contingency plan (find a hotel and try to get Continental to pay for it! At least find a hotel) but, fortunately, that proved not to be the case. I got the last remaining seat on the last departure of the evening and made it to San Antonio just after 10 pm.

We're setting off for TSP tomorrow (Monday) and hoping the weather will be good. The forecast has already changed twice from good to bad to indifferent. Let's hope it changes back to good again. At the moment we're in for one totally clear night, four partially clear ones and a cloudy one with thunderstorms. I hope it improves! But, even if the weather's crap, it'll still be a fun event with great people and scenery. And it's a change of scene.

Bugger OFF!

More volcanic ash is heading our way from Iceland. At the moment it is predicted to cover Ireland and Scotland, with warnings of flight restrictions. I just hope it stays away from the rest of the UK, certainly until I am safely out of here on Friday. The winds aren't helping as they are unusually (because our winds usually come from the west but a high pressure system in the Atlantic is bringing in a northerly airflow) coming from the north and north west, although they are predicted to swing to the north east by Friday, which will hopefully help keep the stuff away.

Met Office London VAAC website latest ash prediction as of 1800Z

New website!

I have moved my website from webs.com (who are truly excellent, but a tad limited) to a new host and I have my own domain name fjastronomy.co.uk. The reason I changed was that I was in PC World yesterday, looking for some new web-building software, and the program I bought included free hosting. How good the host is remains to be seen but you can't go wrong if you don't have to pay. If they prove to be unreliable with loads of down time then I will move in due course to another host, but they are supposed to be quite good and, normally, their hosting starts at £33 per year but they have done a deal with the makers of the software.
My new site looks great and I am really pleased with it as the software was incredibly easy to use and comes with an FTP client, which is always better than cumbersomely using a web browser. Click here to see it: FJ Astronomy

Off to TSP on Friday, all being well. I leave home on Thursday and fly to San Antonio via Houston on Friday. I'll spend a couple of days in San Antonio with Robert and Mary Reeves before driving out with Robert on Monday to the Prude Ranch. The couple of days in the city will be spend birding (I am hoping to photograph Cardinals among others) and shopping for those bits I'll inevitably forget to bring from the UK.
Eyjafjallajokull is still erupting, with ash blowing south over the Atlantic. I have my fingers firmly crossed that the winds, which are currently keeping the ash away from the UK continue to remain favourable and I can get away ok. I don't mind being stranded in the States but I'll be pissed off if I can't get there! Funnily enough I'll be going through Heathrow Departures on my way to the States and my sister, who has been to a wedding in the US Virgin Islands, will be coming through Arrivals at the same time.
I have bought myself a sweet little laptop to take with me, for blog updates, which I got in PC World yesterday. My other laptop is a big heavy thing but this is small, with a 10 inch screen and will easily go in my camera bag. It has a 250GB hard drive so I can put my photos on it as well.

Volcanic sunset

Here in the UK, the big news of the day (discounting the, frankly boring, General Election and the various political parties trying to outdo each other with the various packs of lies and promises they have no intention of keeping) is the huge cloud of volcanic ash that has covered the country, and most of Europe, from Eyjafjallajökull volcano in south west Iceland, which is currently erupting. The eruption has grounded all flights into and out of the UK and most of Europe and this is set to continue into the weekend.

However, with the ash covering the UK, it has provided the potential for decent sunsets. This evening's sunset was a little redder and darker than usual.

More practically, I sincerely hope the eruption has died down, or the eruptive material is blowing away from us, in three weeks' time, as I will not be best pleased if my flight to the US is disrupted or cancelled. The trouble is, with nature, you never know

British Summer Time

It's that time of year again, and time for my (and other astronomers') annual moan about the clocks going forward.

If I could go on BBC2's Room 101 BST would be the third item in, after light pollution and clouds. It's stupid, pointless and a waste of time (pun not intended). It's also a thief of observing time, especially in the late spring and summer, when you can't get out to observe until late anyway and it's worse when you have work the next morning.

I don't like taking this blog away from astronomy but Southampton FC are at Wembley in the Johnstone's Paints Trophy Final (the proper title is the Football League Trophy, but it is always known by the sponsor's name). People have accused it of being a 'mickey mouse' cup but that's a load of rubbish. A trophy is a trophy and it's high time we won one, having won nothing since the 1976 Final when Bobby Stokes' goal was enough to beat Manchester United. I was only six at the time and do remember it, especially as my late uncle was a big Saints fan. I couldn't go to the game at Wembley (although I did go to some of the games in the competition) as I am keeping all my disposable income for TSP, but I will be listening to Radio Solent, in a state of extreme nerves, and mentally kicking every ball!
We've had finals since, and lost every blooming one of 'em! So...

COME ON YOU SAINTS!!!

Starting again at 40

I have signed up to do a BSc (Hons) degree with the Open University. The first course I am doing is a basic science course in order to get some practice in as, since doing a Foundation course in Science during 1995/96 and starting then abandoning, through lack of funds, a BSc Geology degree the following academic year (96/97), I have done nothing academic whatsoever.

The reason for this decision to do something academic after so many years? Well, I was 40 back at the end of January and the realisation that, a stint in the Royal Navy until 1992 and the aforementioned foundation degree aside, I have actually done bugger all with my life and achieved nothing. So, instead of being depressed about it, I decided to do something about it and contacted the OU who sent me a prospectus. I phoned them and registered to do the basic science course as a preliminary to doing a more in-depth course, as a first step to getting a degree. I have initially linked it to a Geosciences degree (I can make it more astronomy-oriented by doing courses which have Planetary Science content) but there is scope to change it to an Astronomy and Physics-related degree if I decide my maths is good enough and if I decide that's what I want to do. I have more interest in Astronomy and Physics than I do in Geology but these are very maths-heavy so I might stick with the rocks.

Hopefully, I can get the degree done in five years, or even four if I put some effort in, so I will stand some chance of getting a decent, if short, career before I get to my sixties. However, as I am doing this for interest and a sense of achievement, a career will be a bonus although, to be honest, I really don't want to spend the whole of the next 20-25 (or even more) years temping and working in shit retail jobs!
I have begun a blog about this, rather lamely titled 'Science, me and starting again at 40'.

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On a sadder note, I see on the Texas Star Party website that John Robert Prude, the patriarch of the famous Prude Ranch, the home of the TSP and my favourite place in the world, passed away on Tuesday. Quote from the TSP website:

"TSP and its attendees which to express condolences to the Prude family, for the passing of John Robert Prude on Tuesday February 9, 2010. John died at his home ("the Big House"), where he kindly gave permission for TSP 1982 to be hosted on the ranch. Over the past 27 years, we have enjoyed a lot of astronomy-inspired history because of the Prude's consideration and efforts. Vaya con dios, John! You will be missed!"

New website, clear skies and the TSP

I have finally got round to rebuilding my main website. Actually, I started again from scratch with a new URL. It's on a free host for now, until I can afford to pay for hosting. I have uploaded existing sketches, but these'll be replaced with better ones in due course when I have scanned in ones from recent sessions and also done some more observing. The new site can be found here: FJ Astronomy.
Mentioning observing, the clear sky spreadsheet has gone for a burton as my computer died last weekend, and prat here forgot to back up the spreadsheet, but I have a new computer and can rebuild it. All isn't lost because the files are still accessible and I might be able to print it off and then type it in from scratch. What I can say for certain is that October only had nine clear or partially clear nights, while November has had one clear night and one partially clear night, both of which I couldn't use due to being ill with a staphyloccocal infection in my face after a visit to the dentist. The rest of November has been bloody awful with near continuous rain and gales and the UK under a permanent grey blanket of cloud. Half the UK is also under water.

I have registered for the 2010 Texas Star Party, but I really only have a 50/50 chance of attending at best. I haven't got a permanent job at the moment and the temping has got really hit and miss. I decided to register anyway and keep my fingers crossed for a miracle (and it will take a miracle for me to get something as over 1000 people have/will have lost their jobs here on the Isle of Wight in 2009/2010 - and my qualifications and skills are sorely lacking). I'm not optimistic but here's hoping...