Clear night in Dorset

[Stu]

Just crept into the sleeping bag after a nice session on the campsite in Dorset. Had to dodge a few clouds but the conditions were pretty good, got steadier as the night went on.

Was using my 4" Apo on a giro mount. First real outing with it on that mount and am generally pleased. Only pain is re balancing after changing from different weight ep's. Using it on an old surveyors tripod and it is rock steady.

Most notable object of the night was the Veil, clearly seen with my 31t4 and OIII filter. First time I've seen it in the 4" so pretty chuffed. The southern sky is dark down here, M31 easily naked eye.

Just stuck to my old favourites, m31, m13, m57 which was very clear. I split both components of the double double easily using the 3 to 6 zoom nagler at 4mm. Also gamma andromedae, the double which is a favourite of mine, plus Mizar. M45 also looked great in the wide fov of the 31t4.

Finally Jupiter which I checked a number of times during the night, again with the nagler zoom. Was quite wobbly early on but by 2pm was really stable. Not so much detail seen in the belts, could have done with a filter or two to improve the contrast but none to hand. There is obviously a background star nearby at the moment because it looked liked there were five moons!

Throw in a few shooting stars and all in all but a bad night. The milky way was very bright, best I've seen for some time.

Looking forward to the Peak Star Party for the next major fix.

Cheers

Stu

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[Johnboy2011]

Where were you Stu, sounds great?!

[Stu]

I go to a campsite called Downshay farm, having been going for five years now with the children.

The skies to the north aren't great because of Poole and Bournemouth but to the south they are very good. As said, the Milky Way is very clear, particularly through Cygnus, and Andromeda was very clear, and big, to the naked eye. Through the 4" it looked huge, pretty much filled the fov using a 31t4 with a soft glow and I could easily see the other satellite galaxy, m110 I think, or maybe the other one, I always get them mixed up.

Anyway, it's a great place, sure any of the sites on the Purbeck peninsula would be similar if they are near the coast.

Cheers

Stu

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