Who is 'J'

Mystery Oil painting by 'J'

Toot and I were 'trolling' around the British Heart Foundation  Charity Shop in Lowestoft and came across a lone canvas leaning against a wall.

Uncustomarily, we both liked the painting and decided there and then to buy it.  There was no price on it, so the Manager was sent for to give us a 'spot price'.

Time passed, tension mounted and then got off again.

" How about £4.99 ?" said the Manager.

"Done" said Toot and off we went carrying our new aquisition back to the car.

 A £3.99 frame from the QD value store completed our fine art acquisition and now said oil painting adorns our living room wall.  An original artwork for less than £10!

Now both Toot and I really like the picture but alas its author remains anonymous.  It is simply signed 'J' in the bottom right hand corner.  We think it is a painting of farm buildings near a school and somewhere in Suffolk or Norfolk but otherwise its location is unknown.  We also believe it is early morning light so the painter was looking South across a field with a stream or pond to his or her left.

Can you tell us who is or was 'J' or where this scene is located.  If someone can provide these details and leave them as comments on my blog, we will donate £25 to the British Heart Foundation.   I do like a bit of mystery and provenance with my art!

What Amateur Astronomers do in Daylight

Sunspot 1754 imaged from my backyard in white light using my thirteen year old ETX 90Ra
Credit: White light whole Solar disc image NASA SOHO

The 28th May 2013 was a nice sunny day in Oulton Broad.  So whilst Toot sat in the garden with her crochet hook and wool, I dusted off my old ETX 90Ra catadioptric scope and set about imaging a big sunspot that was moving slowly across the photosphere of the solar disc.

Sunspot 1754 is so big it could more or less swallow the Earth!  Good job its 93 million miles away.

As the Sun is at solar maximum, it is quite surprising that there are so few spots to be seen.  Last night, I was reading an old astronomy book and came across some plates showing the Sun's disc in 1957.  Back then, when I was a boy, it was covered in spots.  So what's up with our Sun now?

No need to panic, the end of the world is not nigh, but clearly something different is going on deep within the Sun.

The Solar Photosphere on the 21st December 1957
approaching solar maximum

Please remember not to stare at the Sun or look at it through binoculars or a telescope as such acts will at best damage your eyesight and at worst cause blindness.  I used specialist filters and equipment to create the above images.

My ETX 90Ra in my Backyard
just after I took the Sunspot images

Bank Holiday Weekend

Images from our walk

Spring arrived in Suffolk just in time for the May Bank Holiday Weekend.

As the Sun was shining, Toot and I decided to go for a walk along Fisher Row and  the River.

The slightly warmer weather had brought out the wildflowers and the water meadows were enlivened with blooms and butterflies.

Whilst we strolled, hand in hand, along the river bank, in the sky above swallows were catching insects.

Sadly and contrary to perchance we did not encounter Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth Bennet or even Gordon Bennet.

When we returned home, Toot  made dinner ; Chicken in Stilton, apple and pecan sauce for her and Smoked Haddock Dauphinoise for me. 'Mmmm stuffed crust'!

The 'Angle of Dangle' in the Outer Solar System

Images of Saturn taken from
our Backyard 12 months apart

As you can see from these superimposed images of Saturn, taken a year apart, the angle of our view has changed quite significantly.

In 2013 our view of the rings is less oblique and as a consequence they appear to have opened up.  In the 2012 image, you can see that sunlight illuminated Saturn obliquely from one side creating a shadow of the main body of the planet on the rings to one side only (to the left on my image).  In April 2013, with the planet at opposition, the Sun  illuminated Saturn 'face-on' and therefore a shadow of the planet's main body can be seen in my image on both sides of the rings.

It is also quite clear that the contrast between the bright 'B' ring and the main body of the planet is much greater in April 2013 than May 2012.  This brightening of the rings occurs at opposition and is known as the 'Seeliger Effect'.

see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_surge

Silver Darlings

Soft herring roe on sourdough toast

For my readers that haven't experienced the delights of herring roes on home baked sourdough toast, get yourself to a fishmongers right now and purchase either fresh or frozen soft herring roes.  We obtained our roes from the 'World of Fish' and Toot made the bread for the toast.


Technically, soft herring roe should be referred to as 'Milts' and is often labelled as such in fishmongers and supermarkets.  'Roe' are the female eggs, which are granular and 'hard' whereas 'Milts' are male sperm and 'soft'.  To my mind and taste, 'Milts' or 'soft herring roe are the best to eat on toast.





Cooking the 'soft roe' could not be easier, wash the roe in running water, pat dry with kitchen towel, roll in seasoned plain (general purpose) flour, heat some butter in a frying pan and shallow fry until they curl up and are just golden. Serve on hot buttered toast with a little chopped parsley and lemon juice (also nice with a sprinkling of Tabasco sauce).


For some unknown reason herrings and herring roes remain remarkably inexpensive.  They taste fantastic and are extremely good for you.


Toot and I live ten miles from Great Yarmouth in Norfolk which, in the early 1900s, was the centre of Great Britain's herring fishing industry.  It was said that in those days, the estuary was so crowded with steam drifters, that you could walk across the River Yare, passing from one boat to another.  Our home town of Lowestoft was home to a similar large fishing fleet.  Lowestoft still boasts a number of smoke-houses where herrings are cured, smoked and transformed into kippers.

The Lydia Eva. Last Steam Drifter on the River Yare at Great Yarmouth

Norfolk Fishermen called the herrings -  'The Silver Darlings' as they were the backbone of the local economy.


The Lydia Eva is the last surviving steam drifter from the days of the herring fleets that worked out of Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft Harbours.  She was recently refurbished in Lowestoft and is now a floating museum.

A kipper
An integral part of the Great British Breakfast.
A split, gutted, brined and cold smoked herring.

Credits: Wikipedia

The European Southern Observatory ESO

The European Southern Observatory
La Silla Observatory, Atacama Desert, Chile
This photograph was taken by José Francisco Salgado, an ESO Photo Ambassador.

The European Southern Observatory is located at an altitude of 2400 metres, far from light pollution and usually above the clouds that often plague my observatory (aka 'my backyard').

Apart from undertaking cutting edge astronomy, ESO makes data files, captured by cameras attached to mighty telescopes, freely available to amateurs who register their interest.

I have downloaded data files from ESO and through the application of a number of freeware software packages have created some detailed images of astronomical showpieces.  The quality of data available from these huge scopes located under pristine skies and captured by state of the art megapixel CCD cameras, comprehensively exceeds what I can achieve with my astro-kit from my 'Suffolk Backyard'.   Not only is the data better, but scopes located at La Silla can capture objects that are only visible in the Southern Hemisphere and therefore unattainable from UK based observatories.

Thank you ESO for this outreach data sharing service!

Part of the Orion Molecular Cloud
my image based on ESO data

The Trapezium star cluster at the heart of the Orion Molecular Cloud
my image based on ESO data

The Trapezium is a relatively young cluster that has formed directly out of the parent nebula.  The five brightest stars are on the order of 15-30 solar masses in size. They are within a diameter of 1.5 light-years of each other and are responsible for much of the illumination of the surrounding nebula. The Trapezium may be a sub-component of the larger Orion Nebula Cluster, a grouping of about 2,000 stars within a diameter of 20 light-years.  There is some thought that an intermediate mass (over 100 times larger than our Sun) black hole lurks within the Trapezium Cluster.

Credits: European Southern Observatory and Wikipedia

Misplaced Architecture No 17

Stone Hinge

"No ifs or butts on Salisbury Plain"

Credits: base image from English Heritage

Lycian rock hewn tombs of Dalyan

My watercolour sketch from 1994

Toot and I last visited Turkey in 1994 and we had quite forgotten how beautiful Lycia and the 'Turquoise Coast' are!

The area is not only beautiful but also home to antiquities that go back as far as the Bronze Age.

Yesterday, Toot had to go into our loft and whilst there, she came across my watercolour sketch of one of the Dalyan tombs which had been cut from the cliff more than 300 years before the birth of Christ.

Much of the ruins in this area are in wonderful condition and quite astoundingly complete considering their great age!

Lycian rock cut tombs of Dalyan, Anatolia

Credits: photo Wikipedia

Tabiart

Papa's Aquarium

Visiting artist, Tabitha Roberts, prepared these two paintings, all her own work, before adopting a more surrealist approach to her art.  Her last' installation' of the morning was named 'Redecorating the breakfast room wall' 

Toot's vase of red tulips

Buiten het atelier van de pottenbakker

Buiten het atelier van de pottenbakker
pastel on glasspaper

Saturday was a busy day in the Cabine.  Whilst Toot went for a thirteen mile training walk, well done Toot, I worked up a pastel sketch of our friends standing outside a pottery in an Amsterdam street.

The sketch is based on a photograph I took one snowy night about a month ago.  I was particularly interested in the contrast between the soft night shadows and the harsh glare created by electric light.

I  like the mystery created by the couple looking beyond the picture frame at a subject only hinted at by the title of the sketch.  This ambiguity is in stark contrast with the simple one point perspective of the composition in which the street, intermittently lit and cloaked by the velvet black of night, disappears within just a few metres of the observer.

Tycho

The Crater Tycho at full moon, exhibits an extensive ray system of impact ejecta,
however when illuminated obliquely the ray system disappears.

The crater was named after the Danish astronomer and alchemist, Tycho Brahe.  He is famous for his application of scientific method in the measurement and cataloguing of stars.  Johannes Kepler was one of his assistants.  He is also famous for losing part his nose in a duel and thereafter wearing a false nose made from silver, gold or brass.  Tycho Brahe died of mercury poisoning in 1601 possibly poisoned by his prosthetic, but nobody really nose for sure!

Credits: Wikipedia for photograph of Tycho Brahe

Lost Art Treasures No 8

Mona and her more enigmatic twin Lisa
by  Leon of Venice (Jack of all trades)

Credits: base image Wikipedia

Mooning amongst the Gas Giants

Saturn's big four

Titan is Saturn's largest moon and is the second largest moon in the Solar System (Jupiter's moon Ganymede is the largest).  It is the only natural satellite known to have a dense atmosphere.  The atmosphere is primarily composed of nitrogen.  Titan has its own weather systems in which methane and ethane clouds feature.  Titan's methane cycle is analogous to Earth's water cycle, albeit operational at much lower temperatures. In 2004, the Cassini probe Huygens, discovered Earth-like surface features including: dunes, rivers, lakes and seas. Titan has an approximate diameter of 5152 kms and orbits Saturn once every 16 days (384 hours).

The Huygens shoreline and specular reflection of infra-red light
off a methane or ethane sea at Titan's Pole

Rhea is Saturn's second largest moon after Titan.  It has a diameter of approximately 1520 kms and orbits Saturn once every 108 hours.  Rhea has a low mean density as it is composed of 75% water ice and only 25%  rock.

Dione has a diameter of approximately 1120 kms and orbits Saturn once every 66 hours.  Much like Rhea, it is predominantly water ice but has a much higher mean density.  The higher density is because Dione has a dense core whereas Rhea probably does not.

Tethys has a diameter of approximately 1060 kms and orbits Saturn once every 45 hours.  It has a very low mean density, lower than Rhea, and is composed of predominantly water ice.  Tethys has a high albedo, it reflects a large proportion of the light incident upon it.

When I capture light from Saturn and its moons it is reflected photons of sunlight that I collect and use to create my photographs.  Such photons have taken a round trip lasting roughly 2 hours.  Light travels at approximately 300 million kilometers per second!

Titan, Rhea, Dione, Tethys and three other Saturnian moons were named by John Herschel, the son of William Herschel co-discoverer of Uranus.  In Greek Mythology the Titans were the descendants of the Earth God, Gaia, and the God of the Sky, Uranus.  The Titans, although enormous and strong (hence the common usage of the word titanic), were eventually overthrown and replaced by the 'Olympian Pantheon' of deities headed by Zeus.

Credits: Wikipedia,NASA/JPL- Caltech for information and base images.

                                                                        

25000

Composite of images taken from
our backyard

This weekend, Cabine du Jardin Deux, celebrated a small milestone in passing twenty-five thousand page views.  I first started writing this blog in February 2011 and hope to continue 'interesting' readers from around our world, for as long as the old 'Cabine' resists the ravages of rain, wind and entropy!

I have posted this new image of M13, The Great Globular Star Cluster in the Constellation Hercules, because spookily it is 25000 light years distant from our home planet Earth.  I captured the data for this image some time ago but more recently have managed to increase dynamic range and thus have shown more of the fainter stars in the halo without over-exposing the brighter stars in the core.  M13 should be visible this month from the UK and given a warm clear night I will endeavour to obtain a better photograph of this northern hemisphere astronomical highlight.

M13 was originally discovered by Edmund Halley in 1714.  It contains roughly three hundred thousand stars gravitationaly bound in a sphere approximately 145 light years in diameter.  M13 is associated with the Milkyway Galaxy but is outside its galactic plane.  When we gaze at M13 we are looking out into deep space!

In 1974 humankind used the Arecibo Radio Telescope to send a digital message to the stars.  The message contained encoded information about Homo Sapiens, DNA, atomic numbers and Earth's location in the Universe.  The radio message was beamed towards M13 but will not arrive there for another 24961 years.  So if any one or 'thing' is able to hear our message, we will not be likely to receive a reply for at least 49,961 years;  well that is unless some very smart alien is able to work out how to move information faster than light.

Credits: NASA HST and Wikipedia

Core of M13
Hubble Space Telescope

Arecibo
Message

A tulip in sunlight

My digital painting was created in  APS
using a number of photographs and techniques.

In East Anglia the weather has improved and most mornings this week, sunlight has streamed in through our windows.  Spring has finally prevailed over winter!

Today I put aside my telescope and the 'Cabine' took on a distinctly artistic theme.

Tulips are the most sculptural and voluptuous of flowers.  This week, Toot placed tulips in a bowl upon our breakfast table.  Each morning, I ate my yoghurt and watched as the tulip flower heads opened a little bit more.

The sunshine falling upon the flowers worked some mysterious alchemy and turned each petal both translucent and iridescent.

I decided to try and capture the seductive beauty of a single flower caught in a beam of light.

Zero G Penguins

How many ways can you stack a penguin ?
No 8 In low earth orbit

Credits: base image NASA