Comet Jaqcues and a planetary nebula

Date: 23./24.8.2014 Time: 23:30-01:20 Observing site: Tähtikallio observatory, Finland Instrument: C416/4064mm (16'' Meade) NELM: 5.3 SQM: 21.00 Darkness of the background sky: 3 Seeing: 2 Transparency: 3 Weather: Some haze in the sky, occasional clouds, calm, no Moon, pretty warm Objects observed: C/2014 E2 (Jaqcues), NGC 6905 During the night between 23rd and 24th of …

Satellite observations 16.-17.8.2014

During last night (16.-17.8.2014) I was doing some satellite spotting in Turku, Finland. Below you can see a collection of the most interesting observations from last night. Nights are getting darker and darker also her up north. Last night last quarter of Moon was above horizon all night, but still NELM was about 5 and …

Satellite mystery solved!

Couple of days ago I wrote a post about mysterious satellite triplet, that I observed while trying to cathc a perseid meteors with my camera. I posted a mail about this satellite to the Seesat -e-mail list, and with the help of Leo Barhorst, Cees Bassa and Björn Gimle I was able to identify this! …

Thunderstorm of the night of Perseids, pt. 2

It would have been enough for me to just see the thunderstorms of last night, but there was more to come! Last night (13.-14.8.2014) Mother Nature put up yet another wild thunderstorm show! I just thought that the previous night's show was absolutely awesome! Wow, I'm totally speechless...[gallery type="rectangular" ids="5925,5926,5927,5928,5929,5930,5931,5932"]

Mystery satellite triplet during Perseid night

I observed this mysterious satellite triplet in the night between 12th and 13th of August 2014 @ 21:26 UT in Turku, Finland, while trying to observe Perseid meteor shower. These satellites were moving upwards in the constellation of Aquila. First two of them were flaring and then fading, then the third one flared and faded …

Thunderstorm of the night of Perseids

The night between 12th and 13th of August should have been a Perseid spectacle, but Moon and thunderstorms stole the show from Perseids. The thunderstoms of last night was easily one of the best thunderstoms shows that I have ever witnessed!

Light curves from observing season 2013-2014

Here are some of the best lightcurves that I was able to obtain during last observing season, 2013-2014. I was observing mostly some brighter Mira stars but also representatives of few other variable types. All observations have been made visually either with 4'' refractor or 10'' Newton -type reflector. Observations have been mostly made in …

Night of heat lightnings

Last night heat lightnings were observed all around Southern Finland! The lightnings were caused by a thunderstorm cells that were moving northwards from the Gulf of Finland to mainland. The lightning activity was pretty intensive, and I could observe several lightnings in a minute! I didn't hear sound of thunder ever during the night, which …

Twinkle, twinkle, little Iridium satellite

...how I wonder what you are! So, here it is, my first ever photograph of an Iridium satellite flare! I catched this last night 5.-6. of August 2014 @ 22:21 UT in Turku, Finland. The brightness of the flare was about -8 magnitudes according to Heavens Above site. And I'm not arguing with HA, so …

It’s not a bird, it’s not an airplane, it’s a double NOSS!

I observed this bright double satellite flare when observing noctilucent clouds in the night between 28th and 29th of July 2014 @ 22:51UT. I only had a Samyang 8mm fish-eye lens attached to my camera, but luckily I was at least able to photograph this phenomena! The satellites were as bright as Vega when I …