Do I lug my gear to Bortle 4 skies!

[Rustang]

I was finally able to set up my new scope yesterday and get it balanced etc ready for a clear night. Its predicted to be clear at home for the next two nights but we are heading down to the in laws in Somerset later today for the long weekend, typical! 🙁  

However its also supposed to be clear for the next 3 nights down that way and I have access to a bortle 4 garden! So do I lug all of my gear down that way to hopefully capture some data for 3 potential nights in a row!?

[markse68]

yes!!

[Knighty2112]

Double yes! You can treat the inlaws in to some nice bortle 4 views!  

[Floater]

If you take it and it’s cloudy, that’s a bummer but you’ll recover and be able to seek sympathy from your in-laws. If you don’t take your gear and it’s clear it’ll gnaw away at you and the in-laws will see the darker side of you, miss out on what you may be able to show them with your scope and, not least, your significant other half will give you a hard time for being such a pain in the ass-tronomy.

It’s a no-brainer! 🔭

Edited August 27, 2021 by Floater

[Rustang]

Thanks guys, its only that there's a lot of gear to take for imaging so will consider how much of a faff it will be plus how safe the scope will be in the car but to miss out on Bortel 4 skies would be a shame.

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

20 minutes ago, Rustang said:

Thanks guys, its only that there's a lot of gear to take for imaging so will consider how much of a faff it will be plus how safe the scope will be in the car but to miss out on Bortel 4 skies would be a shame.

Take it. If the sky is pristine, that weekend you didn't take the kit will be etched in memory forever! If the weather is not so good, nothing lost except boot space...

[The Lazy Astronomer]

I had exactly the same situation as you on the May bank holiday - I decided to take all my equipment, and, while it was a pain to move everything, at no point did I regret it! (I got a rather pleasing image of m16, which isn't really visible from my garden)

For transport, all I did was lay the fully assembled scope* across the back seats in the car and strap the seatbelts over it. It was absolutely fine for the entire 3 hour drive.

*fully assembled scope = imaging scope, flattener, filter wheel, imaging camera, guide scope, guide camera, all mounting hardware and all data cables.

[Zermelo]

If you don't bring your gear and it's clear, you'll feel worse than bringing it and not being able to use it.

One word of caution - the forecasts for this part of the world have been shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction.

Here's CO from earlier today (and it had me writing my observing list):

 

and CO just now:

 

but worth setting up anyway. It looks likely that we'll get at least one decent night in the next four.

 

[DaveS]

Yep, squeeze what you can in the car / van / lorry / pantechnicon / whatever.

Even better, do as I did and *move* to a Bortle 3-4 location .

[carastro]

No brainer, I do it on a regular basis to a Bortle 4 campsite.  It is a lot of work but well worth it. 

Carole 

[Padraic M]

Is that even a question? There's nothing like a dark sky.

Seriously though, your in-laws won't get anything out of you setting up Mission Control on their back garden. If you have any visual kit that you can take, it might be worth sticking it in too to give them an Oooh moment with Saturn and Jupiter.

Any time I have visitors, they really don't understand why I won't let them look through my imaging scope. Duh! Why can't I just take off the whole imaging train and electronic focuser, and stick in a visual back and an eyepiece?

[Rustang]

Well I might have found a comprise. Image from home tonight, leave for Somerset very early tomorrow morning so probably not long after my imaging session. Take visual scope to Somerset and possibly my astro modified Canon and camera mount to have a pop at the milky way although probably only very short subs unless someone can lend me their star adventurer! 😁 If I change my mind at least I can chuck the rest in the car before we leave as it will all be out ready to go. 

[Rustang]

The weather has already changed down that way and looking rather cloudy so not a loss for tonight, hopefully it stays clear at home 🤞

Edited August 27, 2021 by Rustang

[tomato]

Looks like a pretty unanimous response, if you have an reasonable chance of clear skies I would go for it. It’s bad enough to miss a clear night in the UK, never mind an opportunity to be under a darker sky.

Just one caveat, will the moon still take the edge off your darker sky?

[Rustang]

56 minutes ago, tomato said:

Looks like a pretty unanimous response, if you have an reasonable chance of clear skies I would go for it. It’s bad enough to miss a clear night in the UK, never mind an opportunity to be under a darker sky.

Just one caveat, will the moon still take the edge off your darker sky?

Possibly but somethings better than nothing 😊

[Rustang]

Well last night at home went well for the WO Z73's first light. I managed a good 2hrs on the Crescent nebula in between clouds. I've finally pushed on to my first 20min subs and the mount seemed ok with it. Looking forward to the possibility of a visual session under Bortle 4 skies tonight and possibly some basic milkyway shots. 

[Rustang]

Just think of the observatory I could have here, complete 360 views 😊

[Zermelo]

CO has been unusually consistent on tonight's forecast:

MB and MC have been much more pessimistic, but have just started to shift:

Happy snapping.

 

 

 

[AstroAndy]

Yup, and that's from someone who routinely lugs around upwards of 150 pounds of equipment.