Keep looking up, because you never know what you’ll discover, day or night....
~ My Stardust Observatory at Leyburn ~

I have never been a Barbie girl (mainly because my three brothers use to blow up and behead any doll I ever owned) but while out doing my Christmas shopping for my three grandsons I came across of all things ‘Astrophysicist Barbie’ with a telescope and Star Map just like I have on my office wall…well I must say, I was very excited about this and brought my first Barbie doll :-)

Information taken from the Barbie ‘Mattel’ website states:

Barbie® doll is an adventurous spirit, always enthusiastic about exploring the world, and she's partnered with National Geographic to encourage imagination, expression and discovery through play. Explore the universe with the astrophysicist doll -- she wears a professional outfit with themed accessories that include a swivelling telescope and star map.
 
Wow, Great work Mattel for bringing girls into the 21st century with there play, as you say in your product information: Kids will love making new discoveries and dreaming about their future because when a girl plays with Barbie®, she imagines everything she can become!
 
I brought my Astronomer Barbie from Target for $19 and I’m also going to collect the other career adventure dolls (Barbie: Polar Marine Biologist, Wildlife Conservationist, and Photojournalist Doll) because these dolls will be inspiration for the girls who come to the
​STEAM & STEM sessions that I do in at the libraries here on the Gold Coast :-)

(Please read more on the Barbie/Mattel & National Geographic websites below)
https://shop.nationalgeographic.com/products/barbie-astrophysicist-doll
https://barbie.mattel.com/shop/en-us/ba/career-dolls/barbie-astrophysicist-doll-gdm47

~ Solstice Sun ~

Today is the summer solstice here in Australia, this is a time when we have the hottest weather and the longest day of the year, unlike the people who live in the northern hemisphere who today are experiencing there shortest day of the year and it’s probably very cold…isn’t our world an amazing place!
 
I took this image at 2.30pm this afternoon through quite a lot of smoke haze with the surrounding landscape having a soft yellow hue that was filtering down from the sky.
 

I couldn’t help myself, but the Sun looked so bland that I decided to have a bit of fun and made a
​ ‘Sunny Christmas Bauble’ to wish everyone a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year :-)
 
Image taken with a Canon 70D camera and an 18-400mm lens with a 2x teleconverter. There were eight images stacked in RegiStax6 and processed in PS CS4. The exposure times were 1/100th second and ISO 500.

​~ Spotless Sun on the 19th December 2019 ~

​I have not taken many images of the Sun lately because it’s been so quite and the surface just so bland to look at.

But when I read on Spaceweather.com that the sunspot inactivity has now broken an all time space record, then I just had to get the camera out and record the event…and Yes, as you can see from my image, it’s still spotless :-)
 
We are now really and truly in the mist of solar minimum and one of the deepest since solar records began!
 
I've also captured a beautiful sunset photo today and because of the smoke haze there are all these awesome colours on display...very pretty.

SUNSPOTS BREAK A SPACE AGE RECORD: Solar Minimum is becoming very deep indeed. Over the weekend, the sun set a Space Age record for spotlessness. So far in 2019, the sun has been without sunspots for more than 270 days, including the last 33 days in a row. Since the Space Age began,
​no other year has had this many blank suns.
 
The previous record-holder was the year 2008, when the sun was blank for 268 days. That was during the epic Solar Minimum of 2008-2009, formerly the deepest of the Space Age. Now 2019 has moved into first place. 
Solar Minimum is a normal part of the 11-year sunspot cycle. The past two (2008-2009 and 2018-2019) have been long and deep, making them "century-class" Minima. To find a year with more blank suns, you have to go back to 1913, which had 311 spotless days.
Last week, the NOAA/NASA Solar Cycle Prediction Panel issued a new forecast. Based on a variety of predictive techniques, they believe that the current Solar Minimum will reach its deepest point in April 2020 (+/- 6 months) followed by a new Solar Maximum in July 2025.
​This means that low sunspot counts and weak solar activity could continue for some time to come.

Solar Minimum definitely alters the character of space weather. Solar flares and geomagnetic storms subside, making it harder to catch Northern Lights at mid-latitudes. Space weather grows "quiet." On the other hand, cosmic rays intensify. The sun's weakening magnetic field allows more particles from deep space into the solar system, boosting radiation levels in Earth's atmosphere. Indeed, this is happening now with atmospheric cosmic rays at a 5-year high and flirting with their own Space Age record. It's something to think about the next time you step on an airplane. Stay tuned for updates!
https://spaceweather.com/

I was very excited to finally capture Venus going down in the western sky this evening. Because of all the bushfire haze it displayed these pretty colours due to its brilliant light being scattered by our smoky atmosphere. I could have processed the colours out but this is exactly what Venus looked like in the eyepiece of my telescope and the camera has captured it…
 
Venus is an interesting planet to observe because it’s an inner planet from us and closer to the Sun so it displays phases just like our Moon; at the moment it’s a gibbous shape :-)
 
I have included imaging details on the photo; a short AVI movie of 400 frames was captured (because Venus was jumping all over the place) and stacked them in RegiStax6 and processed in PS CS4. 

This is what our skies are like here at the moment; the sky is full of dust and smoke from our severe drought out west and all the bushfires.  Our fire fighters are doing an incredible job of saving homes and many people are out helping our beautiful wildlife, which are also suffering in this 40C degree heat.
 
At last, thank goodness rain is forecast in the next couple of days, in the mean time it does make for some incredibly fiery sunset displays, even the water looks like it’s on fire!
 
Images were taken from Jabiru Island Park at Paradise Point with a Canon G7 X Mark 11 camera on manual focus; exposure was 1250th second and ISO125.

The new crescent Moon looked ever so pretty this evening with the planets Jupiter, Venus and Saturn all on display in the western sky after sunset.
I was again nearly eaten alive by the mosquitoes taking the photos…but it was worth it :-)
 
My image was taken with a Canon 70D camera and a Tamron 18-400mm lens on a tripod; the exposure time was 3.2 seconds at F16 and ISO800.

I just managed to capture Venus and Jupiter at there closest approach (only 1.4 degrees apart) before a large dark cloud (that looked a bit like a Dragon) completely covered the planets, at least I got a picture of them :-)
 
Venus has now passed Jupiter on the ecliptic and will continue to get higher each night until the new crescent Moon joins them in a couple of days time, so the shows not over yet…
 
My image was taken with a Canon 70D camera and a Tamron 18-400mm lens on a tripod; the exposure time was 0.4 seconds and ISO1250 and YES, the mosquitoes nearly ate me alive again!

There is a spectacular celestial display happening in the western sky after sunset for anybody who takes the time to go outside and have a look…
 
A meeting of two of the brightest planets in our solar system is taking place and they are getting closer and closer every day…so please hop off your comfortable lounge and pop outside to take a look at the wonderful display :-)
 
If you have a look at the close up photo of the planets you can just make a couple of the moons of Jupiter beside the planet, which was lovely to capture.
 
Image was taken with a Canon 70D camera and a Tamron 18-400 mm lens on a tripod; the exposure time was 0.6 seconds and ISO1600. 

What a wonderful surprise I got today when I saw that my images of the planets Venus & Jupiter taken from a plane at 30,000 ft were showcased on the front page of Spaceweather.com 
https://www.spaceweather.com
https://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=157631
 
This is such an awesome website that is penned daily by Dr Tony Phillips, where current up to date information is given on the Sun-Earth environment with daily information about the Sun.  At least once or twice a day I check what’s happening in our sky and just love looking at all the images posted.
 
The added beauty of the website, is that people from all over the world can share there images of what’s happening in the daytime and night-time sky…it’s an incredible way to bring us all together on planet Earth by observing the natural wonders of the universe that we live in…