WADAS (Wakefield and District Astronomical Society)

[nicks90]

wakefield is showing clear on BBC, clearoutside, metcheck and astropanel until midnight.

just had a good look at venus and the ISS just gone over, so fancy popping out tonight for a couple of hours.

if anyone fancies trying out the site at the cricket club in overton, i fancy trying it out.

[Vicky050373]

Hi Nick, has anyone been up to Overton to see about parking etc? I'd fancy getting out for an hour or so. What time are you on about going? I couldn't see ISS earlier as it was too low. Hoping to see it at 7.20pm when it is a bit higher.

[procky1845]

Hi guys, if you're planning on going up to Overton you will probably need the keycode for the car park gate. I think Ryan's got it, ill get him to pass it on.

I'm at Middlestown and its looking pretty clear here though!

Lee

[nicks90]

was thinking of getting up there about 8pm vicky.

Lee, can you get Ryan to text me on 07900 417476 so as not to make their carpark code public? or pm me on here.

[procky1845]

Yeh will do.

[Ryan P]

Hi everyone, ill txt you the code now. I can't make it unfortunately The wife is working and im on babysitting duty. Let me know how you get on

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Vicky050373]

Great Nick. I'll pop up at around 8pm. Think Luke is coming too for a trip out for an hour. I'll make sure I'm up there after 8pm to give you chance to get there first. So, have we got the all clear to use the car park now then? It's good to have a site local to Ossett/Horbury as I can't easily get to Winscarr.

[Ryan P]

Yes Vicky, we have the all clear to use it when we want. I've just messaged the man in charge to let him know your going up.

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[hazegood]

wont be buying it for a while so no danger of attracting clouds, but looking for suggestions as to what mount to look at for the C8 OtA I bought,

Prefer full goto.  so am assuming HEQ5 ?

 

[mapstar]

Me and Kieran heading to winscarr lakeside between 7.30 and 8.30

[Soupy]

Hopefuly I'll get to winscarr for just after 8.30

[mapstar]

Great stuff

[mapstar]

Great to meet up with Soupy and Kieran last night.

Through the little finder I managed quite a few targets.

M31Andromeda galaxy

M35 in gemini

M36,37,38 in Auriga

M41 in Canis Major

M42 Orion neb

M44 the beehive in cancer

M45 pliedes in Taurus

M51 in Monocerus

M81,82 in Ursa Major

Comet lovejoy

NGC869 and 884 double cluster in perseus

Although fog was a persistent problem building up towards the end.

Great to get out again and can't wait to hit the targets with a proper scope.

On the way home a quick stop off to watch the orange moon rise was a fantastic end to a great evening and company

Cheers guys

Damian

[Soupy]

Enjoyed it Damian and Kieran, great to catch up and get out again after what seems like an age! And just as I said it would be it was clear as soon as I got to hade edge

I also stopped off for the moon on the way home, ended up at Castle hill watching it till gone midnight.

Great night despite the fog and cheers for the chocolate bar Damain

[Soupy]

Leigh I assume HEQ5 would be the best option though they won't be cheap

[mapstar]

Enjoyed it Damian and Kieran, great to catch up and get out again after what seems like an age! And just as I said it would be it was clear as soon as I got to hade edge

I also stopped off for the moon on the way home, ended up at Castle hill watching it till gone midnight.

Great night despite the fog and cheers for the chocolate bar Damain

Yeah it was clear just around the corner which was frustrating!

Hey ho hope you got some pictures of that moon

[procky1845]

How did those of you who went up to Overton fare?

Lee

[Sam Baker]

It's a shame I missed last night, i was on my way to work thinking damn you weather! I bet it's cloudy on my day off

[Sam Baker]

Thinking about I may need to invest in a solar scope and dedicate my life to the sun,since day times are generally free

[Sam Baker]

So I'm thinking to get - turn left at orion. It appears to be an essential book for what we do. Would that assumption be correct?

[stonemonkeylives]

Sam I highly recommended it, it's a good starting point before moving on to star charts.

[Sam Baker]

I think I'll get it then! Thanks alot mate

[MattGoo]

Go for the spiral bound version if you can, makes life slightly easier.

[Sam Baker]

I tend to be a kindle man - i find it difficult to read off paper. So I've downloaded it and can use it anywhere - most likely at home when I've got more light pollution than anyone should have to endure

[nicks90]

you'll struggle with the kindle version - i certainly did! The resolution isnt high enough to properly see the little guide circles/star maps for each of the objects listed. Plus the kindle doesnt seem to work well under red light.

We had a good time at Overton, Ryan managed to get up there for an hour before he had to shoot off to look after small people, Vicky and familly were there and got some success with the 80mm frac and just as they were leaving, Dave turned up with his dob.

Ended up staying till after 11pm, when the dew started to freeze on my kit and we were both frozen stiff!

Viewing is ok up there, certainly better than my back garden, but nowhere near as good as Winscar. Struggled to get any galaxies other than andromeda and Bodes, but did manage the crab and little dumbell nebs which was a pleasant surprise! All the usual clusters / targets were superb as usual in the 12" dob and I very much like my Baader Neodymium light pollution filter! In my 32mm 2" ep, it really darkened the background without reducing the stars visual impact or colours.

Vicky, you missed a cracking sight - Callisto transit of Jupiter! It actually looked like a double transit with 2 distinct black spots. but I checked later on and it was Callisto and its shadow.

Quick review of the Maxvision 16mm 68deg EP as last night was my first chance to use it:

Its lovely and the field is perfect right out to the edges even on my F4.9 dob. No fish bowl effect at the egdes and the colours are really good. Contrast on Jupiter was superb and spotting the transit last night was very easy during periods of steady atmosphere. Trapezium was super easy to make out and with a bit of averted vision, you could see E and F. But eye relief is tight! I cant use it with my glasses on, without my goggles on this introduces astigmatism from my poor short sighted eyesight which sort of ruins having such a nice ep. I am open to offers to sell this, so I can invest in another moderately widefield 15/16mm ep that has better eye relief.