IOW Star Party

[SnakeyJ]

Well I made it - everything setup and ready to go and the rain abated, Lots of stuff to go look at and people to meet, but clear skies looking unlikely so far.

Usually at least one weather site will oblige with some optimism, but all unremittingly gloomy at the moment - hey ho I'm out of the house and will make the most of it....

[Phil Fargaze]

Good luck, I hope it clears for you. The Island is our favorite holiday destination, we go every year. I`ve seen some exceptional dark skies over there, when the conditions have been right.

[SnakeyJ]

Against all odds (and every weather forecast known to man) we've just had 90 minutes clear sky (at least in part) and pretty reasonable seeing. Managed to get aligned and see pleiades, jupiter, beehive, and a clouple of other open clusters to the east which I'm not sure of. Result

Now all I want is a hole in the clouds for Saturn sometime between 0100 and 0400hrs........

[SnakeyJ]

It got a little patchy later on, but could still see some stars up until 02:00hrs this morning. I setup the camera and started tracking Saturn at around 01:25hrs, but this did not make an appearance through the cloud/mist so no photo oppurtunity thus far. Finally gave up and called it a night at 03:45hrs. The temperature was around 12C, so although patchy viewing we had an unexpected and comfortable few hours viewing.

Preceding the break in the cloud we had sat down for the largest Chinese take away ever and had a couple of excellent talks (Iceland Expedition to see Aurora and a talk by David Mason on the making of the SON Lunar Mosaic). The latter being cut short by clearing skies, but hope to here the end tonight.

I was woken very early by my young lady who needed a hand at home with a poorly daughter - so much for the lay in and cooked breakfast. Will return to site later this pm with my son, though weather looking really dire for the rest of the day.

Still great fun and nice to get out and talk with lots of great people & experienced observers.

[andyboy1970]

Worth trying and its easier when others are around.

Weather forecast here in the midlands - 100% cloud until Tuesday!

[SnakeyJ]

Worth trying and its easier when others are around.

Weather forecast here in the midlands - 100% cloud until Tuesday!

There is a lesson here Andy - never trust a meterologist, at best they're only right about 75% of the time - always worth keeping a weather eye out for any gaps/opportunities

[andyboy1970]

Looking at Sat24 you might get some clear skies this evening.

[SnakeyJ]

All back now had a great w/end and a lovely warm sunny day today. Overall we got perhaps 4hrs of nightime viewing and there were 4 solar rigs setup today to look at the sunspots and prominences.

It was so warm today we were stripped back to T shirts and eating ice lollies

Looks like tonight will deliver more and witth the temp dropping tomorrow and snow forecast for Monday am who can blame the weathermen for getting it wrong. Sorry to quit early but had to be home 4 mothers day.

I had a great time and met some great like minded people and will definitely be going next year. Thanks to Bill and Stephen for their hard work and dedication.

[fredster]

I meant to go this year but for whatever reason it never happened. But it sounds like you had a great time despite the weather. And 4hrs observing is not bad at all.

[jimieee]

Yeah, the weather has been a bit of a disappointment this weekend. Frustratingly it looks like Tuesday and Wednesday (after everyone has gone home) will be OK.

We've had some good talks though and I got to go and see some nice scopes + chat to the owners.

I think next year I need a better rain cover - I just woke up to find hat mine had blown off during the night! Luckily the dust cap seems to have done a good job of keeping water out of the tube.

[SnakeyJ]

Hi James - how did last night go? I was with you all in spirit, but very grateful for a warm soft bed

Hope you all get some clear skies tonight and hopefully some good seeing with the colder temps.

Jake & George

[jimieee]

No clear skies last night, but Owen gave a very good talk about the Local Group (of galaxies). Also Loughton astronomical society did an interesting talk about stargazing with and choosing binoculars, which led to a surprisingly fierce debate over which is better - a binocular, or a binoviewer. I'm not certain who won this, but it seems to depend on what you want to do with them.

For tonight I've packed away my 6", because I don't want it to get rained on again. Hopefully we do get break for just a little while tonight (I'm not too confident about this though) in which case I'll be on the 70mm Refractor again.

Happy birthday to George, for tomorrow. I'm Zoe's dad BTW

[SnakeyJ]

Hi Jim/James,

George sends hello to Zoe - hope you manage to stay warm and dry tonight and get some time despite the unpromising forecast. Sorry to miss out on the talks last night, though probably would have kept my head down and listened to both sides of the argument - though I have always struggled with bins and never tried binoviewers.

Have a good trip home tomorrow and hope to see you again under better viewing conditions next year.

BR - Jake

[PeterW]

Aha, "Zoe's dad".... I was there incognito (did bring the yellow hat in my avatar, but didn't use it!). I was the Calcium solar imager. I will suggest that next year people wear name badges with Astroforum ID's, then we can put faces to names that we might already know! Also be able to keep in touch after the event.

I think Loughton (I used to go there a long time ago) seem to have a little bit of Fujinon addiction... painful affliction.

I'll try to come next year if Patrick ("my wheels") is up for it again.

Cheers

PEter

PS I showed my son the moon when he was Zoe's age, but haven't done so for a while, I think he has lost his interest. Hope you keep Zoe interested, she should be able to make a few more starparties before school hits!