In his garden in Harrogate, James Clark looks through a telescope to millions of light years away, almost all the way back to the start of the universe.
He explains why astronomy fires his passion:
“It’s the wonder of the universe and how small we puny humans are I suppose, it makes you realise how irrelevant we are.”
Now retired, Mr Clark grew up on Star Trek and even had Professor Steven Hawking as a lecturer when he studied maths at Cambridge University.
He’s only been stargazing for a year but has already captured an impressive line-up of planets, nebulae and galaxies through his telescope.
He said:
“I’ve never done any photography before but I’ve always been interested in physics. I realised the quality of picture you can get from your back garden as the technology has developed to such an extent. Once I started I was hooked.”
The Whirlpool Galaxy
As well as studying the stars from his garden, he enjoys packing up his equipment and heading out to a remote spot far, far away in the outer reaches of the Harrogate district.
His favourite place is Thruscross Reservoir car park due to its pitch black skies. He said:
“Astronomy is really great for mental health and communing with nature.
“Sitting outside listening to the wild animals and spotting the occasional meteor in a dark sky is just heaven.”
Saturn and Jupiter. Credit – James Clark
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Mr Clark has been inspired by Nasa’s James Webb Space Telescope, which cost billions of dollars and has recently started to beam back lustrous images from space back to earth.
But he said technology for the amateur astronomer is now relatively affordable. He uses the same software as that at Nasa, bought for just a couple of hundred pounds.
“My favourite picture is of the Whirlpool Galaxy, 30 million light years away. We’ve had some printed up and have a few around the house.”
The Moon. Credit – James Clark
He started out using a cheap Canon DSLR but since upgraded to a telescope that cost over a thousand pounds. To help him develop his skills, he interacts with an active community of “astros” on Twitter who support each other.
With so much time spent looking up at the stars, he said he sometimes ponders the age-old question of whether we are really all alone whilst we float in space.
“Absolutely I believe that we are not the only intelligent life out there.”
Whilst most of us are dreading the shorter days and longer nights that come with winter, the budding astronomer is looking forward to being able to spend more time in the darkness, exploring the endless expanse.
The Squid Nebulae. Credit – James Clark
Yurtshire, in the Nidderdale countryside, is drawing on the power of nature, to create a revitalising experience for visitors from across the Harrogate district and further afield.
The 93-acre site, which features Eavestone Lake, is being developed by Tom Sterne, whose family are long-term investors in the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors, in Ripon and surrounding areas.
Located between Ripon and Pateley Bridge, just off the B6265 road, the site with its nine luxurious tree yurts, opened last summer.
Following the high demand of a staycation year, three more units are being added, after planning permission was granted by Harrogate Borough Council.
Plans are also in hand to add spa-type facilities and services, including a sauna, facial and body massages.
The site features the 13-acre Eavestone Lake
Mr Sterne, who has more than ten years of experience of outdoor hospitality-based business, gained through his operation of hire company Yorkshire Yurts and YurtBar, which caters for the corporate entertainment market, told the Stray Ferret:
“I’m using the expertise that I have gained to create a new facility to satisfy the needs of people who are increasingly focused on wellness, lifestyle issues and the environment.”
He pointed out:
“Our site has an abundance of natural assets, including forty acres of forest, a 13-acre lake and the biodiversity that goes with them, from birds, butterflies and insects to clear night-time skies that are perfect for people whose spirits are lifted by looking at the stars.
“The aim is to harness and harmonise with all aspects of the natural environment – woodland, water and wildlife – to provide guests with a restful and regenerative stay that is good for mind, body and the healing process.
“That is why people wanting to find a peaceful and idyllic place to go on retreat, represent a growing part of our business.”
The yurts have been designed to provide a five-star level of luxury
In the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Yurtshire is surrounded by stunning scenery, that would not look out of place on a canvas by the landscape master painter J.M.W. Turner.
Views from the decking of each Yurt site, which has its own private hot tub, underline why nearby Grassington was chosen for filming of the smash-hit Channel 5 programme All Creatures Great and Small.
Each of the nine placements has its own private hot tub and decking area
With Grassington and other attractions, such as Fountains Abbey, Studley Royal, Brimham Rocks and Stump Cross Caverns, drawing more staycationers to Yorkshire, there is scope for Yurtshire to build on a successful first season.
Nicola Warters, pictured here with Tom Sterne, says the yurts provide five-star luxury in idyllic surroundings
Yurtshire manager Nicola Warters, said:
“We are providing the type of luxury accommodation that can be found in a five-star hotel, but instead of waking up surrounded by bricks and mortar, our visitors are in the heart of the woodland and arise to the sound of birds singing.
“Some also come for the pleasure of picking out the star constellations, as they relax in the soothing waters of their hot tub. It’s therapeutic on every level.”
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Star of Scotland shines bright in a Sharow churchyard
Where, in the Ripon area, can you find an internationally-famous astronomer buried in a grave marked with a small pyramid-shaped monument and why?
The answers can be found in the churchyard of St John’s Sharow, where Charles Piazzi Smyth was laid to rest following his death on 21 February 1900.
Smyth was born in Naples on 3 January 1819. At the age of 26 he became the youngest-ever Astronomer Royal for Scotland — a title given to the director of the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh.
Smyth, who held the position for more than 40 years, was also professor of astronomy at Edinburgh University.
He has the distinction of being the man behind the introduction of Edinburgh Castle’s one o’clock gun, which is fired six days a week as a guide to shipping.
In an era of unprecedented industrial growth, which saw polluted skies obscure the stars, Smyth literally took his career to new heights when he and his wife climbed the mountains of Tenerife and used a 7.5 inch refracting telescope to view the night sky at altitude.
His pioneering work demonstrated the need for observatories to be located on high ground to achieve best results and he set the standard for astronomers across the globe, which saw him named as the ‘father of mountain astronomy’.
St John’s Sharow, the last resting place of Charles Piazzi Smyth and his wife Jessie
Move to Ripon
Claims made in his 1864 book The Great Pyramid: Its Secrets and Mysteries Revealed, including a conclusion that its construction was ‘guided by the hand of God’ were criticised and rejected by many of the scientific community and 10 years later, he resigned from The Royal Society.
Following his retirement in 1888, Smyth and his wife left Scotland and moved to a house called Clova, in Clotherholme Road, Ripon, where they lived in relative obscurity, away from members of Edinburgh’s scientific elite, who had turned their backs on him.
Smyth, who was also an accomplished photographer, artist and meteorologist, shares his grave in Sharow with his wife, Jessie, who died four years earlier.
A snapshot of their remarkable time together is captured in the words of a weather-beaten epitaph on the pyramid.
It says that Jessie was:
“His faithful and sympathetic friend and companion, through 40 years of varied scientific experiences, by land and sea abroad as well as at home, at 12,000 feet up in the atmosphere, on the wind swept peak of Tenerife, as well as underneath and upon the Great Pyramid of Egypt.
The reference to the Great Pyramid at Giza provides the reason for their unusual memorial.
In his epitaph, where key words are emphasised by capital letters, a posthumous message conveying the hurt feelings he took to his grave can be seen.
It says:
“As Bold in enterprise as he was Resolute in demanding a proper measure of public sympathy and support for Astronomy in Scotland, he was not less a living emblem of pious patience under Troubles and Afflictions and he has sunk to rest, laden with well-earned Scientific Honours, a Bright Star in the Firmament of Ardent Explorers of the Works of their Creator.”
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Hundreds of meteors will fall over Harrogate tonight
Hundreds of meteors will fall over Harrogate skies tonight.
Around 60 to 100 meteors will fall from the sky every hour, but stargazers may struggle with finding somewhere clear to view them because of predicted thunderstorms.
The event is called the Perseid meteor shower and happens every year.
It is expected to be most visible in the early hours of tomorrow morning between midnight and 5am.
Tristan Campbell, an astrophotographer from Harrogate said:
“The weather doesn’t currently look as though it’s going to be clear until at least 1am and unfortunately the moon rises around then which makes the meteors harder to see.”
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Meteors, more commonly known as shooting stars, are formed as debris falls from the tail of a comet. Since July 14, earth has been ploughing through particles left behind from the Swift-Tuttle comet, which turn into bright falling specks.
As Perseid meteors are so bright, Tristan said if the skies remain clear they will be visible from most gardens, although a better location would be somewhere dark with little light pollution. Tristan’s personal favourite spot to shoot is in Crimple Valley.
He said:
“If I’m feeling more adventurous I’ll head out to Nidderdale for much darker skies.”
The shower can be seen across the whole of the UK and is expected to continue until August 24. More information can be found on the Royal Museums Greenwich website.