AstroJohn

A seven-planet parade visible this weekend? Here's what the planets are really doing on 28 February

Well. Cloudy again! Still there’s lots to talk about, particularly the parade of planets! www.skyatnightmagazine.com/news/seven-p...

Our next meeting will be this Thursday 27th February at the Golden The Golden Lion Inn Llangynhafal. No specific topic. Just an opportunity to chat about what's up in the sky at the moment. Jupiter and Mars are still high and currently in the vicinity of Gemini, Taurus, Orion and The Pleiades.

If you have clear skies in the UK (I’m at 53°N) keep an eye out for the aurora!

Lastly the NASA Control Room.

More Houston photos.

NASA in Houston (the Houston Space Centre) looks amazing! I'd love to go one day.

Two more from Arizona.

Society member Phil has been in the USA visiting some great sites related to space science including Meteor Crater and the Lowell Observatory in Arizona and NASA in Houston, Texas. First 4 pictures.

Image of a star field with a planetary nebula (appearing like a bubble) in the centre surrounded by red nebulosity.

Gareth has also taken a nebula. NGC 7635, also known as the Bubble Nebula is an H II region emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia. The "bubble" is created by the stellar wind from a massive hot, young central star, SAO 20575.

Image of a faint blue object - a planetary nebula on a starry background.

A great images from Len. PK104-29.1 also known as Jones 1 Planetary Nebula 2,500 LY's away and extremely faint at Mag15.

Ic 342 the Hidden Galaxy 7m LY,s from earth behind a quite dense dust field...hence "Hidden" Image is of a face-on spiral galaxy in a rich star field. Credit Len Jones

A close up of the Horsehead Nebula. Just 2hrs exposure time, during a very bright moon but using a filter (l-enhance) which isolates some of the wavelengths associated with this type of nebula. Image is of a dark gas cloud resembling a horses head against an orange background. This is a dense dust cloud known as Lynds 1630, along the edge of the much larger, active star-forming H II region called IC 434.

Len and Gareth have been been pointing their equipment at the stars and deep sky and taken a couple of great pictures. Len’s is of IC 342, the Hidden Galaxy and Gareth has got a great close-up of the Horsehead Nebula in Orion!

Listening to Steven Wilson for the last couple of nights - Insurgentes, his first solo album, The Harmony Codex and then tonight, 4 1/2.

The next meeting of the Society will be on 30th January from 19:30 at The Golden Lion Inn, Llangynhafal LL16 4LN. If we have clear skies we will take the opportunity to do a little star gazing. Lots up in the heavens to look at - Jupiter and Mars in particular!

The moon and Venus through cloud.

Red Aurora above and behind cloud with house roof, windows and a tree top in the foreground

Pink and green Aurora behind cloud in a late twilight sky over housing

Also a couple of Aurora shots taken with the phone (iPhone 15 Pro

Red Aurora in a dark, starry sky with some cloud. Nikon D5600 camera. ISO1250, 27mm f4 (18-300mm Nikkor lens) and 2.5 second. Hand held as I didn’t have time to set up the tripod. Unprocessed.

Red Aurora in a dark, starry sky with some cloud. Nikon D5600 camera. ISO1250, 27mm f4 (18-300mm Nikkor lens) and 2.5 second. Hand held as I didn’t have time to set up the tripod. Unprocessed.

Red Aurora in a dark, starry sky with some cloud. Nikon D5600 camera. ISO1250, 27mm f4 (18-300mm Nikkor lens) and 2.5 second. Hand held as I didn’t have time to set up the tripod. Unprocessed.

Red Aurora in a dark, starry sky with some cloud. Nikon D5600 camera. ISO1250, 27mm f4 (18-300mm Nikkor lens) and 2.5 second. Hand held as I didn’t have time to set up the tripod. Unprocessed.

What a great New Year’s Day. Aurora seen in a somewhat light-polluted Denbigh (53°N) at around 17:30.

YouTube video by John of Denbigh 2024 Its The End Of The World

Once again we are celebrating the 12th anniversary of The End Of The World at the Golden Lion, Llangynhafal. This is what it's all about! youtu.be/ynL5R_9-RFY?...

Indian starter selection £6 (vegetarian)
Beef madras £18
Goan vegetable curry £18 (vegetarian)
Chicken goan curry £18
Selection of poppadoms, rice etc incl
Choice of puddings £7

We will need to know if you want to come and what you would like to eat by 26th December. Thanks

Hi everyone. This year’s ‘Anniversary of the End Of The World’ party (Society Christmas meal!) will be on Monday, December 30th at the Golden Lion, Llangynhafal.

We have decided on an Indian menu this year and the choice is below, in comments.

Another stunning image from Len Jones who is on Anglesey with amazing dark skies! This is IC426 a very small and faint Planetary Nebula in Orion, it's common name is the Tadpole Nebula.

Well. We’ve been beaten by the clouds! Indoors instead talking about telescopes and the basics of observing.

Nor had I Fraser. The way it has been processed meant that an Orangutan face sprang out at me...

Len Jones, one of our astrophotography experts has taken this stunning shot of the Fossil Footprint nebula (NGC 1491), an emission nebula in Perseus, from a very dark Anglesey!

Hats Off to NASA’s Webb: Sombrero Galaxy Dazzles in New Image - NASA Science In a new image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, a galaxy named for its resemblance to a broad-brimmed Mexican hat appears more like an archery target. In Webb’s mid-infrared view of the Sombrer...

This is an interesting article and the Webb image is stunning! It’s interesting to see the comparison between the mid-infrared (MIRI on Webb) and visible light (Hubble) images. science.nasa.gov/missions/web...

Pretty clear and quite dark here tonight in Denbigh! Jupiter sitting on the horns of Taurus, the Bull - absolutely stunning! I took some photos with the phone hand-held. Not great quality but still gives an idea of how it looked.

Thanks Gareth for the heads up! Looking at the weather forecast for Thursday, we may be in for some clear skies and there is always plenty to see and enjoy at this time of year! Bring your observing gear and warm clothes just in case!🤞🌙✨🪐🔭🌌

The night sky in December December brings the winter solstice towards the end of the month, bringing the shortest day and longest night of the year.  This marks the start of astronomical winter – and provides plenty of hours o...

Hi everyone. Our next meeting is on Thursday 28th November. There will be plenty of discussion about the highlights of the winter skies. Let's just hope that we get clear skies. We've also got Jupiter rising in the East in the evening. Lots to look forward to - space.blog.gov.uk/2022/12/02/t...

Here are two photos I took tonight with my phone. Not fantastic but not bad for hand held overhead. Both Milky Way shots.

Good meeting tonight. Discussions about dark skies, noctilucent clouds, phone camera settings and many other things to numerous to mention. As posted previously our next meeting is on Thursday 28th November at the The Golden Lion Inn Llangynhafal. Observing if the sky is clear. Bring warm clothes!

Two more of the aurora and two lovely shots of Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan–ATLAS