Local Stargazing Event in Letchworth on Monday evening...

[matsey]

Hi guys,

Thought I'd let you know that there's a public event on Monday evening in Letchworth, being held by my astronomy society, in case you don't spot the post in the Stargazing Live section... linky:

http://stargazerslounge.com/stargazing-live-2012/170518-stargazing-live-ldas-event-north-herts-monday-16th-jan.html

The school where it's being held has an observatory (with a 10" SCT I think.. I haven't seen it though), and around 10 of the members (including me!) will be there with our own scopes.

Hope some of you can make it... and if you do, please come over and say hi, I'll be there with my 6SE (my "real life" name is Sharon by the way, in case you do try to find me!).

Matsey

[Daz1974]

I'll be there and i'll be bringing my 130p goto.

[jasonp]

Hopefully I can make it too. I'll have the 200p with me

[matsey]

Excellent ! See you guys there ! Weather's looking good too, so should be a really good evening

[Daz1974]

looking forward to tomorrow. I took my scope round to my parents last night over in Dunstable, got my sister and nephews round to have a look at things.

Parents house is a much better location than my pokey back garden and I had my best night ever since I got my scope back in October. Orion nebula has never looked so clear and defined and all the other usual suspects were looking great and everyone was surprised with exactly how much you can see through a 5" newtonian, and also my binoculars that I had on a tripod too.

Im also getting better accuracy with the GoTo aligning, it seems to work better using certain 2 stars than others.

My only slight disappointment was andromeda. I was expecting possibly a little more than what I saw last night so Im hoping tomorrow night I can see it through another scope and see it again. How well should it appear in a 130p? All I seemed to get was a tiny feint smudge and nothing like what M42 was showing us.

[jasonp]

I'll try and be there. I'll show you m31 in my 200p. Believe me it's not as impressive as you think.

[Daz1974]

thanks Jason.

Perfect timing for this evening, my new 18mm BST eyepiece has just turned up!

[matsey]

Daz, I agree with Jason on M31... it is pretty incredible when you think of what you're looking at, but visually it is still a grey smudge in my scope too! The LP in Stevenage definitely doesn't help with galaxy spotting, I've managed to see a few, but never with any real defined shape.

I'm hoping though to catch a view of Venus tonight as I've yet to see that in a telescope as it's just not visible from my garden at the moment.

Though you may have to prod me awake throughout the evening... I was up at 6.30am this morning with my scope looking at Saturn and Mars, both were pretty amazing... Saturn I manged to see the storm belt for the first time, and also the polar cap on Mars. Feeling more than a wee bit tired right now though....

[jasonp]

I'll be there for around 7. What time is everyone else getting there? I've never been there before so hopefully I'll find it ok

[Daz1974]

I should be there a little after 5pm. I only work down the road in Baldock so its a quick blip up the a505 for me.

If you're coming in from Luton stay on the A505 through Hitchin following the signs to Letchworth. As you come out of Hitchin, up the hill the garden centre/camping place is on your left, keep going for about another half a mile of so.

You should see a small village type post office on your left at the corner of the Spring Road turning, Muddy lane is almost opposite you on the right.Once you go past these slow down as you'll need to take the next right in Barrington Road. Carry on down Barrington Road and take a right into the car park.

barrington road letchworth - Google Maps

[matsey]

I should be there by 5.00pm

[UHF]

I was thinking of coming along too ahead of joining ldas, whats the usual running of these events? Do you just pitch up?

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[matsey]

Hi UHF,

Always good to see new faces, so please do come along !

Tonight is a public event hosted by LDAS, so there'll be members set up to show people sights through their own scopes, there are some talks as well, and the school where we're running the event has an observatory as well. There's no entry fee and you're welcome to turn up any time after 5.30pm. Have a look at the event page on the LDAS website, that will give you lots more info:

www.ldas.org.uk/activities/StargazingLive.html

Hope to see you this evening !

Matsey

[Daz1974]

Just about defrosted from last night. Was good to meet you both, Matsey and Jason.

I was surprised how busy it was, wasnt expecting that!!

Hope to catch up with you all again soon.

[matsey]

Great meeting you guys too.

And yes, thought it was a fantastic evening, lots of people but lots of fun too.. and fabulous location, got to see so much more than I normally see from my garden :)

[jasonp]

Yup was great to meet you two. Great night even though I was frozen lol.

[UHF]

Shame I got caught up at work, sounds like a good time was missed. Ill be up at the next club observing night to meet some people and see what its all about.

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