Observing from Teide ????

[mjpfc]

I have recently bee to the Island of Tenerife to stay with some freinds for a couple of weeks and, without

wanting to get in the way of everyone elses holiday I wanted to do two things there.

1, To have a look at the Observatory at close quarters.

2. To use my 80mm refractor for a night on the mountains star gazing at the more southerlt skies available.

They have a public bus that goes up into the Caldera in the morning, but then stays there and brings people back down

late afternoon ( 17euros return). This means that you cannot easily (or cheaply) get back down early in the morning. 

Therefore my plan was to go up to El Portillo on the 9am bus, walk to the Observatory with my kit in a haversack,

(around 8km) set up, spend the night up there star gazing (plenty of warm kit, it gets cold up there) and walk back

to El Portillo the next morning. I would then get breackfast, leave my kit on the parked bus and have walk around the

Caldera un til late afternoon. 

As a plan It was bold, it was brash, it was doomed.

I actually picked the only two days of awful weather in the 2 and a half week period !

I had though the caldera would be above the low clouds above Costa Adeje, but no......

70 mph winds, Clouds across the Caldera and below pouring rain everywhere and even clouds on top of the Pico

Itself. I even have a photo of the Oservatory wreathed in cloud.

The weather stayed like that overnight and into the next day with Thick high cloud above it so at least I did not suffer it clearing up

as soon as I had made my decision to come down.

I actually walked out to the Observatory, had a picknic and walked back to get the afternoon bus back down, so

I achieved 1 goal at least and had a very enjoyable afternoon.

I enjoyed some other daylight visits up to the Mountain and around the Caldera with my freinds and the missus.

It really is astounding up there.

But next time I will:

•                                                             plan better with the weather.....and........
•                                                             Hire a car for a week.

That way I will not have to make decisions on seeing whilst it is still light.

There are sky seeing tours, but as far as I can make out they entail champaine, a meal, and an hour or so looking around before returning to Sea Level, all for around 87 euros !  Not for me really.

There is lots of light pollution in many places at sea level, but I found some darker places from where I spotted some interesting objects I have never seen before so all was not lost, and I have learned some very valuable lessons about not expecting things to be "alright  on the night".

Clear skies       Mick

[StuartJPP]

What unfortunate luck on the night...

I agree that these "astro tours" are a waste of time. I want to image/observe, not have Tapas along with a crowd of people trying to take photos of the Milky Way with their mobile phones (with flash of course) and in the tourist areas LP is usually quite bad. I managed to find a spot away from the lights which wasn't too bad...

I don't particularly want to hire a car but may have to one day but even then you need to find a place sheltered from the wind which the Canaries are famous for (especially Fuerteventura).

[laser_jock99]

We hired a car - a much more flexible option, you can even sleep in it if you want to!

[clarkpm4242]

Yes.  Car hire essential.  Works as a rest room and a wind break.

Have observed from Mirador de Chio and a couple of 'sheltered' locations near the observatory.

The light pollution isn't too bad if the inversion layer cloud is in place.

Good luck.

Paul

[purdo]

Mick, bad luck with the weather.

[mjpfc]

Thanks for the sympathy folks,

Debs called me an idi-ot, by I knew all along that I was just unlucky.

I'm up on Culver down if it stays clear tonight, - taking a coat and hat, it gets quite cold above 250 feet.

Mick

[starman1969]

I stayed at the Paradors last time, but next time I think it would be cheaper to hire a minibus, or camper van & just sleep in that all week. I'd make Roques De Garcia my location of choice because it is a very photogenic area & easy to get to, being opposite the hotel.

[Peter Drew]

I'll be there next week. 

[mjpfc]

Starting to get Very hot there now, but a little quieter.

[mjpfc]

Peter,

            If you are wanting to go up onto the top cone "the pico" (The last 150 mtrs or so) make sure you call their Nat Trust early,

they only let a few per day go up above the circular path from the Cable car top station and their was a bit of a waiting list in April

though it is probably a little quieter now.

Mick

[Peter Drew]

Thanks for the tip Mick, however I observe from my apartment at sea level as I'm mostly interested in Solar, lunar and planetary observations.