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Arrived in Nepal!

Ags

By Ags
in The Astro Lounge

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Ags

Ags

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I have finally arrived in Nepal, ST80 stowed in my baggage.

After a nice meal in a local restaurant in Kathmandu, I went up on the roof of the guest house to see what I could see.

I couldn't believe it! The poor Nepalis have no light pollution in their capital (they only have electricity for eight hours a day) but they live under a permanent smog blanket so thick that I could only make out Sirius, Betelgeuse, Rigel and (just) the three stars of Orion's belt. With all the smog and murk, Kathmandu is a bit like Mordor with Buddhist temples.

We'll be getting out into the countryside in a couple of days - really looking forward to it.

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Ags

Ags

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We are staying to the lowlands. We will do a lot of walking excursions, but have no plans to go up into the mountains at this time of the year. I also have my bins and camera, so I'm ready for anything!

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Stu

Stu

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Sounds very good. Jealous :-)

I fancy a crack at base camp one day. Might need to shed a few pounds and get fit before trying that. As said, let us have some pictures as soon as you are able to.

Stu

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JonH

JonH

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Nepal is amazing, you're going to have a fantastic time.

If you have the time and fancy seeing great mountain views including Everest from the Kathmandu Valley, head up to Nagarkot for a night. It's a village just 32 km from Kathmandu and well worth an over night visit. Must be awesome skies there too for your ST80.

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Hypernova

Hypernova

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What an amazing place to have a go at stargazing. I'll bet that once you get out into the countryside away from all of that smog the views will be to die for, the high altitude must help as well due there being less of the atmosphere in the way (good seeing potentially). Make the most of it with your ST80 before you come back to the Netherlands.

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Woody

Woody

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Namaste!

Have a good time mate. Nepal is my fav country and been there a couple of times.

As you mentioned the smog is pretty terrible at low altitude so the higher and further away you get from Kathmandu, the better.

The last time I was there I was over at Everest and Gokyo and the clear views at 5000m are just amazing!

Good luck mate and have fun

Jeremy

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Ags

Ags

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Thanks all. I'm back in smokey Kathmandu after a week in the steaming jungles of Chitwan and a couple of days in the mountains in Nagarkot. The skies up in Nagarkot were phenomenal, I could not believe how bright the stars were. The milky way was clear and strong and visible down to the the horizon. I added two new Messiers to my list (41 and 78) and loads of Collinder catalog objects. I also spotted the Flame nebula. I had a go at finding the Horsehead, but without success of course.

I didn't take any pics unfortunately - I was having too much fun observing. The skies were so good it was as if the Astronomy Fairy had turned my ST80 pumpkin into a gold-plated 12 inch dob for the night!

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Ags

Ags

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The trip has also been a success from the point of view of general photography. I have managed about six shots that I feel are worthing printing and hanging in my work room. I've really advanced my limited understanding of photography on this trip. Hopefully the pics will look good on the big monitor at home.

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Sully

Sully

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Been out there a couple of times my self, Annapurna BC and Everest BC, once your out in the sticks you don't need a telescope the sky's are amazing. The problem I can see if your that way is that as soon as the sun goes. The temp plummets. By the time you get a scope set up you'll be an ice cube.

Look up and enjoy for as long as you can.

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Ags

Ags

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We aren't going up any higher - Nagarkot was 2100m and that was high enough given it is winter and even Kathmandu was freezing. I was dressed pretty warmly for all my observing sessions.

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TheMightyKong

TheMightyKong

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Sounds amazing! As someone with wanderlust I do enjoy reliving others trips to exotic places thru their posts, thanks!

I read somewhere it's best not to go too high up as the thinner oxygen begins to affect the limits of your eyesight after a point, and spending time to acclimatise only helps upto a certain point.

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Sully

Sully

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I don't know how long your in Kathmandu for, but if your in Thamel, Pashupatinath is not too far away well worth a visit, a real eye opener to Westeners, sombre, macabre and peacefull all at once. Walking everywhere is the best to take it all in.

Love that city.

Don't forget to chill out in Pokhara, it'll be alot warmer than Kathmandu.

Happy travels, wishing I was there.

Sully

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