Non-Astronomy Photos 2019

November 20th Reindeer

They had the annual reindeer at out local garden centre.

Oct 19th Garden

I took a few garden shots.

Oct 16th Garden

I took some photos in and around our garden.

Sep 19th Farm Visit

I had a work appointment on a farm, so snapped some animals, starting with a Corgi.

Pheasants can be difficult to catch on camera but here is one.

Whereas goats, like dogs, will pose quite happily.

I finished with a peacock and peahen.

Sept 13th

I did a quick photo tour of the garden, starting with an Acer.

Then a Fucshia which looked much better following a tidy a few weeks previously.

Now a close-up of a Heather.

Finally a cluster of roses.

Aug 12th

I saw a nice gecko again and she was in the attack position.

Aug 1st

I saw a large frog in our garden.

July 27th

I passed the River Thames in Kemble, near the source and there was a very small amount of water flowing.

July 24th

It seemed like another good day to snap roses in the garden.

July 15th

After a solar shoot, I snapped some flowers in our garden.

July 5th

I visited Seven Springs again. It is the source of the River Churn and is one of several minor rivers that form the River Thames. Many claim it to be the true source of the Thames as it is reputedly the furthest from the sea. On other occasions, I have photographed the Thames at Kemble and Swill Brook.

First up was the bridge where the water from the seven springs runs under the road and enters a pond on the other side of the road.

I think that this is the 7th spring, although I'm not completely sure.

Similarly, I think that this is Spring Six.

I lost count.

The first and largest spring is quite obvious.

A short climb back up.

June 27th

After photographing the Sun, I took some shots of flowers in our garden.

June 20th

I passed through the hills above Treorchy and they reminded me of the Andes.

June 15th

I caught a double rainbow while shopping.

June 8th

I had often felt tempted to snap the Westbury White Horse and just happened to be in the right place, with the right camera at the right time.

June 8th

I passed through Marston Magna. I had photographed the nearby Queen Camel church but this was equally nice.

I saw some nice flowers growing wild.

June 6th

I was working on location near Treorchy, Wales and took some snaps of the mountains.

May 24th

I took a few snaps of some plants in our garden.

 

May 18th

I was out and about and took some snaps of Barry Island, Wales.

 

May 13th

A ladybird landed on me while walking our dogs in a local park. It had a unusual colour.

 

 

May 12th

I was at Porthcawl at Rest Bay. I took various photos.

First was a crow.

Then a jackdaw, a close relative of the crow.

I took a few shots of the seafront.

I used to be intimidated by German Shepherds but now I own dogs, I find that they can be very friendly, as long as you approach them with care. I find the white ones especially beautiful and this one was very cuddly, too.

I caught a nice kite on camera.

I also saw a helicopter.

I had seen Castel Coch  several times from the road but was finally able to photograph it from a standing position.

       

May 10th

I took some fish pond photos.

 

May 4th

After photographing the Sun, I took some pictures in our garden.

The first was our largest acer.

Then there was a bush.

Credit to my wife for the hanging basket.

Our Rosemary plant was in bloom.

I didn't have any roses out but some buds looked promising.

I finished with a pansy.

May 3rd

I was walking our dogs when I saw a crow drinking from our local stream.

Somebody planted a new bush by the stream. I had no idea where it came from.

       

April 29^th

I caught a pigeon in our garden and then took a photo of our biggest acer.

Unfortunately, the photo of the acer was out of focus. 

April 17^th

 

We took our dogs to John Coles Park again and I snapped some plants.

First were some purple flowers whose type I did not know.

Then there were some interesting tulips.

... and finally a purple bush and I don't know what type it is either.It just looks nice.

April 12th

I snapped a few flowers and plants in our garden.

April 8th

I got what I think is my best gecko photo so far.

April 1st

We took our dogs to our local John Coles Park and I took some shots of the scenery.

March 22^nd

I was walking our dogs on one of our usual routes and just happened to see a nice pattern of flowers on a hedge.

March 11^th

^{After photographing the Sun, I snapped some daffodils in our garden.}

March 9^th

 

I passed St Mary the Virgin Church at Upton Scudamore.

 

March 7^th

I passed the River Thames at Kemble. It was about the same level as the last time I had stopped there. Neither the original source nor the side stream had water.

I snapped Winchcombe Church but the door was locked, so no inside shots.

 

I snapped another source of the Thames, Swill Brook after dark. It was flowing, whilst it had been almost dry the last time I looked. The photo, however, looked uninspiring.

 

February 25

 

We took our dogs to a local park and I caught this tree in blossom.

February 15

I was between appointments and visited Blaise Castle in Bristol. It looks nice but is a tough climb. I also saw many squirrels on the way up, although they were reluctant to pose for photos.

 

 

 

 

 

February 7th

I saw a rainbow from home.

I drove past Kemble and, on the way out of the village, stopped by the River Thames. The last time I had seen it, it was dry. There was some water but it was quite shallow and the original source of the Thames and a side stream that joins the main river were both dry.

Outside Nailsworth. I found a crop of snowdrops. In fact, I had past several that day but it was not always easy to stop for a photo while driving,

I was in Nailsworth when I snapped the clock tower.

I also snapped the well beside Nailsworth Stream.

Nailsworth Stream is home to some brown trout, although I did not see any.

St George's Church is a nice landmark.

February 2019

February 27^th 0900 GMT

The Sun was just not very quiet, it was even quieter than that! I took some shots in the vain hope of catching something on camera. I did but not much.

February 27^th 0810 GMT

It was rather cold but clear when I checked out the Moon. It was just past last quarter phase and I snapped it with my DSLR at ISO400 300mm focal length and 1/200^th second exposure.

Unfortunately, I could not get the right contrast.

February 26^th 2250 GMT

I went out again and took some shots of Ursa Minor and Cassiopeia. It was starting to get a bit hazy, so called it a day.

February 26^th 2200 GMT

I took a few frames of Leo using my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 10 seconds exposure. Some mist ruined the photo but I managed to get the main star patterns.

February 25^th 2030 GMT

I took a few widefield shots of Gemini, then reset the controls for star trails around the Pole Star. I caught Cancer as well.

February 25^th 1840 GMT

I saw Mercury low near the western horizon. It was too low to catch in a telescope. Binoculars showed it as a disc but I could not detect the phase. I tried the DSLR on it, more in hope than expectancy. I needed to remove a lot of chromatic aberration.

February 25^th 1000 GMT

The Sun was quiet again, even in hydrogen alpha light.

February 24^th 2200 GMT

I returned outside with my DSLR and used it at 300mm focal length, ISO 6400 and 2 seconds exposure.

First was the Orion Great Nebula (M42).

After an OK-ish result from a single frame, I revisited the stacked image to extract more detail.

Then there were 27 frames of the Pleaides:

Again, I tried an alternative process to show more stars and some nebulousity, although the result was not so sharp.

The Beehive (M44) was out of focus but looked OK when I shrunk it.

February 24^th 2000 GMT

I tried a few constellation shots, mostly around Orion but did not have much luck. I managed 3 decent frames of Orion and stacked them using DSS.

February 19^th 0625 GMT 

The Moon appeared full, low in the north west, so I took some frames with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/2500^th second exposure.

February 18^th 2000 GMT

Things did not go to plan! I attempted lunar close-ups with my Mak and Bresser Electronic Eyepiece and I had PC crashes and clouds to contend with. I managed two imaging runs aimed at Plato and Copernicus/Kepler.

February 18^th 1740 GMT

It was not long after sunset and I knew that Mercury was in the evening sky. Superficially, the sky appeared clear but, on checking the area near sunset, I could not see any sign of the planet. The Moon, however, was different. It was near full and Tycho’s rays were dominating the moonscape. I could also see Plato, Copernicus and Kepler.

I followed up with some snaps of the Moon with my DSLR at the same settings as the evening before. I managed three shots in focus, so combined them.

February 17^th 2110 GMT

There was lots of moving cloud around but I found a clear patch to take some frames of the Moon with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/2000 second exposure.

February 16^th 2110 GMT

Despite the weather forecast, there was a lot of haze so I snapped the Moon early using the same approach as the evening before.

February 15^th 1615 GMT

I was out and about with only binoculars. The sky was very clear, so I took a look at the Moon, which was well clear of the horizon. I could clearly see Clavius and Tycho’s ray system was already prominent. Despite the daylight, the contrast was very good.

Although the Learmonth images did not show any features on the Sun, I decided to have a rare look at the Sun, as I normally carry my filters with me. I did not see any features. The Sun was quiet, indeed.

February 15^th 1115 GMT

The Sun looked quiet in hydrogen alpha light again.

February 14^th 2110 GMT

I took some shots of the Moon with my DSLR only. I used 300mm focal length, 1/2000 second exposure and ISO 100.

I was very pleasantly surprised to end up with nine images in focus. I stacked them using Microsoft ICE, then finished in GIMP. I removed the red and blue channels and adjusted colour, curves, brightness and contrast to end up with a decent result.

February 14^th 1350 GMT

The Sun appeared quiet in hydrogen alpha light again but I saw some minor signs of activity.

February 13^th 2110 GMT

After an underwhelming couple of lunar shoots two days before, I increased the exposure time to 1/160 second, with ISO 100 and 1.54m focal length. It seemed to work better and I stacked 110 frames.

February 11^th 2120 GMT

It was my first use of my 127mm Maksutov for the year. The Moon was nicely placed from our back garden. Unfortunately, my Bresser Electronic Eyepiece caused my PC to crash. I think it may have been because I had to rebuild my PC in January. I used my DSLR with my Mak instead to obtain some full disc shots. I used ISO 100, 1.54m focal length and 1/200 second exposure.

Unfortunately, the result was disappointing, despite having stacked 70 images.

February 11^th 1845 GMT

I did another shot of the Moon with my DSLR using the same settings as the evening before.

February 11th 1510 GMT

The Sun was quiet again in hydrogen alpha light.

A second attempt at processing revealed a little more detail.

February 10^th 2120 GMT

I snapped the Moon with my DSLR at 300mm focal length, ISO 100 and 1/1000 second exposure.

February 7^th 0940 GMT

There was a persistent clear patch of sky around the Sun. A view through my PST suggested that the Sun was very quiet but I took some full disc shots in the hope of detecting something. The Big Bear images that morning also suggested an unusually quiet sun.

February 2^nd 0940 GMT

There was snow and ice around, so I snapped the Sun in hydrogen alpha light from indoors. It was the most blank and featureless Sun I'd seen but the Big Bear images showed little, too,