v.207 uploaded: February 2021
Sharnbrook Observatory
Welcome to my web site!
This version includes an updated solar activity graph using my own observational data.
All of the images on this site are my own, taken using amateur telescopes and equipment.
As ever, I hope my web site encourages you to get out there and enjoy the treasures of our universe at first hand.
Best Wishes,
Peter Garbett
Galleries...
Mars
Sun
The Sun awakens: cycles 23, 24 and the start of 25 graphed from my observational data
At last, after nearly 3 years in a deep minimum, the Sun has awakened with the onset of cycle 25.
The amazing dimming of Betelgeuse
Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star located upper left in the main outline of the constellation of Orion. As it nears the end of its life,
it is unstable and is expected to explode as a supernova some time in the next 100,000 years. Typically similar in brightness to Rigel
(lower right in the main constellation pattern), it sometimes fades. The fading during the winter of 2019-20 was, however, the most
dramatic ever recorded. I estimated it to be magnitude 1.7 on the night of 11th February, 2020, about a third of its usual brightness.
The images below unfortunately fail to show this as clearly as one sees with the naked-eye due to characteristics of the camera used.
Is this a sign that it will soon explode as a supernova? Doubtful, but if it did, I calculated it would be around magnitude -11.5, which
equates to roughly 1,000 times brighter than Venus, making it easily visible in broad daylight! Observations by professional astronomers
indicate that the dimming may be either due to a huge cloud of carbon dust ejected by Betelgeuse or a huge cooler area on its surface.
Whatever the cause, Betelgeuse has regained its brilliance.
4th February 2020 Orion with a gibbous Moon nearby in Taurus
Astro-modded Canon EOS450D, 50mm OM lens @F2.8, 800ASA, 6s unguided
11th February 2020 Orion
Astro-modded Canon EOS450D, 50mm OM lens @F2.8, 800ASA, 6s unguided
11th February 2020 Orion
Astro-modded Canon EOS450D, 50mm OM lens @F2.8, 800ASA, 4s unguided
Sirius through the willow tree
4th February 2020 Sirius with a gibbous Moon nearby in Taurus
Astro-modded Canon EOS450D, 50mm OM lens @F2.8, 800ASA, 6s unguided
Transit of Mercury 11th November 2019
A beautiful sight! Oh how tiny Mercury looks compared with the Sun.
13:41 UTC 
13:46 UTC
13:55 UTC 
13:58 UTC
13:59 UTCDetails: Orion 80 mm f = 600mm ED refractor on undriven tripod. Kendrick full aperture filter (visual). Baader Solar Continuum Filter and Baader UV/IR rejection filter. Flea 3 CCD.
Because of my period of recovery from recent emergency eye surgery (torn and detached retina), I could not lift my 20cm Meade into position. Still, I am quite
pleased with the images and enjoying seeing the transit.
The proper motion of 61 Cygni
Can the proper motion of 61 Cygni (aka "Piazzi's flying star") be detected from comparing a crude photo taken in 1977 with a digital one from 2015 - both with a mere 50mm lens?
On p.43 of the November 2019 edition of Sky and Telescope magazine, Matt Wedel set a challenge for amateurs to detect the proper motion of 61 Cygni i.e. its physical motion through space. The constellation patterns very, very slowly change over time due to the proper motions of the stars within them, so the Plough won't look like the Plough any more if we were to time travel into the future.
I remembered that aged 15, whilst staying in the family touring caravan in Patrick Moore's garden in Selsey, I had taken a very crudely piggy-back tracked photo of Cygnus with a 50mm lens. The date and time was: 11 August 1977 22:13.5 UTC - 22:23.5 UTC i.e. a 10 minute exposure. The modern digital image was taken with a modded Canon EOS 450D on 16th August 2015 - oh how technology has advanced! Both images are shown below.
61 Cygni indicated by the small black square in this scanned 1977 photo.
I scanned the 1977 photo from my treasured old album; and after very careful measurements of the apparent separation of 61 Cygni from a pair of nearby
reference stars SAO 70818 (HD 200465) and SAO 70832 (HD 200577), I was able to measure an annual proper motion of 5.8" in the direction of position angle
65 degrees (roughly). Burnham's Celestial Handbook Vol. 2 quotes 5.22" per annum in the direction of position angle 52 degrees. So not too bad!
Amazing to be able to see a star on the move through space within a time span of just 38 years with nothing more than a standard camera lens!
As Matt Wedel puts it, "any discover is thrilling, even if many others have made the same discovery before."
Noctilucent clouds
21.06.19 22:05 UTC Canon EOS 450D 800 ASA 1/6 sec 50mm lens @ F2.8
21.06.19 22:07 UTC Canon EOS 450D 800 ASA 1/6 sec 50mm lens @ F2.8
21.06.19 22:07 UTC Canon EOS 450D 800 ASA 1/4 sec 50mm lens @ F2.8
21.06.19 22:08 UTC Canon EOS 450D 800 ASA 1/4 sec 50mm lens @ F2.8
21.06.19 22:09 UTC Canon EOS 450D 800 ASA 1/4 sec 50mm lens @ F2.8
21.06.19 22:09 UTC Canon EOS 450D 800 ASA 1/5 sec 50mm lens @ F2.8
\21.06.19 22:20 UTC Canon EOS 450D 800 ASA 1/4 sec 50mm lens @ F2.8
21.06.19 22:20 UTC Canon EOS 450D 800 ASA 1/5 sec 50mm lens @ F2.8
21.06.19 22:22 UTC Canon EOS 450D 800 ASA 1/5 sec 50mm lens @ F2.8
21.06.19 22:22 UTC Canon EOS 450D 800 ASA 1/3 sec 50mm lens @ F2.8
21.06.19 22:25 UTC Canon EOS 450D 800 ASA 1/4 sec 50mm lens @ F2.8
21.06.19 22:26 UTC Canon EOS 450D 800 ASA 1/2 sec 50mm lens @ F2.8
21.06.19 22:31 UTC Canon EOS 450D 800 ASA 1/2 sec 135mm lens @ F3.5
21.06.19 22:31 UTC Canon EOS 450D 800 ASA 1 sec 135mm lens @ F3.5
21.06.19 22:31 UTC Canon EOS 450D 800 ASA 1 sec 135mm lens @ F3.5
21.06.19 22:31 UTC Canon EOS 450D 800 ASA 1.6 sec 135mm lens @ F3.5
21.06.19 22:32 UTC Canon EOS 450D 800 ASA 1.6 sec 135mm lens @ F3.5
Partial Lunar Eclipse (65%)
16.07.19 22:12 UTC Canon EOS 450D 800 ASA 1/40 sec 20cm Meade LX200 @ F6.3
16.07.19 22:38 UTC Canon EOS 450D 800 ASA 1/13 sec 20cm Meade LX200 @ F6.3
16.07.19 22:40 UTC Canon EOS 450D 800 ASA 1/125 sec 20cm Meade LX200 @ F6.3
16.07.19 22:42 UTC Canon EOS 450D 800 ASA 1/100 sec 20cm Meade LX200 @ F6.3
16.07.19 23:02 UTC Canon EOS 450D 800 ASA 1/200 sec 20cm Meade LX200 @ F6.3
16.07.19 23:11 UTC Canon EOS 450D 800 ASA 1/320 sec 20cm Meade LX200 @ F6.3
16.07.19 23:12 UTC Canon EOS 450D 800 ASA 1/320 sec 20cm Meade LX200 @ F6.3
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Established October 2000. Copyright: P.J.Garbett