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Just back from Kelling


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Just back from Kelling, a day earlier than planned.

Arrived there Thusday lunchtime, in sun and cloud, and reasonably mild. As darkness came, so did thick heavy cloud. I gave up hope at around midnight, and went to bed. I woke at around 02.00, and peared out of the caravan window, to see stars and one or two red torches. However, by then I was too warm and comfortable, so said nahh!, and went back to sleep.

As it happens, I didn't really miss much, as although the sky was 'clearish', apparently it was anything but 'gin clear', and certainly not like the Kelling sky last September.

Looked at the forecast on TV late this afternoon, and it wasn't at all encouraging, so made the decision to 'hitch up' and head for home. As we left, it started 'chucking it down' and the temperature had dropped to 5C. Stayed in heavy rain until we crossed the border back into Suffolk.

Rob Hodgkinson and Amanda, also decided to 'call it a day' and left shortly before me.

So, from from an astronomy aspect, the event was really a nonevent, but it was well supported and it was nice to put a few more 'faces to names'.

Never mind, September WILL be good. :(

Dave

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Unlucky with the weather Dave :( Its been snowing on and off all day up here and is supposed to get down to southern England too,it is also bitterly cold in the strong north wind.

I was hoping to get out and take a few aurora pics.noticed a few bright beams dancing in the sky as it got dark,unfortunately its now snowing but will stick my head out the door later in the hope it clears.

Hope September is better for everyone. :D

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That's a shame Dave,

Was a beautiful day yesterday for my graduation ceremony :sunny: but I left Guildford in bright sunshine this morning (although it was markedly colder) and hit a bank of cloud at Kent/Dartford M25 area.

Hope September will be better.

Cheers

Bill£ :(

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Just back from kelling what can i say i arrived on friday lunch time pitched the tent and set up my telescope and met a great bunch of people :( as for the weather say no more the only clear moment with broken cloud was in the early hours of sunday morning for around 1 hr. Never mind i still had a great time..iam glad i took a heater and plenty of beer ... I also found alot more out about my Charles frank telescope and every body i spoke to was happy to take a look at it and take a picture or two .. iam looking forward to september .. :D

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Dave, always good see you and for the slightly more (fool)hardy who stayed, we did manage to get a couple of hours on Saturday night with the new Skywatcher Flex-Tube 12" truss dob FLO had with them. Racked up the Messiers with the help of Graham's (coatesg) rather classy celestial navigation skills and nice to see all the summer constellations like Cygnus poke their heads up after midnight :(. Not only absolutely freezing but pretty darn windy too!

Not even the weather managed to ruin what ended up being another fun weekend! Very tired now tho....ZZzzzzzzzzzzz

Tony..

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Hi Tony, glad to here you did manage something last night. I did notice it was really clear here late last night, but couldn't generate the enthusiasm to open up the obs.

I know that Steve (SteveL) was very keen to have a look through that new SW 12" Dob, so good the hear that the opportunity presented itself.

Although the conditions were pretty rough for astronomy, it was nice to meet up with you guys again, and meet some that I hadn't met before, namely, Graeme (coatesg), Rob Hodgkinson & Amanda, TJ/wife + family, and James.

Dave

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The views through the 12" Skywatcher dob were just stunning, M13 specifically. Of course, our humanoid GOTO (coatseg :() was working well, whizzing from target to target between the clouds.

Heroes of the weekend (amngst others):

Daz and Steve (Kai) - food, food, and more food, especially

Steve/James - for bringing the 12" dob... and everything else

Graeme - for being faster at finding stuff than my GOTO mount

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As above a great weekend topped off with a couple of hours looking through the new Skyliner Dob 8) (Now i predict it will sell loads)

Cheers all and thanks for a really nice time away.

I will post some piccies later :nono: :nono: :(:D

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So the flex-tube doesn't live up to its name, I hope!

Nooooway !!!!

James and I put a Baader laser in the focusser and tried to deflect it by twisting the trusses.We didnt manage it :( !!! First impressions were that it holds collimation really well.

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Daz and Steve (Kai) - food, food, and more food, especially

Well, I'm just waiting for the picture of you and the, errm, "fully loaded" burgers from Saturday night!

Good weekend, though glad we called it quits this morning (it's snowing again here in Oxfordshire - but without the piercing wind of Norfolk...).

And good fun on the gotos - see, in my day, there were no such thing as goto. You had to push the telescope to the targets - and it were hard. And all we had to eat was rocks - and we liked it.......!!!

Cheers,

GC

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That and it was also pretty much collimated out of the box :(.

I was amazed that simply "extending" the dob, it just worked! - that's pretty impressive on it's own, let alone the other testing it went through. The views were very good in skies that were steady (amazingly - given the wind), if not really dark - I'm sure this scope should sell well and kudos to Steve@FLO for bringing it along to be "field tested" :D

I think I could be half-(and mostly)-tempted by a 16" version, but for a visual astronomer looking for an upgrade, it would be money well spent IMHO.

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Yep, another great fun weekend and the views through that dob were very, very nice!!

Gordon - Did you manage to get a look through that scope? It certainly looks like it will deliver some nice views. I have to admit I forgot to come back over to you on Saturday night :oops:

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Hi all,we arrived home a few hours ago,cant believe we woke up to snow this morning(atleast the kids were excited about something)!!!

Tj is busy sorting out his new stuff he got and is preparing to write a poem about our time at Kelling - so watch this space.......... :(

It was nice to meet some of you and look forward to seeing you in september.

Mrs TJ

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Hello folks,

We've just got home after going to see friends after leaving on Saturday night.

British weather will do what it will :(

It was great to meet folk in the flesh :D

Cheers

Rob

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