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Narrowband

  1. What's new in this club
  2. A link to my image of M81 & 82 taken here in Delabole, North Cornwall
  3. Hi Rob Sorry only just saw this ooopps. I live in Delabole near Tintagel. Cheers Lee
  4. Hi there I'm in Callington just South of Launceston - moved here just a few weeks ago in fact! Were are you based? Cheers, Rob
  5. Hi Just throwing this out there, ard there any clubs or members in North Cornwall here, it seems this group doesn't get to much action, as I live in North Cornwall it may be good to meet up locally once possible with covid restrictions, it's a shame I don't drive so clubs further afield are a no go. Clear skies
  6. South of Princetown is getting to Bortle 4 territory, go a couple of miles north of Princetown just beyond Postbridge and you should find yourself in Bortle 3.
  7. Hi All I've been planning a move to the Plymouth area from Bristol for some time now and probably would have already if it weren't for the pesky Covid-19!!! My wife's family are from down there and I did some looking for decent spots on Dartmoor. The best I found exploring from the Plymouth side was the 2 car parks on the Whiteworks road a couple of miles South of Princetown. I haven't visited at night so I don't know what the city skyglow will be like as it's about 9 miles NE of Plymouth. The further North and East you go, the better it will be I guess! Anyway once we sell our house here and do finally move (early in 2021 I hope!) I'll definitely be looking to meet up with more South Devon astronomy types 😃 Cheers, Rob
  8. When I mentioned Haddon Hill I meant going up onto the highest point of the Hill, not Wimbleball reservoir, which as has been said, is locked off and also in quite a deep hollow. It's not a long walk from the car park and from the top you have almost 100% clear horizon, free from anything. All I need is a break in this terrible weather!!
  9. Sorry for not replying sooner - but yes, it's definitely not the right weather this weekend! Happy to keep the option open for the weekends you suggest - just got to wait and see what happens. Hopefully get it in before the end of 2020.
  10. Taken with my C11XLT-CT and Zwo 178mm camera. Mono image. False colour added in Photoshop
  11. Well it certainly looks a washout for next weekend, and am still waiting on delivery of equipment. So currently considering 20th/21st November as next potential window of opportunity. Failing that, 11th/12th December, or 18th/19th December would be the only two remaining windows of 2020 for me.
  12. Sounds like a great project, with a possible, modest income too...
  13. @JamesF thanks for your first hand experiences, if by an amazing stroke of luck, I might be able to recount my experience of both chance locations over the same weekend, and new moon cycle. Raining here now
  14. Come to think of it, once I get a bit more organised with stuff the possibility of offering one of our fields here as an observing location if people are interested. On good nights I reckon NELM can be between 5.5 and 6 based on stars in UMi. Driving onto the field probably wouldn't be clever if there'd been a lot of rain recently and there's no electricity or anything like that (maybe one day), but there would be the opportunity to chuck a tent up and get a few hours kip after a hard night at the eyepiece. Just need to get our building work all finished off first... James
  15. I live under the "To Taunton and the M5" text on their map. I've been to Wimbubble Lake a few times when my son has been canoeing/kayaking there and I'm not convinced about it as an observing site unless access from the car park to the area around the lake is possible (there's a gate between the two as far as I recall). The car park itself faces east-ish and overlooks the lake, but is surrounded by mature trees so may not be a great location unless it fits in with the targets you have in mind. There's a sloping grass area that runs down to the water's edge and if you can get onto that I reckon it would be much better. Vehicles do go down that far (to get boats in the water, for example). I just don't know if they lock the gates at night. Haddon Hill seems like a fair bet, though some of the car park does have trees to the immediate south (but not all of it). And it should be relatively painless to get to compared with some of the other locations. I've not been to the other sites, but my inclination would be to avoid the more northerly ones as there can be a fair bit of sky glow from further up the Severn if the air isn't perfect. Even here, when the atmosphere is a bit moist there can be very obvious glow to the north from the likes of Cardiff and Weston-super-Mare. James
  16. Yes (concur with trying both sites out), I've been reminded that I booked a long weekend of annual leave on that weekend, so I have a 4 night window of possibilities for the weather, but will try the best and hopefully that falls on Friday / Saturday. One of my Powertank's arrived today, so once I've done some testing with life time and power draw I am ready equipment-wise, but was hoping for the new telescope to arrive before hand. Still something I will do either way, old equipment with a fiddly focus procedure or hopefully something better... I will have the same astrophotography target (IC1805) for both Dartmoor and Exmoor, so will be able to hopefully directly compare and produce a comparison review of both (of course, assuming the weather plays into our hands!!! - which given the current forecast of continual clouds, is no guarantee). Once I get paid this month I will be getting a thermos flask!!
  17. Following giles' links above I came across a "Dark Skies Pocket Guide" (here) produced by the Exmoor National Park which actively encourages astronomy and gives specific examples of suitable sites - one of which is the Haddon Hill site @cheddar-man suggested. I think that sorts the permission question. @gilesco I'll keep the 13/14th Nov free with the intention of heading up to Dartmoor (weather permitting) but if I get another opportunity I might try out the Exmoor site as well. I'm hoping that longer term I can get out to remote locations fairly regularly to escape the light pollution of Exeter.
  18. I expect, since becoming a Dark Skies site, that they've made all the changes to keep it that way. https://www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk/enjoying/stargazing Surprised I have not seen this mentioned anywhere on here, especially as it appears to be running right now... (although many events will probably not go ahead because of the weather). https://www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk/enjoying/stargazing/dark-skies-festival Interesting you can hire SkyWatcher Dobsonians from any of their National Park Centres, £25 a night, plus £100 deposit, £10 per each additional night. Sounds great for families who have a passing interest while visiting the park on a break.
  19. There are some (old) floodlights at the Wimbleball dam but never seen them on. Apart from the I'm not aware of any light source. The nearest village, about twenty houses, is Bury, well over the hill.
  20. I have not, Exmoor is a little further, and I'm more at home on Dartmoor, anyone fancy getting in touch? I can still do Exmoor one night, just 10+ mins drive for me and I suppose a smoother drive with equipment. Would be good to know what artificial lighting is there, I know the dartmoor sites have none, Exmoor is a dark site space, so should be hopeful on that.
  21. Haddon Hill does look interesting, certainly a lot more sheltered than the site on Dartmoor we were considering and roughly equal travel time for me. I've checked the National Trust and it's not one of their car parks (despite those donation boxes) so I would guess its an Exmoor National Park Authority owned one. @gilesco have you contacted them already? If not, I can send them an email. I'd be happy to head to either site assuming Exmoor didn't mind us being there.
  22. Yes not seeing a good window this month at all... am getting a part shipment tomorrow, which will help with setup planning. Hoping for a better November, have some long weekends booked with work too....
  23. Umm, not looking good for the Orionids meteors tonight😩
  24. I believe it just comes under Exmoor national park but in the car park (free) there are National Tryst donation boxes?
  25. Sorry, had a dome to construct but finished now so weather should improve, lol.
  26. If you go to my website, I have recently posted a talk by Dr Robin Glover, which goes in to levels of light pollution noise and how this helps / hinders your necessary exposure time when imaging. If you can obtain better detail with lower length exposures then you can get more subs in a given time frame and thus more detail. Bortle is a rather rough scale. Lower is better. SQM higher the better. It also translates to observing quality, but it is difficult to quantify, as your eye is fixed in its abilities regarding focal length, aperture, and exposure time. Of course having a telescope is altering your focal length and aperture to your eye, but exposure is still set fixed, to whatever your brain copes with. Location looks good, looks like good shielding from passing traffic, larger space than what we've been looking at. Don't know if car park closes overnight, there are some buildings in the area, but also some amenities (toilets). Do you know who runs the car park? Would like to clear with them for use in that way. It is a lot further from me from other sites, but time on road is just +10minutes, given some is motorway and major A road.
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