Sawbills

Just for completeness: another 'set' of birds I've encountered in Norfolk. These delightful fish-eating ducks have serrated bills to help them cling on to their prey: these are typically long and thin, There are three regular UK species: Red-breasted Merganser and Goosander are both breeders, while Smew are somewhat scarce winter visitors. A fourth species - the Hooded Merganser - was only admitted to the British list in 1999, so the two I've seen (both females: one at Titchwell, one at Cley) are not strictly 'tickable'! I didn't manage a photo of either...

Seven planets: no telescope!

Regular readers may remember that I reluctantly sold my telescope and CCD camera outfit because a new 'neighbour' insisted on having super-bright outdoor lights (back and front) turned on most nights, all night. However, I've found that my Canon R7 and Pentax K3 can image even quite faint objects down to magnitude 10, given a sturdy tripod and appropriate exposure / aperture. Using them, I've managed to capture all seven planets - eight, including the Earth - as well as excellent shots of the Moon and several comets. A terrific help if you fancy having a bash is the Heavens Above website, from which you can obtain all the date and location data you need!

Here are the seven planets, in order outwards from the Sun:

Last night's 'Cold Moon'

Terrifically clear skies last night: the full Moon was visible from moonrise to moonset!

Another Comet!

...but only just! The snappily-named Comet C/2025 T1 Atlas is conveniently located just below Cygnus, but a long exposure and a star chart are needed to find it, since it's a dim magnitude 9.7. (The tree is lit up by the nearly-full Moon!)

As anticipated: a beautiful aurora

As I'd hoped, yesterday's intense solar activity produced a pretty impressive aurora last night, from around 7.00 - 8.30 pm. The near-full Moon diminished the effect a little, but the display was visible to the naked eye. Friend and neighbour Sue invited me into her back garden (which enjoys an unrestricted dark northern horizon) allowing me to take these photos:

Amazing sunspots!

Yet another big cluster of sunspots is crawling around the Sun's surface: maybe we'll see more auroral displays soon (or - God forbid -  a Carrington Event)

The Star of Bethlehem

I've just had my monthly astronomy chat with Suffolk Sound's lovely Jules Button. This month (perhaps unsurprisingly) we were talking about the Star of Bethlehem: here're the main points of our discussion. 
(I should just add that there were two impressive conjunctions at around the general time of Christ's birth: Jupiter, Venus and Regulus in 2 & 3 BC and Jupiter and Saturn in 7 BC)

A day in the Brecks

With nothing much new on the North Coast, Norman, Brian and I decided to brave the A47 / A11 and their horrendous roadworks to look for some Breckland specialties and a possible year tick.

First stop was Lynford Arboretum: no Hawfinches, but at least three flocks of Crossbills, with back up from a confiding Goldcrest, Siskins and Redwings. We drove south east to Lackford, where despite two hours searching through a large number of Eurasian Teal, there was no sign of the long-staying Green-winged Teal: lots of Snipe and a Barnacle Goose weren't much consolation. Still: an enjoyable day out in great company.

The night sky in December

Plenty to see on the longest, darkest nights of the year...

The god of the skies!

Uranus was not universally recognised as a planet - the seventh in the Solar System - until March, 1781, despite having been observed as far back as 128 BC. The British astronomer William Herschel initially thought he had discovered a new comet, based on the movement of the object against the background of stars: this parallax motion is evident in the photos below that I took six nights apart. (Since Uranus is around 1.8 billion miles away, the apparent movement is quite small - but visible!)

It took nearly seventy years for  a name to be generally agreed upon : the German astronomer Bode suggested calling the planet Uranus - the latinized  version of the name of Greek god of the skies, Ouaranos.

Halo!

A complete 'moonbow' tonight... After the sky cleared at around 8.30, Saturn could be seen just below the Moon: some terrific crater fields, including Copernicus - its central peaks and terraced walls were plainly visible.

Some fascinating lunar features

Despite tonight's watery haze, some terrific lunar landmarks - mountains, mountain ranges, faults etc. - were visible on the waxing first quarter Moon. (The Alpine Valley is the scar left by an oblique meteoric or cometary impact)

The International Space Station in December

It's so sad that - with co-operation between the US and Russian space agencies in a somewhat fragile state - the ISS is scheduled to be de-orbited in 2030. If you've never watched its majestic transit of the night sky, you have some decent opportunities from mid-month.