Snowdonia national park 3/4/21

[faulksy]

Nothing special here but a brilliant night with my Mrs

Forecast was excellent,  so we headed to our dark sky site

Journey time around 1.30 hr

Temperature on arrival was 5 degrees this is around 19.00.

Full set up of both dobs and colimate then sit back and have a brew. Temperature is now dropping so time to put the freezer clothing on

Orion was now visible which was around 20.30. Sun wasn't set but m42 looked great waiting now for darkness. The object of the night was to show my wife around the nightsky,  first time here with her dob. Popped in the apm 20mm and 100* and that stayed in all night. I was finding objects then using green laser pen so Heather could find them. It was brilliant. She found m42,m31, m81/82 m13, m3m5, the whale galaxy and a few others. Then she had a headache which effected her eyes. So in the van she goes. My turn oh my.m42 with the 13e was amazing, off to the flame now but then I noticed m43 never seen this before wow.  The flame was amazing too

Next up m81/82 in with the 8e 300x and oh my god what a amazing site.

Next m51 so transparent the bridge was clear looked ace,  Next m101 hints of arms but not the best  strange considering how close it was to 51. Time for a brew,  my new sky meter in my pocket took a reading 21. 40 wow

Come after midnight and it was even darker,  by now it was -3 and back to m51. Oh my god showed Heather and she said wow looks like 2 Catherine wheels, then m101 same again the arms make it look like a starfish.

Then back to some clusters, 5mm pentax 480x wow. Could easily see the prop in 13

M5,m3, m92 wow on to the Eskimo,  cateye, amazing at these powers.

Now in goes the 21e and Leo. Cant believe there is so many galaxy's there, every movement and there was a eyepiece full of galaxy's with small dust lanes visible. At 1 stage I counted 9 all in the same fov.  Awesome night.i will add to it later

 

Edited April 5, 2021 by faulksy

[Jiggy 67]

Great report, sounds like the Mrs had a great night!!

Do you have problems negotiating the flat bed lorry, needed for that dob, around those country lanes?? 🤣

[faulksy]

2 minutes ago, Jiggy 67 said:

Great report, sounds like the Mrs had a great night!!

Do you have problems negotiating the flat bed lorry, needed for that dob, around those country lanes?? 🤣

it does collapse quiet well luckily 😁

[scarp15]

Great report Mike and location. Nice that your wife is inspired, will she benefit with a chair whilst operating her dob?

[niallk]

Great report!  Man, I can't even get my wife to look at the magnificence of Saturn's rings from the back garden 😂

What I'd give for a gander through that 20" from a dark site 😉👍

Bresser dob looks the biz too with those alt bearings.

[wookie1965]

Wow I wished I had contacted you before and met you there rather than taking a tumble setting up from home with my slippers on which curtailed my nights viewing, would have been amazing if I could of got M51 in my 5" frac. 

Great report I am so jealous if only it wasnt my sons birthday today the wife`s 60th on Thursday our anniversary Sunday and my sister-in-laws 50th on the 18th I may have gone for that 12" dob in the classifieds.

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

4 hours ago, niallk said:

Great report!  Man, I can't even get my wife to look at the magnificence of Saturn's rings from the back garden 😂

What I'd give for a gander through that 20" from a dark site 😉👍

Bresser dob looks the biz too with those alt bearings.

The magnificent wonders of the universe don't seem to have the same pull as Emmerdale... 🙄

I was looking at properties in North Wales last week. The Missus won't budge. Pffft... 

Great report Faulksy. 👍

[faulksy]

4 hours ago, scarp15 said:

Great report Mike and location. Nice that your wife is inspired, will she benefit with a chair whilst operating her dob?

hi iain, she has my pearl drummer stool. she had a job to move wearing all that gear , need to get some better clothing

[faulksy]

36 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

Wow I wished I had contacted you before and met you there rather than taking a tumble setting up from home with my slippers on which curtailed my nights viewing, would have been amazing if I could of got M51 in my 5" frac. 

Great report I am so jealous if only it wasnt my sons birthday today the wife`s 60th on Thursday our anniversary Sunday and my sister-in-laws 50th on the 18th I may have gone for that 12" dob in the classifieds.

thats a shame paul. hope your ok mate

was a amazing night, still got the image of m51 and m101 in my head. beautiful

[faulksy]

was well pleased with the sky darkness, it was my early b day present

what clothing do people recommend ?

[scarp15]

29 minutes ago, faulksy said:

hi iain, she has my pearl drummer stool. she had a job to move wearing all that gear , need to get some better clothing

Great and yes she's definitely layered up against the elements. Fabulous that she's enthused to share this with you, zero interest from mine, except she may ask how it went. 

[Kon]

Excellent report and sounds like a fantastic night! I remember years ago being in Snowdonia (and before i got into the hobby) that the sky was light with stars and the Milky Way really visible. It must be amazing with your large Dob!

[faulksy]

On 05/04/2021 at 13:36, niallk said:

Great report!  Man, I can't even get my wife to look at the magnificence of Saturn's rings from the back garden 😂

What I'd give for a gander through that 20" from a dark site 😉👍

Bresser dob looks the biz too with those alt bearings.

you can always come over niall

[faulksy]

20 hours ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

The magnificent wonders of the universe don't seem to have the same pull as Emmerdale... 🙄

I was looking at properties in North Wales last week. The Missus won't budge. Pffft... 

Great report Faulksy. 👍

my house will be for sale next year, short trip to bortle 2 skys for you then

[Stardaze]

Superb, I bet everything you mention looked about as good as it gets.

What little battery pack have you rigged up on the Bresser? Same scope as I have, but do need a little battery pack for when I take mine away from the back garden. 

[Soligor Rob]

19 hours ago, faulksy said:

was well pleased with the sky darkness, it was my early b day present

what clothing do people recommend ?

Hi,

Only just down the road from you but Mr Drakeford says I still can't travel into Wales...

These cold nights I wear my Weezle diving undersuit, with just a fleece jacket and Beenie hjat I am toasty warm.

The weezle suit has kept warm diving in the coldest waters so outdoors here is no problem for it.

https://weezle.co.uk/collections/undersuits/products/weezle-extreme-plus-one-piece-undersuit

Fab set up you have there and excellent write up.

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

56 minutes ago, faulksy said:

my house will be for sale next year, short trip to bortle 2 skys for you then

Hah, good luck with the sale, but the mortgage is paid off and the extra £700 a month to spend means she won't budge from Fort Apache: Knotty Ash... 🙄

[faulksy]

1 hour ago, Stardaze said:

Superb, I bet everything you mention looked about as good as it gets.

What little battery pack have you rigged up on the Bresser? Same scope as I have, but do need a little battery pack for when I take mine away from the back garden. 

hi stardaze, its a 12 volt alarm battery of amazon and a controller for the dew heater

[faulksy]

1 hour ago, Soligor Rob said:

Hi,

Only just down the road from you but Mr Drakeford says I still can't travel into Wales...

These cold nights I wear my Weezle diving undersuit, with just a fleece jacket and Beenie hjat I am toasty warm.

The weezle suit has kept warm diving in the coldest waters so outdoors here is no problem for it.

https://weezle.co.uk/collections/undersuits/products/weezle-extreme-plus-one-piece-undersuit

Fab set up you have there and excellent write up.

hi rob, hopefully soon you can come to wales. that suit looks brilliant

[Stardaze]

7 minutes ago, faulksy said:

hi stardaze, its a 12 volt alarm battery of amazon and a controller for the dew heater

Thanks. I'll have to work out how to rig that up as I have the controller and can get a battery, it's the cabling I'm not sure of. And a charger. 

[faulksy]

33 minutes ago, Stardaze said:

Thanks. I'll have to work out how to rig that up as I have the controller and can get a battery, it's the cabling I'm not sure of. And a charger. 

pm me if your stuck

[PeterW]

“Better clothing”, if you’re nice and warm id stick with what you’ve got. 
Those SQM numbers and that scope.... no wonder you had so much fun...

Peter

[faulksy]

1 hour ago, PeterW said:

“Better clothing”, if you’re nice and warm id stick with what you’ve got. 
Those SQM numbers and that scope.... no wonder you had so much fun...

Peter

very good night peter. by the time i wrapped up i was already frozen to the core. had a job to make a brew 😁