A little of this and that

The hot weather continues....and even though we had a few showers here yesterday,it remains very dry.There's not a whole lot of improvement coming this week other than it may possibly cool to more seasonable temperatures....saying this as I type at almost noon and it's currently +25°C  / 77.5°F on my weather station's readout.
So....here's the forecast for this week:

and the expected sky conditions :

I did do some sky imaging over the past week when the clouds were not an issue.

Here's a few pics of some 'flaring' objects:

So...if it's clear,here's a few things to look for in the night sky:

That's all for now.Have a great week.

Al

Hot !

It's been very hot here over the past week.Daytime highs have been in the 30°C range and the humidity from the Atlantic has been high.Luckily for us here on the coast ,the ocean breezes help to cool it down at night so no issues with getting a good night's sleep here.
More of the same is expected this week with only a few chances of some slight precip so I would expect that the camp fire bans will soon be re-instituted.

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There's not a whole lot going on in the night sky at present...just a few Iridium flares,some early morning space station passes and the odd,stray meteor.The full moon is on the 19th so seeing the dimmer objects is not easy in the moonlight.

Iridium flare ,July 13th

Last night's almost full moon through the trees.

Things to look for this week if you have clear night time skies:

All for now.

- Al

A couple of clear nights in a row! (photos)

Finally!! Clear nights in succession and warm temps.
Had the cameras snapping away and picked up a few objects.All were taken July 13th with the cameras pointed East ,first 2 are early morning ,the rest are late night:

Unknown object - possible meteor or space junk

Close up of the fist shot

Iridium satellite 96 flaring (A-610)

Iridium satellite 59 flaring (Canon EOS XS)

Iridium satellite 96 flaring (Canon EOS XS)

Crappy weather

Well...we haven't seen clear skies since Tuesday...been nothing but rain and cool temps...very cool with lows almost to the single C° digits and highs not even making it to 20.Very little,if any improvement coming this week as well:

So....on the few clear nights we had I had the A-610 chasing meteors.Picked up a couple:

Enhanced and cropped 

 ...and then I read an article that claimed that most meteors captured by cameras are not meteors.Well,I beg to differ....after re-reading the article I came to the conclusion that the 'author' did not understand how to take meteor photos so he wrote a crap article slagging the hobby.That's my opinion only,some may disagree ,but I will continue to shoot them and anyone else that wants to try you can check the above photos for camera settings needed to do so.

So....if the weather should magically improve,here's what to look for this week as posted on stardate.org :

Have a great week
- Al

A few clear nights

We've actually been getting a few clear nights along with some hot days over the past week.However,this week may not offer that so much:

So,having said that,one has to take advantage of the clear night skies.Here's a couple of meteors in the Milky Way from a few days ago :

And here's a sped up time lapse video from last night:

The above were taken with an old Canon A-610 w/CHDK software.They're actually not too bad for a 5 megapixel camera.

All for now.

- Al

Still a little unsettled

The weather is still a little unsettled here.....get a nice day or two and then it's back to clouds and cool temps.
We did manage to get two clear nights over the past week and some of us took advantage of them with our cameras and telescopes.I had the A-610 set up and shooting continuously on both nights.Caught a rather bright meteor in the east late Thursday night however it was not the really bright one that was reported in the media.That one was earlier according to what was reported and also from speaking with an eyewitness.

My meteor shot

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Newspaper article concerning a bright meteor that was spotted earlier in the same evening.

© The Chronicle Herald.

Anyways,I put together this time lapse video shot on Friday into Saturday,June 24th to 25th,2016.

See if you can spot Polaris aka the North Star......it's the stationary one that the other stars revolve around.

                                        
Better quality video is here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B08WK44CUS90OVd4a216SUJueU0/view

So,it looks like we will be back in the murk this week....cloudy skies and cool temps are forecast.

Anyway,just in case the sky clears,here's a few things to look for:

Have a great week.

- Al

Still a little unsettled

The weather is still a little unsettled here.....get a nice day or two and then it's back to clouds and cool temps.
We did manage to get two clear nights over the past week and some of us took advantage of them with our cameras and telescopes.I had the A-610 set up and shooting continuously on both nights.Caught a rather bright meteor in the east late Thursday night however it was not the really bright one that was reported in the media.That one was earlier according to what was reported and also from speaking with an eyewitness.

My meteor shot

----------------------------------

Newspaper article concerning a bright meteor that was spotted earlier in the same evening.

© The Chronicle Herald.

Anyways,I put together this time lapse video shot on Friday into Saturday,June 24th to 25th,2016.

See if you can spot Polaris aka the North Star......it's the stationary one that the other stars revolve around.

                                        

So,it looks like we will be back in the murk this week....cloudy skies and cool temps are forecast.

Anyway,just in case the sky clears,here's a few things to look for:

Have a great week.

- Al