First Dark Skies Visit

[Ger]

Hi all

Myself and my wife went on our first dark sky visit down in the International Dark Sky Reserve of the Ring of Kerry in South West Ireland. I have booked this visit about two months and even though it is late October we decided to camp using our Vangoo 5 man tent.... also it is a near five hundred mile round trip from Dublin ( where I live ) to this spectacular part of the world.

Looking at the weather forecast prior to going down it seemed that we would have only a 2 - 3 hour window of opportunity with the telescope and that turned out to be the case. Also with an almost half moon shining on the bay it was a little tricky to avoid the brightness of the moon and the only two street lamps in the area which were very bright in darkness.

Since the moon was too tempting to ignore I went straight for it, I had to let the telescope settle down because of the cool air but when it did it was a joy to view the moon again. I really enjoyed looking at Clavius and picked up all of its craters including Rutherford and Porter. I also enjoyed looking at Copernicus at a little more detail then usual, followed by Reinhold and Lansberg and then onto Mare Nubium.

After this I started to go look at some different stars and constellations with some time spent looking around at Cassiopeia as I wanted to look at some of the star clusters in the area like NGC 7789 and NGC 869. I also took a little look at Andromeda which showed a nice improvement on the view I get in my garden but ultimately it is still a grey smudge as my wife calls it.

My wife also had the idea of taking out our self inflating mattress and lying down on it to look up at the stars whilst getting dark adapted, both of us were amazed at the number of stars, she very quickly spotted 3 - 4 satellites and there was even two of them that seemed to be heading on a collision course in Cassiopeia but obviously this did not come to pass. Unfortunately the time went very quickly due to the expected arrival of some clouds and I was a little under prepared when I started, but I did get a near 360 degrees of clear skies.

If any one is tempted I would recommend a trip to the Ring of Kerry because aside from the dark skies it has amazing views and scenery that can be enjoyed during the day....

here's to the next dark sky visit

Ger 

[RichM63]

Lovely report from what looks like a fabulous location.

[Beulah]

Wow, a stunning place! Like the idea regarding the mattress. Hope there wasn't too much light pollution at the campsite.

[Ger]

1 hour ago, Beulah said:

Wow, a stunning place! Like the idea regarding the mattress. Hope there wasn't too much light pollution at the campsite.

thanks, it was very dark there. there were two small street lamps near the tent but we found a corner a few feet away that blocked out this light

[Trikeflyer]

You won't want to go anywhere but dark skies now! Coming back to backyard astronomy made me really appreciate dark skies! Can't get enough of them now ??

[Ger]

1 hour ago, Trikeflyer said:

You won't want to go anywhere but dark skies now! Coming back to backyard astronomy made me really appreciate dark skies! Can't get enough of them now ??

I agree, but I will have to wait a while as it normally means travelling and getting someone to look after the kids...but I am definitely looking forward to my next trip hopefully early 2018 

[domstar]

That looks wonderful.

[Hayduke27]

Awesome that you made it to a dark site and got a break in the clouds. A couple of weekends ago I took my girlfriend out to our dark site to see the Orionids and do some stargazing, and we took a tarp and a sleeping bag to lay down and stare up at the sky from.  It was cozy and warm and a great way to encourage her to come out and enjoy the sky, as she is not a fan of the cold.

Anyway, sounds like you had a nice time!

[Ger]

4 hours ago, Hayduke27 said:

Awesome that you made it to a dark site and got a break in the clouds. A couple of weekends ago I took my girlfriend out to our dark site to see the Orionids and do some stargazing, and we took a tarp and a sleeping bag to lay down and stare up at the sky from.  It was cozy and warm and a great way to encourage her to come out and enjoy the sky, as she is not a fan of the cold.

Anyway, sounds like you had a nice time!

thanks, we did have nice time, and it is something I will do again next year, although I might not travel as far 

[alan potts]

Lovely report and great place you have found there.

 

[Ger]

following on from my report in the beautiful country side of Kerry in South West Ireland I have just been in the garden for a spot of back garden viewing which is my usual place.

unfortunately I got a quick reminder why the garden is not that great and why I was lucky last week with the dark skies. apart from the light pollution of the full moon which was hard to avoid I still had to contend with airplanes, fire works and some neighbours who insist of putting their lights on at the first sign of darkness and leave the on over night. for some reason I was also struggling with my alignment despite having a go-to. I did manage to take in Vega, cappella ( which was very impressive ) and mizar and came across some lovely doubles but with the troubles mentioned above including noise and carrying a minor don't injury I decided there were better nights ahead and I packed it in.

I do however have a question, does anybody know of any dark sites on the east coast of Ireland?

thanks 

ger 

[niallk]

Nice report!  Down near Ballinskelligs is beautiful.  During a new moon, I found Andromeda to be a shockingly large elongated oval naked eye - truly amazing.

Not sure about east coast... somewhere up the Wicklow mountains?

[Ger]

1 hour ago, niallk said:

Nice report!  Down near Ballinskelligs is beautiful.  During a new moon, I found Andromeda to be a shockingly large elongated oval naked eye - truly amazing.

Not sure about east coast... somewhere up the Wicklow mountains?

thanks for that Niall, that is a good map. obviously the West coast is better then the east. I was in the Dublin mountains earlier in the year and it was pretty decent, might have another go either side of Christmas

[niallk]

I'm living out in East Cork these days, and can see the milky way from my back garden, but I go down to the coast to escape some light pollution from the village where I live and get a view to the south with no light domes.  When I go back to where I grew up in Dublin, the light pollution is shocking.  Not as bad as in London though - I stood on London Bridge during the summer, and could see a sum total of 3 stars.

After Ophelia, there was a clear night and with the widespread electricity outage: wow - the sky was truly breathtaking.  It was still too gusty for my scope, but what an amazing sight that we miss out on every (clear) night in modern society! 

[Ger]

Niall, you are correct about the light in Dublin. I always thought I had a reasonable ( but small ) view from my garden considering it is in Dublin but the difference between the two weekends even has my wife asking me when our next trip will be, I will do more research but your map will be a useful guide.. here's to the next session 

[carastro]

Oh wow, I am going to Ireland next Autumn on a coach tour and one of the places we are stopping is the Dingle Peninsula, looks pretty comparable on the dark sky maps.  

I hadn't thought about taking astro kit, but now I shall add my Astro camera and Skytracker to the packing.

You sound like you had a great time.

Carole 

[Ger]

1 hour ago, carastro said:

Oh wow, I am going to Ireland next Autumn on a coach tour and one of the places we are stopping is the Dingle Peninsula, looks pretty comparable on the dark sky maps.  

I hadn't thought about taking astro kit, but now I shall add my Astro camera and Skytracker to the packing.

You sound like you had a great time.

Carole 

hi Carole, hope you enjoy your trip to Kerry, if I was you I would definitely pack my camera and travel the ring of Kerry, it has no end of spectacular sights and if you bring your kit you won't be disappointed, you should also Google international dark sky reserve Kerry to  review the area in comparison to where you will be, but nearly the whole South West of Kerry is covered by this reserve. it is a lovely part of the world.. don't forget to provide an observing report 

[carastro]

I am on a 4 day coach tour so won't be able to choose where we go.  But hopefully can get out in the evening depending on where they accommodate us for the night.  I will be unlikely to have access to power,  so will have to be my DSLR and batteries as opposed to my Cooled CCD camera.

Carole 

 

[Ger]

1 hour ago, carastro said:

I am on a 4 day coach tour so won't be able to choose where we go.  But hopefully can get out in the evening depending on where they accommodate us for the night.  I will be unlikely to have access to power,  so will have to be my DSLR and batteries as opposed to my Cooled CCD camera.

Carole 

 

it should be a good trip I hope you enjoy it 

[niallk]

Enjoy the trip Carole - all the peninsulae in Kerry/West Cork have their own distinct character and each are worth visiting.  Dingle is wonderful!

[carastro]

Thanks, been wanting to visit Ireland for years but just never got around to it.  Going with a company called Hilariously = Paddywagons.  The Irish have a great sense of humour.

Carole