Society for Popular Astronomy

Friday, 10th January MMXX, Observed from 1914-1955 UT; The sky was completely overcast and I more or less gave up any hope of observing this event so I went for a shower. On returning to the bedroom window - lo & behold - the Moon was emerging from the clouds! As I had already set the Celestron ...

3/1/20. On a coastal bus journey from Eastbourne back to Brighton had a lovely view of the Sun setting over the sea horizon- it was completely set by 1604hrs. For the following perhaps 45 minutes, a broken SUN PILLAR was seen as the light faded and the sea turned dark blue against the orange -yellow...

Hello Cliff. This morning, Monday, we awoke here to thick fog. By about 9am, just as I ventured out, fortunately with my camera to hand, the Sun very faintly appeared and I managed to take a snap, just with the hand-held camera alone. Zoomed it up in the print machine in the chemist. The result show...

Probably because the opportunities for using telescopes are currently so limited because of the horrible weather that it rapidly diverted to discussing, through our mutual love of felines, to constellations in history being named after cats! And also of birds, on to which I also can turn by binocula...

Re "The Owl", mentioned earlier as being once also nearby, was actually on the tail of the Hydra. This area was initially the "Solitaire" although drawn as a Rock Thrush, and its name being changed to Turdus solitarius, and then being pen-ultimately as a mockingbird, ending up as...

25/12/19, 0400 - 0435 UT; Awoke to find the sky very clear and Leo was in the south, so went outside [with the cat] with 8x36 binoculars in hand to attempt to locate the old *C star to Felis the cat, now in Hydra, and now that IAU WGSN has confirmed that the star's name should be Felis... so althoug...

'Star Tales, Revised and expanded edition' by Ian Ridpath, has a chapter on obsolete constellations and page 192 has a copy of Chart XIX of Bode's Uranographia (1801) showing exactly where it was placed before being expunged.
See a separate posting here in the Observing section. regards maf

After a little research about Felis the Cat the obsolete constellation, I came across the following :The brightest star of the defunct Felis, has recently been added to the IAU WGSN official name of stars, now in Hydra [HD85951 / HR3925] with the star name of Felis. A KIII , 4.94 mag star at RA 09 5...

24/12/19, 0705 until 0715UT; Crescent Moon & Earthshine and Herring Gulls; Low in the SE was the lovely sight of Crescent Moon & Earthshine [ Just 1d 22h from New] with a large flock of Herring Gulls superimposed on the scene, which was viewed in 8x36 binoculars and photographed from the str...

Good view of crescent Moon and Earthshine with Mars to right and gamma Libra to left, low in the SSE this morning. All fit nicely in the fov of 8x36 binocular. And the sky is clear here on the South Coast! Monday, 23rd December 2019. 0645 UT. [unlike the Winter Solstice Sunrise morning yesterday... ...

Option to emigrate! I fear that where ever one emigrates to, if one can or wants to do that, may well be a matter of 'from frying pan into the fire'. Actual real fire, as relatives in Australia are experiencing at the moment. regards maf

The devastating impact of dreadful weather, persistent cloud and rain, is a much worse problem now to observers + skywatchers than any light pollution, in my opinion. It has also damaged/ altered wildlife patterns and the eternal grey skies are soooo depressing. I bet the bottom has dropped out of t...

Another 22 deg Solar Halo today, 18th Dec. 2019. 1220-1250 UT, A rather, often broad but broken halo, quite coloured at the top, but variable. Attempted photos from the street. Continues later to observe and photograph it between 1310-1400, when it first improved in brightness and form, as I walked ...

Much of the limited observing here in Sussex recently has just been the occasional few minutes between clouds, and often through the bedroom window. The nearby chalk ploughed fields are almost quagmires. And our cat too still insists she is let out hunting for mice every, often wet night. If one doe...

I always imagine that it comes simply from the fact that they 'dog' or follow the Sun.
The word 'rainbow' is a bit weird because is you see a 'rainbow' caused by the Moon, it is called a 'moonbow.' Perhaps the daytime arc should be called a 'sunbow'!!! regards maf