Another clear night saw me trying to capture the comet again. This time with a longer lens. The comet is getting higher in the sky, and today is the closest approach to Earth (so it might be a bit brighter). Still no progress on getting my telescope mount back from the repair place, so I’m …
Category Archives: science
“An imperfect account of a comet…”
to quote Caroline Herschel. There’s a buzz in the media over the rare green comet that’s whizzing past us right now. It’s fuelled in part by the colour (almost certainly not visible to the eye (especially from light polluted regions)), and in part by spectacular images from big telescopes. I like comets, and try to …
Cold
The first significant snow fall for about a decade has coincided with a cold snap that has meant the snow has laid for longer and on the pavements has thawed and re-frozen to form sheet ice. A short walk today saw me perform feats of acrobatic skill just to stay on my feet. A happy …
Birds of Dagenham
I’m a scientist, I like data. If I can collect and analyse data from the environment around me, I’m a happy scientist. I’ve been using BirdNet on my phone to identify birds by their sounds; it works pretty well, but sometimes gets confused by lots of birds together, I’ve taught myself a lot of bird …
The Tonga Volcano
At around 04:15 UTC on 2022/1/15 the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai Volcano exploded in the Pacific Ocean. A devastating event for anyone close by, and the tsunami generated affected seal levels anywhere with a pacific coast line. The satellite videos of the eruption show a pressure wave spreading out ahead of the dust cloud. The Met …