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Galloway 2017 Spring Gathering

Demon Barber

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Adrian Condon

Adrian Condon

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Hi Stuart,

The weather has been the main topic of conversation for the Galloway Spring SP, so meeting up with friends and having a wee dram is the order of the night.

I packed up and left on Friday before the rain returned with the picturesque snow on the Galloway Hills. I went over to Chapel le Dale. It was raining and miserable when I got there at 15:20. It was wet and windy on Saturday, so I stayed in the centre and watched the Rugby matches, later attended the DAG Annual Dinner at the Hill Inn.

The food is excellent but pricey.

I arrived home yesterday afternoon in time to watch the England v Italy match.

This is the first time to Drumroanin that the scope has stayed in the car. The wind and rain were non-stop for 10 out of the 11 nights I was there.

Damage.... one broken pole on the 4 person Outwell tent, the two roof poles on the Kampa Utility tent broken, so I will be paying a visit to Complete Outdoors in Hemel Hempstead.  Will have to wash the footprint and groundsheet from the tent. Plus drying the tent out,  Guess what it is raining here now....

Anyway, I will be back to Drumroamin hopefully in the Autumn.

Good to see you got home safely, hope to meet up later in the year.

Cheers

Adrian

 

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AndyKeogh

AndyKeogh

Posted
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Well I unpacked all  the astronomy bits from the car yesterday and managed to get the rig up again.  After polar alignment I only managed to get 11 usable 4 minute frames out of 16 before the clouds rolled in. :disgust:

I guess this counts as the Mesu's first light  so it shows real promise after an EQ6.  It is just a shame that it was from the light polluted NE skies rather than Drumroamin.  Leo Triplet wide angle and a crop.  PHDLog reports polar alignment error of 0.52 arc minutes. Only processed in DSS and cropped in Photoshop elements.

Until next time.

Andy

 

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Crop_Leo_Triplet_5DmkIII_Megrez90_44_mins_31_darks.jpg

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DeepSkyBagger

DeepSkyBagger

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Last to leave. The first 25 miles of the trip home were horrendous. Deep slushy snow all across the roads. It must have taken them by surprise, as the roads were obviously not gritted, judging by the way the car slid and drifted if I drove anything other than extremely carefully. 

It cleared up after 25 miles, and the remaining 175 were thankfully uneventful.

Pity the weather was not kind to us, despite a short window of beautiful clarity last night, so thanks to everyone who shared some thoroughly enjoyable evenings in the warm room.

Of course, special thanks to Mike, for organising it all.

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James

James

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Posted

Like it wasn't already hard enough to drive off the field!!

I had a great time up in Galloway, just got back after an 8 hour, somewhat snowy journey. There were no less than two named storms during - perfect for camping in February! Sunday afternoons gusts were quite spectacular - my little tent survived though :)  Whilst there was only a small amount of astro, mostly on the Sunday evening, I got to see the Horsehead visually for the first time in Damians (Mapstar) 22" Dob - fantastic!!! - amongst other objects. I'll leave Damian to write up his observing report as I know that Ian (Uplooker) will be keen to read it...

Was good to meet Mike - thank you for your organising! Thanks also to Damian and Ian for the breakfasts and many others for the company/whisky in the warm room. Friday night will be remembered for some time (unfortunately not in much detail by me ;) ).

I've attached some very rough and ready DSLR pics... first one is just a view over my little tent and car, the second was the view to the south - Drumroamin has a very flat horizon so the skies are big!

The third picture was taken on the Sunday evening - the wind (meteorological) was pretty bad and there's a sheltered area where a couple of scopes were set up - there's a couple of ghostly figures in the picture - Damian is at his scope looking at an object or two in Gemini, on the right I was looking over the fence to watch out for clouds :)

I'm not sure I'll be allowed to go to the autumn one but will definitely try!!!

James

 

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mapstar

mapstar

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Cracking photo's James and it was a pleasure to meet you and the other new faces that attended (Will and Becky (hope that right), Gav, and also Derek). Shame there wasn't as much Astro as we'd all hoped but the photo's really do show it's potential. As Patrick states the 3-4 hours of clear skies had really good clarity and the objects picked out were stunning. 

The snow started as I was passing Creetown on the A75 and I just missed the worst of it. 

Glad everyone has got home safely. I arrived home to a cold house as the boiler pump has given up the ghost. Looks like my little tent heater, in addition to the gas fire, hasn't quite finished it's duties this month!!

I will put a small observing report in the appropriate section shortly but a good night's sleep is my priority.

Thanks to everyone that attended and as always Mike for the organisation of Scotlands premier star party :icon_salut:

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Physopto

Physopto

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Posted

I have just read all the latest posts. Glad everyone got home safely. We missed the snow, just some hail as we stopped at the Teapot for refreshments. In all, a very uneventful but pleasent drive back to the North East. The pictures at least give a good indication of how good Galloway can be. It was a shame the weather did not play ball, but it did cement friendships and help form new ones as we retired to the warm room.

It was great to meet Derek,  Will, Becky and Gav, hope they enjoyed their time at Galloway. 

As usual, thanks to Lesley and Ralph, they bore the destruction of the field surface due to the rain and cars with fortitude. Hopefully the grass will grow back soon. And of course Mike was his usual self being Mike and seeing everyone was OK.

Roll on the next Star Camp.

Derek

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PhotoGav

PhotoGav

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Finally arrived back home and I've just let the dog out in the garden... it's clear and I'm sorry to report that Drumroamin has ruined my opinion of my home skies!!! I now realise what is missing up there here in Marlborough!

Despite the weather, I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend. Thank you especially to Damian for showing me the finest view of M51 that I have ever had - simply spectacular through that massive instrument of his. Faint fuzzies don't always have to be fuzzy or faint then!

I will have some images to post once I get the computer up and running. 

Clear skies everyone and I hope to see you on a dark campsite again soon, ideally with clear skies!

Gav. 

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Uplooker

Uplooker

Posted
Posted
44 minutes ago, PhotoGav said:

Finally arrived back home and I've just let the dog out in the garden... it's clear and I'm sorry to report that Drumroamin has ruined my opinion of my home skies!!! I now realise what is missing up there here in Marlborough!

Despite the weather, I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend. Thank you especially to Damian for showing me the finest view of M51 that I have ever had - simply spectacular through that massive instrument of his. Faint fuzzies don't always have to be fuzzy or faint then!

I will have some images to post once I get the computer up and running. 

Clear skies everyone and I hope to see you on a dark campsite again soon, ideally with clear skies!

Gav. 

Tell me about it. Took my son to his guitar lesson earlier and saw the gritters out. Sky is now clear and the temperature is dropping. I did consider going out but it really would have done me in for the rest of the week.

Not had a chance to post properly since getting back.

Really enjoyed Galloway, how could you not enjoy it! It is made by the great people that are there. Correct I did not get much astronomy in, that's because, yet again, I did not stay for the Sunday.

Glad everyone got home safely and those that persevered to drive long distances - respect. Don't let the weather on this occasion put you off future events.

Thanks also to Leslie & Ralf for a great campsite and outstanding hospitality.

Thank you to Mike for organising Scotlands premium star party, always having the kettle on, supplying tools and connectors and making old and new attendees welcome. Oh and also providing a towel to some numpty who forgot his ?

I am off now to cry in a corner before having to read yet another of Mapstar's Sunday night observing reports ?

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Demon Barber

Demon Barber

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Well,once again i`m amazed at the dedication and good humor in the face of adversity of a group of astronomers who i can call friends. I was not at my best health wise and the conditions under foot did not lend itself to my lack of mobility at times,i appreciate all who made the effort to attend the Galloway Gathering and who make the organisation of the event worthwhile.

 Once again Lesley and Ralph did a sterling job of preparing the site only for us to inflict a bit of wear and tear, i know from previous events that have been wet (ha ha ) that the field  will recover,Ralph will be hiring a roller to effect a repair,a big thank you goes as always to them,they always go the extra mile to make the events a success.

I know the weather left a little to be desired but i hope everyone had a positive experience and the newbies got to see the potential of the Galloway skies,and i  the hope to see everyone at the Autumn bash,to those of you who helped me personally THANK YOU all ( you know who you are).

I was glad every one got home safely the road conditions left a lot to contend with.

I think it might be useful to have a supply of wellies if it ever rains that heavy again,my boots took a bashing.

Lets have more photo`s please the one`s posted so far are amazing, well done James,i hope you get permission for Nov!

I`m looking forward to our Autumn bash and am sure of a great turnout, get your bookings in now for Scotland`s Premier Star camp,oh and there will most definitely be pies a`plenty.

A big thank you to all.

Regards

Mike

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hadyn42

hadyn42

Posted
Posted

Hello All

Thank you All for your company,  we both thoroughly enjoyed the event and the socializing  and "will be back" if we are allowed!

Arrived home early this morning and what a rough sailing we had too.

Looks as if the "Sunday night guys"  had some great views, lucky beggars!

Just been out at our societies first night of three in Onchan Park doing a public stargazing event, there was about twelve of us there with our gear setup and after the little hail shower we had nearly three hours of viewing before the frost took over and everything froze up, well nearly everything!

Best regards to you all......

Christina and Hadyn - IOM

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ASTROSTUART

ASTROSTUART

Posted
Posted
21 hours ago, Adrian Condon said:

Hi Stuart,

The weather has been the main topic of conversation for the Galloway Spring SP, so meeting up with friends and having a wee dram is the order of the night.

I packed up and left on Friday before the rain returned with the picturesque snow on the Galloway Hills. I went over to Chapel le Dale. It was raining and miserable when I got there at 15:20. It was wet and windy on Saturday, so I stayed in the centre and watched the Rugby matches, later attended the DAG Annual Dinner at the Hill Inn.

The food is excellent but pricey.

I arrived home yesterday afternoon in time to watch the England v Italy match.

This is the first time to Drumroanin that the scope has stayed in the car. The wind and rain were non-stop for 10 out of the 11 nights I was there.

Damage.... one broken pole on the 4 person Outwell tent, the two roof poles on the Kampa Utility tent broken, so I will be paying a visit to Complete Outdoors in Hemel Hempstead.  Will have to wash the footprint and groundsheet from the tent. Plus drying the tent out,  Guess what it is raining here now....

Anyway, I will be back to Drumroamin hopefully in the Autumn.

Good to see you got home safely, hope to meet up later in the year.

Cheers

Adrian

 

Hi Aidrian, I didn't even unpack van and like you Scope never saw daylight. I slept in van rather than fight with the tent. Yes I think we are due some good skies now, I've only had one good visit to Galloway out of four so far,all the rest have been a washout. Glad you you got back and hopefully November will be blessed with an abundance of stars! 

All the best sir,

Stuary

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wackyscot

wackyscot

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Physopto said:

Well some people will forget the most important things. Hi Dawn, I found your bottle of Jura Origin in the warm room. Annette convinced me to bring it back for safe keeping. So we will bring it up to the Autumn Star Camp.

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Dawn, I wouldn't hold my breath lmao ;)

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Uplooker

Uplooker

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, James said:

Good on you for testing it out :)

I think the other half of that bottle was the cause of my much enjoyed Friday night...

James,

I think your pants must be on fire ? 

It was more than just half of that bottle that facilitated your overall enjoyment?

How would you know anyway, you told me that you could not remember it.

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Physopto

Physopto

Posted
Posted
11 minutes ago, James said:

:blob8:  Not quite :)

 

I used a bit of logic... although I'll admit it's taken 2-3 days for the logic such as it is to come back... the memory is still distinctly vague..

The dangers of Astronomy when " Raining and  Blowing a Hoolie " mixed with the vagaries of Star Camps !!!:drunken_smilie:

Derek

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