SGL8

[KevUU]

I was at SGL8 last weekend, which was really good fun. Really nice to meet some people and put names to handles and faces to avatars.

Most of the weekend was a deluge, but it did clear for a bit on Saturday night so I got some observing in, thought I'd share briefly.

(Apparently they had perfect nights the day before I got there and the day after I left. Since it started raining when I ordered my scope last April, I'm starting to think it really is all my fault...)

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2230 - 0110. Was raining and snowing half an hour ago but now it's clearing.

Alan (Mav359) is setting his C925 goto up, and his mate Max is getting excited by the skies.

Quick look at thin crescent moon before it set, Earthshine is very obvious.

Had a look at the Pleiades in a cloud gap, showed it to Max who was pretty staggered.

M44 Beehive is visible naked eye, so is the Rosette cluster C50. Beehive is nice in my ST80, larger but not really any more detail in the C925.

Suddenly the whole sky is clear, wow

Got Jupiter plus moons in the C925, Alan put a 5mm ep in for a nice large view, although pretty turbulent seeing and not much more detail than I'm used to despite the extra mag. Found it in my scope just to show Max the difference, no moon filter so pretty bright, but moons visible etc.

Now onto some proper stuff!

Went looking for Bode's pair. The first view of M81 and M82 in the one fov is pretty nice. M82 was a faint-ish horizontal fuzz, M81 was vertical, fuzzier and fainter but with a brighter core. Had a look at them in the C925, was thoroughly underwhelmed, surprised by how little noticeable improvement there was apart from them being slightly larger in the ep.

Also confirmed that I don't want an electronic mount or goto, got things very wrong trying to just move the scope the right way with the handset, then suddenly it was slewing off for NGC 1, would drive me mad in minutes.

Next up M51. Faint, some trace of shape at x13 just barely, fuzzier at x50.

Some haze was coming over, which quickly thickened to cloud, game over

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I chatted to Nick (cotterless45), he'd had dust lanes in M51 in his 10" truss tube dob! We were both just about to head over to each other when the cloud arrived, grrr.

I used Alan's hair dryer quite a bit through the session, mainly on my small 8mm ep but also on the scope once. I didn't notice him clearing his corrector plate, and he confirmed in the morning that he'd not checked it. (In his defence he'd had a bit to drink during the earlier rain...) So I'm fairly sure his scope was pretty badly dewed up, hence the underwhelming views through it

Those 3 new galaxies were at the top of my hit-list for the star party due to the clear Northern views, so I'm pretty happy with that. Although the weather wasn't great I hadn't expected any observing so those 2 and a bit hours were a real bonus.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from my first star party, especially given the weather, but I had a really great time. I'm looking forward to the next one already, hopefully I can get to something in the Autumn, Salisbury maybe. And Nick has convinced me, I think, to get an 8" dob next

[scarp15]

Good account Kev, in making the most of the sky condition opportunities in fairly challenging circumstances. Also in terms of celebrating the positives that a star party represents, when expectations and hope for a chance of prolonged clear skies plus decent conditions dont exactly materialise.

I agree, I think an 8" dob for lots of reasons will be a good move.

[rory]

good report kev. sounds a good get together ,id like to attend one some time.