My December Observing Highlights!

The last month of the year was very successful for observing even with a large number of cloudy nights with many washed out by dense freezing fog. So here is my personal highlights, the last of 2005..

* Many observations of brillant Venus that became the 'Christmas Star' for many over the festive period.

* Made my last observation of the elusive Gegenschein before it moved into the winter milkyway!

* Seen 5 Aurora Borealis Displays, 1 of which appeared early on Christmas Eve! Infact i think i have seen more auroras this year than i have at any other time even though many were very faint and low in the sky.

* This month seen the start of my photographic Nova Patrol were i have already picked up a number of Variable stars that were unknown to me before hand as well as a bright asteroid!

* Spotted a mag 2.0 naked eye Geo Stationary Satellite? as dusk fell one evening mimicking a bright Nova in Cygnus

* Seen 3 22* Lunar Haloes

* 1 Lunar Upper Tangent Arc

* 2 Moon Pillars

* 1 Moon dog (paraselena)

* Spent more than 29 hours observing the Geminid Meteor shower spread over 4 - 5 nights were i seen nearly 300 meteors and captured 12 on images as well as a stunning Geminid fireball which was captured by Conor and the guys at Armagh Observatory.

* Observed Asteroid 4 Vesta with the naked eye (in Moonlight) and captured it on several images.

* I also managed to get a selection of my images on the BBC Sky At Night website, Spaceweather.com, Astronomy And Space Magazine and my Venus capture in the Irish Times Newspaper which made a nice Christmas present.

* Only managed to get 9 hours of comet hunting done this month due to clouds and poor sky conds bringing my total search time to 874 hours 40mins since May 1st 2000.

I have a feeling 2006 will be a great year for observers of the night sky and it certainly has changed for me as i have just moved into my new house which has yet to be tested for observing but i will discuss this on another post. Also in the days ahead i will be finnishing my 5th observing log book and stating my 6th which have documented my astronomical observing for a decade now. This last logbook holds priceless memories and observations that money just could not buy and it also boasts the signatures of John Mc Connell, David Asher and Mark Bailey which makes it very special for me indeed.

Enough of my rambling..time to observe..clear skies!

Good highlights martin, i mind a good few myself

Good stuff , but seriously, do you ever sleep! :lol:

thanks boys

Im sleep typing rite now