My coursework arrived today for Introducing Astronomy through the OU - very excited! It’s going to be a BIG learning curve and looks like it’s going to take a fair amount of brainpower … but I think I’m going to really enjoy it!
All I need to do know is polish off my Digital Photography coursework (just a final panel of images and accompanying written document to submit) and I’ll be ready to focus completely on Astronomy.
I’m feeling a bit frustrated at the lack of clear skies just now! I’m sure I’m not the only one, but I hadn’t realised quite how frustrating this would be!! The way my back garden is with surrounding houses etc. I can only see the moon probably from about the first quarter to maybe the last quarter if I’m lucky - at other times, it’s either hidden behind trees/houses or is rising too late in the night. The only thing that’s keeping me positive is that it’s getting dark earlier now and the clocks go back next month too, so I should hopefully be able to make something of the moon when it’s in its later phases of rising in the morning and setting in the evening, since it’ll soon be a lot darker in the late afternoon/early evening than it is in the summer.
(I know the moon isn’t the only thing in the sky, but I’m still learning so I need to practice on the moon quite a bit first!!)
I sent off my enrolment forms the other day for two short courses with the Open University: Digital Photography & Introducing Astronomy. The photography course starts next month and the Astronomy course starts in November, so they’ll overlap (both 10 weeks). I’m really excited about it and think the two courses will complement each other nicely!
The skies are partly clear at the moment so I’m crossing my fingers that I might be able to get the telescope out tonight, after so many nights of constant rain!
I mentioned a few days back that I’d been doing an online tutorial which taught me to find Orion amongst other things but when I’d gone outside to find Orion in the actual sky, it was nowhere to be seen. Well, today I’ve been reading a book that my dad has allowed me to borrow called Collins Stars and Planets Guide and one thing it includes is a month-by-month guide to what is visible in the sky for each hemisphere. As it turns out, Orion isn’t currently visible here - which explains nicely why I couldn’t see it! It won’t be visible again until October.
Well, I’ve finally managed to get a glance at the moon through the telescope! It’s not rising very high at the moment, so I had to view it from inside the house through the sitting room window. It was shortly after teatime, so still very light, but I was able to make out craters etc. which was ace! Viewed it through the NexImage on the laptop (an loan from dad!) and it looked fantastic. Only problem is that it’s very windy today and partially cloudy, so it kept disappearing behind clouds. I stupidly decided to wait until it got darker before taking a picture, and now it’s too cloudy and the moon is too low (obscured by trees) to see. A [very frustrating] lesson learned!
Weather forecast for my area:
Today: Rain
Tomorrow: Rain
28th August: Rain
29th August: Rain
30th August: Rain
31st August: Rain
1st September: Rain
2nd September: Rain
On a more positive note, I ordered my Celestron NexImage this morning thanks to a fantastic 30% off August Special Offer on 365Astronomy.com. I’m told it’s being dispatched today - woohoo! Now all I need is a vaguely clear sky…
I’d been doing a fair bit of price research for the three things I have on my “astronomy shopping list”:
And had come across NexImage on a website called Crazy Cameras for the bargain basement price of £71.99 with free delivery. I’d tried to contact them through their Live Chat and wasn’t able to get through, so I decided to do a little web search and check them out. The first thing I came across was this thread and I’m SO glad I saw it before I decided to place an order. The next best price was 365Astronomy, who answered my email promptly and called to return my missed call (from 9pm last night) too. Good service gets the sale, every time! Once the NexImage arrives safely, I’ll create a link category on the sidebar for recommended, reliable astronomy suppliers and put them on it.
I came across this interactive night sky tutorial and it’s ACE!
It teaches you how to find Orion, Betelgeuse, Polaris, Jupiter, The Big Dipper and Cassiopeia. I did the first part of it (Orion) then rushed outside and couldn’t find it :( So I went back inside, finished off the tutorial and felt MUCH more confident that I’d be able to find Orion …. but the sky has clouded over!!
I’ll re-do the tutorial every day until I know it all inside out and hopefully I’ll get another clear sky soon so I can try out my new skills!
For the first time in days, there are clear skies outside! It’s just before 8pm as I type this, so if the skies stay as they are for the next couple of hours, I’m hopeful that I might FINALLY get to do some sky watching this evening - hurray!
I’m EXTREMELY keen to get started with star-gazing - or, rather, moon gazing to start off with. Best to begin with a big bright target methinks!
I noticed last night that I couldn’t see the moon at all but I put it down to cloud cover. Now I’ve since done a bit of research about moon phases and this is what I’ve learned:
So, having looked up the moonrise and moonset times for Glasgow (reasonably close to me), they are as follows:
Today - rising at 7.30am, setting at 8.32pm
Tomorrow - rising at 9.50am, setting at 8.42pm
23rd August - rising at 10.36am, setting at 8.52pm
24th August - rising at 12.04pm, setting at 9.05pm
25th August - rising at 1.30pm, setting at 9.21pm
26th August - rising at 2.52pm, setting at 9.44pm
27th August - rising at 4.06pm, setting at 10.16pm
So it’ll probably be quite a few days before the moon is visible during darkness.
Edinburgh, UNITED KINGDOM
