SteveWolves

I have contacted head ranger at Cannock Chase before and all he wanted was an email saying we were going , he used to use a scope and knows of our problems in finding a good spot to use, there are lots of parking areas some away from the roads I would suggest a group of us and block off the entrance to a car park area, who are the doggers going to complain to?. The sky is not very good there but its better than my back garden. I think if we could show the authorities we were responsible folk there are spots that are beyond locked gates we might be able to get to in the future.

Hi welcome from Wolverhampton, you could look at your local astro society they are usually very helpful .

Hi from Wolverhampton

Hi Mike Have done pics of an open cluster and just getting spreadsheet together to record the 165 objects identified and how to handle the 23 ref stars to give absolute magnitudes and make colour mag plots.

Hi guys, the Wolves location at Bonningale is by arrangement only, we all need a site we can go to at short notice with no problems contacting landowners etc, this has been a problem of course. We all could try Cannock Chase if there was enough of us to occupy a car park we could park a vehicle accross the entrance to stop the doggers. Who are they going to complain to?

Wolverhampton A.S are having a free public lecture on Mon 7th March by Dr Julian Merten from Oxford titled "Cosmology & the Dark Universe" at St Peters Collegiate School, Compton Pk, Compton Rd West, Wolverhampton WV3 9DU starting at 7:30pm www.wolvas.org.uk

Hi Helen Have done sone pics of NGC957 please let me know more about your paper please. I still want to get some callibrated photometry done soon though, I think the 1m scopes have a larger field of view that might enable standard stars to be used.

To get good skies I go to star parties where the location has been choosen carefully for a good trade off of lightpollution against facillities. But we are all looking for low lightpollution, ease of access and safety, the Chase has lots of nightime activity and had to use flash pictures to get them to leave but its bordered by the Stafford and Cannock glows. Rural sites are the best but lots of farms now have to have big lights on for insurace reasons and thus do not want gangs of blokes roaming arruond in the dark. I camp at Ratlinghope on the west side of the Mynd but its a campsite and others there can be very bright so not always so suitable. If you find somewhere to try let us know that way you might get people to come with you as most cannot get away for the evening at short notice..

Hi Leo THe wolves AS do use a field in Bonningale sometimes. I have tried the Chase and the areas arround the long mynd but the problems are finding somewhere with little or no direct light that is far enough from a road with a good surface and reduced overall light pollution that is within a distance for an evenings observing. It is always usefull to have a mate or two with you to make you feel safe . As well as being a member of Wolverhampton AS I run a beginners astro club at Perton Library on the 3 rd Thursday each month.

Grant we want to be there the week so really need a hardstanding, have booked through FLO but I really need cofirmation of a pich as she cannot change dates etc at work when she has booked them. Ta Steve

Aidrian be carefull of glow in the dark stuff it is usually greeny light. I do find lots of people with very bright red lights are getting more common, the last thing you want is some fool shining one in your eyes when you have spent some time getting your eyes dark adapted, I should not encourage such beacons at a party. Having spare lights can be usefull but I have one that starts up white and needs another button push to get to red, it can be a pain so I would reccomend all getting or making just a red torch and not walking arround with it on to the annoyance of all of us that manage to see in very low light levels, if you always use a torch then you never really get fully adapted.

Hi all When do I get confirmation of pich, my partner needs to know for work etc. Happy new year to you all.

Hi Mike the title of the forum says double and variable stars, yes I see the problems you mention will look into this further. Steve.

Helen I have asked at the BAA variable star section for ideas and am awaiting a reply. Perseus_m45 I have used the Faulkes scopes for a few years at my small group at Perton Library Staffordshire England but now want to do a bit more than take pretty pics. The idea of being able to get usefull data from deep minima and to be able to look for variation in all of the stars in a field of view is something my small group would like to try.

Thanks Helen that is very usefull. Ta