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SUMMER HOLIDAYS ! Where will you be observing from ?


StarryEyed

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I am off to Croatia with a week in split and another week in the town of Hvar on the Island of the same name. There should be some great skies fom the island with nothing but sea to the south. Havar also has an observatory astrnomical and solar. Really excited about getting a good view of the southern horizon as its obscured from my home mostly by trees. At the most I am taking my telescope with me.

How about you anything to be excited about?

Edited by StarryEyed
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Should be great, can't beat a sea horizon. I've had some of my best observing sessions when on holiday either on the South Coast or abroad. Have fun. Which scope are you taking?

I've got no firm plans currently but will definitely take a scope with me if I go somewhere.

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Heading of up to Orkney in a few weeks, it’s a regular trip as I have family up there, the last visit gave us a super view of the northern lights which was a first for me. This time (weather permitting) we’re planning on taking the ferry over to the island of Hoy and spend a night at the little bothy there. Probably won’t take a scope but will take a pair of 10 x 50s for a bit of dark sky cruising.

 

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Off to Provence, SE France in September. The reason being we have a newly born Grandson to visit. They live in the shadow of the Alps and only an hour to the Mediterranean sea!

Really looking forward to it!!

Ron

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I’m going to Sorrento in Italy, I’ll take a travel scope but I’m not sure how dark the skies will be. The main thing is that I might get to see things that are hard from the UK and also the giant planets will be a few degrees higher which might help the views. This isn’t an Astro holiday but I’d hate to be there wishing I had a scope with me.

Steve 

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South of France for me too the whole of August, Cote d`Azur mostly Nice for the first half then Bordeaux and around for the second. Will be taking the 72mm TS Apo and an eye patch to restore single vision...

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3 hours ago, Stu said:

...I've had some of my best observing ... on holiday ... Which scope are you taking?

Me too. My 100mm refractor as long as the tripod goes in the big case. I havent checked yet !

Edited by StarryEyed
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There will be no more holiday observing for me except naked eye and maybe a small monocular. We have a new car but it's a hybrid and the battery takes up so much space. 

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Currently the Dordogne with the camper van. Sadly every campsite we've been to has had full tree coverage so the Mak and azgti have stayed in the bag. Just walked to some open space with my opticron 11x70 bins for a guick look at jupiter and saturn. 

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Going to Arizona late Summer. Hoping to take a small scope or large binoculars. Some dark skies in the region that we are visiting apparently. Planning to visit the Lowell Observatory and Meteor Crater too :smiley:

Not getting too excited though - we spent a month in Australia last year and only had a couple of clear nights the whole time we were there ! :rolleyes2:

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Returned from the west coast of France (just on the northern side of the Gironde estuary) this afternoon.  Feeling a bit frazzled now after the long trek back up to Roscoff yesterday, followed by a night in a not very great hotel before five and a half hours on the ferry and another hour and a half in the car to get back from Plymouth.

I did take a telescope, but it didn't see a huge amount of use as our two weeks straddled the full moon and there was a fair bit of cloud cover over the last four nights (including a monster electrical storm on Friday night).  At least one night was guaranteed to be messed up by fireworks depending on when people held their Bastille Day celebrations, too.  The phase of the Moon was a bit unfortunate, but on the other hand getting the holiday in before most schools break up for the summer has significant benefits.

On the plus side I had a fair view of the lunar eclipse from the point at which it cleared the trees until it was over (second time in two years I've seen a lunar eclipse when we have been on holiday :) and Jupiter was that little bit higher in the sky.

Every time we go to France I can't help myself wondering about moving there permanently.  I think that area of the coast is probably a bit too hot for me on a permanent basis.  30C+ daytime temperatures aren't really for me.  But somewhere slightly cooler might be tempting one day.

James

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I've a holiday home in Devon so will be taking my newly acquired TS70 ED and AZ GTI mount. Probably be done every month for a few days each time. Hopefully to coincide with new moon phase and if it's going to be clear. 

Edited by Nigella Bryant
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Off to the very south west of Cornwall with my Altair Astro Starwave 70, which is a joy to use under dark skies. A couple of degrees further south should lift Scorpius and Sagittarius a bit further out of the murk, especially with 270 degree sea horizons. That said, I’ll miss the extra few degrees that the west coast of France can give.

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  • 4 weeks later...

In Menorca at moment enjoying night and daytime observing. Brought night vision gear, Daystar Quark and TeleVue 85. Last night was spectacular - North American, Pelican, Gamma Cygni, Western Veil, Elephant Trunk nebulae, all remarkably detailed and bright with 40mm plossl and 3nm Chroma filter. despite Moon dominating high in south, washing out Sagittarius and Scorpius. More stars resolved in M92 and M13 than I’ve ever seen with a small refractor before - must have spent best part of an hour on globular last night. Dumbbell, M56, Ring neb, endless open clusters down to Cassiopeia. Saturn and Jupiter very nice. Bit of birding and solar prom viewing today. I’ve learned over the years not to expect too much from holiday astronomy but this one’s already exceeded expectations. Helped by quietly removing the light bulbs from lamps on the terrace outside our room, and using the large sun shade/umbrella to block out light from neighbours.

08FBC244-E185-417D-AEDB-2473BD31B57F.jpeg

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On 21/07/2019 at 23:32, John said:

Not getting too excited though - we spent a month in Australia last year and only had a couple of clear nights the whole time we were there ! :rolleyes2:

That’s awful John! It’s a dream of mine to see clear Southern Hemisphere skies. Always presume clouds are a largely northern hemisphere problem, but obviously not.

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8 minutes ago, Highburymark said:

That’s awful John! It’s a dream of mine to see clear Southern Hemisphere skies. Always presume clouds are a largely northern hemisphere problem, but obviously not.

We had very good weather during the day - it was just the nights that seemed cloudy !.

Hopefully Arizona will do better in a few weeks time.

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30 minutes ago, John said:

We had very good weather during the day - it was just the nights that seemed cloudy !.

Hopefully Arizona will do better in a few weeks time.

I had some good observing last year in Arizona during August, skies were lovely and clear, it's just the relentless heat of the place! Having said that it's a dry heat and not humid, but it still saps your energy. 

Currently now set up just outside Blaye France, Aquitane region about 40 minutes from Bordeaux but the clouds have rolled in after a clear day so maybe later if it clears again, I have a load of targets for the TS 72mm. The other danger here is the massive choice of fine wines which may hinder observing.... 😁 Mrs G has tested quite a few already. 

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