How was the year?

[Guest]

From a personal perspective it was a good year astronomically. We had the first decent comet for ages and it sparked some interest amongst the general public. We had unusually clear weather for the approach of Venus to inferior conjunction and the Lyrid meteor shower. Finally, we had the approach of Jupiter to Saturn.  and many missed the main event but  saw loads of photos online.

 

From a personal perspective,  I pushed my DSLR photography to another level.

 

Shame about the Perseids, Geminids and Mars but we can't have it all!

[+RonC]

Mostly cloudy Phil!!

[Guest]

40 minutes ago, RonC said:

Mostly cloudy Phil!!

 

Sorry to hear that, Ron.

[+RonC]

But I did get some reasonable images!! I just hope there is less cloud in 2021!!

[+Graham]

All I seem to remember about 2020 is it had to be the wettest and cloudiest year in living memory for me.

Which considering Suffolk is supposed to be the driest county I find very difficult to understand.

Roll on 2021 --- It cannot be any worse.  

[Nightspore]

My year wasn't bad at all. Neowise was probably the highlight, but it's been a good Mars year.

[+Bino-viewer]

I've enjoyed my observing sessions, and the ad-hoc sessions a few of us have arranged.

Mars has been the highlight, and i've had the best views of it i've ever had.

The comet was very nice too, and long overdue. It was one to remember.

 

Who knows what 2021 has in stall for us, but i'm not terribly optimistic.

I just feel lucky to be healthy, and have a steady job.

 

Regarding astronomy : we have a solar eclipse in 2021 and hopefully Jupiter starting to return to a more prominent position.

I'm looking forward to putting my new camera through its paces with some imaging challenges.

I've also been toying with the idea of putting together a mid size Newtonian ( 8 - 10" size ) and customising it and using it on alt-az mount.

Light weight and fast cooldown are my goals.

 

Whatever comes along, here's to astronomy.

I wish you all a healthy and better year ahead.

 

 

 

 

 

[DeanWatson]

Its helped keep me a little sane, I always find being out ion the observatory is quite zen, even in a world got barking at the moon insane.  Which this is.  On the (begrudgingly as I like to do things, not stagnate) I have spent very little.  Paid for the new motorfocus for my CPC1100 that's a help.

[Guest]

On 04/03/2021 at 18:53, DeanWatson said:

Its helped keep me a little sane, I always find being out ion the observatory is quite zen, even in a world got barking at the moon insane.  Which this is.  On the (begrudgingly as I like to do things, not stagnate) I have spent very little.  Paid for the new motorfocus for my CPC1100 that's a help.

 

I bought a new intervalometer and that was that. My last major purchase was nearly 6 years ago: my Nikon D3200.