Phil Fargaze

Having travelled up to Suffolk, I`m at a dark site with a glorious sky but a dewed up primary. I wasn't going to let the chance go, so with an ingenious or reckless idea I very carefully set up the camping stove on the lowest heat below the scope and surrounded it with a makeshift shroud to build up the warmth. After a short while it had cleared the dew and I was up and running again!

You have mentioned most things I think of when I`m out camping with the dob. Here is a list of what I usually have for an autumn or spring trip. Custom made ground cups to stop sinking into the ground. Small groundsheet to go under the base. I find that underneath, base can get very damp from dew. A waterproof cover with pegs and bungees to peg down and wrap around the scope. Pre made garden bench covers can be a good fit or just a regular tarp. Old towels to wipe things dry when there is a lot of dew about. Folding camping table (frequently two tables) and chair. Some way of keeping observing notes dry such as a box file or folder with spare pens. If the ground is soggy I have an old thin floor mat to stop the mud getting trodden about. A 12v hair dryer might need to be deployed on soaked optics but then a power supply would need to be considered. My dob has a secondary dew strap so I take along a spare car battery (modern upgrade in consideration!) Paracetamol for a grumbling back after three hours of bending over to look in the eyepiece. However sometimes I find a low stool can help especially if observing low to the horizon. Red light head torch. Hand warmers. My dob base is made from chip board so I check it for exposed wood and apply varnish or paint because it can soak up water and start to swell. So generally most things are to battle the damp, camping with the dob in the summer is such a luxury, but not so dark.

The full video of the two night camping trip by WildBeare that led to her seeing the aurora has been uploaded today. A Solo Hiking, Camping & Waterfall Adventure. This one didn't go to plan (but it was pretty special) (youtube.com)

I follow Claire on youtube and she does put out some very good videos of her adventures and has a never ending appetite for camping. She has come to notice the beauty of the night sky which she shares in her videos. I was also camping out that night but I had a clue to what was happening but still the intensity of it did surprise me. Claire really seemed to be going through some mixed emotions which is fascinating to see. I`ve already watched the video twice and will probably watch it many more times as a constant reminder of that night.

Thinking about it, those dates in September give at least six hours of astro darkness which I would be happy with for doing visual observing. These days I just go for it and get what chance I can. I took the large dob to Suffolk last weekend knowing I only had just over two hours of astro darkness and ended up seeing the amazing aurora on Friday night and I also managed to get a good number of galaxies and globular clusters observed on the Saturday night. A weekend I will never forget!

I set off for camping in Suffolk on Friday to do some galaxy hunting knowing I only had a couple of hours astronomical darkness and got ‘clouded out’ by the display. To begin with it looked just like light pollution to the north then suddenly as if a fog had lifted I could see the magnificent colours. At some point it was right overhead and down to the east and west.

Chasing Venus is a gripping read, fully recommended. Should be made into a film.

Nice capture. Always awesome to see a star blink out behind an asteroid. I got a miss from just south of the shadow path. It`s been a busy week for occultations!

Yes a nice collection of light curves with more to follow I would think. Its going to be interesting to see what results the subsequent analysis brings up.

I could only get onto one live view because the others were clouded. However the one I was watching had Betelgeuse a bit too much saturated on the screen plus passing cloud made it unable for me to notice the actual occultation

Excellent web page set up HERE shows general info, cloud cover and some more live links. Approximate time of the event for the different locations is shown. Looking at the predictions, the mid event time is about 10 seconds in duration with a mag drop of 1 or 2.8. A keen watch will be needed because Betelgeuse might not completely disappear but it should visibly dim.

There has been an announcement for a live feed of the event, link here https://www.virtualtelescope.eu/webtv/

It will be a late night for a working day but there is talk of a live feed being arranged so I`ll keep an eye out and post details here.

Indeed, the event is predicted to be annular, so because of this there is a coordinated campaign for observers to extract the maximum scientific results. I wish I could have travelled to Spain for the event but I didn`t really get organised for it. Here are some links with some more in depth information. https://occultations.org/publications/rasc/2023/20231212Leona.htm https://www.iota-es.de/betelgeuse2023.html

I`ve been a happy subscriber for years, thanks to Steve for all his hard work. He does mention the archive here which could come in handy for getting some target suggestions.