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Running up that hill - no more

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Relpet

Relpet

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Where there are wheels there's a way.


There comes a time in an old man’s life when he has to look for an easier way.  In earlier posts I’ve told of the impediments to an easy life besetting my efforts to bring a second-hand, unbranded 4” reflector into satisfying use from the top of a hill 400 metres from my house in a Surrey village.  All the time I’ve got an unused, brand-new 8” Dobsonian sitting in the spare room because it’s almost certainly too heavy and definitely too clumsy to haul up that hill.

I loved the suggestion of hiring a Royal Navy gun crew from the Royal Tournament to give me a hand, yo, ho, ho and a bottle of rum, but the obvious solution was to just put it in the car and drive up.

The track up is a public footpath but private for vehicles.  I would have to get permission from the owner of a million-pound converted barn and the chap rebuilding the windmill.  Windmill man is absent except at weekends but he loves black Spanish honey and every time I come back from our French home close to the Spanish border there is a large jar put aside for him.  He owes me.  But the barn owner is new to the village and anyone who can afford that kind of property is unlikely to move in the same circles as me.  I shall have to introduce myself.

I explain the situation.  He sees before him an elderly fellow, stooped, decrepit, eccentric bordering on demented, muttering something about the forecast being perfect that evening for observing the rings of Saturn.  He stops short of patting me on the head and murmuring “There, there.” but kindly gives permission for me to disturb the tranquillity of his evening and will advise his wife to lock up the silver and bury her jewel case.

Just before sunset I drive up and unload two folding chairs, a folding table, lay out my star-chart, my eyepieces, my red torch, my laptop and set up the 8” Dob.

There is a beautiful crescent moon which I now view for the first time through a 9mm lens focussed to an 8” mirror.  I’m reminded of a visit to the North Island of New Zealand many years before where bubbles of gas escaping from mud pools made patterns just like the tiny craters I could see for the first time.  I gaze in awe.

And there is Venus, just about half-full but clearer than I have seen her before.

Turning back to the moon I can’t find it.  Oh, Heavens!  There’s a bank of cloud coming in from the west.  The stars that were beginning to appear are gone; the moon has gone and Venus is about to quite the scene as well.  What about that forecast?

From such a perfect vantage point, though, I can see beyond the cloud bank that the sky is indeed clear.  I just have to be patient – and patience is rewarded.  The moon is back, and Venus and, by Jove there’s Jupiter!

I have been thrilled to see Jupiter through my rickety old 4” but now the thrill is as if seeing this majestic planet for the first time.  Switching eyepieces for comparison with everything laid out beats rummaging through a raincoat pocket and for the first time I begin to understand the differences.  Does anyone ever tire of looking at Jupiter when its bands and colours are so crisply focussed?

More and more stars are appearing as I watch the cloud bank continue its progress east.  The dark shape of the windmill suddenly stands clear and then, beyond the mill, that bright one, low in the sky, it’s surely Saturn.  The finderscope seems to show it slightly yellow so I slip a 32mm EP into the slot and it reveals an elongated smudge.  Slowly focusing on the smudge the shape becomes clearer and it surely is Saturn, tiny but clearer than I have ever seen it.  I swap to the 12mm ED and then to the 9mm Skywatcher WA.  So this is what it’s all about.  This is why I’ve been trudging and, at last, driving up this hill.  This is why I’ve been searching for bargains, reading books, subscribing to SGL and boring my family to death.  I stare in wonder for several minutes then turn back to Jupiter, to Venus, then the dew-soaked apparatus all around me and remind myself that these wonders will always be there but I won’t if I catch pneumonia.  So with some degree of exhilaration I start packing up for the short drive home.

I won’t dwell on this any more.  You’ve all been through it.  If anything exceptional happens from my observing in France next month I’ll post from there but, in the meantime, thanks for all the encouragement.  Clear skies all.


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JonC

JonC

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Never underestimate the power of asking. I am currently trying to find out the owner of the old airfield near me, it was a WW2 emergency landing grass airstrip, that got upgraded later in the war to operational status. Since then its been left alone apart from the sheep that live there. The other place I want to ask about is on a big country estate that has a 1.5 mile  private road to access two farms, there must be someplace reasonably dark up there, at least darker than most places in West Kent.

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Relpet

Relpet

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Never underestimate the power of asking. I am currently trying to find out the owner of the old airfield near me, it was a WW2 emergency landing grass airstrip, that got upgraded later in the war to operational status. Since then its been left alone apart from the sheep that live there. The other place I want to ask about is on a big country estate that has a 1.5 mile  private road to access two farms, there must be someplace reasonably dark up there, at least darker than most places in West Kent.

Hi, JonC.  I bought my 8" Dob from Telescope House.  They set up in outbuildings on a farm near Edenbridge because one of the proprietors used to go stargazing there.  If they are anywhere near you it might be worth having a chat.  In my post I tried to convey just what a super spot I've found so close to home.  Good luck with your searches.

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Relpet

Relpet

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Great stuff.

"Cloudbusting" was on the same LP as "Running up that hill" - rather appropriate.

Thanks for the reminder Wazzat.  That was a special track for me at the time.  If only "Big Sky" had a better video!

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Relpet

Relpet

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What an excellent report.  You have a way with words.  Chapeau to you!   :D

Merci bien, singlespeeder!  Next report will probably be from France but still in plain English.

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Relpet

Relpet

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Sounds like a good night will keep an eye out for driving up that hill part 2

Thanks Andrew65.  In fact it will be driving down that hill, about 600 miles due south to where the moon shines over the mountains and there's only one street lamp in the village.  If the skies are clear I hope to send something within a week or two.

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