Can't beat the Pacific for sunsets - a lovely set indeed Richard!

These are splendid entries all! Here's a quick snap I got last night of Belfast City Hall still with its Xmas lights on..

I've heard it said that the bottled water being sent to NI from Scotland isn't actually needed, but given the roasting the management of NI Water are currently getting they felt politically incapable of turning it down!!

What a splendidly excellent idea! OK, I'm in, here we go


Dawn, 1/1/11

Quite so Martin - we in the IAA are running observing sessions for both the meteor shower and the partial solar eclipse on the following morning - see irishastro.org for details.

The good thing about the Quadrantids this year is that it is the best shower of the year from the point of view of lunar interference - all others are quite poor this year!

That's top quality Martin, a most excellent piece of work. Love the music - would be well worth re-rendering in 720p!

Indeed it will be Dave. I've been working with the guys in BBC Learning on this and we (the Irish Astronomical Association) are running supporting events on 3rd and 14th January - see the IAA website for details...

http://irishastro.org.uk/

Obviously I'll be watching the programme afterwards on Sky+ or the iplayer

For those who come along, I have a quantity of Stargazing Guides which are very good, taking the form of a A6 binder with starmaps and guides for the whole year - also included is a small compass to help get those bearings right.

For the astrophographers there's a Flickr group associated with the programmes from which shots will be used on air. Here in Northern Ireland we also have some interest from the local news programme and depending what type of a news day it is we may have them in attendance!

All this and more on the programme's website....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wnvpf

Here's the composite of my shots...

Success in Larne - for want of anywhere else to put them, my pics are here.....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulgevans/

All taken with Sony DSLR A700 with 400m  f6.3 T2 mount lens on static tripod.

Enjoy!

Paul.

Fabulous - guys are talking about it in work today - apparently there's a new wind turbine in Bangor which pulls in the lightning. I saw none of this in Larne only 12 miles away as the crow flies!

Thanks guys. Richard, there are 10 frames in there, all taken with my Lumix FZ38 - the camera that does everything quite well!

Here it is, open file, zoom in with browser, pan across. See Larne was about to be hit by another snowstorm coming from the North. Also note the snow in Scotland across the water.

http://niphotography.co.uk/images/larnepansnow101219.jpg

Well the clouds came over yesterday (Mon) evening and that was that before bedtime, however I awoke at about 0645 just as the dawn was beginning to make itself known and saw 5 Geminids over the course of a few mins including one spectacuarly bright one - est mag -2 - certainly much brighter than Capella - this ran from close to the radiant most of the way to Procyon moving quite slowly so I guess that was not far off coming straight at me. Didn't have time to get any pics - well done Paul for getting your shots!

Amazing difference a few tens of miles can make - we've had a light dusting but nothing at all like this. The higher parts of my journey between Larne and Belfast have tested the gritting on the roads so slowing down and not making any sudden movements has been the order of the day, but not getting anywhere close to being stuck, even on the back road that gets me to the main road.

I am sorry to say I never had the honour of meeting Brian, but from his record and the sentiments expressed here it is clear we have lost a dear friend.

Paul.