Society for Popular Astronomy

I would we happy to SEE this or any other comet! There has been a dearth of binocular comets recently... the only one visible in my equipment has been Comet Imamoto C\2018Y1 which was seen 8 times from 11th to 15th February. regards maf.

I was very surprised to see a resurgence of this thread, seems to have been hibernating since October 2016. Interesting though and do not expect that the 'person in the street' is any more knowledgable now. regards maf.

Sunday, 15th December, 1105 UT. Very variable cloud, heavy showers, blustery wind. Went to the window to photograph the hail/rain and...was surprised to see a short piece of colourful 22 degree/ solar halo/sundog to the right of the Sun... and then looking north saw a rainbow. A halo effect and a ra...

Friday 13th December 2019; 0610-0636 UT, Broken cloud but some clear gaps in the 'right area' . Used 8x36 binocular and L/S 60 spotter from bedroom window. MARS and alpha Librae separated by 1/8 th or less than the fov of the binocular with the planet slightly lower to the left of the binocular doub...

11/12/2019, 1647-1700UT; Cloud gap fortuitously appeared just in the right place to allow a very short observation in 8x36 binocular and L/S 60mm spotter through the upper window. Fitted the fov in the binocular with different orientation than two evenings ago. nb. The showery day produced an intere...

11th December 2019; 0555-0614 UT; from bedroom window with 8x36 and L/S 60. Mars rising above the roofline and above alpha Librae and its wide fainter binocular companion. Less than half the binocular fov separating the main star and Mars. Clear sky. Regards maf.

Venus & Saturn; 9th December 2019; 1645-16??; Clear sky and viewed from the window using 8x36 binoculars. With Saturn in the centre of the fov, Venus was down at roughly the 5 o'clock position and near the edge. Tried using the L/S 60 spotting scope, both almost but not quite fitted the lowest magni...

I have noticed that the two recent comets from outside the Solar System have been given a new type of designation, using sequential numbers, 1 and 2 followed by I. so Borisov is 2I and the previous one was 1I. Is this officially sanctioned? I some fonts could be very confusing! Regards maf

8th December 2019; 1450 UT; Windy and cloudy in the afternoon but a rather limited gap in the cloud-cover revealed a surprising but very quick view of VENUS in daylight, using L/S 60mm spotter from the garden...but was very soon clouded-out. [obs.#584] -------leading to very heavy cloud, part of whi...

Further to my previous comments about the complexity of everyday life, I am currently reading Bill Bryson's new book "The Body". This really demonstrates how very complicated life itself is and how every we evolved from a handful of elements to the complexity of living beings is beyond me. And how m...

Who knows! Cosmologists (and astrobiologists) are always says "What we want to find out is how did the universe (or life) began". It is certainly beyond me! Coping and understanding the complexity of everyday life does my head in. The world of computers does too. Having spent a couple of days settin...

2nd December 2019. another sighting of Mercury on this cold and clear morning. First seen at 0645 UT just over the rooftop and through the treeless branches, and followed using 8x36 Nikon binocular and Landscout spotter through the bedroom window glass until the sky was flushed with straw&pink of su...

Saturday 30/11/19, 0015 UT. Very clear sky so did a bit of observing through the window using the Nikon 8x36 binoculars. From the west-facing window, URANUS (0bs.#1450) was observed and not far away, and MIRA was seen to be still bright. A view through the east-facing window showed R Leonis and 18 &...

30/11/19, MARS & MERCURY in the early morning. Used 8x30 Nikon binoculars. 0630 UT MARS was seen from the bedroom window. Later at 0639 UT, MERCURY (Obs.#528) was just peeping over the rooftops and through the empty twigs and branches of a tree. Later had a glimpse at 0701 UT using the Landscout spo...

27/11/19, Cloudy and rainy during the day but there was a period of clear sky ( with some remaining cirrus and passing broken cumulus) after sunset. Used 8x36 Nikon binoculars and Nikon Fieldscope II from the upper west-facing window. Intermittent views were had of VENUS and JUPITER at 0605-1610-162...