And Stephan’s Quintet. I didn’t know that actually it’s a ‘quartet’, the galaxy on the left is much closer than the other 4. Astonishing to see the two on the right smashing into each other.
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NASAs JWST Flickr group page is excellent:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasawebbtelescope/52210366419/in/album-72177720300469752/
Just watched a Horizon documentary on BBC2: Super Telescope, Mission to the Edge of the Universe. It covers the design, build and launch of the JWST up to the initial pictures.
It’s on BBC iPlayer now, for those that have access.
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Ah yes this makes sense. Horizon program is good, some commitment.
This is really good explanation of the James Webb images by ABC Australia .
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Tonight & tomorrow is the night for the best of the Perseid meteors
Last evening we sat outside quaffing cool liquids – as you do
The high level haze together with a full moon washed out a lot of the faint stuff, especially to the south. Fortunately we have a north facing back garden patio, so as the Pinot Grigio disappeared we watched the stars ‘popping out’ in the darkening sky. First the ‘handle’ of Usa Major, the Pole Star, Cassiopeia then all the fainter stars filling in, next an west/east satellite, then some polar trackers.
Then !!! whao !!! a really bright meteorite east to west & low in the sky, Five minutes later another, out of the east & mid sky. By the time we called it quits just before midnight we saw quite a few.
Although Perseids occur from mid July to Mid September, 12th & 13th August is the peak with the predicted max peak at 3UTC on 13th. Unfortunately, the moon will be up all night spoiling the show, but we will still see the brightest ones quite easily.
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Apologies for bumping an old post of mine, but the Perseids are definitely worth seeking out. My basic photography skills don’t do them justice. They can appear across much of the sky, but will appear to radiate from Perseus (hence the name), which will be low in the north east from UK locations.
For visual observing, the weather conditions should be perfect, just lie back on a deck chair or similar.
The moon spoilt the Persied show, but Jupiter rising was spectacularly bright despite it being so low in the sky and in the moonlight washed sky. Also clearly visible to the south of the moon was a well defined Saturn.
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Saw one, a nice bright one. My neighbour saw 3 or 4. Seeing as we face West, not bad! View to the N\NE is crummy.
And yes, Jupiter is looking spectacular the last few nights 
I finally caught up with NGC6543 the Cats Eye planetary nebula. A blue circle with a tiny star in the middle, it’s located in Draco so not far from the North Star.
https://imgur.com/VfAXkAf
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Indeed Mike - there was a white milky hue everywhere with that Sturgeon moon - I did happen to see a few Persieds down on the beach on Saturday night - when the moon was just rising and still low in the sky however
Its a shame the images are showing the artefacts of lens defraction - ie the ‘star’ points around bright light. Its great for artistic effect - but it does detract from reality - great image none the less
Saw a bit of the recent shooting star show, camping helped, but the re appearance of Saturn and Jupiter is good news, so much so that I wheeled the telescope out for the neighbors to view first time in months!
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Anyone caught a view of Jupiter recently?
It’s at it closest approach in something like 60 years.
I have the 'scope out ready, but so far it’s cloudy in London.
Yep it’s been pretty impressive here in Dublin, rising up in the eastern sky just after dark, I’m looking at it right now
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My Eastern view is useless for the telescope. I have to wait until about 1am before I can get eyes on Jupiter. I’ll pop up to the (East-facing) bathroom, see if I can get it in bins. Haven’t checked cloud cover in a while…
Incredibly I was just setting up a scope to have a look at Jupiter when the ISS just past right over it heading east,
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Nice!
All we have at the moment is a gert big cloud pancake all over.
I love seeing the ISS. I always wonder what people who don’t know what it is think of it. Assuming they look up, which is rare it seems.
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