Observing report 11.11.07

[Jamie]

Hi all.

My self and Astroscot2 went on a field trip to Loch Doon on Sunday night because the weather forecast

looked to favour the journey.

So we got there and got all set up kit wise. It was starting to get really cold so out came the thermals....

Loch Doon is darker than a dark place BTW, I had a bit of a problem locating Polaris because the were too many damned stars floating about.

Anyways we got everything up and running and started to take a few images. (With the 350D)

Started with the comet P17 then took some of the Andromeda galaxy then proceeded to take a few of the Orion nebula.

Whilst all this was going on i decided to break out the 100mm bins i bought from FLO a while back.

Mounted them on my Horizon tripod and away we went surfing the night sky.

We had to go straight to the P17 comet.

At first i thought "damn it i have something smeared on the bino lens" then realised that it was just the comet being so large in the field of view. :shock:

This was a bit of a shock as i had viewed it from my light polluted back garden with my 10x50's and it looked nothing like this....Dark skies DO make a difference

The next shock i got was when i turned the binos to Orion.

So much detail could be seen with these binos due to the good seeing and the dark and i mean dark sky.

IMHO i seen more detail in the Orion nebula at this site with my 100mm binos than i ever did using an 8" LX10.

Thats a big and bold statement i know but it is true.

After testing out a couple of configurations using the camera this way then using it that way it was time to pack up and go home. But not before i had one last look at the comet. "it just hung there in a ghostly sort of manner" What a way to finish of an observing session...

First time i have been out dark sky observing in a while....What a blast!!!!

[Grant]

Great report mate! I am very jealous!

[Rob]

Good report mate... sounds like a great time had by you both. I love dark sky sites, they are a real treat from time to time.

Rob