A not quite observing report

[Mognet]

On Friday night I decided it was time to pry myself off the sofa and brave observing from somewhere other than my garden. Just for once it was decently clear on something other than a school night, but neighbours had left lights on, and LED light pollution from a nearby town seems to be ruining my view to the south, so I thought it would be a good time to pack a scope into my car and drive out to the dark skies of Dengie Nature Reserve near Bradwell-on-Sea. It's a good spot there, being one of the darkest places on this side of Essex, and from the car park it has a wide view of the horizon to the south east that, with the exception of Clacton some five miles away to the north east, has no visible lights. The rest of the view is over farmland and sea. To the north of the site a row of trees and bushes partially obscures the lights of Mersea and the nearby power station.

After some necessary food and sleep, and a quick check of both the weather forecast and the skies at home, I packed my SW mak 127 and other bits into bags and headed out. As appropriate time keeping was never my strong point I didn't get to there until 11:50, and as I pulled into the car park I saw a car and a van parked up already. It wasn't until I was almost level with the first of these that I spotted a small white scope behind the car and something large and wooden looming behind the van that I realised I wasn't going to be observing alone.

I parked up quickly, set up and aligned my kit, and then paused to look at the skies. Conditions weren't too bad as there were plenty of stars overhead, but a haze on the horizon extending up to some 25 degrees ruled out anything low down. It was certainly better than my first visit there when the moon and a general haze washed everything out. This time I could see the dust lane of the Milky Way overhead and had trouble getting my sky bearings as there were more stars visible than I'm used to!

It was just after midnight when I was set up and ready, and my two fellow astronomers had started talking, so I went to introduce myself. They were Nick and Pete. Nick was using his astrophotography setup, and Pete had his 20 inch dob. We spent some time looking through Pete's scope at Andromeda, Mirach's Ghost, Bode's and Cigar galaxies (both in the same view, and an incredible sight!), and various other objects. Most of the time we spent talking rather than observing, and just generally looking at the stars with naked eyes.

2.30am rolled around and Nick and Pete decided it was time to pack up. Dew had got to my mak (next make/purchase, a dew shield for it), so I switched out the OTA for a camera to do some experimental DSLR astrophotography.

All in all is was a good night, even if we spent it not quite observing, but chatting lots and sharing scope views. For me it was the first time observing with anyone else, and finding that decent skies are just thirty minutes drive away. Not so good was going to bed at 5.30am after being up since 7.15 the previous morning! I've written off today, but that's no surprise. A trip to dark skies makes it all worthwhile

 

This is the result of my DSLR and SW SynScan alt-az mount experiment while I was out. 18 minutes (36x30 seconds with a Nikon D3100 and 35mm prime lens, at f4 ISO1600). The gradient is from haze rather than light pollution. The Orion Nebula is visible, there's a glow from the Flame Nebula, and a hint of the Rosette too

And I believe this is Pete's 20 inch dob

 

[orion25]

Great not quite observing report! And excellent photo! The long day/night was well-worth it. BTW, I have an Orion 127mm Mak (basically same kit as yours) and a Nikon D3200. Great little scope.  Powerful views and, yes, needs a dew cap. I hear they can be made rather cheaply, though I ended up buying one:

https://www.highpointscientific.com/telescope-accessories/dew-prevention/dew-shields/astrozap-flexible-dew-shield-for-orion-star-max-127-mak-cass-az142

It's a great unheated dew cap that will add hours to your observing sessions.

Hope to hear more reports!

Reggie

[RobertI]

Lovely report, what a bonus having some other astronomers there! That's an interesting part of the world, I am midway between Colchester and Essex (Manningtree) and can also see Clacton on my horizon. The pic is excellent, the flame has come out really well. 

[knobby]

Lovely write up, hope you're all back in sync with your sleep now ! 

It's even better over there when the moon is new and out if the way, I popped over there last night for a quick reccy... Was it the car park near the church ?

Plenty of room and the trees kind of Shield the light from Maldon.

Attached single 25 second frame ISO 800@f4 12mm on Nikon D5300 aimed Eastish towards Pleiades.

[knobby]

By the way, the same settings in my back garden (Brentwood) come out as a nice shade of orange !

[alan potts]

Nice report and a nice photo too.

[Mognet]

Thanks everyone

14 hours ago, orion25 said:

Powerful views and, yes, needs a dew cap. I hear they can be made rather cheaply, though I ended up buying one

I've just bought a thick but lightweight yoga mat just for that purpose. Skies are clear again tonight so I'll do that soon and give it a try

8 hours ago, RobertI said:

Lovely report, what a bonus having some other astronomers there! That's an interesting part of the world, I am midway between Colchester and Essex (Manningtree) and can also see Clacton on my horizon. The pic is excellent, the flame has come out really well. 

Definite bonus. As far as I remember you have good skies in that area. I've been out that way a couple a couple of times, and I don't think there was much around apart from Colchester, Ipswich and Harwich

7 hours ago, knobby said:

Lovely write up, hope you're all back in sync with your sleep now ! 

It's even better over there when the moon is new and out if the way, I popped over there last night for a quick reccy... Was it the car park near the church ?

Not quite in sync, but that was self inflicted last night. I can cope with going to bed at 4, but add in the clock change and it goes awry again!

That's the spot. Head down East End Road from Bradwell and it takes you straight there. On Google Maps it's https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Car+Park+to+Dengie+National+Nature+Reserve/@51.7333156,0.9298082,17z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x47d919b81c0bcf31:0x8f7ea9872bc8988e!8m2!3d51.7327945!4d0.9298843

 

[astrolunartick]

Great Report My friend. Love you Orion Photo. Its Really Special that you can make out the Flame Nebula. Ile send you a message when im next going to the Dengie. 

[Mognet]

Thanks. Will be good to meet up again

I'd reprocessed again with different software to remove the haze, and in the newer version the Rosette Nebula can be seen, with a hint of Barnard's Loop, and it's just about possible to pick out the Horsehead Nebula too. This is now one of my desktop images at work