A night at Kielder Observatory

[Spile]

A wonderful week in the Northumbria was topped off last night by a few hours at Kielder Observatory. It was my first time visiting the site and I thoroughly enjoyed the event. So, so lucky to have clear sky and fantastic seeing all night.

We drove from our guest house in Alnwick, spent the day around the reservoir enjoyed walking and wildlife before a wonderful evening meal, well kept ales and great conversations with the locals at the Holly Bush in Greenhalgh. We arrived at the observatory just before 8pm and of course it was still quite light. A very well presented talk on galaxies that worked for all levels, before a second shorter talk on meteorites and a chance to see and handle some examples. Then the group moved to the Sir Patrick Moore observatory and a chance, now that it was dark, to be introduced to and look through the 16 inch TS Ritchey-Chrétien telescope. A great presenter up for suggestions so M3 and M13 looked great.

A short drinks break (everyone had hot chocolate) was followed by free time! A 10”Dobs were available or (in my case) you could head back to the 16” which is parallel mounted to a refractor. As the evening progressed the views of course improved and the guide was definitely up for some nerdy (as he called us) targets. I finally got to see all three members of the Leo triplet ( the hamburger has eluded me at home), M101 (another no show at home) but easily visible last night and highlight of the day, the Whirlpool M51. Visible in my Dob but with Bortle 2/3 skies and 16” I was seeing both components clearly and spiral arms. We were swapping between 41mm and 32mm Teleview Naglers so sublime eyepieces to match the rest of the equipment.

My wife was giving me strong hints at nearly midnight it was was time go be making our way back so reluctantly and slowly that is what we did. Fantastic to see the double cluster and other objects with the naked eye and my binoculars on the way back to the car.

Highly recommended if you haven’t done one of the evening events at Kielder. After 2 weeks of 100% cloud in the outer Hebrides last year, I didn’t take my Dob this time on holiday, so it was great to do some observing last night. The staff at the observatory are fantastic and made everyone welcome. Lots of wows from other visitors when they had “locked onto” the DSO so it wasn’t just me who didn’t mind getting home very late.

Edited April 23, 2022 by Spile

[MalcolmM]

Great read @Spile and Northumbria is now on my 'goto' list

I can emphasise with your Skye experience. I've been to the Highlands and Islands four times in the last couple of years and had total cloud cover and rain for three of them and the one week of clear sky in a dark site was mid summer with a full moon!

That being said, still one of my favourite places in the world.

Malcolm

[rojay]

Sounds like a fantastic place! Didn't realise they had so much going on in Kielder.

[JeremyS]

Sounds a great night, @Spile

But not sure I could have seen anything after 4 pints of ale 😊

[callisto]

Oh yes, there's some great skies to be had up here 😉

 

Mark.

[RobertI]

Sounds amazing, you’ve certainly sold me! I am seriously thinking of a holiday in Northumberland now. 

[Spile]

On 23/04/2022 at 07:55, RobertI said:

Sounds amazing, you’ve certainly sold me! I am seriously thinking of a holiday in Northumberland now. 

I’d be happy to recommend it. Friendly folk, wonderful countryside, some lovely pubs with great beer, superb walks and no crowds (well that was the case for us in April).