Bonjour !

[TBRHussaR]

Hey guys,

just came back from France, I attended a star party Nuits Causse Noir. It was great fun!

the guns: 15 inch dob (obsession)
travel - I used the euro tunnel, it was very easy, my telescope safe in boot.

it’s a 12 hour drive to the camp site, I stayed half way over night in Orleans .

the site: beautiful landscape , about 100 telescopes, and very friendly locals!

the skies were bortle 2. 3 nights of absolute amazing skies! My favourite targets:
M51 - incredible structure that I’ve never seen before. 
cats paw nebula- just fun to look at

veil nebula- just astounding- and even more amazing in night vision, and with binos ! The 3D effect was breathtaking

 

some amazing telescopes we’re being shared, the biggest being a 24” dob…

i highly recommend the trip, and ill

be going next year!!

 

[Mandy D]

Looks amazing! This is in Lanuéjols, Gard from their website? Great skies down in that part of France. We once drove down from Nontron to Marseille to take a flight to Rome in the winter and went through the mountains where we had some amazingly dark skies, but unfortunately we did not have time to stop for more than 10 minutes to enjoy them. We keep saying that we really must go back , so perhaps this event next year might be just the thing.

I bought my Skywatcher 250PX from a supplier in England whilst we were in France and had it delivered to a UK address. The next time we took the Land Rover down to the house, we took the telescope with us and it has been based out there ever since. We made the crossing by ferry and a nasty customs official asked me to open the back of the Land Rover for inspection, then lifted the back end of the box containing the telescope and deliberately dropped it from about 30 cm before asking what was in the box. I was so angry with him and told him how stupid his actions were. "Uh, sorry!" was all the apology I got. Luckily, no damage done and even the collimation survived.

[TBRHussaR]

The exact location is “Domaine de Pradines“

mandy I’m so glad your scope was OK!!

[Mandy D]

1 hour ago, TBRHussaR said:

The exact location is “Domaine de Pradines“

mandy I’m so glad your scope was OK!!

I was surprised how tough these scopes are. It may be that being in the original packaging helped a great deal. I'd quite happily have opened the box if only he'd asked.

I've just been talking to my GF and she is keen on making the trip, next year. So we might see you there.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

[ollypenrice]

There's a lot to be said for the skies in France!

lly