It’s already a week ago since Patrick (Moore) left us and I think it was nice to see so many friends sharing their good memories of him in this past week. Chris (Lintott) recorded a special episode of Recycled Electrons, together with Rob (Simpson), about his old friend: All Hail Sir Patrick Moore. And I got an e-mail from the Beeb, to announce the tribute.
Other friends took their equipment out and came back with some beautiful pictures. These are all of the Orion Nebula, also known as M42. I especially liked them as it was this object that Chris showed us the night we were over for one of Patrick’s parties in Selsey. Both my astro-buddies Edd Edmondson and Graham Bowes were there too and these are their pictures.
Edd says about his: “It was beautifully clear in Portsmouth, and I imagine it could only have been better in Selsey. I got something like four hours of great imaging on a few classic targets and missed Sir Patrick’s programme – which I hope he would forgive me for. As a taster, here’s M42, which was coincidentally imaged at the time his tribute was on, and I have great memories of seeing it through his telescope at Selsey. This is just a single 25s frame – I have just shy of an hour to stack and properly calibrate and work hard on. I think the end product will be great, but not a patch on seeing it by eye through a magnificent instrument thanks to his generosity, and surrounded by lots of his great friends!”
Graham took his in London and adds: “this was a 15s single frame at 200mm ISO400 F2.8 of the Orion Nebula”. And I also found one from the brilliant Pete (Lawrence), taken in Selsey (a while ago). Thanks for sharing them guys and Clear Skies!
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Thanks Hanny! Worth also mentioning that January sees the BBC’s Stargazing Live with many local events. It’s a chance to see such things (weather permitting) at sites across the UK. It’ll be great fun – find out why Sir Patrick was so passionate about it
Oh and I should also say that the image is a stack of 125 25s frames in this case – not the single frame I described. I hadn’t processed the final image when I wrote those words but obviously the same important sentiments remain.
Ah thanks for that update Edd, and for the tip!
Thanks so much for sharing these, The Sky at Night first broadcast when I was a one-year-old. Patrick was ever present to guide me through the Universe, and there to talk me through the Apollo landings. It was such a privilege to meet him all those times, thanks to Chris and Galaxy Zoo. There will never be another Patrick and I will be eternally grateful for all that he taught me and for being such a wonderful and modest human being.