Stars / Astronomy / Astrophotography / Telescopes / Astro

hey greasy you managed to spot uranus eventually then
top work fella

or should that be his-anus

Dragging this post back on track, I rode from Oxford to London on Friday night (with three others) setting off at midnight and riding over the Chilterns under the sort of starlit skies that I've not seen in years. The milky way was clear overhead and Jupiter rose at about 2am and provided a beacon leading us over the M25 and through to a huge fried breakfast at Paolo's cafe in Acton.

I need to get a glimpse of Jupiter, hasn't the band under the red spot faded?

You're right - quite weirdly while nobody was watching, a whole cloud belt has just vanished.

Seeing Jupiter the other night, and realising how high it gets in the sky as the sun comes up, made me think I'd better get out of town one morning and try shooting some footage of it with a webcam. I've taken a few images of Saturn that came out reasonably but Jupiter is twice the apparent diameter and the morning air should be pretty still compared to the evening when Saturn's still (just about) visible.

OK, time to bring this thread back for a moment for the delectation of all Star Wars fans. Shot in the space of four minutes from a back garden in Forest Hill, here is PaulR's latest offering. It opens with some moody shots through the haze over the western horizon and then swings overhead to catch some tantalising glimpses of weird hardware travelling at 17,000 of your earth miles per hour.
http://s46.photobucket.com/albums/f130/PaulRide/?action=view&current=ISS29June.mp4

^^ Bum, the video doesn't work on my work PC - will look at it when I get home. Keep 'em coming, they are ace.

Edited down now to a mere 13 seconds.

I may the the only person left on this thread but that's not going to stop me...

Here's Jupiter from about 4am today.

Super fucking cool Paul !!

It looks like a marble..

You have camera + telescope? Are you in London?

you are not alone PaulR

You have camera + telescope? Are you in London?

you are not alone PaulR

I've got two cats and a guinea pig to protect me. They won't let me get abducted...

It looks like a marble..

damn, rumbled again...

I'm on my hols in rural France. I was using the sky chart Sam mentions on page 1and know that if i look west there is the chance of seeing Saturn, Mars and Venus. I've some binoclulars - would I have a chance of seeign them? And if so how would they appear? Would it be like looking at a star or something else? The milky way looks amazing

Who's hacked Joe's account?

...almost as believable as pistanator's 'bird of prey ride/thread'

slag: that's proper bleak, man. Bleak.

I'm on my hols in rural France. I was using the sky chart Sam mentions on page 1and know that if i look west there is the chance of seeing Saturn, Mars and Venus. I've some binoclulars - would I have a chance of seeign them? And if so how would they appear? Would it be like looking at a star or something else? The milky way looks amazing

The Skychart shows stuff visable to the naked eye.

So the answer is yes. And they will each look like a large star.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/interactive/2010/jul/21/monster-star-r136a1-sun-planets

Newly discovered star in neighbouring system dwarfs our own sun and planets together.

Facinating. Absolutely fascinating. ;)

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^cheers Sam. It's bloody cloudy now...

Anyone heading out into somewhere dark for the Perseids tonight? Might venture out if its not cloudy a bit later

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/05aug_perseids/

fuck are we psychic j?>>>>>>>>>> one year ago since moreton hall!!!!
anyway
right,original post
its the yearly Perseids tonight,
looking like a great night for it, so head out doors, take some warm clothes, grog or what you like, and get ready for 10-20 shooting stars an hour,
serious astronomenergerers can tweet their stars and all that
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/science_technology/spectacular+perseids+meteor+shower+due/3741277
I will be lying on the beach feeling the cosmic vibrations

went out my back door in london last night about 11pm spent 20 mins looking possibly got one
stars were quite clear last night here so i guess i should have seen more

were these slightly dimmer than usual shooting stars, i know they said these were meteors rather than meteorites ( something about going all the way through the atmosphere )

I was stood in the middle of Hackney Marshes for 20 minutes, only saw 1. Sometimes these showers are a lot weaker than is predicted.

saw 1 at about 10:30 was hoping for more