M39 in the Constellation Cygnus

The open star cluster M39 as photographed from our backyard last summer

As the Milky Way runs through Cygnus the Swan, M39 is seen against a background of stars.
The 50 or so stars that make up M39 probably condensed from a common molecular cloud some 270 million years ago.  The loose open cluster is approximately 7 light years across and can be seen, with individual stars resolved, through 7x50 mm. binoculars.

All the stars in M39 have been determined main sequence stars on the Hertzsprung- Russell diagram, with the brighter members being on the threshold of becoming red giant stars.

The whole cluster has a proper motion of 0.024 seconds per year and is moving towards us at 28km/sec.



Hertzsprung- Russel Diagram (Credit Wikipedia)

M71 in Sagitta

M71 is a globular cluster, a ball of ancient stars, associated with the rather dim constellation of  Sagitta the Arrow.  M71 is located on the edge of our galaxy, the Milky Way, some 1300 light years from our planet Earth.  I took the photograph of M71 a few weeks ago, from our backyard  using  a DSLR and my Meade refracting telescope.

Until the 1970s, M71 was considered a loose open star cluster, since then it has been classified as a globular star cluster.  M71 is 27 light years across and is comprised from very old stars which have been shining for almost 10 billion years.  As the Universe only came into existence 13.4 billion years ago, these stars represent  some of the Milky Way's stellar senior citizens and as such are almost devoid of elements other than Hydrogen and Helium.  These early generation stars are said by astro-physicists to be 'metal-deficient'.

 Approximately 150 globular clusters have been identified as satellites to our galaxy. The larger globular star clusters, like M13 in the constellation Hercules, can be viewed with the naked eye and appear as small misty balls in binoculars.  On the next moonless clear night, why not go outside hunting and see if you can spot a globular star cluster?

Credit  for Starmap Wikipedia

Misplaced Architecture No6



The Golden-Date Bridge

Albireo

My photo of Albireo

The double star Albireo (the beak of the Swan Constellation - Cygnus) is one of the most beautiful double stars in the summer sky. When Cygnus is above the horizon, I rarely complete an evening's observation through my scope or binoculars without finding and viewing Albireo.

I believe that the jury is still out as to whether these two stars orbit each other or are instead just a line of sight double. If they do  revolve around a central point of gravity, they do so in a very slow celestial waltz which, in orbital terms,would take at least 100,000 years to complete.

The larger star Albireo A is itself a binary star, but its companion is so close,  that my telescope is unable to resolve them as a pair. The obvious colour difference between Albireo A (amber-red) and Albireo B (blue-green) is indicative of the temperature difference between the two stars, Albireo A being cooler and  Albireo B much hotter.

Albireo is approximately 380 light years from Earth.

Location map thanks to Wikipedia

Neil Armstrong 1930-2012



Neil Armstrong Astronaut and intrepid Explorer

 

 

This morning the BBC announced the sad news that, after heart surgery, Neil Armstrong had died.

 I remember, as a 19 year old , staying up in the early hours of the morning, to watch the black and white TV broadcast of Neil descending the ladder on the side of 'Eagle', the Lunar  Entry Module.  In 1969, I had just become an undergraduate at Manchester University and shared with Neil a desire to push boundaries and explore an expanding and changing Universe.  Now, as an old man, it gives me great pleasure that my oldest grandson, who has grown up in 'electronic times' where computer generated images display the unreal acheivements of 'virtual heroes',  recognises and has a poster of Neil Armstrong, 'The First Man to walk on the Moon'.

'That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.' Neil Armstrong  July 20th 1969.

The Apollo Missions were inspirational to my generation and have provided a technological and electronic legacy that is probably without parallel in modern times.

Great exploits of exploration require; brave men and women, dedicated and innovative teams of  scientists and engineers, responsible and focussed planners and managers, politicians that dare to accept enormous challenges and set inspirational goals, and the unwavering support of the public "To boldly go where no one has been before". StarTrek The Next Generation

"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too. " John Fitzgerald Kennedy

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/people/features/armstrong_obit.html

Red Admiral

Red Admiral Butterflies in our Garden

Just before a sudden thunderstorm, the Buddleia in our garden were full of butterflies and bees.

Nature is just astounding in its variety and intrinsic beauty!

For more information about British Butterflies see http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/species.php?species=atalanta

The International Space Station

Standing in my Backyard watching the ISS pass overhead
(Thanks to NASA for the base photo from the ISS)

 As an avid stargazer, I'm used to watching satellites and pieces of space junk move slowly across the night sky.  I was however, taken aback in July, when I saw the International Space Station pass slowly overhead. It was so bright! Brighter than Venus and moving quite slowly.  It took me a moment to realise what it was and that I wasn't in any imminent danger of being abducted by little green men, intelligent insects or multi-limbed cephlapods wanting to carry out  invasive medical experiments upon my ageing ape-like body.

If you haven't seen the ISS from your back yard, it is well worth the effort of finding out when it can be seen from your town or city. For more information go to http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/index.html

Bradbury

The view from Bradbury (NASA Curiosity image)

I was delighted NASA chose to name the landing site for Curiosity, in the Gale Crater, after the late and great  American writer Ray Bradbury (1920-2012).

When I saw this photo, from the surface of Mars I was reminded of his collection of connected stories in "The Martian Chronicles' 1950. (Published in the UK in 1951 under the title 'The Silver Locusts')

Whether or not there was ever life on Mars, when you look at the desolate grandeur of these wind eroded cliffs, you can envisage, with the borrowed  imagination of Mr Bradbury, the souls of long departed Martians watching the descent of NASA's 'Silver Locust' from the sky.

For more about Ray Bradbury see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Bradbury
                                                     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martian_Chronicles

The Perseid meteor shower

One small meteor in a cloudy sky
as photographed from my backyard 

Last night, I spent two hours in the early hours of the morning looking for shooting stars. 

I managed to spot about ten and photograph just one.

It was a very poor night for astro-photography, with lots of wispy high level cloud.  I also had to contend with high humidity and the lens on my Canon DSLR kept fogging up.

Anyway, I did manage to get this grainy image in which you can see a Perseid meteor top centre right.

The Perseids are a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle. The Perseids are so-called because the point from which they appear to come, called the radiant, lies in the constellation Perseus. The name derives in part from the word Perseides (Περσείδες), a term found in Greek mythology referring to the sons of Perseus.

The stream of debris is called the Perseid cloud and stretches along the orbit of the comet Swift-Tuttle. The cloud consists of particles ejected by the comet as it travels on its 130-year orbit. Most of the dust in the cloud today is around a thousand years old. However, there is also a relatively young filament of dust in the stream that was pulled off the comet in 1862. (Wikipedia)



Enlargement of my photo showing a Perseid
meteor flashing past the constellation of Cassiopeia

Misplaced Architecture No5



A Night at the Opera, Cosi fan Tutti Fruiti

Cool architecture 'Down Under' with  an added 'Flake'.

Mount Sharp

Latest image from Curiosity in Gale Crater, Mars

Had to share this wonderful high definition photograph of Mount Sharp in the Gale Crater on Mars. Curiosity's shadow can be seen stretching out towards Mount Sharp. You can clearly see the stratification of the cliff face at the foot of Mount Sharp.  Curiosity will make its way toward these cliffs to investigate the geology with its on-board instrumentation and laboratory.  All Americans that read this post should be proud of NASA and its exceptional engineering teams.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=150029801

Anthony Ogogo

Anthony Ogogo fighting Stefan Hartel, winning
all three rounds on points and securing
at least a bronze medal.

Suffolk Middleweight ,Anthony Ogogo, has done himself, his family and the people of Lowestoft, proud by reaching the Semi-finals of 2012 Olympics.

He is guaranteed at least a Bronze medal and when he next fights on Friday the 10th of August, all of us in Lowestoft will be cheering him on!

Whether Anthony Ogogo wins Gold, Silver or Bronze, he will be respected in his home town, for his skill, dedication and courage.

"Go, Go, Ogogo"!

Misplaced Architecture No4

The Pyramids at Giza

Comprised of millions of numalitic limestone blocks, honey, Swiss milk chocolate and finely ground almond nuts.

Curiosity

An artist's rendition of the planetary rover 'Curiosity' being lowered
to the surface of Mars in the Gale Crater by the 'sky crane' (NASA)

In the early hours of the morning, the NASA exploratory vehicle, Curiosity, landed successfully on the surface of Mars.

Curiosity is by far the largest of the spacecraft landed on another planet and required enormous engineering challenges to be overcome.

Congratulations to the team of NASA engineers and scientists that have succeeded in this tremendous technological achievement.

Absolutely thrilled that this extremely complicated landing manoeuvre has been completed and that Curiosity is sending back data from Mars.

Ellipse showing approximate location of Curiosity in the Gale Crater (Nasa and Wikipedia)

Hopefully, all rover onboard systems are functioning and we can look forward to great science from this billion dollar investment in solar system exploration.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?collection_id=14661&media_id=149974611

First image returned from Curiosity on the surface of Mars (NASA)

Blue Penguin Chowder

Blue Penguin Chowder, ready to go!

Toot has made her Blue Penguin Chowder for our supper tonight. I hasten to add that no penguins died in the making of this soup!

Toot and I first ate a fish based chowder many years ago, in a restaurant on South Island, New Zealand.  It had been a 'freezing' day with some snow falling and we had become very cold after making an extended visit to the Blue Penguin Colony at Oamaru.

We very much liked the penguins and the chowder, so when we returned home to England, Toot set about developing her own version of a fish chowder.

"Love that chowder its real fishy"

Ingredients:
	Soup	4 diced carrots
		12 to 16 small new potatoes diced into 12mm. cubes
		1 strip of celery chopped ( do not use too much as will overwhelm the dish)
		1 cubed pre-roasted sweet potato (and/or  a similar sized piece of squash)
		1 small tin of sweetcorn
		1 cup of frozen peas
		1 clove of garlic
		I steak of meaty white fish (halibut or cod)
		2 cups of mixed shellfish,(crayfish, prawns and or squid)
		1 handful of chopped fresh English parsley
		150 millilitres of single cream
	Paste	1 slice of white bread with crust removed and crumbed
		1 handful of torn fresh basil
		4 tbs of olive oil
		1/4 tsp of chilli powder
		2 tbs of tomato puree
		3 tsp of sugar
		Salt and pepper to taste
	Warning	Pappa and Toot had similar soup for the first time after visiting the penguin
		colony on New Zealand's South Island. This dish does not contain penguin

Method:
	Making the thickening paste ('Rouille')
1	Place the bread crumbs in a bowl and add the olive oil, tomato paste and sugar.
2	Crush or chop the garlic finely and add to the bowl.
3	Add the chilli powder.
4	With a spoon mix the ingredients until a smooth paste is formed.
5	Add the torn basil and mix into the paste.
	Put aside for later use as a thickening agent for the soup.
	Making the soup
1	Take a heavy pan or wok. Cook the carrots and celery for 4 to 5 minutes, with just
	enough water to cover them.
2	Put the fish steak on top of the cooked celery and carrots and cook the fish turning once.
	The fish takes about 5 minutes and turns milky white when done. Remove fish from the
	pan and keep on a separate plate for use later.
3	Add the diced potatoes and the cubed pre-roasted sweet potato and/or squash.
	Cook until the potatoes are just tender (usually about 5 to 7 minutes)
4	Add the peas and the sweetcorn to the pan
5	Gently stir in the Rouille
6	Flake the fish steak and add to the pan with the shelfish and parsley
	Heat the shellfish over a low heat until warmed through
7	Gently stir in the cream being careful not to boil
	The trick to this dish is not to have too much liquid!
	Spoon off any liquid that fills more than half the pan.
	Serve in dishes with crusty bread or Toot's Bruscetta.
	A Sauvignon Blanc goes well with this dish
	...........Or for a really slutty sixties feel open a bottle of Blue Nun

 "Tonight I are be mostly drinking Isla Negra Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon Rose"