The Misadventures of Comet Hunting!!

The target “Comet Panstarr” is the astronomical highlight for me this month, and as such the task, should you wish to accept, is to view find it in the night skies. Here follows the adventures or misadventures of the Lost Naturalist and her companion to achieve this aim.

Sunday – Doesn’t begin well, snow showers on and off all day!! However, my loyal assistant dresses up like “Nanook of the North” and goes on a scouting mission hunting for the Moon and so the Comet Panstarr in the gaps between the quickly moving clouds and various snow showers!! No sign – just snow!

Monday – More snow on and off during the day – in fact in the morning, we’d got up to three or four inches of the stuff, accompanied though by some wonderful bright blue skies, unfortunately by the time night fell, the sky was socked in with clouds – No chance!!

Tuesday – A day when the temperatures rose as the cloud settled in and the snow melted rapidly, unfortunately it meant that all chance of seeing anything was lost in the cloud. Again!!

Wednesday – At last an evening, of biting coldness, but that meant the sky was crystal clear and stars shone brightly!! At last a decent opportunity to go Comet Panstarr hunting!!

Going out just after sunset, when the western sky still retained the last stains of the warm orange glow of the setting sun. As we waited for darkness to fall, there was the sudden whoosh overhead of a small flock of rushing birds, as they headed rapidly to their roosts for the night, and the icy stillness of the evening was disturbed by the final squabbles of the local Coots, settling down on a near by lake. Unfortunately this wonderful stillness was then shattered, as the quiet lane suddenly became the M6, as a number of cars passed by. Each of which slowed down to observe the activities of two lost or maybe mad Naturalists looking for a Comet!!

Even though the darkness of night had yet to fully fall, the tiny sliver of the crescent Moon shone exceptionally brightly, as though it was being lit by a spotlight. It was so well lit that the Earth shine shadow was really obvious to the naked eye, almost as though the rest of the moon was just out of focus. Through the scope, the Moon also revealed the Seas on the Moon as darker shadows with the darker Earth shine area. The scope also revealed the details of the craters on the thin crescent in full light, they were so bright and fresh that they felt exceptionally close, as though you could almost reach out and touch them, if you just had the courage. Its that same urge, that comes when you see that glossy new coat of wet paint and just have to put your finger on it!!

The Crescent Moon with Earth Shine – 13 March 2013 (Copyright Ross Lockley)

As the sky darkened the the surrounding stars also began to come into view, with Jupiter shining out as a bright beacon first. Followed more slowly by the various stars of Orion, beginning with the shoulders and working down the body as the sky progressively darkened, until just before we left, after the Moon had set, the whole constellation was visible.

On the Comet Panstarrs front, not so much luck. Doesn’t really help that we were not looking in quite the right area of space! We were looking above the Moon, unfortunately by Wednesday the Comet would have been below the Moon – Oops!! Also it doesn’t help here; that the surrounding hills mean that the Moon set before it was really dark in the west.

Thursday – Yesterday was another evening where the skies were covered by cloud!!!

Friday – Had thought that this evening was going to be another write off, as just before the sun set it had been raining again, and to the front of the house the sky was still covered in thick dark clouds, however, outback the clouds had broken and the Moon shone out – signalling another attempt.

As time was moving on and the Comet Panstarr would by now be low in the sky and soon setting behind the surrounding hills, we dashed down the road, to another view point, lower hills here and this time armed with a decent set of instructions. There was the crescent Moon and about a hand span below and to the right, there in full view in the scope’s eye piece (unfortunately not visible to the naked eye) and almost setting on the horizon, was the Comet Panstarr!!! A glorious fuzzy mass, but somehow amazing and very wondrous!! Not at all like the classic view of a Comet, with a tail streaking out behind, just a fuzzy mass, but still something that once gone from view in a few weeks time, won’t return again in my life time, so amazing and wondrous!!

The Moon – Below which but not visible would be Comet Panstarr – 15 March 2013 (Copyright Ross Lockley)

A Weekend with the Stars

Originally these had been going to be a number of short blogs about star gazing last weekend (15 February – 18 February) but as they are all related I decided to post them all as one.

Beginning last Friday, the day of the meteorite strike in Russia (amazing pictures of which can be seen here – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21475858) and the close flyby of a passing asteroid, so definitely a night for astronomy. This was especially so, as the sky was in a perfect condition, cloudless and the stars were amazingly bright against the inky blackness. The success of the night was the view of the International Space Station as it rose in the south west and travelled as a bright star across the sky, passing as it went through my favourite constellation of Orion, before fading back into eclipse. The less successful event of Friday was the hunting of the asteroid as it passed by (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21442863). Going out a number of times, during what was supposed to be the most optimum period, armed with binoculars and star maps, and looking as hard as we could, it remained as elusive as a passing asteroid might, when it misses!

Another clear night on Sunday, this one also cold and crystal clear, with the grass and surrounding vegetation covered with some amazing ice crystals, which in themselves almost distracted me, but with such clear skies the opportunity was too good to miss. Tonight’s highlight was the view of Jupiter through the scope, which gave good views of the planet and its four largest moons. Even with the additional magnification of the scope, the four largest moons, Ganymede, Europa, Io and Callisto, are just pinpricks of light. Not sure though, considering the many million of miles distance between Earth and Jupiter why I should expect anything else. The night sky also produced good views of the Plough from where we followed the arc to Arcturus, but as with so many times before could not speed on to Spica, which was below the horizon.

To complete a weekend of star gazing, Monday evening remained clear and cold with another good opportunity for star gazing, as the stars seemed almost close enough to touch. This was just so much the case for the Moon tonight, which when the scope was trained on the waxing crescent was so brightly lit that the craters, especially on the boundary with the dark side, were amazingly clear. Wow! Not sure I’ve ever seen them so amazingly clear. It was as though they had only just been made and so close I felt I could almost reach out and touch them. With a sight like this I am inspired to go and find the necessary adapter to attach my camera to the scope so that I can take some pictures. Though the Moon was the highlight, it was not the only feature of the evening, managed also to train the scope on Orion’s belt for the nebula. I know my favourite constellation; that I just can’t get enough off, as for the nebula – a melting pot for new stars, something I find very difficult to get my head round!! New stars forming in front of my very eyes! Wow!

Changing Light

Running a bit behind as typing is slow with one hand at present – this entry dates from Monday 11 February. Enjoy!

From the greyness of Sunday, Monday was just so different. It was as though overnight someone had taken the flat grey world and coloured it in, to form a beautiful, new, three dimensional place. All because the sun decided to shine!

In the light of this new world, went up to St Mary’s Loch and Loch of the Lowes, here the hills still wore a mantle of winter, with a good coating of snow. Up here the snow was still fresh and bright, like a new coat of icing. For once there was a very distinctive snow line, above which the snow sat pristine and deep, below which the winter browns and greens had just been splattered with a thin indistinct covering that quickly lost all signs of snow. Against the white, the browns seemed much warmer and alive today. This was especially so for those Larches that occurred in patches amongst the dark greens of the surrounding conifers, even more so when the conifers had been sprinkled with snow. Just like someone had shaken icing sugar all over them.

Loch of the Lowes – 11 February 2013 (Copyright Carol Jones)

Monday was a day when the light was continually changing. One moment the bright sunshine produced clear warm colours; the next the clouds had moved across the sun and the scene became brooding and dramatic. Then as the clouds moved again the sun rays broke through, looking as though a series of spotlights had been fired up highlighting specific points on the hillsides and loch, almost as though it was an alien landing point.

St Mary’s Loch – 11 February 2013 (Copyright Carol Jones)

Splashes of Colour

Last Sunday was a decidedly grey and dull day. The light was flat and the world felt an exceptionally grey place, almost two dimensional in nature. The dark greens of the conifers had merged into the tired green of the pastures, and were surrounded by the stark grey of stone walls, even the Rushes had been tinged with brown from the winter frosts.

Then suddenly the eye is caught by a rash of almost iridescent greens highlighting the stark greyness of the boundaries. One thing about the dank grey days of winter is that mosses love them, at which point they come alive. The humidity of winter make them expand and shine, especially as all around them has died, leaving them alone to shine on a blank canvas.

 

Walls – 10 February 2013 (Copyright Ross Lockley)

Then as though to hint that spring isn’t that far away, there was also a Gorse bush that was splashed with colour, as though someone had taken a paint brush and flicked it with yellow paint, to produce the occasional sprinkle of flowers. The yellow flowers stood out like small beacons of shinning colour amongst the structural elements of the evergreen spines and the dull greyness of the day.

 

Sprinkle of Gorse Flowers – 10 February 2013 (Copyright Ross Lockley)

Snow, Snowdrops, and Starlings

Well, we had another inch of snow yesterday, mainly the large flaked stuff, but very wet, however, today’s blue sky and sunshine, together with a rise in temperature soon saw the continual drip, drip, of water as the snow began to melt, accompanied by the occasional woosh as a sheet of snow sliped off of the roof. Snow is but a transient thing, here and beautiful one moment, slush the next moment, and gone in a third. Even though the snow was rapidly melting there was still enough around today, to make the walls, hedges, clumps of rushes and conifer belts stand out starkly against the almost pure white background.

 

Walls and Things – 26 January 2013 (Copyright Ross Lockley)

With the snow on the way out, signs of spring have begun to appear from out of the white depths. Amongst the snow and shadows underneath the hedge, there have appeared the grey green leaves of clusters of Snowdrops, now just tall enough to be visible above the snow. Amongst the leaves, there were several white flower buds, as though to herald the first signs of spring. Even the local bird population was feeling the pull of the new season, for from the surrounding trees, a full chorus of song was erupting, shouting with joy that they were alive. Most surprising from amongst this was the sound of a warbling Curlew?!! It took me a few minutes to realise that it wasn’t a Curlew, but actually one of a small flock of Starlings that were calling and warbling from a nearby tree.

Snow Days

The Lost Naturalist would love to say that she was snowed in and having a snow day, unfortunately though we have lots of snow, and by this evening we have about six inches of the stuff, she is actually the “Crocked Naturalist” and is stuck close to home.

Anyway, the snow I was talking about in my previous blog, finally arrived, first in dribs and drabs, beginning over Friday night, not much at this stage, maybe a couple of inches, but enough to blur some of the outlines of the surrounding landscape features. Most striking was its highlighting effects on the branches of the Japanese Larches, where the rich orange red of the twigs, currently devoid of needles, was strikingly lined with a bright white band of snow.

 

Larches – 19 January 2013 (Copyright Ross Lockley)

The snow properly arrived over Sunday night and into today, so that when dawn arrived the surroundings were carpeted with a soft white blanket of snow. During the course of the day, this blanket was added to almost continuously, as snow continued to fall, some of the time as large, soft, almost tissue paper like flakes, and sometimes as small, hard, ice crystals, but fall it did. As the day progressed the snow continued to coat the surrounding vegetation, beginning as a thin dusting, like icing sugar on top of a cake, and gradually thickening to form a proper frosted decoration, which even in the dull light levels of a snow storm, shone with an inner glow of cold beauty.

 

Frosted Trees – 21 January 2013 (Copyright Ross Lockley)

Ice Needles

While waiting for the snow that is forecast for today to make up its mind as to whether its coming or not, I thought back to Wednesday morning, to a totally white world, where the thin layer of snow remaining from earlier in the week was merged with a thick blanket of mist that blanked out the surroundings. It was as though the whole world had been covered with a white sheet, and all the details blurred out. The loss of details was worth it, for as the mist rose over the course of the morning it produced some amazing effects, in the form of a hoar frost that coated the world in shining crystals.

Hoar Frost – 16 January 2013 (Copyright Ross Lockley)

Over the course of the morning the vegetation went from being wet and soggy to being covered in the most amazing architectural ice sculptures. From a distance the vegetation looked as though it had been scattered with icing sugar, which as the sky cleared sightly almost sparkled with the better light. Close up the vegetation was covered with thousands of ice crystals each grown perfectly into the shape of a needle. It was quite amazing, over the course of several hours to watch the crystals grow from nothing, through tiny needles to structures a centimetre or two in length. Large enough to do justice to being the white needles of a conifer, but so fragile and ephemeral; that when the temperature rose just a degree they would be gone.

Swan Lake

According to some theories the world was supposed to end on Friday, following some form of water horror. Well it obviously hasn’t ended for I’m still here, but as for the water, there is lots of that.

Its been raining here for what seems like days, in fact the outstanding memory of this year has been rain and lots of it! But that’s another story. Until today it seems to have been raining almost consistently since Wednesday. The ground that was already totally saturated, has now begun sprouting new springs, appearing along the hillside in places where they haven’t been before. Most of these springs are not seeps, but are pouring like springs with business elsewhere. We even gained our own water feature, with a raging torrent pouring down the track outside the house, to add its contents to the duck pond opposite.

Duck pond is probably now the wrong term to describe our temporary water body. In fact its as large as I have ever seen it and is now looking more like having the proportions of a lake rather than a pond, as it stretches for at least a hundred metres in length. As for the ducks, seen those on it in the past, I’ve also seen children on it when its frozen, but today is the first time I’ve seen it with a pair of swans on it. They were obviously quite happy there, for when I returned some time later they were happily dozing.

Swan Lake – 23 December 2012 (Copyright Carol Jones)

Heading north along the valley, the fields along the bottom have also flooded, something which occurs most winters but not as much as this. Usually the water forms just a series of temporary small water bodies down the valley, that rise and fall rapidly as the surroundings drain. Following our most recent rain event, they have coalesced into two large lakes, one of which was deep enough to cover the fence that separates two of the fields, while the other is only a few inches from the top of a wall. Both of these were fed by raging torrents that had given up with the field drains and were pouring down the surrounding hillsides, flooding across the lane and into the bottom fields.

Lakes – 22 December 2012 (Copyright Carol Jones)

The Eye in the Snow

First sprinkling of snow for this winter (though in fact we have yet to reach winter and are still in autumn) occurred on Friday night, maybe an appropriate way to welcome December in. To be honest, it wasn’t what I would necessarily call real snow. More like a layer of tiny ice crystals that gave a thin white crystalline coating to the already frozen ground. Each ice crystal was still quite visible, looking as though there had been a leak in a bag of rice, as each crystal was about the size of a grain of rice and each was individually identifiable.

Ice Eye in the Green of Winter – 01 December 2012 (Copyright Carol Jones)

The cold though, has made the temporary duck pond into a shining frozen eye, and with the sun low in the sky the whole affair shines and twinkles like a watery eye. This eye is then ringed by the hazy bright white band of ice crystals, made even brighter by being in a field of green, where the rest of the snow has been melted by the days bright sunshine. This eye sat there almost unblinking in the bright light, but not quite, for the warmth of even the weak winter sun, makes the ice expand and contract. This expansion and contraction produces a wonderful pinging sound, almost like the stretching of an elastic band to its final limits. The expansion was so great that the elastic pinged, and broke, as it breaks the note produced almost reaches the high notes of heaven.