A night at a dark site

[Ursa Major]

Hello,

Yesterday I spent a lovely night on Dartmoor, the first dark site I have been to with my telescope.

We camped at a lovely location with a totally flat southern horizon.

The weather was a bit unsettled with two weather fronts closing down on us from the east and west so I was slightly worried about it clouding over.

After watching a beautiful sunset, we waited until the first stars appeared, the summer triangle, arcturus. It almost seemed that every time I looked back at the sky, it was full of stars that I had not seen yet.

We bought our sleeping bags up to a big flat rock and laid down watching the sky. It was amazing being able to see every horizon with my peripheral vision.

I had just read in my sky at night magazine that it was the start of perseids meteor shower (and also the Delta Aquarids). I think we were looking for shooting stars for an hour and managed to see about 30 although I'm sure there were many more. Do you think they were from a meteor shower, or just random meteors?

I had printed off some detailed star charts in the hope that I would be able to find all the messiers in the Sagittarius area and in the other low down southern constellations.

I started at Sagittarius, my birth constellation and saw the teapot for the first time, a nice asterism. This made star hopping to all the messiers easy as the teapot stars were so bright. Am I right in thinking that M7 is the lowest messier from England? It made it even lower with me observing it at midnight when it was way past the meridian. This and the butterfly cluster were quite washed out but still clearly visible.

The Milky Way was the brightest I had ever seen it with it appearing to come right out of the teapots spout.

Next I went on to M15 and M2. I noticed they were quite small globulars but very bright. I did not go to a higher mag because my fingers were almost numb and the wind was very strong.

Next I revisited M31. The dark sky made it about 3 times as long as it was back home. Seeing it at a dark sight really makes you realise how big it is. I could clearly see its satellite galaxy, M110, that a could not see from back home. M31 was the best part of the night.

I had not been able to see M33 before yesterday night. I used my binoculars to find it as I did not want to star hop and I thought my bins might provide a better image anyway. I was clearly visible as a hazy patch in the sky.

M101 was amazing. So much better than at home. And considering the sky was not fully dark yet, I imagined what it would look like with a totally dark sky. The moon spoiled the sky from 1 o’clock onwards.

I have now broken the 100 mark in my Messier hunt. Only 9 more to go.

The wind made finding these objects almost impossible. I did not even try to sketch what I saw.

We retreated back to the tent at 1:30 all cold and wet from the dew and called it a night. It was hard to get to sleep because we heard a horse nay and then go galloping off with what sounded like 5 of its friends. With us camping not to far away from Dartmoor high security prison we assumed the worst and I had my knife in my hand for the whole night onwards.

Anyway, thanks for bearing with me.

For all you people who haven’t been to a dark sight yet, It is well worth it. Just make sure the moon is down, it is perfectly clear, the temperature is good and there is not much wind. And O yeah, don’t camp next to a prison.

[ollypenrice]

Enjoyable report. My first ecounter with a telescope was at high altitude in the remote Andes, about as good as it gets. Putting up with less became unbearable so I made finding a dark site at which to live a priority. The skies you describe are now like oxygen to me. I love just being able to see as nature intended us us to see.

I've never set foot on Dartmoor but must certainly do so. It looks and sounds excellent.

Olly

[Ursa Major]

Enjoyable report. My first ecounter with a telescope was at high altitude in the remote Andes, about as good as it gets. Putting up with less became unbearable so I made finding a dark site at which to live a priority. The skies you describe are now like oxygen to me. I love just being able to see as nature intended us us to see.

I've never set foot on Dartmoor but must certainly do so. It looks and sounds excellent.

Olly

Thanks Olly,

I was amazed with what I could see with a 5 inch scope, but you have a 20 inch scope (getting on for 10-15 times more light gathering) and you live at a dark sky site. You must get some beautiful sites.

When I’m older I want a big scope and a dark sky site.

[Beulah]

Fantastic report, Laurie.

Olly, you are one lucky man! (how many times have I said this already?!)

[PETENAUD]

great report, nice to read.

[26Left]

Great report . Yes, M7's the lowest.

[Ursa Major]

Thanks for all your kind replies everyone.

[russ]

Excellent report Laurie. Really enjoyed it. I'm in need of some dark skies....roll on Saturday.

[swamp thing]

Another great report.

You cannot beat a bit of dark sky viewing and camping can ya?

Always love seeing "the steam coming out of the tea pot" it never ceases to make me smile.

M33 and M101 my favourite face on spirals are just so incredible from dark skies.

M31 is a giant away from street lights huh?

M15 is my favourite Globular It's so dense, probably needs a slightly larger aperture to show it at its best.

Then to top it off those wonderful landscapes when you crawl out of your pit in the morning.

Stunning.

Regards Steve

[jabberwocky]

i found a dark sky site no more than 20 min from my house last night, im sure its not a patch on dartmoor but considering its only 7 or 8 mins from jnc 17 of m4 the skies are amazing.

the milky way was stunning, and i saw M45 low on the horizon with the naked eye for the first time.

unfortunately i was working so couldnt hang around to enjoy the view for very long.

i now need to get a pair of bins to take out in my truck. i collect milk from farms so spend most of the night in the middle of nowhere so can do a spot of observing whilst at work.

[blackparticle]

Great stuff. Dartmoor is certainly worth the effort for anyone living close by.

I was up there a couple of weeks ago. I found a nice spot at Venford Reservoir which has a small car park set back from the road. I didn't actually take a scope with me as I was doing some wide-field imaging but to be honest, for that first trip up there it wasn't required.

There was so much to see just with the eyes and a pair of binoculars that I spent most of the time in the car, seats back, seat warmers on and sunroof wide open.

Seeing objects like the NA nebula and being able to trace the outline with the naked eye was highly impressive. Objects like Andromeda were easily visible and the Pleiades towards the end of the night rose above the horizon with a beautiful blue shimmer piercing through the low level haze.

We were even joined by a fairly friendly group of wild ponies who were curious to see what we were doing. It was quite amusing watching them jump and twitch every time the camera shutter clicked. I'll have to take some apples and polo mints next time to see if they can be enticed any closer.

A dark sky is easily the best astronomy upgrade you can ever make.

Alan

[JamesF]

So you can view the Milky Way whilst going on your milky way?

(But drive carefully, because you won't want milky whey.)

James

[Ewok]

Wonderful report, sounds amazining if not also tinged with a bit of horror, i.e. escaped mad men and rampaging horses

Just one question, can you pitch a tent anywhere on Dartmoor?

I love campimg and this sounds fantastic.

[mcro89]

Hey,

Nice session you had there. I have camped out on Dartmoor before, its a great place. (I must agree the sound of horses and sheep right outside your tent is a bit off putting)

As for the meteors your saw i think they were most likely part of the perseids meteor shower. It started late July through to late August with it peaking round the 13th. (Think i remember reading that its peak has up to 100 meteors per hour)

I plan to go out camping there round the 13th for it. Hope i get some clear skies.

Matt

[mcro89]

Wonderful report, sounds amazining if not also tinged with a bit of horror, i.e. escaped mad men and rampaging horses

Just one question, can you pitch a tent anywhere on Dartmoor?

I love campimg and this sounds fantastic.

Hey just to reply to your question, yes you can.. just about. If you get an OS map it has the boundries of where to camp (But it is mostly anywhere) and also you don't want to camp in the army live fire training area. Luckly throughout August they have a break where the army don't use it.

Welcome to the Dartmoor National Park Authority - This website has lots of helpful info about wild camping on Dartmoor and the rules

[Scosmico]

Very nice report. Some nights in areas without light pollution it is a rewarding experience and most of times encourages people to join the dark sky association.

Two weeks ago I was in the middle of the Amazon forest. No light pollution at all. It was the most stunning view of the milk way I had in all my life. I didn't have a telescope with me just lied down in a river bank in the middle of the night. AMAZONAZING!

I even thought about organizing a star part there. Perfect sky no light pollution or turbulent atmosphere. The guys in the Novo Encanto Ecologia, who managed the site were very nice. www.novoencanto.org.br.

Next time I will take at least a binocular. Because when Scorpious and Sagitarius is just above you there you can see M7, NGC 6231, Lagoon nebula, trifid nebula, butterfly cluster etc all with your very own naked eyes!

Darks Skies!

[Anders]

I started at Sagittarius, my birth constellation

Same here, too bad only the northern parts of the constellation gets above the horizon in Sweden - after reading all these reports of the amazing DSO's in Sagittarius i feel like i'm missing out on some awesome nebulae out there.

Great report!

//Anders