Stargazing..

The clearest night we've had for weeks, months..

Time to play with my new tripod and shutter release cable. First learn how to set the camera to "Bulb" mode so I can get long exposures. I'm going to enjoy playing with this over the coming months, but for a first attempt, I don't think it's bad.

Obvious "star" a third in from bottom left is Jupiter. Through a telescope, four of it's moons can be seen clearly, as can the rotation of them from hour to hour.. To the left of Jupiter are two bright stars, Castor (top) and Pollox, the heavenly twins. Orion is in the bottom right corner, with Taurus above it. Taurus is clearly visible as a sideways "V". Follow the arms of the "V" towards the middle of the picture and you can see two stars that represent the end of the bull's horns. Memorably named, Alnath and Shurnarkabtishashutu, just above the second (lowest) one is the Crab Nebula. Think I'll need Simac's lenses to capture that!! In the top right corner is a smudge that looks like a small Plough. This is the Pleiades..

(Just hope you can see all that in the small Blip pic!!)

A quick shower now, and hoping to get down the pub around 10. A few bevvies, and then a do in the hall tomorrow evening for all the village..

Happy New Year everyone - Bhliadhna mhath ur..