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The night sky in the country and in the city.
The night sky in the country and in the city.


Welcome to χ&h.me.uk


Astro images

The montage of images above shows the night sky at nautical twilight, when the Sun is 12° below the horizon. In the top right of the frame is part of the constellation Cassiopeia, and the bright star on the left edge is Capella in Auriga. Near the centre, and enlarged in the inserts, is the open star cluster Melotte 20 in Perseus.

Both images are 30-second exposures and are taken with settings of f/3.5 and 400 ISO. Both are taken at 23:00 UT on 2010-05-22.

On the left things are as they should be: A dark, deep blue sky with remnants of twilight on the northern horizon. This image is taken from a few km north of Kelso, Scottish Borders.

On the right we see how things are for so many of us: city dwellers and their local councils illuminate the landscape, mostly with orange sodium streetlights. Much of this light flows upwards into the sky. Added to the natural blue, the result is a bright pink sky through which it is difficult to see the stars. This image is taken from one of the hills of Edinburgh, which are relatively dark places.

Recent changes

Site map

  • Noctilucent cloud: Observations of NLC are being added continuously.
  • Astrophotography: An introduction into using a digital single lens reflex (dSLR) camera or a webcam to take pictures of astronomical objects.
  • Astro images: More pictures I have taken of astronomical objects.
  • Ephemerides: Ephemerides are data that predict the position and appearance of astronomical objects. This server each day calculates the rise and set of the planets, passes of the International Space Station and flares of the Iridium satellites.
  • Software: I have written a few applications to do with ephemerides and with astro imaging. These are available for your use and improvement under the GNU General Public Licence.
  • Stockert is a now historic radio telescope in the Eifel hills near Bonn, Germany.
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