The Local Group

 

Messier 31 imaged using a Canon 400D DSLR with a EOS Telephoto lens at f=215mm mounted on a driven EQ6 Pro mount. 15x30sec lights at ISO 1600, 4xDarks and 1x Flat stacked using DeepSkyStacker and finishd with APS

The Andromeda Galaxy M31 with satellite galaxies M32 (centre left) and M110 (bottom right of centre) images taken with a Canon 600D DSLR on my 127mm Meade Apo-refractor. Images stacked using DeepSkyStacker and finished with APS.

 The local group of galaxies number at least 54 and is part of the Virgo super cluster. The three largest galaxies in the local group are M31, M33 and our galaxy the Milky Way.

The Triangulum Galaxy M33 imaged with a equatorial mounted and driven Canon 400D DSLR with telephoto lens at f=215mm. Images stacked using DeepSkyStacker and finished with APS

The Triangulum Galaxy M33 taken with a Canon 600D DSLR on my 127mm Meade Apo-refractor. Images stacked using DeepSkyStacker and finished with APS.

M33 is approximately 3 million light years distant from our solar system, a little further away than M31.  M33 is thought to be the only unbarred spiral galaxy in the local group.

The Milky Way photographed with a tripod mounted DSLR

 Because we live within the Milky Way spiral galaxy we cannot see its structure as we can M31 and M33. What we do see, when we look up into a dark sky, is a milky band of diffuse starlight which runs from horizon to horizon. This band is created by light from the millions of stars that reside within the thickness of the galactic disc (known as the galactic plane). The dark areas within the Milky Way are not without stars but rather denote places where light from them is obscured by intergalactic dust.

Diagram of the Local Group (Credit: Wikipedia)

More than the sum of the parts

Very pleased that we started and ended the week citizens of a 'United Kingdom'.

We were delighted that the people of Scotland  exercised their constitutional right and voted to stay an integral part of a United Kingdom.  In the end its not about flag waving. Its about valuing and celebrating the cultures and contributions made by all the many peoples that share our islands and agree to work together for a common good.

Steve Dongle's top 100 trees.- No 2 The Giant Redwood

The Giant Redwood (Sequoiadendron giganteum)

 photo taken from 'On the Trail of the Lonesome Pine' by O.Hardy and S. Laurel - Acorn Press 1910.
 (with kind permission of the Ted Trellis Foundation)

Oh gentle giant and brittle wood.  Friend of the longhorn beetle and Douglas Squirrel. Noble king of the forest with species exemplars named after Presidents: Lincoln, Grant and Sherman. How ashamed should we be that mankind once squandered your noble timber upon the manufacture of 'matches'.

"Every one of us in our daily lives affect our fragile ecosystems. Every choice you make, every cake you bake, every journey you take - I'll be watching you!" Steve Dongle; Eco-warrior, environmental activist and compiler of the Waveney Gazette's Top 100 Trees.
 

The Redwoods

Joseph B. Strauss

Here, sown by the Creator's hand.
In serried ranks, the Redwoods stand:
No other clime is honored so,
No other lands their glory know.

The greatest of Earth's living forms,
Tall conquerors that laugh at storms;
Their challenge still unanswered rings,
Through fifty centuries of kings.

The nations that with them were young,
Rich empires, with their forts far-flung,
Lie buried now-their splendor gone:
But these proud monarchs still live on.

So shall they live, when ends our days,
When our crude citadels decay;
For brief the years allotted man,
But infinite perennials' span.

This is their temple, vaulted high,
And here, we pause with reverent eye,
With silent tongue and awestruck soul;
For here we sense life's proper goal:

To be like these, straight, true and fine,
to make our world like theirs, a shrine;
Sink down, Oh, traveler, on your knees,
God stands before you in these trees.

Credits: Wikipedia and Humboldt County California's Redwood Coast

The spice melange

My 'spice melange' recipe is a favourite of mine (Toot is not a fan). In my opinion its a bit like crack cocaine - a tad morish.

For lunch this Sunday, I treated myself to roasted 'hot smoked' salmon, drizzled with stilton cheese mustard and white wine sauce, sitting on a bed of the 'spice melange'. Absolutely delicious!

 The Spice Melange, commonly referred to simply as 'the spice', was a naturally produced awareness spectrum narcotic that formed a fundamental block of commerce and technological development in the known universe for millennia. It also played an important role in travel and cultural development.
Since its discovery several thousand years prior to the ascent of House Atreides it was produced exclusively on the planet Arrakis. This was because the conditions on Arrakis by which melange was created were unique to that planet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_%28novel%29

Ingredients for the 'spice melange':

One peeled shallot or red onion

Two peeled carrots

One medium sized peeled and diced sweet potato

Half a peeled and diced butternut squash

Two sticks of celery

Two field mushrooms

Four pieces of peeled garlic

Dessert spoon of chilli flakes

Two sprigs of fresh rosemary

One sprig of basil 

Half a teaspoon of smoked paprika 

Chunk of butter

Drizzle of olive oil

Black pepper and salt to taste

Method:

Put all  the veggies with the exception of the mushrooms, plus the herbs and spices in a small roasting tin. Drizzle with the olive oil. Cook for 40 minutes in a fan oven at 180 degrees C. From time to time baste the vegetables in the hot olive oil. Add the mushrooms to the roasting tin, put the butter on top of them and return to the oven for a further 15 minutes. Serve hot with roast meats or fish.

Spidey

A spider looked into my window today, so I looked back.

"Will you walk into my parlor?" said a Spider to a Fly," 

It is the prettiest parlor that ever you did spy, 

You've only got to pop your head just inside of the door, 

You'll see so many curious things you never saw before, 

Will you, will you, will you walk in, pretty Fly?…"

Rosetta Stone

Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, 405 million km from Earth. Animated images returned by the ESA Rosetta space craft. Credits: ESA Rosetta

In August 2014 and after a decade long game of chase, the Rosetta spacecraft reached its target - the periodic comet 67/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The above animation, based on images returned from the spacecraft, shows the nucleus of the comet growing larger as the comet and craft approach ever closer.

Rosetta will spend some time achieving a decreasing orbit around the nucleus. During this process of deceleration the on board sensors will work to determine a safe place on which to land  a package of scientific instruments (Philae lander - anticipated deployment 11 November).

The comet, currently somewhere between Jupiter and Mars is rushing towards the inner solar system at a speed of 5500km/hour. Rosetta and Philae hope to stay with the comet as it nears the sun, starts to heat up from its current surface temperature of -70C and grows a tail. Closest approach to the Sun in August 2015.

I am so impressed with the scale of this magnificent scientific and engineering achievement! Well done ESA.
I am very proud to be European.

For more information visit:
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Rosetta_arrives_at_comet_destination