mike-t

Hi Stu - Thanks! Esher might be a bit of a hike for me to attend, but I'd be interested in the dark sky trips. I've bookmarked the site.

Finally took the plunge with my first scope - a Sky-Watcher Star Discovery 150i. Luckily the views from my back garden aren’t too bad, and I've been able to get some practice in. I seem to be between various astronomy groups, and I'm booked on the Hampshire Astronomical Group course in September. While I find the talks at the group interesting, what I feel I'm missing is a decent run down of any local star parties (it seems the groups like to put "talks" on the event pages but I never see actual gazing listed?). I'd like to take the scope out somewhere darker locally, and wonder if anyone in my area knows of any good spots (I was considering the punch bowl, thursley common or black down). I've been out to Iping Common, but I have to say I'd rather have some company. I was out there in the car park for a few hours by myself last Monday (too muddy to progress further) and my other half rightly expressed some concerns about being there by myself. Anyway - hello 👋