Comet 46P/Wirtanen in the Lynx

Comet 46P/Wirtanen in  the constellation Lynx - 66mm  Altair Asto Starwave refractor with 0.6x focal reducer and field flattener - Canon 600D DSLR on a Star Adventurer equatorial mount. Credit: Pip Stakkert

"The night of the 13th and early morning of the 14th of January 2019 presented the best skies over the Jodrell Plank Observatory since early December 2018, so the team was active trying to capture some good images of the Comet46P/Wirtanen as it sailed through the dim constellation 'The Lynx'. Unfortunately, on the night, much of the equipment malfunctioned  and the above image constructed from a stack of salvaged light frames was the best obtained" - Kurt Thrust - acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Detailed crop from the above image

The Sun Voyager Reykjavik

'Sun Voyager Reykjavik with auroral - ribbon'  - image composite two cameras - credit Pip Skakkert and Karl Seguine

Sun Voyager is a sculpture by Jón Gunnar Árnason, located next to the Sæbraut road in Reykjavík, Iceland. Sun Voyager is described as a dreamboat, or an ode to the sun. The artist intended it to convey the promise of undiscovered territory, a dream of hope, progress and freedom. - Credit Wikipedia

"Nice bit of outreach work Karl"! - Kurt Thrust - acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Assembling the Observatory's new 3d Printer

Jodrell Plank's new 3d Printer taking shape the Observatory 'clean room'

" Our stalwart Observatory 'Instrumentation Engineer and Associate Astronomer' - Jolene McSquint-Fleming " has been beavering away in the Jodrell Plank Clean Room assembling the new 3d printer which we hope will enable us to create our own connectors, shims and other bits of astro-kit. In particular we hope to develop a more sensitive and versatile spectrometer. The Observatory is totally reliant upon gifts and grants from its sponsors and friends to fund its astronomical activities, staff salaries and premises costs. We would very much like to thank Dr N. Rogers and Prof Henri Roberts for donating the 3d Printer Kit" - Karl Seguine - Jodrell Plank Observatory Community outreach coordinator. 

Iris

Iris Nebula - NGC7023- PIRATE robotic telescope - Open University -Telescope.org - Credit Pip Stakkert

" Image taken with the PIRATE robotic telescope on Mount Teide Tennerife. The photograph was processed in the imaging suite at the Jodrell Plank Observatory by Pip Stakkert. 

NGC7023 or Caldwell4 is a bright reflection nebula 1300 light years distant in the constellation Cepheus. Light from a very bright and blue star HD200775 within a star cluster LBN487 is scattered  and reflected off dust in the shrouding  interstellar cloud from which the cluster was created."  Kurt Thrust - acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Detail of the star cluster LBN487 around HD200775

"The Jodrell Plank Board of Trustees wishes to register its concern regarding the future operation of the Jodrell Plank Observatory after BREXIT.  A large number of the Observatory's technical and professional operatives along with its senior managers are foreign nationals earning salaries significantly below the British Government's threshold for residency. Kurt Thrust the acting CEO and current Director of Operations may be forced to return to Malta and Archie Mendes to Greece. The general level of 'suck-wittery' exhibited at this time by her Majesty's Government and Opposition is totally bewildering to anyone with a modicum of intelligence and education". Ivor Hump - Chairman of the Board of Trustees.

This is what a Telescope looks like without an astronomer Theresa !

Christmas Observing at Jodrell Plank

Canon 600D Widefield Camera 30 second exposure at ISO1600 EOS lens at f=18mm. View roughly North East - 24 Dec 2018 - Credit Kurt Thrust

"All the observatory staff are out tonight studying the Comet 46P Wirtanen as it passes close to the bright star Capella (Alpha Auriga). Whilst the team was beavering away under transparent clear skies I managed to obtain the above unusual image.

It has been a busy week here in Lowestoft and for the last two days you could not walk through the extensive grounds of the  Jodrell Plank Observatory for fear of tripping over Robins. This eve, the Jodrell Plank stargazers were very excited and before commencing the night's observing session, we hung-up our thick wool stockings under the Meade 127mm Apo Refractor. We are all keeping our fingers crossed that we have been assessed as 'nice' rather than 'naughty' astronomers. Mrs Thrust is handing out steaming mugs of mulled wine so there is no knowing what we might discover tonight.

 A very merry Christmas to all stargazers worldwide" - Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Comet 46P Wirtanen

Comet 46P Wirtanen at perehelion on the 16th December 2018 and 7,220,000 miles from Earth

"Weather has been very poor here on the coast and consequently there has been little astronomical action at the Observatory. Thankfully Mrs Thrust, being both hawk-eyed and ever vigilant, noticed a 'window' of clear sky through the observatory kitchen door at 2:00 UT on the morning of the 16th of December. Dragging on my dressing-gown I raced to assemble a 'Heath Robinson' collection of kit to obtain a photograph however poor. The above two images are the best accomplished on a night of high drama, before the clouds once again dominated the sky." Kurt Thrust - acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

" 46P Wirtanen is a short period comet that returns to our skies every 5.4 years. The comet is thought to have a nucleus of only 1.2 Kilometers in diameter and therefore it is quite surprising that 46P displays such high activity. The comet was first discovered in 1948 by Carl A Wirtanen.  46P was the original target for ESA's Rossetta Mission but because of launch delays, it was redirected to the comet 67P/Churymov-Gerasimenko . During December, 46P might grow in apparent brightness as it travels into the constellation Auriga. On Christmas Eve the comet should be close to the bright star Capella and may be visible to the naked eye". Archie Mendes - theoretical astrophysicist and mathematician.

" I do hope I didn't wake our neighbour, Mr Shrodinger, when I inadvertently tripped over his cat in the dark" sincere apologies Kurt Thrust

Leonid Meteor Shower 2018

A lone 'Leonid Meteor' moving across the Eastern Sky towards the Constellation Auriga. Canon 600D DSLR mounted on a Star Adventurer Equatorial mount. EOS 18-55mm. zoom lens at f=18mm. and F4.5. 30sec exposure at ISO1600. Background star field from a large number of 30 sec RAW exposures stacked using DeepSkyStacker freeware. Credit : Kurt Thrust

 " The Leonid Meteor Shower was predicted to reach it's peak activity in the early hours of the 18th of November. As this years shower was not expected to show high hourly rates I decided to give the Observatory staff the night off and man the camera myself. The night of the 17th and early hours of the 18th of November this year were exceptional for meteor watching. The skies were clear of cloud and by 1:00am. the Moon was out of the way in the far west. After setting up the mobile wide-field imaging rig and programming the intervalometer to take a long series of sequential 30 sec exposures, I settled down in a chair under a blanket to commence my lone meteor watch vigil. I sat waiting and watching for 4 hours and spotted only 4 fast moving Leonid meteors. In fact during the same period I saw five Taurid meteors which in every way were more beautiful to observe. One of the Leonids however, was quite spectacular and left a trail drifting in its wake. Unfortunately my camera's FOV (field of vision) was not sufficient to capture this 'fireball'. Over the four hours our Canon 600D camera captured 480 x 30 sec exposures and on only one was a Leonid meteor recorded" - Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory. 

For more information on the Leonid Meteor Shower follow the link:
Leonid Meteor Shower