Dalby Starfest 2013 - Fantastic !

[astronymonkey]

Hi All,

I just wanted to feed back to you about how good the Dalby Starfest was this year, organised by Scarborough and Rydale Astronomical Society.

I arrived on the Friday tea time, although the event had started informally the night before for those ho could make it, and there as a formidable hog roast on the go with a glass of wine. Once fed and set up I switched on the mirror fan and let things cool down.

This was my first starcamp and I was on my own, but it was good to be pitched next to Neil who is a member of the Scarborough Society who was also by himself.... so I had someone to chat to as the night went on.

Although the cloud was patchy this cleared as the sky darkened, to reveal on of the clearest nights I've ever seen !

The milky way absolutely jumped out, with M31 being an easy naked eye object as was the double cluster and there were so many stars that it was hard to make out some of the constellations at first. Andy Exton from the Society had take a Sky Quality reading and Im sure he said it was somewhere near 21.6 which sounds about right given the clarity of the sky.

Not only was this my first star camp (in 29 years of observing) but It was also my first real chance of using my 16 inch lightbridge which , when paired with my 28mm UWAN for most of the night , gave some fantastic views.

So my hit list:

M31 - this filled the eyepiece with a dust lane clearly visible and M32 nearby

M51 - Easy to see with some spiral structure present, and the bridge between the two parts pretty obvious

M57 - I stepped up the magnification on this with my 6mm Delos, and this showed the irregularity of the ring but no central star. In the lower powered UWAN Im sure the central star could be seen with averted vision though.

M13 - A real show stopper and stars resolved to the core, Ive never seen it so clear ad defined.

Veil - Ive never seen the veil before, and I cant remember if it was the east or west part but it was extensive, with filaments clearly seen and that was without any filter .

M81 / M81 - The cigar had some detail to it and didnt look like a cigar due to this. I couldnt get both objects in the same field but it was just a slight nudge to move from one to the other.

Double Cluster - Amazing packed field of stars, great to see.

Pliedies - Nebulosity could be seen over a few of the stars, but they were pretty low so if they were higher then the nebulosity may have been even clearer

Jupiter - too low to be honest but the first time Ive see it far ages so worth noting.

Perseids- some stunners, including one that left a trail for over a minute which twisted as it faded. Neil on the pitch next to me got a photo of the trail which must be the first time ive seen a photo of a meteor after it had already passed.

Anyway, I needn't had worried about being alone though as everyone was really friendly with people having a wander around and an taking in the views from each others scopes.

Finally, at about 4.15am, as it was getting light I packed up and went to bed, leaving 10 or so people still packing up.

Saturday was clouded out but I think it would have been hard to beat friday night.

So thanks to Scarborough and Rydale AS for a great weekend, including Mel, the two Andy's ad Neil.

Ill be there again next year.

Cheers,

[swamp thing]

Good stuff. Sounds like a good crowd and an enjoyable night

[Basara]

Hi Ian, Neil here,

Cetainly was a good weekend, the Sunday night again clouded in but still had clear patches until about midnight when it blanketted over. It apparently cleared up around 2am I think, sadly after I'd been Zzzz'ing for a while after deciding it wasnt going to clear.

Regarding the Persied trail you mentioned, here's the shot, unedited:

https://www.dropbox....erseidTrail.JPG

That must have been taken a good 7-8 seconds after it had already sailed past and left its trail. The curve was caused by the wind catching the trail.

It was my first StarCamp as well and I'll definately be going next year if i can get the time booked off work (note to self, take bigger tent).

I did try and get some images through my smaller scope on the Sunday night through the cloud gaps but the motordrive was playing up and it kept trailing, oh well.

It was a great weekend and nice to meet you Ian, see you next year!

[AndyExton]

Hi Ian

Glad you had a great Starfest as well as your 1st ever starcamp. The conditions on the Friday were as good as anything I have experienced in Dalby. The reading on the SQM at 01:25 BST was 21.86!!!

Likewise, I was able to give the society's 16" Lightbridge a good test drive and was amazed with the detail visually on many of the DSO's with M82 being the biggest surprise of the lot.

See you next year!

Andy

[astronymonkey]

Hi Andy and Neil,

Yes it was a great weekend and I agree with Neil's note about needing a bigger tent !

As for the SQM reading, this seems to be somewhere in the top 10 of all of the readings listed on http://www.mydarksky.com/map.aspx , even better than the best recorded for kielder which is good going.

Looking forward to next year but a bigger tent and warmer sleeping bag will definitely be on my list !

Cheers

Ian

[AndyExton]

Yes many attendees to the Dalby Starfests comment on the darkness of the skies. Generally, the feelings are they are comparable to Kielder in darkness (not had chance to visit yet but hopefully soon!).