Perseids @ Walbury Hill

[dark_marc]

What an incredible night and what a nice coincident that todays climax of the annual meteorshower was going hand-in-hand with an awsome cloud-free night.

I am still speachless of the pure beauty of dozens of small and pretty big falling stars leaving their glowing trails in the dark night sky.

Well, almost perfect I need to say. Dozens of falling stars do bring dozens of careless drivers up the hill speeding into the carpark with their lighting on full beam of course. Needless to say that it was not really worth setting the scope up whilst the crowd was still around but luckily after 2 or three falling stars the tourists were satisfied and made the move....time to get the dobson out of the car.

So whilst one eye always towards the sky I followed my usual star trek to get 'warm' and get the eyes used to the dark. M57 first and then M27, found them straight away and moved on. Next stop....

M101 - The Pinwheel Galaxy

After trying to find M101 from my front-lawn but w/o success I did try it again but this time from Walbury Hill, my new preferred gazing location. Far away from street light and well elevated overlooking the plain between Oxford, Newbury and Marlborough.

Anyway, I did find the pinwheel galaxy within seconds...and no wonder I could not see it from my garden. Its an extremely faint fuzzy-blurry spot in the night sky, even wirh my 200/1200 dobson it was difficult to see. You get little bit more out of it with a 20mm EP and averted vision.

M13 - Cluster

Did visit my favourite object out there for,the second time, but also the first time from a truly dark location. I AM STUNNED, even with my 20mm (60x) EP I could spot dozens of brighter stars within the cluster already. With my 15mm (80x) EP even more, but that was also the max magnification I can use reasonably well.

So far so good, the rest of the night I just enjoyed the Milky way above me and falling stars that always seem to come down where I wasnt't looking at the time :-)

Did experiment with my Samsumg NX1000....did some nice pictures with ISO1600-3200 and a shutter speed of 20-30 seconds. However....the camera just isnt up for those kind of things. Although it does have an entry-DSLR sensor, it cannot coop with darkness, the result is a pretty noisy picture that does need a lot of post-proxessing.

Alright, thats it for tonight. Weather forecast is not predicting clear nihts for the next ten days so will swap my scope for the gold bag and do some daytime activities instead. Cannot wait fot the next cloudless night tho :-)

[Cons]

Clouds on Cape Cod all night, we couldn't see a thing, I talked it up to my wife and her uncle and I haven't heard the end of it all day, for keeping them up for "nothing" as they say.

[athornett]

Great report. What time was the peak of the Perseid shower from your location?

Andy

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[AndyWB]

Well, almost perfect I need to say. Dozens of falling stars do bring dozens of careless drivers up the hill speeding into the carpark with their lighting on full beam of course. Needless to say that it was not really worth setting the scope up whilst the crowd was still around but luckily after 2 or three falling stars the tourists were satisfied and made the move....time to get the dobson out of the car.

I dunno, those are dark wee roads - I can understand why they'd use them! Were you in the western car park? I've noticed that the road to it does point straight at the carpark in the distance, so yes, you do get their lights in your face, but far enough away that they won't know they're dazzling you. The eastern one seems better - perhaps 'cos I duck round the sheep pens in the field next to it, and 'cos there aren't any roads running directly in that direction. It does face south more than north, though (which is a good thing!)

Don't knock the tourists - they're stargazing too! Better than other activities in remote carparks...

[dark_marc]

Don't knock the tourists - they're stargazing too! Better than other activities in remote carparks...

:-)

[dark_marc]

Great report. What time was the peak of the Perseid shower from your location?

Andy

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Well, we didnt stay all night until 4am or so, do think around 23:30 was the best time, had at least one big bug every 10-20 seconds, predominantly passing east and west and smaller streaks going across milky way.

Was little bit like on a firework, when you did hear people 'oooooooh'ing and 'uuuuuh'ing you knew that you just missed one passing your back :-)

[athornett]

Wow! I am quite surprised - we were only seeing them every 10 mins....perhaps due to light pollution locally near me?

Andy

[dark_marc]

Wow! I am quite surprised - we were only seeing them every 10 mins....perhaps due to light pollution locally near me?

Andy

Or perhaps something obstructing your FOV?

Do remember most eastern ones have passed close to horizon / below Pegasus. The western meteors were far below Ursa Major, did have my camera pointing on this constellation and did not capture a single meteor since too low (but had three or four planes crossing instead)

[AndyWB]

Was little bit like on a firework, when you did hear people 'oooooooh'ing and 'uuuuuh'ing you knew that you just missed one passing your back :-)

Near my flat there must have been a bunch of wee girls screaming at each one! In a good way! Sounded like they were enjoying the show.