Intermittent Cloud

 

The Crescent Moon between Orion and the Pleiades - fixed tripod mounted Canon 600D DSLR at f=18mm and ISO800

The Crescent Moon with earthshine on display close to the Hyades star cluster.- fixed tripod mounted Canon 600D DSLR at f=90mm and ISO800 

" Here at the Jodrell Plank Observatory, the 19th of March started well. Lots of blue sky and sunshine but as night fell up popped the clouds. Not good enough for astro-imaging but more than good enough to provide some beautiful views of the waxing Moon and the winter constellations setting in the west. Pip Stakkert managed to capture the above images between the clouds." - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Where is the Perseverance Rover Now

 

Perseverance Rover Location Interactive Map

Perseverance Interactive Map

The blue tag shows the Rover's position as taken from the NASA interactive location map the dry river delta can be seen nearby.

View of the long dry river delta close to the Rover's landing site - taken by Perseverance Mast Camera

Credit: For all the above images - NASA/JPL-Caltech

"The Perseverance Rover is testing its systems and taking a look around the immediate vicinity of its landing site in the Jezero Crater on Mars. The interactive map on the NASA Perseverance  Website is a fabulous tool for keeping tabs on the rover as it explores the Martian surface. The Jodrell Plank Observatory Team is intrigued to follow the journey taken by this small and intrepid automated explorer so very far from home." - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Two Day Old Moon over the Jodrell Plank Observatory

 

The 2 Day Old Crescent Moon - handheld RAW image copped and taken with a Canon 600d DSLR at f=175mm and ISO800 - credit: Pip Stakkert.

" On the 15th March 2021, the new Moon was observed setting in the west low above the Jodrell Plank Observatory. There was some cloud but this only added to the overall beauty of the moment. The illuminated thin crescent was observable to the eye right to the extremities of its points or horns. The overall lunar disc was just discernable in reflected 'earthshine' or 'ashen glow'. In times gone by this event was described as the "The old moon in the new moon's arms". On the 16th March, both the crescent and the ashen glow were much brighter." - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Mars buzzes the Seven Sisters

 

Mars below the Pleiades - 27th Feb 2021 - Canon 600d DSLR on a fixed tripod. A stack of one second exposures at ISO6400 and f=50mm. Credit Joel Cairo.

" Whilst I was carrying out my regular evening security check of the Jodrell Plank Observatory facilities and after spending a moment observing the full Moon rising in the east, I noticed that in the western sky the planet Mars was in conjunction with the open star cluster the Pleiades or Seven Sisters. Even with the moonlight and street lighting causing starlight to be washed out in the night sky, the red of the planet in contrast with the young blue stars in the Pleiades was a wonderful sight to behold. I could not resist grabbing a camera and taking some photographs" - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Latest image - 20 Feb 2021 - from the Perseverance Rover on the surface of Mars - Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU 

" Mars looks so small on Joel's image of the planet. As viewed from Earth and when seen against the vast backdrop of the night sky, it has the appearance of a bright red star. In reality it is a cold rocky desert world with a diameter just over half that of our world" - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory

Perseverance

Perseverance Rover being 'sky craned ' down onto the surface of Mars.  (simulation) Credit: JPL/NASA-CALTECH 

" Congratulations to the NASA Perseverance Rover scientfic and engineering teams for the technically spectacular and safe landing of the rover in the Jezero Crater on Mars. The rover will use its onboard equipment to search for the fossilised remnants of ancient life in the Martian regolith and rocks. It will also collect and deposit rock samples for later collection and return to Earth. Finding incontrovertible evidence of the simplest forms of bacterial life on Mars would be sufficient to prove that given the right environment life can spontaneously arise throughout the universe. This would be as significant as determining the Earth is not flat and is in orbit around the Sun". - Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

First image sent back by the Perseverance Rover from Jezero Crater. The image was taken using one of the rover's hazard cameras. The image is partially obscured by dust and low res.Credit:JPL/NASA-CALTECH 

Illustration of Perseverance at work on the Martian Surface Credit : JPL/NASA-CALTECH

https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8865/touchdown-nasas-mars-perseverance-rover-safely-lands-on-red-planet/

Saturn Reprise from 2017

 

Saturn at a better altitude in 2017 - 127mm Meade Apo Refractor and QHY5-11 colour planetary camera. Pip Stakkert

" As the distance between Mars and Earth increases, the disc presented by the red planet decreases and is now much reduced from that imaged in autumn 2020. At the moment many of the other planets are in conjunction with the Sun and consequently practically unobservable. The Covid 19 pandemic and the recent run of challenging weather here on the UK's eastern coast has kept activity at the Jodrell Plank Observatory  to an absolute minimum. With time on his hands and a mask on his face, Pip Stakkert reprocessed this image of Saturn taken back in 2017 when weather conditions and the ringed planet's altitude conspired to provide the Jodrell Plank Team with an excellent imaging opportunity. The recently acquired Topaz Denoise software was used to sharpen this image. The dark 'Cassini Division' within the ring system is now clearly defined in this reprocessed image". Joel Cairo CEO of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Capella

 

Alpha Aurigae-Capella -stack of 60 second exposures at ISO 1600 - Canon 600d DSLR and EOS 18-55 lens at f=18mm all on a Star Adventurer equatorial mount.

"During the winter months, the constellation Auriga rides high in the Northern Hemisphere sky. It's brightest star Capella is in fact a gravitationally bound star system comprising four stars in binary pairs. Two are bright yellow stars each with a mass 2.5 times that of the sun. Two small red dwarf stars make up the other binary pair. Capella is a relatively nearby star system only 43 light years distant from our planet". Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.