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Genesis under Dorset dark skies


Stu

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Monday 18th August

I am down in Dorset for my annual camping trip, and will use this thread to report on star gazing opportunities.

I have brought my TV85, for higher magnifications, doubles etc, and the Genesis for Widefield/nebulae.

Remarkably, we arrived on Monday afternoon, and the skies were stunningly clear that night. I was a little jaded after a 3 hour assembly of Camp Maksutov, but was also determined to make the most of it.

I had two main objectives for this trip. I don't plan on spending hours tracking down obscure stuff, I just wanted to have a really good go at the Veil and NA nebulae which I can't see from home, and also to get to a headland with sea horizon to hunt down some of the lovely southerly objects. Comet Jacques is another one to have a go at too.

Last night was Veil/NA night. Using the Genesis, the 2" Zeiss prism, Lumicon OIII and all my longer focal length 2" eyepieces, I had a great time. A few mildy annoying bright lights from neighboring tents stopped me getting fully dark adapted, but still I was able to see both nebulae very clearly.

I spent a long time on both targets, using averted vision to pull out as much detail as possible. Because of the lights, I was not really able to get Pickerings triangle, but both West and Eastern parts were nicely clear. The beauty of the Genesis is being able to use the 21 ethos and get a 4.2 degree fov with a 4.2m exit pupil.

The NA nebula was pretty good too, could see the overall shape with the gulf region and the little hook on the other side.

I must have spent an hour on both, plus a few other old favourites before hitting the sack. The Milky Way was stunning by the time I went to bed, dark rifts and bright clouds running through Cygnus, my favourite part. Multiple satellites and a few bright shooting stars too.

All in all a pretty good night, with a good forecast for tomorrow too.

Stu

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Great report Stu :smiley:

These fast refractors and ultra-wide views are very enjoyable and relaxing :grin:

I'm a little surprised that you did not get Pickerings Wisp though. Probably the transparency was not quite as good as it could be as I can see the triangular wisp with my little Vixen ED102 on good nights and I'm sure your Genesis would be up to it too.

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Great report Stu :smiley:

These fast refractors and ultra-wide views are very enjoyable and relaxing :grin:

I'm a little surprised that you did not get Pickerings Wisp though. Probably the transparency was not quite as good as it could be as I can see the triangular wisp with my little Vixen ED102 on good nights and I'm sure your Genesis would be up to it too.

It was mainly the lights from the neighboring tent John, transparency seemed good. Had a good night last night and got it easily. Will post about it later

Stu

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I get my hoodies from Primark, £8 yo.

Nothing beats dark skies. To avoid neighbouring light pollution, the lightweight camper should carry,

A peeler bar,

Three long poles

A heavy dark throw

Three heavy duty clips.

Make three holes in the ground , insert your poles, put up your throws and light pollution becomes a distant memory.

Nick.

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Thanks all. I'll carry on in this thread, rather than create a new one.

Tuesday 19th August

Last night I had plans to head up to Durlston Head to catch a nice southern horizon. I'm here with my daughter, and she had said she was ok to come. When we drove up however, we saw a badger wandering around in the dark, and various other 'eyes' and she got spooked, bless :-).

I didn't want to scare her, so headed back to the campsite and observed from there again. Same targets, but this time the campers with the lights had gone and things were much better.

The Veil in particular was much clearer. I was seeing the separation in the tail of the witch's broom, and structure in the eastern veil, the kind of double prong at the end. Pickering's triangle was clear this time. I must say, at times the whole thing looked almost photographic. The lovely thing about the ethos, and even more so the 31 Nagler with a 5 degree field is that it frames the Veil nicely with clear space around the edge, making it so much easier to take it all in.

I'm delighted with the Lumicon, a significant step up, and just proves that under a dark sky the OIII is quite useable in a 4" scope. It was better than the UHC last night.

The NA nebula was clearer again, and I also got the Pelican in the same fov this time.

I'm not totally convinced by these, but I was playing around with some edited images to give a flavour of what I could actually see.

They are just images off google which I have turned mono, unsharpened and adjusted contrast/brightness to get something approximating the view. All done on an iPhone so it is not exact by any means, some things are clearer, others less distinct.

Anyway, here they are, followed by SkySafari shots of the fov.

4yju4ypa.jpg

na2yqune.jpg

sa3y4esa.jpg

4u8y4u8e.jpg

Stu

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Wednesday 20th August

Tiring day today so no scope, just the Canon binos.

Had a trawl round normal favourites:

M13 - quite bright

M92 - smaller but still nice

M81/82

M51- small, two distinct cores seen

M101 - extremely faint oval patch

M71

Mizar/Alcor - Mizar split

Coathanger

Kemble's Cascade

Double Cluster

Stock 2

Comet Jacques - very clear, round with brighter core.

I then fitted the UHC and OIII filters and tried for some nebulae.

Veil - for the first time in binocs, the whole lot visible including Pickering's triangle. Faint, and needing averted vision, but only Eastern Veil visible without filters

NA nebula - very nice, distinct shape seen

M27

M57 - tiny, but just about identifiable.

EDIT a few more I forgot

M31 - looked huge, with M32 and 110 also visible

Heart and Soul nebulae - with filters just visible as faint patches of nebulosity

Another nice night, forecast looking good for tomorrow too :-)

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Great additional reports Stu :smiley:

The Veil in binoculars is a great catch. I've only managed it once - the Eastern segment with 15x70's, no filter on a very dark night a couple of years back.

Your "sims" of the Veil do seem pretty accurate. A 4" scope can go pretty deep under really dark skies.

So the Pelican is off the coast of the NA Neb ? - I'll pop out and have a crack at it next :smiley:

Hope you enjoy the rest of your holiday :smiley:

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I am in St Ives next to lands end and rhe night skies when they are clear are stunning! I live in Epsom in side the M25 and beung able to take the whole night sky in from horizon to horizon is just wondrous. As Stu says the milky way is a joy normally I can only make out a small patch directly above from home but here its easy to just loose yourself gazing upwards. Its funny at home looking at a planetarium softwae package constantly reminds me how much I am missing, looking up here reminds how a PC screen cant match the real thing for magnificence. I havent been camping for a few years but afyer last night my advice is don't buy that new scope buy a tent and bring your old one.

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Great reports Stu. Makes me want to pack the car and head out now...

Do it Alan, you know it makes sense :-)

Cloudy last night, but it is forecast to be clear again tonight.

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Excellent reports Stu :smiley: It appears we have both chosen a good week to go away (to different places I must add). Its my last nigh in wales tonight so hopefully it will be clear again.

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Hiya. This week in dorset has been fantastic. You've been very lucky with the weather. I'll probably be out again tonight (3rd time this week), and again tomorrow (if the forecast is to be believed)

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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Hiya. This week in dorset has been fantastic. You've been very lucky with the weather. I'll probably be out again tonight (3rd time this week), and again tomorrow (if the forecast is to be believed)

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Yes, very lucky indeed. Been coming here for eight years and despite staying six nights instead of the normal nine, this has been one of the best years I think.

Are you lucky enough to live down here?

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Well I've just got back to my tent after a pretty spectacular evening. A long story which I will post about tomorrow, but suffice to say I managed to get near to the coast with a fabulous southern horizon and spent a lovely few hours trawling around those southern gems.

Stu

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