Back transplant

M57 Ring Nebula in Lyra

Visited the hospital today and have had it confirmed that its my back and not my hip that has caused my present lack of mobility. Am now awaiting a MRI scan before they decide what treatment is best for me. In the meantime I have managed to work out some of the fancy facilities for image processing that are available in the French software IRIS. The above image, which was taken by me last summer, has already featured on my Cabine blog in its enlarged and blurry form. The above image was improved by running a Richardson-Lucy de-convolution algorithm (RL2) and then by adjusting the resultant image in Photoshop. Thought I was dead smart for ten minutes then in a rash moment looked at some of the astro images posted this week on the Stargazers Lounge astronomy forum. In the words of my old friend Paul Chamberlain "Stop fooling yourself Roberts!" or to quote Burgess Meredith "You're a bum Rock".
The Ring Nebula represents the aftermath of a star which having used all its hydrogen in the fusion process that has kept it radiating light for millions of years, has then swollen to become a red giant star (similar to Betelgeuse in Orion as observable now). The star having run out of fuel to sustain pressure against gravity has subsequently collapsed and in the process blown away outer shells of gas and dust just like a smoke ring. The gas glows as it is ionised by radiation from the remnant hot white dwarf star at the centre of the ring. The white dwarf is extremely small, extremely dense and very hot. Eventually the nebula will disappear and the white dwarf will cool and reach equilibrium with interstellar space. The original (progenitor) star would have been very similar in mass and temperature to our sun. This fate therefore awaits our local star "The Sun" but not for a very very long time!

The Trapezium in M42 Orion

This is another image previously published on the blog and now treated to the IRIS and Photoshop treatment. More ionised gas, this time molecular hydrogen being illuminated by the ionising ultra-violet light emanating from the newborn Trapezium stars

Hubble Space Telescope

Pillars of Creation ( Eagle Constellation- Aquila)

The pillars are molecular hydrogen and dust clouds created from past generations of dying stars (nova and supernova).  They provide a stellar nursery where new stars are forming as the gas and dust collapses under the force of gravity.  I saw these clouds through my refracting telescope in the garden last summer when the constellation Altair was relatively high in south.  I created these images from data I downloaded from the Hubble Space Telescope archive.  Thanks to NASA and MAST for the free public access to this wonderful archive of knowledge.

European Southern Observatory

Orion Cluster 

  

Orion Cluster (The Trapezium) as imaged through
 my telescope in the back garden

Quite pleased with myself having found out how to download raw data from the European Southern Observatory. I then used Fits Liberator and Photoshop to create a simple LRGB image of the Orion Nebula. The data is from the Wide Field Imager (WFI) which is  a focal reducer-type camera which is permanently mounted at the Cassegrain focus of the 2.2m MPG/ESO telescope at La Silla.

The Trapezium as seen by one of ESO's large telescopes in Chile

My version from my back garden  -"what it lacks in clarity I more than make up with enthusiasm". You can see four of the Trapezium stars and the  immediate area of the molecular hydrogen cloud illuminated by them.




I created the image below from ESO data selecting a palette of colours that best reflects the muted colour you see through the eyepiece of a telescope.

Jupiter Io and Callisto

Io transits the face of Jupiter, Callisto centre right

Using the camera I fashioned from an old and no longer used webcam, I captured video streams of the planet Jupiter through my Meade 127mm refracting telescope. I then used Registax and Photoshop software  to manipulate and stack the data to create these two images. The night of the 14th.of January was particularly clear and really cold.  I guess I'm becoming a fair weather astronomer!

Wedding in the Park

Reflections on a brilliant wedding

The Cabine saw little action over the Christmas holiday period so it made a nice change to spend the day using Photoshop to produce  a composite image from three of the photographs I took in Central Park and one that Toot took at Mark and Jacki's wedding reception at the Loeb Boat House.

Toronto

I really liked this building, trapped in a web of tram-lines but in architectural terms more than holding its own with the much newer hi-rise that forms the photographic backdrop. Great street theatre!

A Great Christmas and a Happy New Year

"All me ducks in a row" pastel on glass paper

Early in December the Cabine saw action as I worked up this pastel drawing of Toot with Alice, William and Chrissy bathing in the North Sea off Lowestoft Beach. Toot says that her bottom was not as large as this in the nineteen-eighties! The life of an amateur artist is fraught with danger!

"Christmas would not be Christmas without":

"A visit to Derbyshire and a hearty meal at the Hardwick Inn with family"

"A Christmas project assisted by Bimbar"

"Scaling the delights of the 'Everest' with our friends in Sheffield"

"Family fun with children and grandchildren at Will and Rachel's home"

"The annual appearance of the Beijing Spruce"

"A close encounter with Santa Claus"

"Barry the Snowman setting up office in the garden"

God bless us everyone!

Sixty something years, boy, architect and old chuffer

The Pleiades in my Backyard

Had a a great Birthday Weekend! and a wonderful french supper tonight for a treat. Brancaster mussels cooked in white wine with added chopped parsley and home grown onions. Rustic french bread and butter with sea-salt crystals from the Camargue. A selection of soft and hard cheeses. A toffee apple and pecan pie with cream. A bottle of Sancerre Sauvignon Blanc. Coffee and cognac. Delicious!!!! Thanks for a fine day Toot!