Stargazing

 

The BBC is running it’s live Stargazing show again this year. It started yesterday and finishes tomorrow. I quite like the fact that it will encourage people to look up at the night sky and hopefully marvel at how awesome the universe is.

I’m lucky enough to live in an area where the back gardens are shielded from most of the street lighting, and on a clear night, once all the motion sensitive security lights go out there’s a fine view of the night sky.

To this end I spent Friday and Saturday night in the frosty night air armed with my camera and tripod to try out the “starry sky” setting on my Lumix FZ45.

Clicking through for the larger images is recommended

The plough.

Orion

Last night we went on a BBC Stargazing event on the Mersey Ferry the Royal Daffodil. This involved an hour an half trip on the River Mersey. On board was a number of astronomers from JMU to answer any questions while we free to wander around looking at the sky. One of the drawbacks to stargazing from a boat in the middle of a river at night is that is has to be illuminated for safety so there’s was probably more light pollution out there than there is in my suburban back garden. However it was a great experience and I did get a rather snazzy photo or two of the Liverpool Waterfront.