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Peak Star Party 2014


jamespels

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Forgot to say the Meteors (Orionids) on Saturday night were spectacular.

Got to see at least half a dozen with the first being a full fire ball.

As usual peaking tonight but cloudy yet again!

Thats right rub it in meteors Jupiter double cluster anything else i missed lol.

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Big Hello! to all the SGL members I met at PSP 2014. Damian, Stu and someone else (you didn't give me your name, just your SGL username, which I forgot instantly - you showed me your deep sky observation book).

I enjoyed the star party, shame about the weather. We'll try again next year!

Patrick

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Big Hello! to all the SGL members I met at PSP 2014. Damian, Stu and someone else (you didn't give me your name, just your SGL username, which I forgot instantly - you showed me your deep sky observation book).

I enjoyed the star party, shame about the weather. We'll try again next year!

Patrick

Hello Patrick

Welcome and I think the man you forgot was Nick or Cotterless45.

Damian

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Big Hello! to all the SGL members I met at PSP 2014. Damian, Stu and someone else (you didn't give me your name, just your SGL username, which I forgot instantly - you showed me your deep sky observation book).

I enjoyed the star party, shame about the weather. We'll try again next year!

Patrick

Hi Patrick and welcome to SGL it was great to meet you John and Mike I was in the next tent to Mike with my wife Karen.

Regards Paul

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HI Paul,

I didn't realise you were also a SGLer or I'd have included you. It was great to meet you and Karen. Glad you got home OK. For what it's worth, last night was no great shakes, either, despite a promising sunset.

Patrick

PS It was Mike & Dave next to you, not Mike & John.  :smiley:

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Hi all,

packed up and back home - a long bath tonight followed by wine and Thai green curry my lovely wife has made...

A huge thank you to everybody who came and braved another windy PSP... Gutted I called it a night at 12:30 on Saturday - if I had given it another half hour I think I would finally have got some observing in! Extra special thanks to Steven and Georgina who were fantastic as usual; to the three wonderful students from Nottingham Trent Uni - Caroline, Chris and Henry for their help throughout the weekend; to UKAI for once again sponsoring the bottle rocket competition and for the entertainment with the "Lenor" power rocket; to Stuart (bigmak...), Amber, John Cotterill and Alan Wood for superb talks on Saturday; to Lee, Damian and everyone else helping out and advising through the weekend and to Rosliston Astronomy for bringing the whole Radio Jove kit even if we were not able to get it set up. Without you, PSP simply would not happen so thank you again...

PSP2015 Fifth Anniversary

Steven, Georgina and I met up with Stuart and Damian on Sunday afternoon to have a think about what we can do about the weather and to "freshen up" PSP as several of us felt it was in danger of getting a little same-y. We are also thinking about bringing it a little earlier into the year to increase the odds of better weather. More about both of these in a separate PSP2015 thread.. If you are interested in getting a bit more involved with PSP or if you have a good idea to make it even better, do please email us or PM me on here. You will also be pleased to hear that Paul Collins is doing well and should be with us again next year...

Photo Competition

I saw some great photos as I was talking with different people - to enter our photo competition, please upload your pictures to the PSP forum: http://www.peakstarparty.co.uk/index.php/forum/competitions/164-psp2014-photo-competition or via Twitter to @peakstarparty using the hashtag #psp2014photocomp. Please also post anything on here but we do need to receive them either on the forum or Twitter.

Thanks again, and hope to see you next year for our fifth anniversary extravaganza...

James

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Got home finally at around 6.15pm after a stopover to let Granny have a cuddle with Lorna :-). Good journey, car unpacked and scope kit put away. V tired, take away curry just being served up by the lovely Mrs Maksutov.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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I've stayed away two years running now, so it s clearly not my fault :grin: . Hope it all calms down and some clear patches appear! Well done to all you brave and hardy souls who are sticking it out! Kudos and jaffa cakes to you all :laugh: !

Maybe that's the problem? 2011 we got one reasonable night; 2012 we had some great day-time solar; 2013 you disappear and the weather-gods give us a storm and this year ease off but still not great. Tell you what, book in for 2015 and I'll give you a free jaffa cake :)

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BTW, I am REALLY glad we didn't get today's weather over the weekend - it might even be worse than 2013... The back-end of hurricane Gonzalo is not pleasant (makes you realise what the poor folks in the Caribbean go through if this is just the after-effects, though).

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Maybe that's the problem? 2011 we got one reasonable night; 2012 we had some great day-time solar; 2013 you disappear and the weather-gods give us a storm and this year ease off but still not great. Tell you what, book in for 2015 and I'll give you a free jaffa cake :)

Hehe - Ok, James. You're on! Seriously, I think you've/we've all been a bit unlucky over the last few years. But a move a wee bit earlier in the year might help, as you suggest.

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The best weekend in September 2015 would be 11-14 September. 

I know we have been unlucky with the weather at PSP, but there is a large element of luck with these things.  Yesterday, after the storms passed, I had my best ever observing conditions (M31 was naked eye), and got in more scope time than the last three PSPs put together.  By comparison, this September was pretty rubbish.

It just goes to show that the British weather will do its own thing and planning events that depend on the weather is a lottery.

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Thanks forthe feedback, Porky, and agreed - it is largely pot luck! Over the lat two years, the weekend before PSP has been lovely while it was poor on our weekend. We are not suggesting moving it back to this week but getting it earlier in October will improve the odds slightly. Now just watch the wettest first two weeks in October on record followed by a heart wave with perfect night skies!

I would like to move it to the September new moon but clashing with Kelling would not be good for PSP. It is also not great for the schools, which is an important aspect for me.

Glad you got a good night in after the storms, btw!

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Important point there from James as the Kelling event is a big one and well attended and also schools are only just back so extra pressure on parents. There is a lot to consider in the back ground which organisers have to work around and not always seen by those that attend. Thanks again for an enjoyable weekend to everyone that braved the elements 

Damian

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Concernng clashes with other events, it would be useful to know how many people go to Kelling and PSP.  For me the contraints of time and money make this a choice of one or the other, so I choose PSP.  I know there are some people who like to string star parties together and plan their holidays to allow this, so maybe a quick survey is called for.

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I had thought while at PSP maybe a move in dates would be worth considering given the number of PSP's that have suffered poor weather / skies out numbers the good weather / skies. I know in Florida that Sep to Oct is hurricane season. Trouble is that also means there is the higher possibility the UK can suffer left overs from hurricanes this time of the year as we have just seen with Gonzalo.

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I was over in Neptune for a change this year. Got some grab & go binocular action with Cygnus, Cassiopeia and M31 and managed to track Arcturus in the scope for 3 minutes! So all in all better than last year.

Good to catch up with everyone - hope to catch up with those who couldn't make it at the next one.

James - I think you confused me with Stu when I was leaving - it's the BMW & Exodus roof box effect. But I appreciated the personal touch goodbye nonetheless ;-)

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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