Observing opportunities

[texaspete1973]

Is it just me or was this one of the worst years for observing opportunities

[laudropb]

It is the worst I have encountered. Only a couple of hours of clear sky all month and November was not much better.

[Pig]

Certainly the past few months have been very poor indeed

[Dupertron]

Cannot remember the last time we had a clear sky in Cardiff

[miguel87]

Couldnt agree more. Im even getting over excited by tomorrow nights forecast, gonna keep my eye on it and maybe head for a dark site if it remains promising. Moon is slowly shifting out of the way too.

Fingers crossed!

[miguel87]

Definitely going to the reservoir for a session tonight, forecast for llandovery looks very good, less so towards the coast but still majoritively clear. Hoping to stay long enough to catch jupiter too, having seen any planets in months.

Mike

[L8-Nite]

Looking to be clear for a few hours in my neck of the woods tonight, and also at our Blaenavon site; but hey, it's New Years Eve and I'm gonna PARTY ! ! !     

Happy New Year to everyone, and clear skies to us all.

Cheers !

[miguel87]

So glad we decided to head to the reservoir last night. Arrived half 9, crystal clear! Very nice views of m31, m32 and m33. Easily found m81 and 82 for Bode's nebula.

The double cluster in perseus, then m35 with obvious nebulosity.

M42 was the highlight of the night, detail that i have never seen beforr the wisps of dust and pinpoint clear quartet of stars. My 30mm vixen npl gave me 33x magnification and framed a large part of the nebula perfectly with good contrast.

Next was a new one for me, m1, the crab, much easier to find than expected and best viewed last night at 50x, no real detail to pick out but a clear outline and suggestions of a darkened centre.

Finally as the moon wash beginning to wash out the sky at midnight, Jupiter preceeded it over the trees. At 100x the view was readonably crisp with all four moons lined up west of the planet and jupiters coloured bands visible through turbulent air.

At 166x magnification things got very wobbly, likelu to low in the sky and not perfect conditions and dew began to be a problem.

We packed up just after 1, a long awaited session!

Mike

[ronin]

I think that we have to be able to take advantage of anything when it appears. Which equally means that the use of light buckets are low down the list, just too big at times to run outside with and grab a clear 60 minutes with.

My last reasonable chance was with binoculars on the way back from a day out. It was a main road (dual carriageway) but there were roads and parking off of it that were dark. Spent close to an hour looking round. Even M31 showed structure in 8x42's, faint but something there.

Would be nice to be able to plan but weather forecasts seem meaningless. Yesterdays BBC showed a weather front clearing the East and last night was clear but this morning was cloud, the weather map late yesterday was showing clear for all morning today. So it seems anything over about 6 hours in advance is suspect.

[stevetynant]

Stunning sky when I got up this morning - was a lovely suprize shame I had to go to work really- but - the weather forums I frequent are getting very excited about an upcoming cold spell with frosty nights- we still have to negotiate the rain for the next week or so but hopefully our chance is arriving shortly - fingers crossed its long overdue

[Dupertron]

A few hours of clear skies tonight. Was a able to ditch the two lenses my scope came with as some new Celestron X-cels turned up -7mm, 12, 18, 25. First proper eyepieces and very happy with them. As well as this my auto two star align worked perfectly.

Made this Cardiffian well up.

A few more practice nights then it's on the road

[miguel87]

Sounds good dupertron. Im looking forward to first light with my new planetary eyepieces. Probably heading into the brecons saturday night as the forecast is good.

[Dupertron]

Where are the sight(s) in Brecon, any coordinators, names etc.?

Good luck 87

[miguel87]

I personally think usk reservoir is the best place to go. Magnitude of 6.4. Low horizon all the way round, sheltered from the wind, easy parking, open 24/7 and less than an hour from home.

However this is towards the west end of the brecons and probably not so good from cardiff.

The brecon beacons website is pretty good and suggests a good few stargazing sited.

Forecast is patchy for tonight so just deciding where to go.

Mike

[stevetynant]

I've yet to make it to usk reservoir but travel through trecastle pretty regularly.i think a trip to Suss out a good site might be a good idea on the weekend when there's no chance of observing and get my bearings before travelling around those lanes in the dark.any suggestions for the best place to head to when I arrive?

[brrttpaul]

its very easy to take a wrong turn up there, basically the way I go is arrive in trecastle turn left at the pub on the corner follow the road ( and this is the tricky bit)  as you go up a hill theres a turn off to your right, go down there when you do you acctually go through a farm yard (dont worry) follow the road around and theres a stone bridge on your right, go over it and turn left follow the road untill you come tothe bottom of the dam then either go up the right hand side (better) or the left hand side. have a look on google earth first or a sat nav. Also dont dismiss the brecon visitor centre which is closer but not as dark, personally for the distance i prefer the visitor centre but i go further on up it  park in one of the pull ins set up right outside the car

[stevetynant]

Thanks Paul - think I'll print your comments out and try the digital route first - cheers 

[stevetynant]

How cruel is this hobby - the last few nights have been stunning with no wind but a huge moon flooding the skies- Fingers crossed for February

[brrttpaul]

you couldnt make it up could you! I came home early today knowing that cloud was coming in at 7, everything set up ready to go just waiting for polaris to show ( I was desperate for Catalina so this time I was going to use the DSLR knowing I can stack them).  Polaris shows im polar aligned everything is ticketyboo . star align,,,,, Capella   and my mount does not slew????? switches everything off start again  and "stand alone"  whaaaaaattt!!!!!! whoooo whats going on, tried and tried and tried , brought it all back in the house plugged it in worked a charm so its got to be one of two things loose lead or  maybe the electric ??? .  Im set now im going to get someone to reset my laptop and start again with EQMOD and this time the usb will be used for that and that only. i LOVE THIS HOBBY

[Dupertron]

Guys I've posted this one on the general equipment forum but I want to field this to the South Wales crew as you know the skies and viewing conditions in this area.

My 4.2inch refractor, f/660, focal ratio 6.47, can take 2" eyepieces. Taking these specs into account is it worth purchasing 2". Generally how good will they be on my scope, will I get better views than with 1.25" eyepieces?

Ta

[lennylovit]

if you can make it to the next meet you can try my 2" eyepieces out and see how you get on , not the " best " glass but see how they work in your frac

Lenny

[stevetynant]

On 1/18/2016 at 06:59, brrttpaul said:

its very easy to take a wrong turn up there, basically the way I go is arrive in trecastle turn left at the pub on the corner follow the road ( and this is the tricky bit)  as you go up a hill theres a turn off to your right, go down there when you do you acctually go through a farm yard (dont worry) follow the road around and theres a stone bridge on your right, go over it and turn left follow the road untill you come tothe bottom of the dam then either go up the right hand side (better) or the left hand side. have a look on google earth first or a sat nav. Also dont dismiss the brecon visitor centre which is closer but not as dark, personally for the distance i prefer the visitor centre but i go further on up it  park in one of the pull ins set up right outside the car

Well I finally got to the Usk Reservoir today - bit of a spur of the moment thing on our way down to Newquay for a drive - I gotta say knowing the temperature in the Beacons at the time we observe it would worry me the amount of ice that must be on those lanes as they were covered in water although it has been exceptionally wet here even for Wales.  Paul it looked to me that turning left, going over the bridge right by the reservoir which took you up to a tar mac pull in on the opposite side of the  water looked the best spot. When I got there I didn't really see any where otrher than on the grass in front of the big house to set up which wouldn't be ideal- where did you set up when you went? 

[brrttpaul]

at the bottom of the dam you can either go straight on up (where the house and boats are) or left, I have always gone up by the boats/house as its very comfortable viewing plus I am looking southish towards orion etc , the other side has a decent car park just a better view IMO from the other side. Glad you found it ok

EDIT, the lane leading to the farm through road is like glass in winter as there must be a leak or something which freezes over even on a cold sunny day as its always in the shade ( this would be the third winter its been there now)

[stevetynant]

Yes good call didn't think which direction I was viewing ideally it would be south I guess. I suppose as well knowing how remote it is there wouldn't be much traffic which ever side of the reservoir you set up. 

[Dupertron]

This is what I'm worried about, travelling down some country lanes on a cold night. The last few clear nights have been frosty. Took the scope to the edges of Cardiff up Thornhill way a few weeks back and ended up doing a 90 degree turn coming back. How's the back roads up by Blaenavon and which is the best way to go from Cardiff, Cwmbran or heads of the valleys?

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