Return to Bowland

On Tuesday I went out for the first time in four months to look for the Milky Way. With it only just being past the summer solstice it wasn't the best time I know, but I was I was wondering how dark it got in our usual spot in the Forest of Bowland. The answer is, not very - certainly not dark enough to see the Milky Way properly, although the murky high level clouds didn't help. No noctilucent clouds either, which was another thing I was hoping for.

As my broken tracking mount has still not been returned, I could only take a wide angle set up with me to do some constellation shots.

So I didn't come back with much except for a few shots like this one showing Cassiopeia and Andromeda - can you see it? The best thing was meeting up with John and Susan Walsh and having a chat at an appropriate distance.

A very small and faint Andromeda is ringed in the above photo.

Jupiter and Saturn over Pendle Hill, looking south from Bowland. It wasn't this light, but the camera can make it seem brighter. And that's no sunset, it's the light pollution from Clitheroe. A bit over-sharpened I'm afraid.

So not many photos to process for once, but here's a couple of annotated asterisms to finish with: