The sneeze on the windscreen..

I am a little bit fascinated by globular clusters. I know this looks a bit blurry but this seems to be the nature of the object.  Thousands of new stars all still caught in each other’s gravitational hold, revolving in their spherical holding pattern until some break free.. then others.  I’m not going to be around to watch the entire galactic dance, so I’m happy to see this small part.  This is the Omega Centuri Cluster.

Hide and seek with Luna..

Yesterday in Melbourne we were to witness the first of three occultation (hiding) of Saturn, behind the Moon, for 2014.  This was to take place at 9:52am, the planet slipping behind the Moon on its’ bright side then at 11:02am peeking out from the dark edge of the Moon.  Thick cloud in the end meant none of this was to be seen.   For a short moment the moon peeked through a hole in the cloud cover.  The first time I’ve taken a photo of the moon in the day and it looked just beautiful.

The next Occultation of Saturn will be on May 14^th and another on the 22^nd of August.  These ones will be at night so should be more spectacular to see... as long as there are no clouds!

Space, you've got to start somewhere..

A piece of the Large Magellanic Cloud.

There really is nothing on TV and there is so much going on in the sky above us.  Many of us let the nights slip by, for days, weeks, months never even noticing the dynamic scene playing out over our heads!  I really, really, really am a very amateur astronomer and I include the word “astronomer” in my blog title reluctantly, all the good star gazer titles were gone!   I’m more of a sky looker with very little technical knowledge, a thirsty curiosity, a willingness to learn more, a telescope, a camera and a suburban backyard.  

I have always had an interest in astronomy and would say "One day, I'd really like to find out more.." well, life only has so many "one day"s, so here we are.

Please check in now and then, I can’t wait to share what I find with you.

Now, I have a life like you do too.  I need to sleep at night and function in the day, so I’ll aim at checking in once a week with what I have found, thought, observed and generally become excited about. This should allow for cloudy, rainy, and nights when I've just got to sleep.

Ok!? Off we go..