Io shadow transit, planetary nebulae and clusters

On 15th Jan I had the family out watching Io’s shadow (and Io, but that was too hard to spot) transit across Jupiter’s face. This happened to coincide with a Great Red Spot transit too, though I was the only one to spot that as it quickly went out of view.

Planets, nebulae and clusters.

I’ve got a couple of nights’ stargazing to catch up on. On 12th Jan I was out in imperfect conditions (slight fog and a bright rising moon) looking at secret deep objects.

Flamsteed P

Flamsteed P is a crater rim in the Southern Oceanus Procellarum. It is what remains visible of one of numerous former craters that were flooded in the last of the great Mare extrusions about 2 billion years ago.

Open clusters of the Hidden Treasures list: NGC 1528, 1545 and Collinder 69 (Orion’s Head)

The clear skies that often follow the passage of a rain front frequently generate excellent observing conditions. However, yesterday the moon was half full, meaning that I was restricted to fairly bright objects. I took in three gorgeous open clusters.

My kid’s school is so proud of its faith. They should be ashamed of it.

I’ve been wanting to get this stuff off my chest for a long time. My eldest daughter goes to Archbishop of York Junior School, which was recently subject to an Ofsted inspection, as well as its Statutory Inspection of Anglican Schools. In addition the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, recently visited the school’s Xmas play. In all these events/occasions, public comments were made about the school being good “because it is Christian”.

Secret deep clusters and nebulae: NGC 1807, 1817, 1931, IC 417 and Stock 8.

More deep sky last night, and given the constellations that are prominent at present, this meant open clusters and nebulae. Once again I hunted down some of the Secret Deep objects.

The Rubber Stamp Nebula (NGC 1999), NGC 1245, and Caldwell 50 (NGC 2244)

For Xmas I got a lovely present of Steven James O’Meara’s latest deep sky companion “The Secret Deep“. So I went out to try it out.

December Delights: M42, The Crab nebula (M1), and The Perseus Lenticular (NGC 1023)

This December has not been the best month of stargazing for me: although the weather was OK at times, I was just too tired from work on many clear nights, and I had other competing demands such as sending in my butterfly records before Xmas. So I took the chance last night when, a front having just passed over, the sky was gorgeously clear.

Review of “Rescuing Darwin: God and evolution in Britain today” by Nick Spencer and Denis Alexander.

This essay is a report by “Theos: the Public Theology Think Tank”, and attempts to show that Darwinism and theism are reconcilable.

In compliance with the creative commons license under which the report was created, I link to the original article here and encourage my readers to look at it.

Schickard and the Orientalis impact

A day 12 moon, clear skies and out I went. Schickard, the fourth largest crater on the moon, was right on the terminator, so I sketched that.