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Contact:
mike@trikeshed.com
Amateur Astronomy at The Trikeshed
My interest in astronomy and the night sky was revived a few years ago when I started cycling home from work in the winter on a recumbent tricycle. On this wonderful machine, your gaze is directed to the sky instead of the potholes on the road, and the night sky north of the South Downs in England is sufficiently dark to present a marvellous spectacle. It was not long before I wanted to find my way around.
I'd like to share the fruit of my learning in the form of this simple tutorial on the night sky
Find out about the Time and Date Sundial
See a picture of the 2003 May 7 transit of Mercury across the face of the Sun.
See pictures of the 2004 June 8 transit of Venus.
A democratic image of Mars
In August 2002, during the close approach of Mars, I asked five children and adults (including myself) to look at the planet through my 5-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and to draw what they saw very roughly. I rescaled and oriented the images and formed an "average image" - a kind of democratic picture of Mars through our untrained eyes. I then went to http://pauli.math.sci.hokudai.ac.jp/~hatake/marsnow/ to get hold of a current view of Mars for the time the drawings were made. The drawing and the correct image are shown here (click on image for a larger version):
The drawings from the telescope have been left-right reversed to give the "natural" orientation.
Please feel free to contact me: mike@trikeshed.com
Page last updated 2009 April 22 by Mike Knee