Lyrids peak is tonight. It's typically a low rate shower but with the Moon out of the way and lots of clear skies - it's worth a go. Here's a Lyrid meteor caught in the early hours of this morning. Socially distant but antisocially timed!

Some recent drawings I made of Venus using my 8” telescope (Newtonian reflector). By using different colour filters, you can see into different layers of the planet’s atmosphere.

A drawing I made of a 3.7% illuminated Venus on Sunday. The planet will now continue to move towards the the Sun and will reach inferior conjunction on 3rd June.

I had probably one of my finest views of Saturn for many years on Wednesday morning. Here’s a drawing I made with my 8 inch Newtonian reflector.

Congratulations to all our Physics & Astronomy, University of Leicester students who graduated today!

We are thrilled to have an Overall Satisfaction score of 96% in #NSS2020. A huge thank you to all our staff and wonderful students! 👏👏

I had some splendid views of Mars this morning. The seeing was very good I was able to see bright clouds on the morning limb and the shrinking south polar cap. Here are the drawings I made:

A splendid view of Mars last night! Here are two drawings I made showing the planet’s rotation. The south polar cap is at the top of the drawing.

There will be some truly fascinating news this afternoon. You can follow it here:

Here’s a drawing of Venus I made with my telescope this morning before the exciting news about phosphine being detected in the atmosphere of Venus. I suspect many of us will never look at Venus in the same way again! #Venus

I had some splendid views of Mars last night. Here’s a drawing I made airing my 305mm Newtonian reflector. The large wheel shape is the Solis Lacus region and to the south (top) the south polar cap can be seen.

The thinnest crescent Moon I’ve ever managed to see, 2% illuminated half an hour ago. What a fragile and beautiful sight.

Join m’friend and colleague Pete Lawrence for our lecture on observing Mars. The Red Planet is going to be a splendid observing target over the next few months- find out how what we can observe!

I had an excellent view of Mars on 8th October- here are two drawings from that session. On the left you can see bright clouds over the shield volcanoes Arsia Mons and Pavonis Mons.

I had a splendid view of the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction this evening. Here’s a drawing I made with a 66mm refractor, x78. Quite remarkable to be able to see a substantial fraction of the mass of the solar system in the same telescopic field!

Delighted to speak about the conjunction on @shaunwkeaveny BBC Radio 6 Music music earlier! If you have clear skies, looking towards the southwest and you should see Jupiter as a brilliant yellow star. Saturn is the fainter star nearby on about the 1 o’clock position.

Mars is now moving away from us but it’s still an excellent telescopic target. Here’s a drawing I made yesterday with my 12” Newtonian. Sirenum and Cimmerium are the dark markings to the south (top). In the far north, the brilliant northern polar hood can be seen.

Mars is now receded rapidly from the Earth, but here’s a drawing I made of it on 1st February. The northern polar cap is now particularly brilliant.

I watched the magnificent ’Blithe Spirit’ earlier. I do think Margaret Rutherford would have been a splendid Doctor Who!

Rather looking forward to teaching general relativity again this coming semester. So much so, I’ve bought new stationery to mark the occasion.