Archie's Lizard Phantasmagoria

The colourful world of Lizards as imagined by Archie Boon. Oxfordshire artist 'extraordinaire'

Probably the furthest thing you can see with your naked eye!

The core of the Andromeda Galaxy M31 and its satellite galaxies M32 ( top left) and M110 (bottom right). Images captured with my 127mm and 66mm refracting telescopes from our backyard and combined using Registar software.

M31 is a spiral galaxy, whilst M32 and M110 are dwarf elliptical galaxies. Two dark dust lanes in M31 are clearly visible.  M31 is far bigger than is shown in this image which only encompasses its brighter core area.

The M31spiral is larger than our home galaxy the Milky Way and is estimated to be 220 thousand light years across. It is thought to comprise 10,000,000,000,000 or a trillion stars.  It is the nearest galaxy to our Earth, at 2.5 million light years, a light year is a measure of distance equivalent to 9,461,000,000,000 km or 5,878,000,000,000 miles, and from a dark site on a moonless night may be seen with the naked eye. It must be said that I have only managed to do this once!

The elliptical galaxy M32 is considered to be a satellite of M31, (although there is some conjecture that it might be three times further away), slightly nearer to us at 2.49 million light years and with a much smaller diameter at some 6.5 thousand light years.

The elliptical galaxy M110 is a satellite of M31 and approximately 2.7 million light years distant. Although this object has a Messier or M number, Charles Messier did not add this to his catalogue. In fact this did not happen until much much later in 1967. Athough this galaxy is described as elliptical it is of a special type designated a dwarf 'Spheroidal Galaxy'.

M31, the Andromeda galaxy, is a very long way away from us but it is heading towards our Milky Way at the heady speed of 68 miles per second.  I hope all the alien life forms living on planets revolving around stars in this galaxy are wearing their seat belts!

Credits: Wikipedia

Tycho Country

Craters Tycho, Longomontanus, Heinsius and Wurzelbauer D imaged from our Backyard in June 2016

Key to Craters in theMoons Southern Highlands

Tycho:

Approximate size 86 x 86 km with a 1500 metre high central peak.
Named after:  Tycho Brahé 16 th century Danish Astronomer.

Tycho information 

Longomontanus:

 Approximate size 146 x 146 km.
 Named after: Christen Sorensen (or
 Longomontanus) 17 th century Danish Astronomer.

 Longomontanus information

 Heinsius:

Approximate size 65 x 65 km.
Named after: Gottfried Heinsius
18 th century German Mathematician and Astronomer.

 Heinsius information

 Wurzelbauer D:

Approximate size 38 x 38 km.
Named after: Johann Philipp von Wurzelbauer
17 th century German Astronomer

 Wurzelbauer information


Credits:  Wikipedia and Virtual Moon Atlas 6.0

A special anniversary treat!

Lobster Linguine main dish

Summer Pudding awaiting the clotted Cornish cream.

Well it was our 43rd. wedding annivesary and Toot wanted to cook us a delicious treaty dinner. Just like Toot, tasty and very special!

Perseid Straggler

23:45 on the 12th of August 2016 I captured this Perseid just prior to the clouds rolling in from the north-west. I only found this after a long search through over 200 images.

I think this is probably the best image I captured from the 2016 Perseid meteor shower. The meteor has a line of sight proximity to the Andromeda Galaxy, you can just see the blurry disc of Andromeda to the left and above the meteor trail. The Milky Way, centred on the constellation Cygnus, can be seen running across the top right hand corner of the image at about 45 degreees to the horizontal. The brightest star in the image, just above the dark dusty rift that runs through the middle of the Milky Way, is the super giant star Deneb (Alpha Cygnus).

For more information about Deneb follow the link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deneb

The small group of stars in the bottom right of the image is the constellation Delphinius - the Dolphin.

My hedge. in the bottom left corner, was illuminated by the moon, which was shining brightly low in the west.

I have decided to turn off my software defined radio telescope, the LVST, on the 25th of August. The LVST has been monitoring the frequency and amplitude of reflected radar signals from meteors falling over the Meditterranean and North Africa. The LVST has been running continuously since the 5th of August. I hope to analyse the signals over the next month and will post my findings soon after.

Credits: Wikipedia

Perseid Meteor 2016

Meteor streaking past the constellation Cygnus the Swan.. Taken from our backyard with an equatorially mounted Canon 600d DSLR with an Eos 18-55 zoom lens at F5 and f=18mm.

Over a couple of clear nights around the Perseid shower maximum, Toot and I observed quite a number of meteors. Unfortunately I always seemed to have my camera pointed in just the wrong direction. However I did manage to capture this quite bright meteor burning up in the atmosphere just below the constellation Cygnus. Lets hope that I'm more successful with my camera next year.

My SDR radio telescope, the LVST, has been much more successful at catching Perseids. Some of the radar pings I have recorded this year have been of large amplitude and duration.  I shall analyse the data and make my results the subject of a future post.

Whoops found another meteor on images I captured late on the 12th of August.

A Perseid passing Andromeda

The Summer Milky Way

The Milky Way from Cassiopeia to Cygnus as seen from our backyard. Canon 600D DSLR and Eos 18-85mm lens at F5 and f=18mm. mounted on a Star Adventurer equatorial mount. 90x30 sec lights stacked to create the image.

A different version with the less bright stars reduced and with the brighter stars emphasised. I think I prefer this version. What do you think?

 After looking at various deep sky delights through my 11x80mm Helios binoculars with Anita, Alice, Andy, Pixie and Archie, I set up my small imaging rig to photograph the magnificent Milky Way above our backyard,

What a beautiful night!  We watched the International Space Station pass over our house twice, and Anita and Alice saw a fireball of a Perseid meteor move quite slowly over our neighbourhood. Unfortunately I did not photograph any meteors but I did capture light flaring off one of the Iridium Satellites.

An Iridium Flare

Timelapse - 7 x30 second exposures - capture a passing satellite and Iridium Flare

For more information on Iridium Satellites follow the link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridium_satellite_constellation

Astronomical Clock on Piazza San Marco Venice

St Mark's Clock is the clock housed in the Clocktower on the Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy, adjoining the Procuratie Vecchie. The first clock housed in the tower was built and installed by Gian Paolo and Gian Carlo Rainieri, father and son, between 1496 and 1499, and was one of a number of large public astronomical clocks erected throughout Europe during the 14th and 15th centuries. The clock has had an eventful horological history, and been the subject of many restorations, some controversial.
After restorations in 1551 by Giuseppe Mazzoleni, and in 1615, by Giovanni Battista Santi, the clock mechanism was almost completely replaced in the 1750s, by Bartolomeo Ferracina. In 1858 the clock was restored by Luigi De Lucia. In 1996, a major restoration was undertaken by Giuseppe Brusa and Alberto Gorla.

The clock displays the original I to XXIIII numbering around the outside, with I at the right hand side. The gilded stars are purely decorative. The signs of the zodiac are in anticlockwise order around the inner zodiac dial: the zodiac wheel rotates clockwise with the hour hand but very slightly faster. As a result, the hour hand moves slowly anticlockwise relative to the zodiac, so that it passes through each sign in the course of the year.

Photographing the clock was an interesting interlude in our recent Italian holiday.

Credits: Text taken from Wikipedia

Venetian Sketches

Santa Maria della Salute and the Grand Canal - July 2016 - George Roberts mixed media

Just got back from a fabulous ten day holiday in Lido di Jesolo. Whilst there, we visited beautiful Venice and I did some sketching. It was very hot but not as busy as at other times when we have been in this wonderful city of canals.

Venice is a fantastic city of colour, light and shadows, an artist's dream subject for sketching and painting. My above effort was put together on my return to the UK, using the following pencil study which I made in Italy last week.

Pencil Study from my sketch book - George Roberts -3 hour study - 4B and 8B graphite sticks on paper

Before attempting the above pencil study, I loosened up with a quick 20 minute sketch of the Rialto Bridge.
Its all about making marks quickly and not necessarily, as it turns out, in the right place!

The Rialto Bridge, Gondola and Gondolier - July 2016 - George Roberts 8B graphite stick on paper.

Thanks Italy and Venice and thanks to all you lovely Italians and Venetians for making our holiday so special.