Toys Mean Torrential Downpours

Hello!

So, this past weekend came and went the back end of Bertha.  Bertha being the left over low pressure system of Hurricane Bertha that has tracked across the Atlantic and found our shores.  This has brought quite a bit of rain to the area, and thus, prevented much in the way of observing.  Today, I officially blamed Jim for the bad weather due to him taking delivery of the JLT, and it seems the laws of astronomy have bitten with vengeance.  But, I’m afraid to say that there have been other developments that haven’t help improve the situation.  Yesterday, I made some astro purchases of my own, and hopefully tomorrow, I should be in possession of two new EPs and a new filter.  Since I first came across, and then, bought my first BST Starguider EP, my intention was to eventually get the full set.  So, I’ve just ordered the 12mm and 15mm pieces to complete the collection.  I have bought these from Alan at Skys The Limit.  The other purchase is the Skywatcher OIII filter from First Light Optics.  I now have a full complement of EPs and four of the main filters (UHC, OIII, LP and Moon).

Recently, the news has also been full of hype on the latest buzzword ‘Supermoon’.  Actually, if you go along with the news, and the buzz, this is actually the third supermoon of this year.  Only recently have I heard more and more people referring to these lunar event as a supermoon.  The term has been used to describe the apparent size and brightness of the moon in relation to its closest orbital distance (perigee) to the Earth.  Actually, the time at which this is most evident is at moonrise.  Once the moon has risen well clear of the horizon, the actual size of the full moon looks much the same as any other full moon during the lunar cycles.  It seems the media and various publications have got hold of this term and pushed it out into the public domain, whereas in reality, I don’t think it’s anything special. 

Finally, something to look forward to later in the month of August, in fact, right at the end of August.  Hopefully, it will be a cloud free evening, and I will be able to see the moon and Saturn approximately 0.5 degrees apart from each other at around 8.30pm.  the sky will still be reasonably light then, but Saturn will be at mag. +0.9 which should be bright enough to see quite well at that time of evening. 

Next on the list for me is to continue my research into the dobsonian mount construction of the Skywatcher Skyliner series of truss telescopes J!  And of course, perhaps catch a sighting of a few early Perseids this evening.

Thanks for reading,

MMM