John Talbot
@jochta.bsky.social
Oxfordian. Teacher of Physics, Astronomy and Environmental Science. Interests include science, weather, astronomy, cycling, running, table tennis and video games. Often found in front of a computer.
First noctilucent clouds I’ve seen this year. They’ve been more elusive than recent years. This was before dawn on 3rd July from south Oxfordshire, UK #astronomy #astrophotography 🔭
July 3, 2025 at 10:25 AM
First noctilucent clouds I’ve seen this year. They’ve been more elusive than recent years. This was before dawn on 3rd July from south Oxfordshire, UK #astronomy #astrophotography 🔭
Timelapse of the Moon passing through the Pleiades this evening and then going behind my house. Taken using a DWARF II smart telescope in Oxfordshire, UK. #astrophotography #astronomy 🔭
April 1, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Timelapse of the Moon passing through the Pleiades this evening and then going behind my house. Taken using a DWARF II smart telescope in Oxfordshire, UK. #astrophotography #astronomy 🔭
First time trying to image an eclipse from a moving train!! Projected through a hand held monocular somewhere in the London suburbs #astrophotography #astronomy 🔭
March 29, 2025 at 12:04 PM
First time trying to image an eclipse from a moving train!! Projected through a hand held monocular somewhere in the London suburbs #astrophotography #astronomy 🔭
Falcon 9 second stage fuel dump seen on my AllSkyCamera this evening in Oxfordshire, UK. Video runs from 19:52 to 20:06 UT. #astrophotography #astronomy 🔭
March 24, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Falcon 9 second stage fuel dump seen on my AllSkyCamera this evening in Oxfordshire, UK. Video runs from 19:52 to 20:06 UT. #astrophotography #astronomy 🔭
Had a fortunate break in the cloud to get an image of the partial phase of this morning’s eclipse in south Oxfordshire, UK. Unprocessed image using a DWARF II #astrophotography #astronomy 🔭
March 14, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Had a fortunate break in the cloud to get an image of the partial phase of this morning’s eclipse in south Oxfordshire, UK. Unprocessed image using a DWARF II #astrophotography #astronomy 🔭
Venus and Mercury on 9th March from Oxfordshire, UK. I've been clouded out the last two evenings so this is the closest I'll be able to get them. The star top right is Algenib in Pegasus. A 6s exposure on an Omegon clockwork mount with a Cinesoft Subtle filter. #astrophotography #astronomy 🔭
March 9, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Venus and Mercury on 9th March from Oxfordshire, UK. I've been clouded out the last two evenings so this is the closest I'll be able to get them. The star top right is Algenib in Pegasus. A 6s exposure on an Omegon clockwork mount with a Cinesoft Subtle filter. #astrophotography #astronomy 🔭
Tonight's 5-day old Moon taken with a DWARF II smart telescope from Oxfordshire, UK. A stack of 100x1/250s exposures. Levels adjusted but no other processing. #astrophotography #astronomy 🔭
March 5, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Tonight's 5-day old Moon taken with a DWARF II smart telescope from Oxfordshire, UK. A stack of 100x1/250s exposures. Levels adjusted but no other processing. #astrophotography #astronomy 🔭
Venus and Mercury on 3rd March 2025 from Oxfordshire, UK. Taken on an old Sony Cyber-shot compact camera on a pocket tripod. There's not always a need for big expensive DSLRs! #astrophotography #astronomy 🔭
March 3, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Venus and Mercury on 3rd March 2025 from Oxfordshire, UK. Taken on an old Sony Cyber-shot compact camera on a pocket tripod. There's not always a need for big expensive DSLRs! #astrophotography #astronomy 🔭
Venus, Moon and Mercury on 1st March from Oxfordshire, UK. The only clear shot I managed of Mercury due to the cloud near the horizon. #astronomy #astrophotography 🔭
March 1, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Venus, Moon and Mercury on 1st March from Oxfordshire, UK. The only clear shot I managed of Mercury due to the cloud near the horizon. #astronomy #astrophotography 🔭
My latest attempt at Jupiter from last night. Ganymede (top left) has just emerged from behind Jupiter and Io (bottom right) has just transited Jupiter and is casting its shadow. 300mm F/4 Newtonian with 2.5x PowerMate and ASI662 camera with contrast filter. #astronomy #astrophotography 🔭
January 3, 2025 at 3:48 PM
My latest attempt at Jupiter from last night. Ganymede (top left) has just emerged from behind Jupiter and Io (bottom right) has just transited Jupiter and is casting its shadow. 300mm F/4 Newtonian with 2.5x PowerMate and ASI662 camera with contrast filter. #astronomy #astrophotography 🔭
The DWARF II smart telescope is a surprisingly capable little thing. Here is an image of M42 taken a couple of nights ago from my very light-polluted back garden. This is 100x15s exposures, stacked within the device and some post-processing in PixInsight. #astronomy #astrophotography 🔭
December 22, 2024 at 10:46 AM
The DWARF II smart telescope is a surprisingly capable little thing. Here is an image of M42 taken a couple of nights ago from my very light-polluted back garden. This is 100x15s exposures, stacked within the device and some post-processing in PixInsight. #astronomy #astrophotography 🔭
I've never been much of a planetary imager so I thought I'd try and improve! Jupiter this evening using a 127mm Maksutov-Cassegrain and a ZWO ASI662 camera. Best 5% of 5000 frames stacked in AutoStakkert and processed in PixInsight. Io (left) and Callisto visible too. #astrophotography #astronomy 🔭
December 20, 2024 at 10:21 PM
I've never been much of a planetary imager so I thought I'd try and improve! Jupiter this evening using a 127mm Maksutov-Cassegrain and a ZWO ASI662 camera. Best 5% of 5000 frames stacked in AutoStakkert and processed in PixInsight. Io (left) and Callisto visible too. #astrophotography #astronomy 🔭
Finally got a clear night to try my new ZWO ASI662 colour astro camera. This is a mosaic of 28 images using a 12" F/4 Newtonian telescope. Best 100 frames from 200 in each video stacked in Siril, stitched in Microsoft ICE, post-processed in PixInsight. #astronomy #astrophotography 🔭
December 18, 2024 at 7:10 PM
Finally got a clear night to try my new ZWO ASI662 colour astro camera. This is a mosaic of 28 images using a 12" F/4 Newtonian telescope. Best 100 frames from 200 in each video stacked in Siril, stitched in Microsoft ICE, post-processed in PixInsight. #astronomy #astrophotography 🔭
Nicko McBrain is stepping back from touring with Iron Maiden. Tonight will be his final gig. It's been a privilege to see him with the band the past 36 years during which time I've seen them live around 25 times. I wish him all the best for the future. www.ironmaiden.com/an-announcem... #ironmaiden
An Announcement from Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden
An announcement...
www.ironmaiden.com
December 7, 2024 at 1:23 PM
Nicko McBrain is stepping back from touring with Iron Maiden. Tonight will be his final gig. It's been a privilege to see him with the band the past 36 years during which time I've seen them live around 25 times. I wish him all the best for the future. www.ironmaiden.com/an-announcem... #ironmaiden
I see mistaking Venus for a UFO season is upon us once again. The other place is full of out of focus videos of Venus and comments like "then another appeared in the East", i.e. Jupiter, as well...
December 2, 2024 at 7:16 PM
I see mistaking Venus for a UFO season is upon us once again. The other place is full of out of focus videos of Venus and comments like "then another appeared in the East", i.e. Jupiter, as well...
Autumn is an ideal time to image the waning Moon as the ecliptic makes a steep angle with the horizon so it's high in the sky at a sensible time. This was taken last night with a DWARF II from Oxfordshire, UK. A stack of 50 x 1/500s images post-processed in PixInsight. #astronomy #astrophotography 🔭
November 20, 2024 at 7:37 PM
Autumn is an ideal time to image the waning Moon as the ecliptic makes a steep angle with the horizon so it's high in the sky at a sensible time. This was taken last night with a DWARF II from Oxfordshire, UK. A stack of 50 x 1/500s images post-processed in PixInsight. #astronomy #astrophotography 🔭
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) on 22nd October from south Oxfordshire, UK. Stack of 25x15s exposures at gain 80 using a DWARF II smart telescope. Slightly cropped and tweaked in post-processing. #astronomy #astrophotography #comet #dwarfii 🔭
October 22, 2024 at 8:46 PM
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) on 22nd October from south Oxfordshire, UK. Stack of 25x15s exposures at gain 80 using a DWARF II smart telescope. Slightly cropped and tweaked in post-processing. #astronomy #astrophotography #comet #dwarfii 🔭
Very sad day. Paul will forever be the voice of my teenage years. Killers was the first LP I ever bought. Original Iron Maiden singer Paul Di'Anno dies www.bbc.com/news/article...
Original Iron Maiden singer Paul D'Anno dies, aged 66
The band's first singer appeared on two albums before being replaced by Bruce Dickinson.
www.bbc.com
October 21, 2024 at 4:58 PM
Very sad day. Paul will forever be the voice of my teenage years. Killers was the first LP I ever bought. Original Iron Maiden singer Paul Di'Anno dies www.bbc.com/news/article...
Finally clear skies in south Oxfordshire, UK. Managed to get a shot of Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) using my DWARF II smart telescope. This is 30x15s at gain 80. Got the anti-tail plus a bonus tree in the corner. #comet #astronomy #astrophotography 🔭
October 17, 2024 at 9:38 PM
Finally clear skies in south Oxfordshire, UK. Managed to get a shot of Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) using my DWARF II smart telescope. This is 30x15s at gain 80. Got the anti-tail plus a bonus tree in the corner. #comet #astronomy #astrophotography 🔭
No comet for me this evening, it went cloudy before it got dark enough and it's not visible on any of my speculative photographs before the clouds rolled in. It is now raining! Will try again tomorrow. #comet #tsuchinshan-ATLAS
October 12, 2024 at 6:36 PM
No comet for me this evening, it went cloudy before it got dark enough and it's not visible on any of my speculative photographs before the clouds rolled in. It is now raining! Will try again tomorrow. #comet #tsuchinshan-ATLAS
I'll be trying to see and photograph Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) for the first time this evening. It should be visible very low in the west around 7pm in the UK, maybe earlier. #astronomy #stellarium 🔭
October 12, 2024 at 4:19 PM
I'll be trying to see and photograph Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) for the first time this evening. It should be visible very low in the west around 7pm in the UK, maybe earlier. #astronomy #stellarium 🔭
October 12, 2024 at 11:14 AM