Author: Alan Cole

Stargazing Live at Nant yr Arian 0

Stargazing Live at Nant yr Arian

Following on from the BBC Stargazing Live programmes, there was an event at Nant yr Arian yesterday organised by the Physics Department at the university, so we booked onto it and had been looking forward to it for a while. Our plan was to get there mid afternoon, have a mountain bike ride / walk...

Not feeling much like a Triathlete 0

Not feeling much like a Triathlete

Can’t say I’m feeling much like a triathlete at the moment. Not that I’ve ever REALLY felt like a triathlete mind you! My back has been playing up for a few days so I’ve had to ease back on the training and now the lurgy has me well and truly in its grips. I should look...

Red Sky in the Morning 0

Red Sky in the Morning

After a glorious night of star-gazing last night we were treated to an amazing sunrise too. You can’t beat the natural world for a light display.

Andromeda Galaxy 2

Tracking down the Andromeda Galaxy

After spending some working on the basics of piggyback astro-photography with some shots of Orion, I decided to turn my attention to the Andromeda Galaxy (M31). I hadn’t been able to see this object yet, either with the naked eye or through the telescope, but I had a good idea of where it was. I therefore...

Warm clothes on! 5

Astro-Photography – My First Attempts

We had another lovely clear night last night so once again it was time to get our new telescope out. I had to have a bit if help from Anna to carry it out as my back was still sore, but we all wrapped up warm and soon had the necessary equipment in the garden....

Getting old is no fun at all 2

Getting old is no fun at all

All has been going well with my training lately – I’d been building up the weekly volume slowly but surely and had just about managed to burn off the extra weight put on over Christmas. I hadn’t been out on the bike at all, but both my swimming and running were feeling OK. I wasn’t...

Jupiter 2

Star Gazing in Wales with Morgan

At last, we’ve had a couple of clear nights, the first since Xmas, so we’ve been able to get our new telescope out. Anna was out rehearsing and doing the pantomime with the Scouts, so it was just Morgan and me. We set the scope up under clear skies, but on the first day night it wasn’t...

A Hilly Lunch Time Run 0

A Hilly Lunch Time Run

I haven’t posted any training reports here for a while, but I’ve just got back from a nice hilly lunch time run so thought I’d share it today. I’m having quite a hard training week this week. I started back at circuits and swimfit last night after a break for Christmas. I actually missed a...

T-Mount for Canon EOS Camera 20

Using an SLR with a Skywatcher Explorer 130M Telescope

I’m really keen to take some photos through our new telescope. I knew this wouldn’t be easy. The world of astro-photography is complex with many diverse techniques that need to be learnt, practised and perfected. Some of the photos you can achieve are truly outstanding, but I think it will be many years before we...

Bike Testing 0

Geocaching along the Mawddach Trail

The weather has been terrible here since Christmas, but we really wanted to get Morgan out for a decent ride on his new bike. We had a quick spin around Nant yr Arian on it on Boxing Day and he’d been over to the beach on it, but really needed an easy, long ride to...