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A Night out maybe


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Hi all, i am off work for the week during the upcoming half term 21-24th October(shame not the week after when the clocks go back) and i am thinking of reserving the rear car seats for my Skywatcher 200p Dob:icon_biggrin: and getting out for the night, My 11 year old lad is keen as mustard to go but being new to it all i thought i'd ask the experts for some tips n tricks. Couple a questions from threads i have already noticed here,

1) Dew? will it effect the scope, how do i stop it, Will it happen all night?

2) Plan of action? i do intend to take info with me on what to look for but any tips for this time of year are appreciated.

3) Red Light/Torch? Self explanatry that one lol

4) Quilts/blankets tea or coffee a must

5) Where to go? I live near Leeds/Bradford so was thinking maybe going up North Yorks way, Harrogate/ Menwith hill etc, Anyone been up that way before? any good places to recommend etc

6) Transporting the scope on the back seat with belts on wrapped in a blanket is this OK ?

Oh and finally if anyone want to team up let me know the more the merrier as they say.

Thanks Steve

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I was going to suggest that you both consider attending one of the Autumn Star camps such as Kielder, but that starts the week after unfortunately, here are the details anyhow and you could still plan on going up for the weekend. The advantage of this is that you will receive all the help and friendly offers of support + potential very dark skies and talks etc. Events such as this also provide a safe environment to go observing in and can really build up your enthusiasm and knowledge - even if the weather turns out to be not too great. 

http://www.sunderlandastro.com/star-camp/

 

 

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Morning Steve, noticed your thread yesterday but just too busy to drop a response over then..  Nice scope choice BTW a god 8" Dob is a pleasure to use and is capable of showing you loads of objects and detail.

Just in response to your questions, from my limited experience, I'd say the following..

1, Dew... only had it happen once with 8" Newt, and with no way of removing it, it put an end to the session.. I'd suggest with your current set up (assuming no dew control or prevention devices, its a suck it and see job.. (no help I know... I did say limited experience!)

2, An observing plan is a great start, something like the pocket sky atlas, will be a useful tool.  You can use apps on the phone, tablet or just looking up to identify the main starts of the constellations best suited to you position then narrow down targets from there.. an observing list and even finder chart is also a good tool in locating objects.

 3, Red light torch... go to "Generic Supermarket", buy a cheap rubber torch, paint the plastic lens red with nail varnish.. I used the good lady's, "dark cherry blossom" cost me a few quid for the torch and a strange look when I asked if I could borrow her nail varnish, but it works well enough!

4, Anything to keep warm and refreshed.. LAYERS!!! Good boots, fingerless gloves, hats etc.. think winter survival guide.

5, I'll come back to this..

6, As with anything, as long as it's secure it should be ok, you might want to check collimation once set up, and make any tweeks before you start..

 

I know the area around Harrogate and Menwith Hill reasonably well, out to the west of Harrogate and north of otley are very good sky's within 30mins drive of the towns.. practically nothing to the north other than villages in a few of the dales valleys etc.  You can still see the light glow from the M62 corridor to the south, but I think your far enough out.  Over head will give you clear views of the MW and rift regions, naked eye views of the double cluster, and M31 amongst others.  It can be quite overwhelming as the main constellation stars merge in to a see of others..

I'd stay away from Menwith Hill, the base has lots of lights, and regular car traffic around the roads to the perimeter.  Obviously staying safe is a key consideration, and that's a perspective thing, I've used a little single track road about 20mins further out to the NW, parked up on a siding set up and still got visits by cars even after midnight.. (serious adrenaline rush when 3 lads got out of one and came up to me.. actually turned in to a good "outreach" but could equally have gone badly!)  Safety in numbers as you suggest is one thing, but then the obs site needs to cope with cars and equipment.. a single track road and siding wouldn't, you'd need a more designated area, I'm still looking...

Best suggestion at the moment which will tick all the boxes is the Leeds astro society.. I don't know if we have any members on here, but they have a public observing session planned for the 21st October..  details are here..

http://www.astronomyleeds.org.uk/Activities.html

I've not been but i'm considering it this time around, you should meet a few people around from the area.. might just find what your looking for!.

Hope that helps..

Clear Sky's

Fozzie

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Thanks Fozzie great info much appreciated, I am gonna contact the people up at the Kielder Forest event at the end of this month and if spaces will make the trek up there for the Friday & Saturday nights, Link above looks good and safety not an issue, I can only imagine your face when the 3 guys turned up in the car :help:LOL, Glad it went well but yes it is a worry, Went up near LBA the other week(Bombholes) as it is known but it is locked up now so we just parked and set up the Scope, went to look at the full moon and catch Saturn and Mars, Was OK but still too much light pollution. Anyways i have emailed the Kielder event people and hope they have space(no pun intended) available.

 

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Hi there, just pitching in on the subject of dew. It's unlikely it'll affect the primary mirror, but will affect the secondary and the finder. I use a dew shield made from a camping mat on my dob, and a similar one made from craft foam (though you could use camping mat here too) for the finder. They don't prevent dew building up, but do delay it. When it eventually builds on the finder I wipe it off with a very soft tissue, but when the secondary eventually succumbs, that's it for the evening ...

Kev

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Jaffa cakes?

As for 2), has your son done much observing? If not, then the big, bold and brassy will be the way to go to get him hooked.

There's no moon that week, which you can take as a plus or a minus. A bit of moon is fab through a 200p, but the lack of it will mean the other objects should be better. If you are out early enough, you might catch Jupiter and Mars, but they'll be very low and may not be terribly impressive.

However, there'll be oodles about at half term. Things I'd start with (with children, but often come back to myself!): The Double Cluster (just below Cassiopeia), The Pleiades (above Taurus), Andromeda Galaxy, The Garnet star (just below Cephus), Albireo (the double in Cygnus), The Double Double (just next to Vega in Lyra), down to the ring nebula in Lyra, Dumbbell nebula (between Vulpecula and Sagitta), M13 in Hercules might be getting a bit low unless you are early, but M38, M36 and M37 in Auriga should be rising as it gets later. If you're up really late, then Orion will just be getting out of bed too! Not exhaustive, but a start. :)

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On 10/3/2016 at 22:13, scarp15 said:

I was going to suggest that you both consider attending one of the Autumn Star camps such as Kielder, but that starts the week after unfortunately, here are the details anyhow and you could still plan on going up for the weekend. The advantage of this is that you will receive all the help and friendly offers of support + potential very dark skies and talks etc. Events such as this also provide a safe environment to go observing in and can really build up your enthusiasm and knowledge - even if the weather turns out to be not too great. 

http://www.sunderlandastro.com/star-camp/

 

 

Scarp 15, i have got myself a place at Kielder :hello2: i got the dates wrong i am off that same week for the school holidays so have booked Thursday, Friday & Saturday. Thank you so much for letting me know i cannot wait, Come on weather do your stuff. 

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On 10/4/2016 at 17:44, bingevader said:

Jaffa cakes?

As for 2), has your son done much observing? If not, then the big, bold and brassy will be the way to go to get him hooked.

There's no moon that week, which you can take as a plus or a minus. A bit of moon is fab through a 200p, but the lack of it will mean the other objects should be better. If you are out early enough, you might catch Jupiter and Mars, but they'll be very low and may not be terribly impressive.

However, there'll be oodles about at half term. Things I'd start with (with children, but often come back to myself!): The Double Cluster (just below Cassiopeia), The Pleiades (above Taurus), Andromeda Galaxy, The Garnet star (just below Cephus), Albireo (the double in Cygnus), The Double Double (just next to Vega in Lyra), down to the ring nebula in Lyra, Dumbbell nebula (between Vulpecula and Sagitta), M13 in Hercules might be getting a bit low unless you are early, but M38, M36 and M37 in Auriga should be rising as it gets later. If you're up really late, then Orion will just be getting out of bed too! Not exhaustive, but a start. :)

Thanks for the above details Bingevader all noted down, And yes my son has been with me since the start and really looking forward to the trip.

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For the red torch, I use an army headlight where you can swap a red screen in front of the light. This way, you can turn it on and off and always get red light. I found the headlight in a forest once. I use this light during setup of the scope, but it provides quite a bit of light.

During observing I use a cheap clip-on light, bought for a few dollars in China that I clip onto my atlas. I use hobby paint to paint the glass red. 2 Layers reduced the light's strength properly. With nail polish, you might also want to use 2 layers.

For an observing list, I just look into the sky which constellations I can see. Then I look into my atlas and see what there if to find out there. Although now, after having found roughly half the Messier objects, I have made a list of remaining Messier objects that should be visible from my position.

You can also use the tool Deepskylog.be that can show you which objects should be visible with your scope (green colour). Or you can look at all objects found, selected on your scope or smaller.

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