Pex Hill

I am on a mission to find darker skies so I can do more night photography, but with wide field views rather than through the telescope.

I asked Corin this afternoon if he, and James, would come with me to Pex Hill Observatory in Cronton, which is about half an hour away from us. This shot is to the north, with the Plough (Ursa Major) sat directly above the dome of the observatory, which is catching the light from the moon that was sitting high in the south east by the time we got there.

Suffice it to say that after a glorious, cloudless day, by the time we made the journey, the cloud started to come in. Typical.

There's a set here - some of which illustrate the light pollution from Liverpool/Runcorn and some which show that the moon was being a pest as far as imaging. It's staggering how far the moonlight diffuses on a bright night with very high thin cloud.

Thanks for comments on close shot of the moon last night. The lighter coloured crater that was the focal point of the shot is Tycho - approximately 85 kilometres in diameter...just because you needed to know that.