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STARPARTY 4.0

stargazer1980

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Starflyer

Starflyer

Posted
Posted

Can I just be a little pedantic - this is not really SGL 4 but more of a local meeting arranged by Darren and Bernie.

Hi Daz,

Are there any plans for an SGL4? I remember reading something (ages ago) but can't seem to find it now :insects1:

Cheers,

Ian

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Beyond_Vision

Beyond_Vision

Posted
Posted

I will checking out a site called Bracelands in the Forest of Dean Gloucestershire, it has a rally field for 50 is in a secluded place which is surounded by woodland. This could be a perfect place for a starparty once I have check out the skies there on a clear day I will report back.

Regards

Kevin

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Starflyer

Starflyer

Posted
Posted

The area's currently under consideration are...

South Wales (similar to last time) or maybe Thetford.

Thanks Ant,

I was driving through Thetford a couple of months ago and at the time I thought it looked very promising.

It would be good to get something organised in time for the new moon at the end of August :angry:

Cheers,

Ian

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Keagle

Keagle

Posted
Posted

The starparty is amazing, perfectly clear skies and awesome views of Saturn. Friday night was a cracker. Shame more people couldn't have come. A few scattered clouds here and there but otherwise perfect.

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aderyn

aderyn

Posted
Posted

I will checking out a site called Bracelands in the Forest of Dean Gloucestershire, it has a rally field for 50 is in a secluded place which is surounded by woodland.

We stayed on one of the other FC sites in the Forest last summer - facilities-wise for camping it was very acceptable and we would use it again. Bracelands was further down the track into the forest - we just poked our noses over the gate, and it looked quite open to the sky, as I recall, but I wasn't thinking about astronomy at that stage! :angry:

Forest of Dean would be do-able for me, distance-wise from West Wales, whereas East Anglia is a non-starter. I look forward to your opinion of the location Kevin - if it's good, I may pack the scope next time we go. :(

Louise

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Astronut

Astronut

Posted
Posted

Just got back from Bernie and Darren's Wiltshire bash. It was cloudy last night but we had a good laugh and it's cloudy tonight so rather than face the bank holiday traffic I came home today. Friday night was very good though up until 2am when a veil of cloud slowly swept over from the SW.

The grass on the site had been recently cut which created an awful dew problem. By about 10.30pm, everything was dripping wet including the inside and outside of mine and Bernie's dob tubes. My secondary was really badly dewed up and towards the end of the session even the primary was dewed up - I don't think a dew guard would have helped - it really was that bad. Luckily, Bernie had a small hairdryer (or rather his missus did) and with Darren's extension we were able to dry up the secondaries on mine and Bernie's dobs. This had to be done several times though. Even my eyepieces were dewing up at both ends.

The dew got worse as the night wore on and the hairdryer had to be used at more regular intervals. I've never seen dew this bad and I don't think a dew shield would have held it off for long but I'm making sure I have one available for next time.

The dew problems cut into the time for observing but here's a short list of targets:

Mercury - I swept the horizon after sunset with the binos and eventually found it as it slowly got darker about 10 degrees above the horizon, just above the treetops. I swung the dob around and slapped in the Ethos. It was very small and somewhat lost in the FOV but the half phase was unmistakable. I was a little concerned that chromatic aberration was apparent (red on one side, blue on the other - Darren noted green too) but the small disc was a pinkish colour overall. Adding the 2x Powermate didn't improve the view. I can't imagine the eyepiece is at fault so in the end we put it down to the low elevation but it had me worried for a while.

Saturn - An obvious target as it got darker and the view with the Ethos and Powermate was incredible, the best view of Saturn I've yet seen. The Cassini Division was immediately visible and the shadow of the rings on the planet also. Some banding was also easily seen and this had a pinkish hue. Overall, the image was pin sharp and with the Paracorr added giving an additional 1.15x barlow effect, the view was pin sharp as it drifted slowly from one edge of the FOV to the other. Absolutely amazing and to say Darren was gobsmacked with this view would be an understatement - he was literally drooling :p

M51 & NGC5195 - perfectly placed near the zenith this was an easy target. I saw the spirals for the first time ever :) and I swear I could detect a bluish tint to them. Averted vision made them seem to swim into view and some knotting in the spirals was visible. I'm not sure how good the seeing was but it looked pretty good to me. I'm not sure I could see the bridge but Darren swore he could see it. I thought I could see it at one point but after seeing countless images of this galaxy and knowing it was there it could have been my imagination filling the gap. Well worth further observation later.

M108 - A sliver of silver against the black. Some knotting was visible but the dew was becoming a problem at this point and the hairdryer was brought into action again.

NGC869/884 - the double cluster. Always a favourite and beautifully framed in the Ethos. Stunning view.

M81 & M82 - another favourite. Both easily visible, quite bright and again framed very nicely in the FOV with ample space around them.

M57 - nice and bright but the damn dew was becoming a major problem so it could have been spoiling the view. I tried it again later with the UHC filter but with the dew and the oncoming cloud cover I didn't have time to form an opinion on the difference in contrast.

M13 - spectacular but could have been better (dewing up again)

M3 - ditto

The double double in Lyra (Epsilon 1/2) - Darren wanted to see this and both stars were easily split.

M97 - one of the later targets after everyone else had gone to bed. The dew was getting really irritating at this point and I tried it with and without the UHC filter. I got a hint of the eyes and an impression of increased contrast with the filter but couldn't be sure I'd got rid of all the dew on all glass surfaces. The primary was dewing up at this point :(

M71 - I was looking for M27 but couldn't find it (the finder was completely fogged up) but a quick look at a star chart revealed M71 (another glob I'd not seen before) and it was easy to star-hop to with the eyepiece in the little constellation of Sagitta more or less right between the 2 stars in the middle.

I've probably missed some other targets we observed but if it weren't for the heavy dewing the list could have been so much longer.

Bernie wanted to try the Powermate in his dob but it proved to be a really tight fit and rather than risk damaging the barrel and/or his focuser while fumbling around in the dark we didn't get chance to try it.

We managed to get it to fit about a half inch into the focuser (it was an extremely tight fit) in daylight the next day and could see the problem was the black paint on the inside of the focuser. Some of it rubbed off but we managed to achieve focus on the branches of a distant tree with the Ethos (with and without the Paracorr). I think he was sold on the view :cyclops: and I may be responsible for putting a bit of a dent in his bank balance later :oops: :angry:

My poor dob was dripping wet the next morning (I'd put all the caps on and covered it with the Telegizmo cover before climbing in my tent for the night) and the eyepieces were still dewed up (I'd put the caps on and put them back in the case - even the foam in the case was wet with dew).

The primary mirror looked like a block of ice :shock: .

A brief exposure of all the gear to the morning breeze sorted it all out though :headbang:

Overall, a good time was had by all and it was great to meet Darren again and Bernie and Keagle for the first time.

Big thanks to Bernie's missus for this morning's brekkie and much needed coffee thoughout the event :headbang:

Ian

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Starflyer

Starflyer

Posted
Posted

Great report Ian :angry:

The dew sounded terrible, I thought it was bad at Kielder this spring, the secondary on my dob started dewing up in the early hours but not the primary :shock:

Really glad you guys had a good time.

Cheers,

Ian

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Astronut

Astronut

Posted
Posted

.....Tell me - why does cut grass mean more dew? Never heard of that before.

...

Andrew

Now I think about it, I'm not sure. I think it was Darren's theory. Maybe it holds in the ground moisture from all the recent rain we've had. The grass cuttings hadn't been raked and removed and there was zero wind during the night so I think that would contribute to dew - all that moisture in the ground and grass cuttings slowly rising and clinging to everything.

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Talitha

Talitha

Posted
Posted

Sounds like you had a good time despite the dew, Ian! :(

Were you able to see Encke's Division and the Crepe Ring on Saturn?

And wow, I bet M51 and his little buddy were a knock-out!

(That's American for 'brilliant'. :angry: )

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Talitha

Talitha

Posted
Posted

The starparty is amazing, perfectly clear skies and awesome views of Saturn. Friday night was a cracker. Shame more people couldn't have come. A few scattered clouds here and there but otherwise perfect.

Aw c'mon Kurt, we need more details! :angry:

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Astronut

Astronut

Posted
Posted

Sounds like you had a good time despite the dew, Ian! :angry:

Were you able to see Encke's Division and the Crepe Ring on Saturn?

And wow, I bet M51 and his little buddy were a knock-out!

(That's American for 'brilliant'. :( )

Can't say I saw the Encke Division or the Crepe Ring but my magnification was only around x265 with the Powermate and Paracorr. Maybe with more magnification and maybe if I'd observed it for longer than a couple of minutes I might have had more luck but the night was short, it was my first time at a dark site WITH clear skies and I wanted to move on to other targets (DSO's in particular) and see as much as possible. I had no observing plan or list of targets.

The Crepe Ring is darker than the others though and I do remember the shadow of the rings on the planet's disc was wider than you would expect so what I observed could possibly have been a combination of the ring shadow (which would have been quite thin given the current ring tilt angle) plus the darker Crepe Ring contrasted in front of the planet's bright disc. As for the Encke division, more concentration might have revealed it. I'll have another look next chance I get :p

There were a least 6 moons easily visible and quite bright scattered around the planet. I've had to check on SN Pro with the observing time and date set and the simulation reveals I saw (from left to right in the eyepiece - Iapetus, Titan, Dione to the left of Saturn, Rhea above the left side of the rings and Tethys and Enceladus to the right of the rings)

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supernova

supernova

Posted
Posted

Hi I am back from SGL 3.75.

And I can say that I have had a Fantastic time it was awesome :hello1: :hello1:

The views Friday night where the best I have ever seen and it was all down to Ian [astronut] he Knows stuff :angry: .

He Has a set of eyepieces that have brought out the optics of my scope,

:Quote from Ian: hehe Your eps are Carp Bernie have a look through this.

So enough said I have just ordered a 13mm Ethos and a 2x Powermate.

Because he caught me and Darren trying to nick them :p .

And A very Big thank you to Darren for the alien stuff, you will see by the pics.

Also, Kurt you are a star even though you are only the 3/4 part of SGL 3.75.

And you busted my PST mount hmmmmm

I had a great time.

I only wish more people where there.

Darren, Ian, Myself, and Kurt.

We made a great team.

Also Elaine [my wife] did brekies and we all lived through it.

She Was a good host.

Bernie.

PS the pics of Darren and myself trying to steel Ian's EP,s are to come :(

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