China

Just a holding post this, but we spent two weeks in July in China. A truly fascinating place!

Here's just one shot taken 8 mins after the Total Solar Eclipse...

Much, much too busy!

Which is why I haven't updated this blog since March!

Here's a few samplers of what I've been doing since we lost Venus to the twilight over three months ago!

We visited Selsey on the South Coast of England where quite by accident I stumbled across a Peacock. Being in no hurry I realised that if I waited a while it would surely perform for me, and I was right!



I also caught the ISS shortly after Space Shuttle Discovery undocked - Discovery is the leading, fainter streak...



April brought a variety of snaps. Here's Asteroid #1 - Ceres - showing itself as a 7th magnitude object in Leo...



And an excellent morning conjunction of Venus and the Moon...



At the IAA, Professor Mike Redfern celebrated the IYA in the "Galileo" outfit...



And I thought it would be fun to image a rainbow through a 600mm refractor...



May, of course, is Bluebell time. A trip to Portglenone Forest delivered the goods!





With the new solar panels fitted, the ISS passes are now the brightest ever, and I'm quite certain that this pass on 12th May was brighter than Venus, making the ISS the second brightest object in the night sky...



May was time of great storms too - here's one passing Larne over the North Channel...



And the first beginnings of what is turning out to be a classic NLC season - this first apparition spotted on 29th May...



June started with some amazing Cirrus Cloud formations...





And a very unusual Sundog in a Cirrus Cloud...



But June 2009 will be best remembered for some of the best Noctilucent Cloud displays ever seen...

17th June


18th June


19th June


26th June


Then on the morning of 26th June I caught a local "special" phenomenon - Sunrise from behind Ailsa Craig...



The Movie version is available here...

Sunrise from Behind Ailsa Craig

Venus again this evening!

She's looking so good - note the slight shift in the orientation...

Venus again

Here's Venus on 12th March getting bigger and thinner in the run up to Inferior Conjunction on 27th. Unusually, Venus is passing the Sun so far to the North that it should still be visible as both a morning and evening object both at conjunction and a few days either side! Very much worth keeping an eye out for.

More Venus, Comet Lulin passes M44

Here's Venus getting bigger and thinner...



And here's Comet Lulin passing M44 - now dimming but still putting up a good fight against the moonlight...