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WADAS (Wakefield and District Astronomical Society)

stonemonkeylives

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stonemonkeylives

stonemonkeylives

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Just completed week 3 of 'Orion' found it easier going than last week, but a fair bit was a recap of the 0 level physics I did at school 30 something years ago

Just completed week 3 too, also signed up for a course on moons that starts on 2nd February. Here's the link; https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/moons

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Mark62

Mark62

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My aurora flight

After a informative talk on what DSO and Constellations we would see in the night sky from Lee from Greenwich and then a impressive talk about the Aurora from Peter Lawrence ( bbc sky at night ) it was off to the airport.

After checking in it was on to our plane jet2 737. I got my wife a window seat as it was her Xmas present. Snacks provided and a cup of tea it was off to Scotland.

There was a talk on how to set up ur DSLR to get the best images. Just after Edinburgh all lights went off to dark adapt our eyes 20 minutes later as we were just passing over the Orkney Isle we could see the faint green glow of the Aurora in the distance. As we looked out of the window we could see Orion , Pleiades shining majestically in the black sky. Taurus the bull and Pegasus.

As we turned for our side to see the Aurora the Milkyway was really bright and vertical coming down to meet the green glow of the Aurora. We continued to circle in a figure 8 for forty minuets with nothing really going on apart from the green glow of the Aurora and the spectacular sight of the stars.

All of a sudden the Aurora came to life with tall towers and ribbons of green, red, and yellow just what we were all hoping for it danced across the northern sky getting stronger and brighter what a site. After 20 more minuets of circling it was time to head home back to Leeds (shame)

If u don't like being bent in too straining ur neck and moving seats every 2 to 3 minuets then it's not for you. On the other hand if u want to see stars, dso and the Aurora in all there wonders it's worth all the discomfort and shuffling about its worth every bit of it.

Thanks for reading

Mark and Adele

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astrotyke

astrotyke

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My aurora flight

After a informative talk on what DSO and Constellations we would see in the night sky from Lee from Greenwich and then a impressive talk about the Aurora from Peter Lawrence ( bbc sky at night ) it was off to the airport.

After checking in it was on to our plane jet2 737. I got my wife a window seat as it was her Xmas present. Snacks provided and a cup of tea it was off to Scotland.

There was a talk on how to set up ur DSLR to get the best images. Just after Edinburgh all lights went off to dark adapt our eyes 20 minutes later as we were just passing over the Orkney Isle we could see the faint green glow of the Aurora in the distance. As we looked out of the window we could see Orion , Pleiades shining majestically in the black sky. Taurus the bull and Pegasus.

As we turned for our side to see the Aurora the Milkyway was really bright and vertical coming down to meet the green glow of the Aurora. We continued to circle in a figure 8 for forty minuets with nothing really going on apart from the green glow of the Aurora and the spectacular sight of the stars.

All of a sudden the Aurora came to life with tall towers and ribbons of green, red, and yellow just what we were all hoping for it danced across the northern sky getting stronger and brighter what a site. After 20 more minuets of circling it was time to head home back to Leeds (shame)

If u don't like being bent in too straining ur neck and moving seats every 2 to 3 minuets then it's not for you. On the other hand if u want to see stars, dso and the Aurora in all there wonders it's worth all the discomfort and shuffling about its worth every bit of it.

Thanks for reading

Mark and Adele

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sounds like you had a great time Mark, ive seen these flights advertised befoore I think and wondered what they were like.

Chris

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Vicky050373

Vicky050373

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Wow Mark (and Adele)! Thank you for sharing your experience with us. It sounds like you had a wonderful evening. Did you get any photographs to either post or bring along to share at the next meeting?

Might be a silly question, but do you need a passport to go on one of these flights? I know you don't land anywhere out of the UK, but I didn't know if you need a passport just to book. I would love to do something like that. Your wife sure is fortunate to have you as her husband :)

I haven't managed to get onto SGL for a while and there has been plenty of posts to look through from this past week or so.

Some lovely photos chaps - well done to you all.

Wonder if we'll get clear skies this weekend to spot Lovejoy before she moves on and out of sight.

Been busy completing week 3 of the Orion course. I've done well again this week and managed to answer the questions correctly. I'm certainly learning a lot. It's been a good course, but it is very easy for time to run away with you and end up spending far too long on it.

I'm going to sign up for the Moons course also (thanks for the link Jeremy), as many people have commented how good it is.

I've never been so busy as I have since getting interested in astronomy! :)

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mapstar

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Great journey there Mark and really sounds like an amazing flight. I discussed the Aurora with Kieran many moons ago although we never got any further than that.

A passport is required as far as I know in case the plane need's to make an emergency landing somewhere other than the UK.

Back to the polishing today up to 11 hours

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Mark62

Mark62

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[A passport is required as far as I know in case the plane need's to make an emergency landing somewhere other than the UK.

Back to the polishing today up to 11 hours

No passport is needed just a photo driving license. That's y I did it coss I don't have one [emoji2]

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mapstar

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[A passport is required as far as I know in case the plane need's to make an emergency landing somewhere other than the UK.

Back to the polishing today up to 11 hours

No passport is needed just a photo driving license. That's y I did it coss I don't have one [emoji2]

How long was the flight Mark? The one I'd looked at 3 years ago was 4.5hours although cost quite a bit too.

Hope the weather is good for the Jupiter transit I'll just be climbing into bed at that time although I doubt I'd see much with the monster 9X50 finder!

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Mark62

Mark62

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How long was the flight Mark? The one I'd looked at 3 years ago was 4.5hours although cost quite a bit

The flight was about 3 hours in total. We were well looked after and well informed.

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Here's my mirror polishing progress today

After another 3 hours of polishing and the centre of the mirror is still hazy but an improvement.

Two very small scratches to report unfortunately.

Lap is in contact in the centre but nowhere near where it should be!

If the next press doesn't get it in contact then I suspect the pitch is getting too thin at the edges and not allowing the lap to forming properly to the curve due to this.

I will probably have to top the pitch up which is a messy job .

I will see tomorrow evening when I remove the lap from the mirror.

Now up to 14 hours polishing.

Damian

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