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I declare Star Gazing Season to be open! For me, anyway.

jonathan

By jonathan
in The Astro Lounge

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jonathan

jonathan

Posted
Posted

Just popped out at 11pm with a pair of binoculars, what a beautiful sight to see the Milky Way again, so many points of light washing across the sky. I was initially rather lost, having forgotten what's what up there, good job I brought my trusty Sky Scout out with me. With the Tonight's Highlights tour I soon re-discovered old favourites (even though I knew some of them must be up there somewhere, just couldn't see the asterisms for the stars, as it were)... The Summer Triangle, Andromeda Galaxy, Great Square of Pegasus. Even Mr Hedgehog came out to say hello, then shuffled off again; he doesn't half make a lot of noise new C6 as he rustles through the undergrowth. Still quite a few clouds around tonight but they mostly seemed to be near the horizon, lucky for me.

I might just buy that new C6 after all now :D

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starman1969

starman1969

Posted
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Sounds very nice. I have a 30 mile round trip if I want to see the Milky Way which could be worse I suppose. I do live in the bright lights of Blackpool!

I have actually viewed the Milky Way from down the road at St Annes beach. It just needs a long walk out from the prom.

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Paul81

Paul81

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Yep start of the season again for me last night too (prior to that the last session was early May). Was great to be back out under the stars, the weather was great (t-shirt and shorts observing). I roamed the summer triangle for about 2 hours and then went to bed a happy bunny!

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DaveS

DaveS

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I had a look around last night with my binos. It started to get dark about 10.30, becoming "properly" dark about 11.

Having said that "dark" in London is relative, to give some idea I could *just* glimpse the main outline of Sagitta and Delphinus, and a few stars of the top of Sagittarius low down in the horizon glow. Disappointingly, even though an intruding tree is gone, there is still enough growth to wipe out any chance of getting M8 and M20. Bother.

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Vega

Vega

Posted
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I'm still waiting for my season to start (before 10pm on weekdays). Weekends however can open the season early (the weathers holding me up on that one!) :-)

Happy new year everyone ! :))

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JamesF

JamesF

Posted
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I'm still waiting for my season to start (before 10pm on weekdays). Weekends however can open the season early (the weathers holding me up on that one!) :-)

Whereabouts in Somerset are you? I never stop :)

James

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skywatcher58gb

skywatcher58gb

Posted
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Our society have had both Friday night and last night out at our local dark site in north west Durham, Friday apparently was rubbish, but last night was OK between the high clouds and managed to get aligned no problem. Started observing around 10 and packed up at midnight when the thick clouds rolled in. Saw the ring nebula, M13, Saturn and NGC457, just good to get the gear up and running again.

Dave

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VigdisVZ

VigdisVZ

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I tried starting my season with the binos the day before yesterday. First of all I managed to scrape my hand while fumbling in the dark, secondly the new dark site I tested was a real stinker, car headlights shining past, and some floodlights from a nearby industrial site ruined everything. Add to that the skyglow from the sun (it barely gets 12 degrees below the horizon this time of year) and some standard issue LP from town my session was a total failiure trying for M13 in hercules. The only thing to perk the evening up was catching a glimpse of M31 and the Double Cluster. Both looked horríbly faint. I guess I'll have a go at restarting the season in about another months time.

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Lorne

Lorne

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Apart from a couple of half hours in the garden recently I'll kick my season off proper next weekend with a trip to one of our group's dark sites to coincide with the Perseid meteors. Fingers crossed for a good season :)

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MrPadz

MrPadz

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I'll probably chisel the dust off of my gear just after the Perseids and get my season under-way.

Any recommendations for darksky sites near around the N4 Paul? Spoke to a lad up in scopes and space (what's the story there? Are they in any way affiliated to Astro Ireland?) who was talking about Roundwood, but that's a fair drive for me. Lucky enough to be off up to Donegal in a couple of weeks where it will be PITCH BLACK so I'm looking forward to breaking the scope out up there, but it'd be nice to have the option to get away from the streetlights on a given night if the conditions warranted it.

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Stargazer_00

Stargazer_00

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I still don't like getting my large dob out as there are too many moths. I'm scared one if going to fly down my volumnuous tube and deposit it's nasty dust on my mirror.

Only getting the 6" out at the moment, until some of the insects die off.

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