Jump to content

Banner.jpg.b89429c566825f6ab32bcafbada449c9.jpg

Meet Up


jasonp

Recommended Posts

To encourage us to get this group going a bit more does anyone fancy a meet at some point in the future. We can then all discuss potential places to observe / do some observing if the weather is clear.

Will be good to get everyone in one room.

What do you all think ?

Jason

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 81
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Great idea Jason. I would be up for that .

be good to put some faces to names. Any ideas where?

I spoke to Garry the other day and he said he was up for a meet up so I am sure he would come along to this as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Im up for it too.

Drove from my new place near Henlow yesterday thru the country roads into Bedford. There are some fantastic wide open spaces with 360 degree views, sadly they seem to be muddy farmers fields and lacking a small nicely paved/concreted area for us to setup our scopes.

Wrest park does seem to be an ideal location though if we can ever get that sorted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

this is my frequent finding, dark sky locations but nowhere obvious to set up, in the highly populated SE this is a problem

I'd be up for observing meets at half decent sites not too far from east herts, I guess hearts beds and bucks is a huge area, but perhaps some of us are close by so can agree mutual locations

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I know where you mean Madgie, I dont recall anywhere suitable directly off the road, maybe a bit more investigation would find somewhere though.

Does anyone want to try and meet up next week if this comet looks liek it's going to be a worthwhile event, and the skies are clear?

I was thinking of trying somewhere like dunstable downs (no scope, just binoculars) as its near my parents aand I know my dad would fancy coming.

Anyone got any better locations they are thinking of to try and catch this next week?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey,

Just catching onto this thread. You guys still thinking about trying to find a dark site around herts? I'm really keen to find a spot to meet up with other observers. The spot for LDAS in letchworth is OK, but the site is north of Letchworth which means all of letchworth lights the southern horizon and the north of their spot is basically a tree line. Not been to the site in WGC yet but sounds again like its in a town so not really expecting much.

I'm been thinking of driving around and finding a really dark area within 20/30 minutes of stevenage - even on a farmers field would be fine. I would happily go and knock on their doors and ask permission etc.

I just dont really like the idea of doing it by myself incase I get jumped/mugged. You never know with yobs these days! Anyway, I'd be interested.

Want to find a spot with a good southern horizon as I've a number of targets that only get a little off the horizon that I've no chance of from my garden.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Agree I would only go with others present. With kit running Into thousands of pounds I wouldn't feel comfortable.

Google maps ...

1. Zoom into where you want.

2. Right click and select centre map

3. Click the icon next to the print button on the left panel. ( link )

4. Paste link

Hope that helps.

Jason

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Excellent.

So what about this:

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ll=51.939007,-0.39447&spn=0.001076,0.003098&t=m&z=19

there's a small area for parking right next to a public footpath. Use the streetview to have a look.

It's approx 1km north of Luton, so that may mean it has light pollution I dont know. Havent been up there at night to look I was just trawling areas between luton and stevenage

I am going to phone Knebworth house and see if they'll let us on their grounds at night. As the park sits to the south west of stevenage and is very easily accessible off the A1 it makes a good spot. The southern horizon should be dark as you like with the next town 5-10 miles down the road. Sure the north east would have all of stevenage under it, but who really wants to look at north east anyway :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It'd be good to meet up and observe with other people rather than doing it on my tod.

Lets give it a week or so to find out who's up for it, then we can decide on a venue that's close for everyone.

I was thinking of a quiet pub somewhere ? Possibly

This seems like a solid idea to me - be nice to meet people, chat and share experience/ideas especially given the cloudy weather at the moment. I'm based near Hemel/St Albans, so anything within a half hour or so seems reasonable - obviously the nearer the better.

Excellent.

So what about this:

https://maps.google....003098&t=m&z=19

Seems a likely candidate, although I imagine the LP to the south will be atrocious. Town + airport = bad news. I'd say whipsnade/ivinghoe are probably better candidates for dark skies as they're sufficiently far away from anything other than villages - was over by Ivinghoe in the evening a month or so back and it seemed pretty dark, and there are lots of spots that have low horizons in most directions. However, I realise that these are less convenient (especially Ivinghoe) for anyone to the east and north, like Stevenage.

One other possible is somewhere around Jockey End: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=jockey+end&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.43287494,d.d2k&biw=1467&bih=674&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

I've only driven through, but it didn't seem too bad, although it may be that. But this is still probably abut 40 minutes from Stevenage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Daz sounds fab to me. Next week in free most nights.

Anyone else ?

Im free any time apart from tomorrow (but its looking cloudy so not reat loss there)

the rest of teh week, I can play it by ear and if it looks like it'll be clear from 5pm then I can make it. Will have the binoculars and tripod in the car so can head over as soon as i finish work at 5.

Do you think the downs would be the best place for this?

Im off to Lanzarote at the end of the month so hoping to be able to catch a glimpse from over there if its still visible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Cheers mate, fly off tomorrow. You never know, I might even manage a glimpse of the comet. Current forecast shows a few clear skies over the next 7 days.

The weather has been abysmal recently, surely it must clear up soon?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.