Messier 37- Open star cluster in the Constellation Auriga

Messier 37 - Combined image - stack of 10 x 30sec lights with the Altair 66mm Doublet wide-field scope  from the Jodrell Plank Observatory (Credit: Archie Mendes) and  1x 180sec light with the PIRATE robotic telescope (Credit: telescope.org - Open University) - combined using Registar Software -(Credit: Pip Stakkert)

"Open star clusters are collections of up to a few thousand stars loosely bound by mutual gravitational attraction. The stars in an open cluster form from the same giant molecular cloud of gas and dust. More than 1100 open clusters have been found in the Milky Way. Open clusters are  found  only in spiral and irregular galaxies where active star formation is occurring. They generally survive for a few hundred million years before the stars disperse as the result of galactic migration and disturbance in close encounters with other clusters. Massive clusters may stay together longer surviving for a few billion years.
Messier 37 is the richest open star cluster in the constellation Auriga and is approximately 4500 light years distant. So the light we collected the other night from M37 set off from the cluster when on Earth the Pyramids were being constructed. The cluster has an estimated combined mass of 1500 suns and angular diameter of 24 arc minutes which corresponds to a dimension of 20 to 25 light years. Messier 37 is somewhere between 350 and 550 million years old - in cosmic terms quite young - younger than the Hyades but older than the Pleiades". - Kurt Thrust - acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner (updated image 19th September 2018)

Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner - 13 September 2018- Altair 66mm Doublet on Star Adventurer Mount - 30 sec exposures at ISO3200 stacked. Canon 600D DSLR with 0.8x field flattener and reducer. Stacked and drizzled FOV at x2.- then combined with images taken of Messier 35 several years ago utilising the 127mm.Meade Apo refractor. Credit Pip Stakkert and Kurt Thrust

"The 'periodic' comet 21P/Giaciobini-Zinner has an orbital period of 6.5 years and is currently sailing past the constellation Gemini and in particular the open star cluster Messier 35. I had located the comet the night before through the observatory's large binoculars but was unable to follow up with one of our telescopes. Thankfully, a good weather window opened up around 2:00 BST and we were able to bring our widefield rig into action. The little 66mm scope certainly punches above its weight" - Pip Stakkert - Imaging Team Leader - Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner - 13 September 2018- Altair 66mm Doublet on Star Adventurer Mount - 30 sec exposures at ISO3200 stacked. 28 stacked widefield image .Canon 600D DSLR with 0.8x field flattener and reducer. 

"All the observatory staff were awake until 5:00 BST to ensure an image of the comet was obtained before it disappeared into the dawn. The sky above the observatory was remarkably transparent and we all enjoyed the wonderful sight of the Milky Way stretching from horizon to horizon. Four bright meteors and binocular views of Messier 33 were an added bonus.. On a domestic note -friend of the observatory Beth Harman and her dog Bertie stayed over night at the Jodrell Plank Observatory Visitors Centre, unfortunately, Bertie and Mr Shrodinger's cat - Comet didn't get on so well. Clearly not everyone likes comets with tails!" - Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

" Bye and see you in 2025"

Autumn Nights en Provence

The Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxy - photographed from Etoile St Cyrice using a Tripod Mounted Canon 400d DSLR - 30 sec exposures stacked

"The autumnal weather in Lowestoft has been very poor and so very little astronomy has been possible at the Jodrell Plank Observatory. I was reminded of the wonderful dark and clear skies in France and some images I managed to capture en Provence. - Quite frankly the sky was a sea of starlight" - Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Our Sun

Sunset outside the Jodrell Plank Observatory

Sunset over the harbour at Wells next the Sea Norfolk

"The other night I watched from the quayside at Wells next the Sea , as the magnificent Milky Way climbed over the North Sea and the sky was awash with starlight. Even though Norfolk County Council does not turn off the street lighting as in Suffolk, the sky was inky black with the dust clouds in the Milky Way, in and around Cygnus, sharp and defined.  I even think I managed to observe with averted vision through my small 10x40 binoculars,  the spiral galaxy Messier 33.  It occurred to me that we spend much of the time at the Observatory imaging distant stars whilst largely ignoring the G2V star (our Sun) on our doorstep. Now as we come to the end of our summer here on the UK's east coast I like to watch our life giving star set in the west" - Kurt Thrust - acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory