PhD in meteor science. Always have been and always will be an astronomer at heart!鈽勶笍馃敪. Dabbles with amateur radio.馃摗馃洶
Glasgow
Joined February 2012
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First test spectrum from the 150mm echel grating and 600 lpmm cross disperser looking at a CF lamp. Got potential to be a monster fibre fed instrument! #astronomicalspectroscopy
#astronomy
...and a double check on my screen max/min... perhaps a touch over 31C! @metoffice @BBCScotland @BBCScotWeather @bbcweather @BBCWthrWatchers #kilwinningweather
Melty....
Toasty! The highest temp I've ever recorded in Kilwinning.... 30.7c
@metoffice @BBCScotWeather @bbcweather #kilwinningweather
Was wondering where my head-torch went...? then wondered whats that light in the washing machine...? oh dear, that can't be good...馃ぃ
I think we're reaching peak "Bram" in North Ayrshire. Some doozy gusts rattling the tiles!
You know things are maxing out when the wheelie bins start flying down the street!馃槸馃尙馃尙馃尙
Had just set up the cameras when I caught this fantastic 4 second+ meteor on the wide field camera! By good fortune it fell in the fov of one of the spectro cameras too. #meteor #fireball @bbcweather @BBCScotWeather @RoyalAstroSoc
Video here youtu.be/bft7P31hTWQ
Another fantastic IMC over for this year. After getting lost I finally found the excursion location, the historic Sonnenborgh Observatory.
It had this fabulous iron meteorite on display!
A little lunchtime project. With the help of the chemistry techs, a go at wet silvering and old 16in cassegrain mirror. Not perfect but not bad for a first attempt! A few tweaks to the process needed... #astronomy #telescopemaking
ALT Charlie giving the mirror a final polish before silvering.
ALT Euan is very happy with the first test!
ALT Me checking out the result. The central hole looks like its the biggest problem due to surface tension effects.
Sitting under a "cloudy high" pressure system often has extensive sheets of stratus. During a recent flight these clouds look remarkable from above....
Also a bit further south altocumulus castellanus at a weak frontal instability. @CloudAppSoc @metoffice @bbcweather
ALT Stratus clouds seen from above. The wave structure looks like ridges of windblown snow.
ALT Altocumulus castellanus clouds from above. The rising clouds are caused by instability in the atmosphere in a humid layer.
Have just spent an amazing time at the archive of the Royal Greenwich Museum examining the first meteor spectroscope in the world. Built for and used by Alexander Herschel to study the Leonid storm of 1866 from Glasgow. Wonderful. @AstronomyNow @RoyalAstroSoc @AstronomyMag
Despite fairly poor conditions I did get one decent Perseid spectrum. Typical ionised Ca, ionised Si and H emmission. #Perseids #meteorshower @AstronomyNow @BBCScotWeather @jimalkhalili @RoyalAstroSoc
Just checked my screen. This is the hottest temp I've ever recorded in Kilwinning at 34.5c! @metoffice @BBCScotWeather @bbcweather #heatwave2025 馃サ
Have just spent some time with the current owner of Glenlair House, Mr Duncan Ferguson, the ancestral home of the Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell.
An astonishing and incredibly beautiful place! #JamesClerkMaxwell
