A Merry Christmas from all the team at the Jodrell Plank Observatory

 

" May I take this opportunity on behalf of Kurt Thrust and his 'observatory team', to wish, all you 'Jodrell' enthusiasts around the world, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Why does the weather go all 'Pete Tong' when something celestial and rare happens?

 

These two images were taken from the Jodrell Plank Observatory within twenty four hours of the closest conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter on the 21st of December 2020. Prior to this, we captured a number images using a variety of camera-lens combinations. - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

These three images were taken on the 17th of December 2020 when Saturn and Jupiter were joined by the new crescent Moon. Even seen through hazy cloud, this was a very beautiful meeting of three very different and distant celestial bodies. The Moon looks quite mysterious in the composite image put together by our astro-student Reggie Stax. Reggie used the Observatory's old Meade ETX Ra Maksutov Scope, punching above it's weight over 20 stargazing years. - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Using the 66mm Altair Astro Doublet refractor as a telescopic lens, we captured this image of Saturn (centre left) and Jupiter (centre right) with its retinue of four Galilean Moons. Sadly the resolving power of this set up was insufficient to show Saturn's rings or its larger moons!

These two images were captured on the 6th of December 2020 through a lot of high level hazy cloud. - Karl Seguine community outreach coordinator at the Jodrell Plank Observatory

Orion composite image captured and processed over three years at the Jodrell Plank Observatory

 

The Constellation Orion - Composite of images captured and stacked using the Altair Astro 66mm Doublet ED Refractor with a focal reducer and field flattener and the Canon 600d DSLR with a zoom lens at f=18mm. Credit: the Jodrell Plank Observatory Imaging Team 

 The northern winter constellation Orion is now a prominent feature looking south on a clear night. Alpha Orionis, otherwise known as Betelgeuse, is back to its brightest best after a recent period of dimming. Professional astronomers have decided that previous estimates of its size had been too great and now believe it to be a third of what was originally thought. If this is true, estimates of how long this red supergiant star has before it goes supernova will have to be extended.

Other features to note are:

• The bright stars that make up the constellation; Betelgeuse, Bellatrix Alnitak, Alnilam Mintaka, Saiph, and Rigel are at varying distances from the Earth. If we could view the constellation from another planet light years away elsewhere in the Milky Way, it would look quite different.
• Close to the left star in Orion's Belt, Alnitak, you can pick out the emission 'Flame Nebula'

This image of Alnitak and the Flame Nebula was taken at the Jodrell Plank Observatory using the 127mm Meade Apo Refractor.  If you look closely at Alnitak , at about 10 o' clock, you can see one of its two fourth magnitude companion stars. Alnitak is a hot blue supergiant over thirty times more massive and 21,000 times brighter than the Sun. It is estimated to be over 1000 light years distant from Earth.

• Just below Alnitak is the dark  'Horsehead Nebula' created by dust being silhouetted against an emission nebula behind it.

The Horsehead Nebula is approximately 1375 light years distant from Earth. It is quite large and seen from our perspective covers approximately 6 square light years. The Horsehead Nebula is a mixture of hydrogen gas and dust. The bright star Sigma Orionis seen to the left and below the nebula is ionizing the gas behind it and causing it to glow, the dust prevents us seeing this and creates the dark Horsehead Nebula as a darker region. The Horsehead Nebula is an active location for the formation of low mass stars. When viewed at infra-red wavelengths the Horsehead Nebula is transformed and glows. The astro-imager Robert Gendler's 'Astro Photo of the Day (APOD)' , created from data captured by large professional telescopes, is well worth a look!

Robert Gendler's Spectacular image of the Horsehead Nebula

• Barnards Loop - the arc of red luminosity that sits to the left and wraps around the three stars that make up Orion's Belt is known as Barnards Loop. The emission nebula is named after the pioneer astrophotographer E E Barnard who photographed and published it in 1894. It is an integral part of the wider Orion Molecular Cloud (OMC) Complex. The stars within the OMC are thought to be responsible for ionizing the gas in the 'Loop' and causing it to emit photons of light. The 'Loop' extends for approximately 10 arc-degrees as viewed from Earth. It is apparent in long exposure photographs but very difficult to spot with the eye even from dark sky locations. The 'Loop' is estimated to be between 440 and 520 light years distant which would imply dimensions between 1000 and 300 light years across. It is believed that the loop is the expanded shock wave from a supernova which occurred in a multiple star system some 2million years ago.

• The Orion Nebula or Messier 42 is located in Orion's Dagger an asterism which is visible to the naked eye from most suburban locations. It is a wonderful sight in binoculars or a small telescope. It is a bright concentration of ionized hydrogen gas and dust and at a distance of approximately 1345 light years is the closest location of massive star formation. Messier 42 is part of the wider Orion Nebula Complex. Messier 42 is 24 light years from side to side and has a mass equivalent to about 2000 Suns. At it's centre is a cluster of bright young and very hot blue stars known as the Trapezium. The red colours seen in the nebula are the result of ionized hydrogen gas the blue colours are created by ultra violet light from the hot young stars being reflected. 

• The Running Man Nebula or NGC 1977 is a reflection nebula located just north of Messier 42. The nebula contains the bright star cluster NGC 1981.

All the staff at the Jodrell Plank Observatory look forward to the dark winter months and in particular to the appearance of the constellation Orion striding across our southern horizon.

Our favourite view of the area around Alnitak taken with the 127mm Meade Apo refractor and Canon 600d DSLR. - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory

Credit: Wikipedia

Between Perseus and Taurus

 

Canon 600d DSLR with 18-55mm EFS lens at f=18mm. Just over an hour of 45 second exposures at ISO1600 stacked and processed by Pip Stakkert.

Our student Reggie Stax spent an hour or two on the 18th and 19th of November trying to capture any 'straggler' Leonid meteors. Sadly he was unsuccessful but inadvertently he managed to take this widefield view including both NGC1499 and M45.

The California Nebula NGC 1499 is an emission nebula located in the constellation Perseus close to the boundary with Taurus. The nebula is so named because it looks like the outline of the American State of California.  It is almost 2.5° long on the sky and, because of its very low surface brightness, it is extremely difficult to observe visually. It lies at a distance of approximately 1,000 light years from Earth. It shines due to excitation of the Hydrogen β line in the nebula by the nearby  energetic O7 star, Xi Persei also known as Menkib. Menkib is the bright star to the centre and right of the nebula as seen in the above images.

The Geminids meteor shower is next up and weather permitting should put on a good show on the evening of the 13th and early hours of the 14th of December. The Moon will be out of the way so this year should be good as long as the clouds keep away.

How to observe the Geminids

Another unique astronomical event worth seeing is the conjunction of the Solar system's two largest  planets - Saturn and Jupiter. In reality a vast distance separates the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn but every now and again they line up as viewed from Earth. This year is rather special as to the unaided eye they will appear as one bright star. They will have an apparent separation of only 6 minutes of arc, the last time this happened was in the 1600's. Bearing in mind the 'festive season' its rather nice to have a bright star to observe during December. The planets will be at their closest on the 21st of December 2020 but good views will be had from the the 16th to the25th. The new Moon will also be nearby in the sky just after sunset on each of these days. The planets will only be visible for a short period just after sunset and you will require an unobstructed view to the western horizon. We will try to image this rare event using the Observatory's mobile rig set up in the nearby churchyard. - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Best Mars images 2020

"2020 has been the best year for viewing Mars whilst I have been the Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory. Pip Stakkert and his young assistant Reggie Stax have prepared the above compilation of the best images taken in autumn this year with the Jodrell Plank Observatory's Meade 127mm Apo Refractor located on the coast at the UKs most easterly point.

Sadly the weather has been very poor over the last few nights, so we have been unable to capture any images of Leonid meteors". - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Syrtis Major: Mars 11th November 2020

 

Albedo feature: Syrtis Major - 127mm Meade Apo Refractor, x3 Televue Barlow QHY5-11 colour camera. 18% stack of 5000 RGB frames. Credit: Pip Stakkert and Reggie Stax at the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

"The red planet has and continues to, put on a splendid show this year. The atmosphere was not at its most stable when Pip and Reggie captured a number of video clips at about 21:30 pm on the 11th of November. These images were processed from the final clip taken on the night. Mars is now several weeks past opposition and is therefore showing a gibbous phase. As the year advances the phase will decrease and its overall apparent size will decrease as Mars and Earth move further apart and move around their respective orbits.

This week we will be hoping to capture some images of the Leonid Meteor shower using the Observatory's Canon 600d DSLR and the Sky Adventurer 'mini-rig' - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

NASA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Syrtis Major Planum is a "dark spot" (an albedo feature) located in the boundary between the northern lowlands and southern highlands of Mars just west of the impact basin Isidis in the Syrtis Major quadrangle. It was discovered, on the basis of data from Mars Global Surveyor, to be a low-relief shield volcano, but was formerly believed to be a plain, and was then known as Syrtis Major Planitia. The dark color comes from the basaltic volcanic rock of the region and the relative lack of dust. Credit: Wikipedia.

Mars on a calm Lowestoft night

 

Mars on the 26th October 2020. 127mm Meade Apo Refractor, x3 Televue Barlow and QHY5-11 colour planetary camera, 15% stack of 2500 video frames captured over 2 minutes. Credit: Reggie Stax - Jodell Plank Observatory.

" Full credit to our student and assistant Reggie in taking advantage of the excellent stable atmosphere over the Jodrell Plank Observatory last night to capture some great videos of the planet Mars. I think this Mars image is the best we have managed to capture and process at the Observatory. The southern polar cap along with some associated cloud is clearly visible. Cloud is also apparent towards the western and northern limbs. Albedo features of interest are:

•  Acidalia Planitia close to the hazy Northern Polar hood.
• Arabia the large red area of sand in the north eastern quadrant
• Pandorae Fretum the dark area running across the equator
• Sinus Meridiani and Sinus Sabaeus the dark finger above Pandorae Fretum
• Noachis the dark crescent just above the southern polar cap
• Hellas the slightly less dark semi circular area to the west of Noachis

Hopefully we will get a few more clear and steady nights here on the east coast, before Mars moves further away from Earth on its elliptical orbit around the Sun" -  Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Water on the Moon

 

Two different captures of the crater Clavius using our QHY5-11 colour planetary camera and the 127mm Meade Refractor with x3 Televue Barlow.- The video clips were captured using Sharpcap 3.2 and then stacked using Autostakkert3 and Registax6. The still images were denoised and sharpened using Topaz Denoise AI. Credits: Pip Stakkert and Kurt Thrust

" A recent NASA press release has identified reserves of water in the and around the large crater Clavius. Look as we might we could not identify any reservoirs"! - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

" Many thanks to our sponsor Anita Roberts for coming up with the money to finance the purchase of Topaz Denoise AI software" - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-sofia-discovers-water-on-sunlit-surface-of-moon/#:~:text=Scientists%20using%20NASA's%20telescope%20on,Moon%20for%20the%20first%20time.&text=Moon's%20southern%20hemisphere.-,This%20discovery%20indicates%20that%20water%20may%20be%20distributed%20across%20the,limited%20to%20cold%2C%20shadowed%20places.

Olympus Mons - one of the largest volcanoes in the Solar System

 

Clouds over Olympus Mons Mars - 127mm Meade Apo Refractor, x3 Barlow and QHY5-11 colour planetary camera. Credit: Kurt Thrust

" As the weather continues to be poor in Lowestoft, I have amused myself by reprocessing some of the video clips captured earlier in the month by our student assistant Reggie Stax. We believe the circle of white clouds in the centre of the image formed over the extinct shield volcano Olympus Mons. Olympus Mons covers an area of 300,000 square kilometres which is roughly the area of Italy. It is 21 kilometres high or approximately 2.5 times the height of Everest" - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Mars on the 9th and 10th of October 2020

127mm Meade Apo- refractor, x3 Barlow lens and QHY5-11 planetary camera. 15% stack of a 3minute video clip. Credit: Reggie Stax our astro-student at the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

The night of the 9th and the early hours of the 10th October were clear and cold. The 'seeing' was not good as the jet stream was causing atmospheric turbulence over Lowestoft. When we watched the live feed from the telescope on the laptop screen we could see the image of Mars wobble. When Reggie analysed the data the following day, he noted that the red and green channels were surprisingly sharp but the blue channel was a turbulent blur. Reggie has made a good job of processing the data and we look to him producing even better images on calmer nights in the future. -  Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

The last of Summer

 

The summer constellation Cygnus, like Frodo, is disappearing in the west earlier each night, as autumn fades into winter. This image is a crop from a wider stack of frames taken earlier in the summer using the Canon 600d DSLR with an EF -S 18-55 lens at f=18mm all on the Star Adventurer equatorial mount. Credit: Kurt Thrust, Pip Stakkert. and Reginald Stax (astro-student at the JPO)

" Since the night of the 20th of September, the weather in Lowestoft has been exceptionally inclement! Between broken cloud and rain showers, we managed to glimpse the Harvest Moon close to the very bright and 'pink' planet Mars. . We are hoping that the weather will improve in order that we may capture some more images of Mars using the Observatory's large refractor. 

To keep the team busy Joel Cairo has been encouraging our sponsors Anita and George Roberts to provide the cash to purchase Topaz Denoise AI a software package capable of improving 'the signal to noise ratio' in the Observatory's images.  Pip and Reggie have been helping me to evaluate the software using a trial download. The above image was processed using Topaz Denoise AI (the AI stands for Artificial Intelligence - we can do with a bit of that around here). The stars Deneb, Sadr , Delta Cygni and Epsilon Cygni are well displayed. The North America Nebula NGC7000 is clearly visible. We also tried Denoise AI on a planetary image of Saturn. We are quite impressed with this software and hope the JPO budget can stretch to purchasing it!" - Kurt Thrust  current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory

Mars September 2020

 

The Planet Mars  on the 19th September 2020. 127mm Mede Apo Refractor with x3 Barlow lens and QHY5-11 colour planetary camera 3 mins of AVI video - best 500 frames stacked. Credit: Pip Stakkert and Kurt Thrust.

" We decided to spend some time in the Jodrell Plank Imaging suite processing the video clips a number of different ways using a range of processing software packages. These two images, stacked from two separate videos, were considered to be the best from the night".- Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

A Night of Three Planets

The red planet Mars -two images taken with the QHY5-11 planetary camera and a Televue 3x Barlow lens attached to the 127mm Meade Apo Refractor. Credit: Kurt Thrust.

" The team at the Jodrell Plank Observatory was mobilized last night to capture some images of the planet Mars which is approaching opposition and its nearest point to Earth. Mars and the Earth line up in their respective orbits approximately every two years but actual planet to planet distance varies from opposition to opposition. This year Mars is quite close and so looks bigger and brighter in our night sky. The planetary disc is currently in excess of 20 arc secs and will not appear as large in our skies again until 2033. Mars is also quite high in our northern hemisphere sky making photography much easier. The reddish areas in the above images roughly correspond to sandy desert terrain and the darker areas are thought to be representative of exposed rock. Mars' southern polar cap is pointed towards us and can be seen as a  small white oval disc.  The Southern hemisphere of Mars is experiencing 'summer'  and therefore much of the polar cap has sublimated into the atmosphere and is therefore much smaller than usual. At the northern pole you can just make out a white carbon dioxide cloud cover. The right image shows a small patch of cloud towards and below the northern cloud cap which is probably associated with the shield volcano Olympus Mons. Olympus Mons is thought to be the largest volcano in the Solar System.                

 Prior to imaging Mars we captured some video clips of Saturn as it skimmed across the Observatory's southern horizon. To finish the evening we turned the telescope towards the distant ice giant Uranus which, although much much larger than Mars, appeared tiny in the dark reaches of space". - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory

Saturn and four of it's Moons composite image taken with QHY5-11 colour planetary camera Televue 3x Barlow lens attached to 127mm Meade Apo Refractor. Credit: Kurt Thrust

The tiny blue dot that is Uranus in its orbit beyond Saturn. Captured with the QHY5-11 colour planetary camera, Televue 3x Barlow lens attached to 127mm Meade Apo Refractor. Credit : Kurt Thrust

Mars Moon Conjunction September 2020

The planet Mars shining brightly and apparently close to the waning gibbous Moon. -  Tripod mounted Canon 600d DSLR with zoom lens at f=300mm. A stack of 4 x 1/640sec exposures at F5.6, and ISO800. Credit: Pip Stakkert.

" The team was not scheduled to be imaging on the night of the 5th of September but Pip could not resist taking a few images of the planet Mars shining brightly next to the waning Moon. We hope to capture some images of the planet later in the month using the 127mm refractor. Mars and the Earth in their respective orbits come close in or around opposition approximately every 2 years. Mars will be closest this time in October and thankfully a little higher in the sky than either Jupiter or Saturn" - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

The Summer Milky Way and Gas Giants with Moons

The Milky Way over the Jodrell Plank Observatory -the 600d Canon DSLR with EOS 18-55mm lens at f=18mm 'piggyback' on the Meade 127mm Refractor. A stack of 30x60 sec lights at ISO1600. Credit: Kurt Thrust

Jupiter showing the Great Red Spot and just visible the newly formed white spot below it. Two of the four Galilean Moons, Io and Ganymede, are also clearly visible. 127mm Meade Telescope with 2.5x Barlow lens and QHY5-11 colour planetary video camera. Three minutes of video were used to create the still image. Credit: Pip Stakkert

Saturn and three Moons, Dione, Enceladus and Tethys. 127mm Meade Telescope with 2.5x Barlow lens and both the QHY5-11 colour and mono planetary cameras. Six minutes of video were used to create the still image. Credit: Pip Stakkert.

" In contradiction of the usually accurate weather forecasts, the night of the 19th of August 2020 was clear and transparent. The absence of the Moon was also advantageous for astro-imaging.

Pip Stakkert and I made an early start using the planetary video cameras and the 127mm Meade Apo-refractor to image the gas giant planets Jupiter and Saturn, which remain low on the Jodrell Plank Observatory's southern horizon. Our thanks go to Anita Roberts, friend and sponsor of the Jodrell Plank Observatory, for cutting back the planting on the adjoining hedge.

The planet Mars remains too low during sensible working hours for us to use the Meade telescope to image it. We shall however try to capture the 'red planet' in September.

We completed our early morning imaging session by 'piggy backing' the Canon 600D dslr camera on the Meade telescope and captured the Summer Milky Way in all its glory as it streamed down over the Observatory buildings. The dark dust clouds in the Milky Way never fail to impress the Jodrell Plank team!". - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory

Perseids August 2020

Meteor shooting between Vega and Deneb at 1:00 BST on the 11th August 2020.
Canon 600d DSLR with EOS 18-55mm lens at f=18mm - all on a Star Adventurer equatorial mount.  50 x 1 minute RAW exposures stacked using DeepSkyStacker and the frame containing the meteor aligned and combined with the stacked image using Registar. The final image was cropped and enhanced. Credit: Joel Cairo

" Having recently joined the team at the Jodrell Plank Observatory, I was pleased that I was able to take a short summer holiday before taking up my full duties as CEO. During my stay by the sea in Bamburgh Northumberland, I managed to do a bit of astro-imaging between the clouds which seemed to materialize each evening as night fell. I was very lucky to have captured a Perseid meteor against the stars of the summer Milky Way two days before the predicted shower maximum". - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory

Through the Window

Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE at nearest point to Earth. Taken with a tripod mounted Canon 600d DSLR at  f=18mm and ISO3200 a stack of 6 x 10 second frames using the freeware Sequator. Credit: Joel Cairo and Pip Stakkert.

Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE animated GIF from 20x10 sec frames. No shortage of clouds or wind here on the UK East Coast. Credit Pip Stakkert

" The above images were taken looking north from an upper floor window of the Jodrell Plank Observatory Visitor Centre. The comet was approximately 64 million miles away, moving quickly across the northern sky under the Great Bear constellation and the Plough asterism. The comet is now heading back out to the icy extremities of the Solar System.  Farewell until your return in AD9020.

Pip Stakkert used the freeware astro-stacking programme Sequator for the first time. This is a very useful program for stacking images where static foreground landscape elements are to be integrated with the more dynamic objects in the sky. Thanks go to the Sky at Night magazine for bringing this software to our attention" - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Comet nearing closest Approach

Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE - the Comet is almost at its closest to the Earth and looking very beautiful low on the Northern Horizon as viewed from the Jodrell Plank observatory Visitor Centre. The image is a stack of 9 x 30 sec RAW lights at ISO 1600 taken with the 66mm Altair Lightwave Doublet and Canon 600d DSLR with 0.8x focal reducer and field flattener - mounted on a Star Adventurer equatorial mount. Credit: Joel Cairo - CEO at the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

"The comet will be at its nearest to the Earth this week and consequently moving very quickly across the sky. It's developing tails now stretch over six degrees across the telescopic view. The comet has both a very obvious yellow dust tail and a much fainter and separate bluish ion tail. The fainter tail is an ion tail, formed as ions from the cometary coma are dragged outward by magnetic fields in the solar wind and fluoresce in the sunlight. The tails of comet NEOWISE are reminiscent of the even brighter tails of Hale Bopp, the Great Comet of 1997.
The Jodrell Plank Observatory has gained a new CEO and astrophysicist from Valletta University - Joel Cairo. Everyone here at 'Jodrell Plank' wishes him a happy stay and look forward to his contributions to the astronomical work carried out here on the East Coast. Joel has a considerable reputation in the practice of astro-science and falconry". - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

A Great Comet - Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE 2:00am BST 13 July 2020

Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE was visible of the Jodrell Plank Observatory in the early hours of the morning - Images taken with a Canon 600d DSLR tripod mounted.Capella is the bright star above and to the right of the comet. Credit: Kurt Thrust and Pip Stakkert.

 Bright comets, visible to the naked eye are seldom visitors to the night sky. Comet 2020 F3  NEOWISE became visible in the Northern Hemisphere quite recently. It is the brightest Comet since Hale Bopp graced our skies in the 1980s. It is a very beautiful object and displays a visible tail at least as long as two Moon diameters. The Jodrell Plank team had been out imaging the planets Saturn and Jupiter with the Observatory 'mini-scope-rig'. When they completed their imaging session, they decided to check  the sky to the North of the Visitor Centre and were surprised to see the bright comet low under Capella the alpha star in the constellation Auriga.  The comet may be seen without any visual aids but looks particularly beautiful through the observatory wide-field binoculars. If you are a night owl and the weather is kind why not take a look low in the north. Night by night it will move further west and by the end of the month it will sit in the constellation Ursa Major (The Great Bear) and under the 'Plough' asterism. Towards the end of July, it will be visible in the evening as well as in the early morning  and will be closest to the Earth at a distance of 64 million miles. The comet's nucleus made up of dust, ice and organics is estimated to have a diameter of 5 kilometres and the dust tail covers some six degrees in the sky. The comet is now on its way out of the Solar System and will not return for 7000 years. Catch-it while you can this is an exceptional event" - Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory

Over the roofs and far away

The full Moon with Jupiter and Saturn in Conjunction July 2020 - Canon 600d DSLR composite of three images at differing exposure duration and focal length to encompass the large dynamic range of these celestial bodies.- Credit Kurt Thrust and Pip Stakkert

The weather has been very mixed and this has prevented the Observatory team from imaging the  new comet in the early morning skies over East Anglia - Comet NEOWISE. The comet is visible to the naked eye and sports a fine bifurcated tail. Locally, the comet has been seen from Brancaster Beach in Norfolk. Our best chance may be towards the end of July when it becomes an early evening object just after sunset  above the horizon in the north west. In the meantime the clouds parted for an hour or so such that I could take a few impromptu images of the 'Full Moon, Jupiter and Saturn conjunction'. I managed to capture some RAW images from the window of the Jodrell Plank Visitor Suite and then asked our Imaging Team Leader Pip Stakkert to create a composite image enabling the serious moonlight to be controlled, whilst enabling the four Galilean Moons orbiting Jupiter to be resolved. Can you spot them? -  Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Enlarged crop taken from the above image - Jupiter is bright above and to the left of the Moon and Saturn is fainter and to the left of both.