Well, it’s that time again and I am leaving tomorrow to fly to Hong Kong where I will join Viking Orion for a wonderful assignment bringing the wonders of the cosmos  to our guests! Viking Orion is one of two ships in the fleet that has a “state of the art” planetarium on board. I’ll be delivering the “Sky above us” planetarium shows as well as lectures and live stargazing nights as we sail from Hong Kong, around Japan then along the NorthWest Passage, through Alaska and ending up in Vancouver, Canada. It’s an itinerary we’ve done before but always enjoy.

It’s been a busy time for me lately. After completing two months as Resident Astronomer and Northern Lights Guide on Viking Vela. We had an amazingly successful Aurora season on the ship and witnessed the Northern Lights on every cruise we undertook. Suffice to say, we had many happy guests! Since then, I have been preparing for my upcoming assignments, the first of which is another Viking trip from Hong Kong to Vancouver and includes a fantastic exploration of Japan.

Following my Viking assignment, I will be heading for Malta, Italy and Greece on P&O before joining Queen Mary 2 for a Transatlantic crossing in July. Following my Cunard crossing I will be on Saga Spirit of Adventure for the Total Solar Eclipse on August 2nd in Spain.

September is free, at the moment but, there will be lots to do in preparation for future cruises including a new adventure for me on Havila. I’ll be Resident Astronomer on MS Havila Polaris and MS Havila Pollux during October and November 2026.

To finish off the year I will be back on Cunards’ Queen Anne in the Canary Islands where we will celebrate Christmas and New Year.

I am about to set off on a two month assignment on Viking Vela in search of the Northern Lights. I’m really looking forward to this assignment as I love seeing the guests reaction to seeing the lights for the first time. I’ll be giving several talks on each 12 night cruise including, “Celestial Lights”. I’ll also be doing a talk on “Photographing the Northern Light” where I will give the guests tips about getting the best out of their cameras and smartphones to photograph the Aurora. During the cruises, I will also be conducting my “Aurora Watch” sessions on deck 9 of the ship. Fingers crossed the weather is good and we get good showings of the Nordlys.”

I’ve just returned from a very successful assignment on Saga Spirit of Discovery where I delivered 5 very well received talks and conducted a successful stargazing night on deck. I’m only home for a few days before I head to Norway for two months of Northern Lights chasing!

I’ll be guest astronomy speaker on the wonderful Saga Spirit of Discovery over Xmas and New Year. We will be in the Canaries and the beautiful Madeira over the holidays and I’ll be delivering lectures and stargazing nights as we enjoy the amazing ship. I’ll try and post photos later.

My next astronomy assignment is drawing near! I will be Resident Astronomer on the wonderful Viking Jupiter travelling from Barcelona to Buenos Aires and during that voyage I will be delivering lectures, planetarium shows and stargazing nights for guests. I will also be using my Dwarf 3 smart telescope to observe the Sun and hopefully guests will have the opportunity to see some sunspots!

The latest addition to Exetrer Observatory is a DwarfLab Dwarf 3 smart telescope and I have to say, it is incredible. Controlled by an app on a phone or tablet, it is a very easy way to observe and image targets in the night sky as well as the Sun, wildlife, panoramas, timelapse videos and more.

Check it out here.

Exmple of images taken with my Dwarf 3.

My assignment on Queen Mary 2 was very enjoyable and successful. Trans Atlantic crossings, with 7 days at sea, can be challenging for guests but Cunard have an excellent Insights lecture programme. I delivered 3 talks during the crossing and I also had a Q&A session that lasted for an hour and a half with many excellent questions. I am now at home for just over a month before joining Viking Jupiter for a trip from Barcelona to Buenos Aires.

I am currently in Norwich, Connecticut visiting my son who works at the US Navy base in Groton but, on September 3rd I will be embarking Cunard’s flagship, Queen Mary 2 in New York to begin an assignment from New York to Southampton. I’ll be delivering several talks on astronomy and astrophysics in the Illuminations Theatre and maybe even conducting planetarium shows. The weather during an Atlantic crossing is not usually clear enough for stargazing but, fingers crossed!

On the 22nd of July I went on a “bear hunt” to the Spasski River Forest. As soon as we arrived we saw a bear hunting salmon in the river. It was an amazing sight. More images will appear in the gallery!