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New Galloway Star Camp 2020 - Unleashing 200P's Potential...


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I can't do justice to other people's observing reports, so mine will be rather brief... 

We arrived at Drumroamin on Wednesday evening, just as it was getting dark. I had an unfamiliar tent and had forgotten my sleeping bag. Eventually, I got that sorted and my partner in crime went to find a not so local chippy... 

David Millar from Astronomy Scotland kindly donated me a spare sleeping bag. 👍

I set up the 200p and was helped with final collimation by David (following Covid-19 guidelines). 

David gave us advice on where to point to telescope, once everything had cooled down. I used some of the BST StarGuider ED eyepieces on the Pleiades, double cluster, etc. I found it overwhelming to select targets when you're overloaded with thousands of visible stars, you literally couldn't see the wood for the trees! 

After viewing Mars and a few other targets, we called it a night, after the drive and everything else, we were tired. 

Onto the next evening, Calvin (not Kline) showed me his big Dob (oo'er missus) and how to find the Andromeda galaxy.  I didn't think my piddly little Dobsonian would see it, as compared to his. 

He spent a good wee while showing us what my 8" Dobsonian was capable of. Using a 2" 28mm LET eyepiece, we could clearly see Andromeda and a parallel dust lane, as well as it's companion galaxy (M101?).  For the rest of the evening, I only used that eyepiece for wide field observing.  Not bad for a second hand eyepiece I bought from a fellow SGL member for £20!

We packed up on the Friday and headed away around lunchtime. Everything was ringing with dew and my feet were frozen most of the time. I would have enjoyed it better, but for a constant nagging sinitus migraine headache. ☹️ Not the venue's fault, just a preexisting health problem. 

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Edited by Guest
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I hope you enjoyed yourself even after forgetting some gear. It does pay to check then check again before leaving home. I know as I have done plenty of forgetting myself. Anybody who says different is not telling the truth. 😱

Nice picture of the horses ....... 🤣

Derek

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Nice read Merlin.

Glad you had an enjoyable time.

It looks like a lovely remote location for some peace & quiet, Not to mention a nice dark sky to observe from.

The 200p is a fantastic piece of kit, I rate mine highly. I can see the Andromeda Galaxy though it even in my Bortle 6 sky at home. Its not great but it does show what the 200p is capable of.  Have you considered flocking your 200p tub for added contrast?

Don't be to hard on yourself. You forgot the sleeping bag but remembered the all important Beer! Priority's...

Baz

Edited by Barry-W-Fenner
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4 hours ago, Physopto said:

I hope you enjoyed yourself even after forgetting some gear. It does pay to check then check again before leaving home. I know as I have done plenty of forgetting myself. Anybody who says different is not telling the truth. 😱

Nice picture of the horses ....... 🤣

Derek

We were both harassed and short of time, when we left and headed off down to New Galloway.🙄

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4 hours ago, Barry-W-Fenner said:

Have you considered flocking your 200p tub for added contrast?

Funny you mention about flocking, as the inside of the OTA is scrapped from putting paper in there so that I could collimate it with a Cheshire. After seeing it collimated in a few minutes with a Baader Laser Collimator, I know what I want to buy next... 

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5 minutes ago, merlin100 said:

Funny you mention about flocking, as the inside of the OTA is scrapped from putting paper in there so that I could collimate it with a Cheshire. After seeing it collimated in a few minutes with a Baader Laser Collimator, I know what I want to buy next... 

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I assume you would like to buy both the Baader laser collimator and flocking next? 

If you do decide to get the flock, I managed to do my 200p with 2 rolls of the flo product.

It definitely darken the inside of my tube quite a lot, I also remember seeing more detail in the Ring Nebula after applying the flock, I cant confirm if that was down to the flocking or just better seeing on that occasion. However for the small outlay of the flocking it is well worth the investment to help darken the contrast and remove light reflection in the tube. 

 

Baz

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Cold feet - muck Arctic sport will sort you out. When you get to good skies, you don’t want anything to cut the session short (apart from the sunrise)!

Peter

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