Periodic Comet Holmes (17P)

All images copyright Gain Lee

It seemed that the whole world had seen and studied Periodic Comet Holmes (17P) as we cast our eyes sorrowfully towards England's week-long blanket cloud. But today's gloriously sunny afternoon slipped into a starry night and we now proudly present you with our celebration!

We set up at our local Huddersfield Observatory before darkness and used binoculars to sweep for a daylight sighting. Using 10x50 binoculars, Holmes was easy to spot even in a blue sky and was soon visible to the naked eye. The tail is directly behind the front of the comet and therefore not visible to us. We followed the comet into darkness with a combination of naked eye, binocular and telescope observations, with Gain imaging in the brief window before moonrise.


In the light of the risen moon we decided that this adventure was coming to a close temporarily and proceeded to shut down the observatory, bidding a grateful 'goodnight' to the clear, night sky as we closed the dome. So oblivious we had been of the skies beyond Perseus that we were shocked to step out into a wintry downpour. Our determination to grab that first bit of clear sky had again paid off and we were doubly grateful that the telescope had been put to bed before the rains had arrived. Remaining on the steps for protection from the rain, we beheld a night-time rainbow (moonbow!) which entertained us on our wet jog to the car.

"Amateur astronomers the world over have been stunned and amazed by the weirdest new object to appear in the sky in memory. And it's one of the brightest, too.Less than a week ago Periodic Comet Holmes17P was a tiny, roughly 17th-magnitude nonentity out between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Then on Wednesday, October 24th, skywatchers looked up to see a bright new yellow-orange "star" shining in Perseus. For no apparent reason, the comet had brightened about a millionfold to shine at close to magnitude 2.5. That made it plain to see even in the bright moonlight and through all but the worst light pollution. It looked truly starlike; even high telescopic magnification barely resolved it as anything larger at first. But within a day it had expanded into a perfectly round, bright little disk with a tiny nucleus as seen in binoculars and telescopes. It looked like no comet ever seen.It's star like appearance gives way to a fuzzy blob once you point a pair of binoculars or a telescope toward it."

Extract from 'Sky & Telescope' magazine

Night Heron at Fairburn Ings

All images copyright Gain Lee

The persistent rain of recent weeks had abated and the evening was perfect for a jaunt up to Fairburn Ings; a Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) site near Castleford, West Yorkshire. As frequent visitors to the sanctuary we were shocked to see the extent of the damage caused by weeks of flooding. Aside from the stench of filthy water, the bare, brown trees and hedges, and the warped bird hides with their ill-fitting windows and doors, there was a conspicuous silence marking the absence of birds and other wildlife.

We naturally expected to be alone and were surprised to happen upon a large gathering of twitchers, telescopes and binoculars at the ready. It was explained to us that a very rarely observed adult Night Heron and it's young had been seen visiting the hide at nightfall for a couple of days. We ran back to the car for our equipment, dodging frogs, and were lucky to acquire an image of the adult in silhouette, perched immediately before us.

So magical were the Night Herons, that we visited on several occassions. Gain found himself observing next to Uncle Ron from Derbyshire, quite by chance, on one sunny afternoon! We learned that the Night Herons had been occupying themselves in a nearby pool during the hours of daylight and it was here that Gain captured some magnificent shots of the immature heron. The adult was older, wiser and, consequently, very shy. You can just see a face peering from the reeds!

The Police & Brecon Beacons National Park

All images copyright Gain Lee

Only the NCP multi-storey car park threatened to come between us and The Police. As seems to be the way of things, of all the car parks in all the world, ours was the one with the machine that couldn’t recognise money. After swift negotiations with a remote engineer, we had only to fumble a little at the barriers, cause a respectable traffic jam, and we were on our way!

Cardiff, and the Park ‘n’ Ride bus took our £10 before dropping us about fifty feet from the car park and a good half hours walk from the stadium. Although undoubtedly cheated, we were grateful for the opportunity to laugh at how Gain’s shoulders scraped the ceiling of top deck, his head tucked low into his chest.

We paid homage to a few Torchwood landmarks as we galloped through the city towards Kebab Street for our evening meal of pie and chips. Fully fuelled, we were punch-pleased to enter the Millennium Stadium by the main entrance and celebrated with the purchase of tour t-shirts. There was opportunity to work off that pie with the high-altitude climb to our seats, which were located near the token drunken fans. This worked out brilliantly as really got us all dancing and singing, with Gain taking up the opportunity to again play air-guitar with Adele’s left leg. We were reportedly part of a 55,000 strong crowd.

A photo had to be taken of Gain enjoying the live performance of Roxanne; After all, that was the reason for us being here!

We drove out of Cardiff that night and headed for Brecon Beacons National Park, coming to rest in a remote lay-by when our eyes refused to stay open. Too exhausted to care for comfort, we slept as we sat and awoke in the morning surrounded by a burger van and its many customers! It transpired that we were in a fishing hotspot, extremely beautiful in the morning mist.

Saturday was to be a day of travel, journeying North and chancing to meet with the occasional local.

As we drove up through the Brecon Beacons we spied a line of men at the roadside, each armed with binoculars. Excitedly thinking we had stumbled upon a spot of birding, we pulled over sharpish and leapt from the car to ask what was about. A suspicious man replied 'hounds' and turned back to his business. 'Hounds?' thought we. Neither of us had ever thought about the possibility of wild hound spotting before. That very moment, a hound appeared on the adjacent mountainside and scampered across the landscape. From his point of appearance came a band of huntsmen on horseback, all dressed in red, white and black. Hounds! a FOX HUNT! Sadistic blood sports being rather low on our list of entertainment, we did not take any images of this parade and left immediately.


The landscape was incredibly beautiful but we were looking for a dark yet safe site, where we could park up and observe for the night. This place was to be overlooking Llyn Clywedog reservoir, near the town of Llanidloes in Powys.


Bearing more than a slight resemblance to Haweswater (a favourite of ours), Llyn Clywedog felt like a home from home.


We whiled away the rest of Saturday and the best of Sunday feeding the birds, cooking on the hill-top, snoozing in the car, reading in the fields and, of course, observing the night skies.


This picture shows Venus, Saturn, and Regulus of Leo in said order from bottom to top.

We cooked our Sunday evening meal on the hill side, awaiting moon rise, holding out for one last observation through the exceptionally well collimated telescope. Once accomplished, we packed everything up and headed home to Huddersfield.

Kielder Star Camp 2007... & Adele's birthday!

All images copyright Gain Lee

As is the case on the eve of any adventure, Gain was far too excited for sleep and caused the expedition to wake exhausted and in no fit state for departure. In spite of our fatigue, we departed in good time and set our sights on Kielder Forest in Northumberland and the Kielder Star Camp 2007.

A birthday surprise detour to the Lake District and Ullswater for a romantic trip aboard the Lady Wakefield was to be our first stop (after taking on provisions at Manchester).

Gain had done jolly well to think of such a thing, and indeed to get us aboard in good time. We stopped in Glenridding for a spot of tea before returning by boat to our car and continuing the journey North.

The constant drizzle that can only come from sitting in a cloud was to surround us for the first forty-eight hours at Kielder Star Camp, but the fewer the stars, the greater the party! We caught up with a number of friends and were introduced to new, northern faces.

Adele's birthday dinner was cooked as dusk fell, on our trusty little burner atop a picnic table. After darkness had descended upon us, Gain illuminated a little birthday cake by festive candlelight and gave sporting renditions of 'Happy Birthday' and 'For She's a Jolly Good Fellow'.

We rose on Saturday to head directly for the vendors (an occasion that is hotly anticipated by most at any astronomy convention) who were based in the rooms and grounds of Kielder Castle. On investigation it transpired that Kielder Castle was in fact an old hunting lodge, improved upon at the orders of its Duke to reflect his success. It is rather small but very sweet and was only a three minute walk from where we slept.

The Duke's Pantry is a cosy cafe based at the castle, and the benefit of being smack centre of absolutely nowhere is that all the cakes had to be homemade. Yum yum! We had to wait until Sunday afternoon to be hungry enough for cream tea, but it was worth the wait.

No phone signal was accompanied by no television/satellite reception. Eager to support our team, we drove ten miles to the nearest off-site pub for the England v Estonia European Cup qualifier. We missed kick-off at 3pm but were in time to see two of England's three winning goals.
Complete with bar snacks and resident cat snuggling into Gain's coat, the cosy afternoon of football in a pub on a cold day was picture perfect.

The drive back to the camp site took us on a forest road along Kielder water and was stunning. We arrived back in time to accompany friends to The Angler's Arms, the on-site pub and restaurant. England were playing France in the Rugby World Cup Semi-final and we continued our sporting Saturday by enjoying their last minute win. All was merriment and we went from chalet to caravan to tent to outdoor barbecue before finding our way to pillow and blanket on the naughty side of 4am.

Sunday ought to have been more subdued but, with farewells drawing near and the sun finally replacing the incessant drizzle, everybody was keen to make the most of this final day. Having decided to stay for darkness and the anticipated clear skies, we decided to take an excursion to Hadrian's Wall.

We viewed Chester's Fort and Housesteads Fort before resolving to revisit the history of the wall and return at a later date to hike a portion of the trail; Watch this space!

Back at Kielder and we trundled up to The Duke's Pantry one last time for afternoon tea with some friends.

The clear, blue afternoon transformed into a starry night and had us captivated - and cold - until 2am, when we were forced to pack up and commence the four hour journey home.

In bed by 6am. Another weekend stretched at each end for a very happy and truly excellent adventure!