I can’t remember when Tracey & I decided to try life modelling – but last year we found an advertisement on a local notice board advertising a life drawing class. We called and spoke to the teacher who was indeed looking for new models for her class, just a...
It’s been a brilliant couple of weeks from a stargazing point of view. Early April saw a return to dark evening skies with the New Moon, and I had a couple of fantastic evening sessions. On one I was joined by a friend, and we had three telescopes set...
Having recently discussed some observing options (binary stars) when the moon’s getting in the way, I thought it might be a good time to discuss observing our nearest star: the sun. First things first, though, a warning: Never, ever, look directly at the sun, whether with the naked eye,...
As you'll know if you watched the show on 17th March, or have seen the media reaction since, five women with alopecia set out to spread awareness of Alopecia (right across the world!) and we also BEAT THE EGGHEADS! The whole jackpot of £29,000 goes to Alopecia UK (well, minus the cost...
With the moon currently waxing in the evening sky, we’re faced with the decision as to whether it’s actually worth going out and setting up the scope. Is it worth getting cold and tired when there’s so little to see? Well, there’s the moon itself, of course (and I...
I’ve had a couple of brief but brilliant sessions recently, covering an incredible range of astronomical objects. The first, on the night of the 23rd of February, was memorable for the mere fact that I got to watch Jupiter’s Great Red Spot drift slowly across the face of the...
As I described in an earlier piece, the Messier catalogue tends to be the starting point for many amateur astronomers. Most Messier objects are fairly easy to find, and encompass a wide range of objects (galaxies, star clusters, nebulae, etc). But once you’ve ticked them all off, what then?...
With Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn being very obvious in the mornings at the moment, and with Jupiter, Mars and Saturn in opposition in March, May, and June, respectively, I’ve been thinking about planets a lot lately. For this piece, I thought I’d spend a little time discussing...
Binoculars are a key part of any stargazer’s equipment, and are greatly complement a telescope. The may not give the same high magnification of a telescope, but a wide field of view and both-eye viewing mean incredible views of night sky objects. Whether for a mid-week grab-and-go session, or...
I thought I’d give a recap of some of the highlights of 2015. According to my observing log I had 33 sessions in 2015 (half of them shared with family and friends). The four sessions in January brought my Messier count to 56, and one of the highlights of...
