2024 Scotland's Spring Galloway Premier Star Camp.

[Physopto]

Looking good for tonight at present.

 

[Grimly]

I'm always lookimg on the bright side

[Physopto]

3 hours ago, Grimly said:

I'm always lookimg on the bright side

Hope tonight is a good clear one.

You will need more robust guy ropes and pegging for the next 2 days. The lads will help you.

Edited February 7 by Physopto

[mapstar]

12 hours ago, Physopto said:

Hope tonight is a good clear one.

You will need more robust guy ropes and pegging for the next 2 days. The lads will help you.

The wind is beginning to ramp up this .orning already.

Alistair is leaving today Derek so we are giving him a hand to drop the tent as he is worried about the high winds forecasted. 

I've made good my tent with the mods done to it over the winter.

[mapstar]

Had to resite the van to shelter the tent from the easterly that's whipping through the site at present. 

unfortunately we have a tent casualty. Ians toilet tent has had the pin loop ripped off. Fortunately there is no rain so his equipment is now stowed in the car and the tent is packed away.

Nice to meet Alistair (Grimly) and hope he has a safe uneventful journey home. 

[wackyscot]

4 hours ago, mapstar said:

Had to resite the van to shelter the tent from the easterly that's whipping through the site at present. 

unfortunately we have a tent casualty. Ians toilet tent has had the pin loop ripped off. Fortunately there is no rain so his equipment is now stowed in the car and the tent is packed away.

Nice to meet Alistair (Grimly) and hope he has a safe uneventful journey home. 

Any snow down there Damian ???

 

[Lucas M]

The wind and the rain have definitely settled in now, unfortunately the cloud never cleared up last night with pretty constant high cloud and intermittent lower clouds too so couldn't get anything through the scope. 

Did manage to get a semi decent time-lapse covering from 8:30pm - 6:20am which just servers to highlight the cloud really 🤣

Also a nice image of the last glow of daylight

For those interested the time-lapse details are:

Olympus OM-D EM10ii mirrorless M4/3

25mm f1.7, ISO 800, 30 second exposures, 1 second interval, 15fps

[Physopto]

 

Hi Folks some news on future Star Camp dates.

 

 

Today, I had a chat with Ian and Damian at the Spring Star Camp as I am unable to be there.

I enquired as to how things have gone so far at this camp.

I was advised that although there had been some clear skies, there was some high cloud obscuring the stars.

This is unfortunate to say the least as there apears to be little chance of better weather over the next few days.

😒

😟  Global warming or whatever is causing the bad weather recently, (last few years), is playing havoc with our hobby  🤕

 

It's way too "early days" to realy say if we are on to a better time of the year to have the Spring Star Camp in February as opposed to March.

 

So I am attempting to find the best compromise over these two months!

 

Lesley the camp site owner, opens up to the public at the end of our camps at his time of year.

We cannot go past the end of March.

 

 Therefore, I have looked at the Spring New Moon times for the next and subsequent years.

 

Next year, the Spring New Moons fall either on the 28th February or the 29th March.

The 29th March is far too late in the Spring to be of any use as Drumroamin is :

(1) getting ready to open to the public as mentioned, 

(2) the dark nights are becoming very short.

 

So I will place the Next Spring Star Camp on and around the 28th February 2025.

 

The next year after this in 2026 the New Moon will be the 17th February or 19th March.

Again March that year will be a bit too late and we will lose the dark skies.

-----------------------------

In  2027 I am looking at March as the February New Moon is too near the month beginning, but the March New Moon will be just about right on the 8th.

-----------------------------

So I will post full details and the dates plus information ASAP within the next two weeks for both the :

 

**  Spring and the Autumn Star Camps of  2025 **

Best I can do at present folks !

 

 

[Physopto]

1 hour ago, Lucas M said:

The wind and the rain have definitely settled in now, unfortunately the cloud never cleared up last night with pretty constant high cloud and intermittent lower clouds too so couldn't get anything through the scope. 

Did manage to get a semi decent time-lapse covering from 8:30pm - 6:20am which just servers to highlight the cloud really 🤣

Also a nice image of the last glow of daylight

For those interested the time-lapse details are:

Olympus OM-D EM10ii mirrorless M4/3

25mm f1.7, ISO 800, 30 second exposures, 1 second interval, 15fps

Well at least you got something  Lucas. I am glad it has not been a total waste. I am sorry I could not get to meet up with you. I will try to be at the Camp on Sunday if you are still around about 1200-1300 hrs.

If not then hope to see you in the Autumn.

All the best.

[mapstar]

6 hours ago, wackyscot said:

Any snow down there Damian ???

 

No snow David. Just some sleet but the winds are extremely strong 

[Grimly]

I got home safely and was a bit sad to go but for  me it was the right desision. It was fantastic to meet everyone and I am looking forward to the Autumn camp

[mapstar]

Morning all.

Strong winds over night are still raging but set to die off towards lunch time. 

A quick look out this morning and everyone's tents and gear seem to be o.k. which is a relief. 

Glad Alistair got home safely and hopefully Roy will have too. Thanks for supporting the event, even with the forecasted poor weather. 

The Galloway Hills looking very wintery 

So next it's on with the morning cuppa 😁

Edited February 9 by mapstar

[Physopto]

4 hours ago, mapstar said:

Morning all.

Strong winds over night are still raging but set to die off towards lunch time. 

A quick look out this morning and everyone's tents and gear seem to be o.k. which is a relief. 

Glad Alistair got home safely and hopefully Roy will have too. Thanks for supporting the event, even with the forecasted poor weather. 

The Galloway Hills looking very wintery 

So next it's on with the morning cuppa 😁

Galloway Hills looking nice. Glad you are all OK.

Throwing it down here. 

 

[mapstar]

Morning campers.

A very soggy field today after quite a bit of rain overnight. It isn't raining at present and set to improve during the day. 

There maybe a small chance of a couple of hours clear in the late hours of the day so fingers crossed.

Myself and Ian left the site yesterday to take in some views around the area. Kirkcudbright and the bigwater of Fleet viaduct.

Kirkcudbright marina

Maclellens Castle 

Bigwater of fleet viaduct. Completed in the 1860's and closed in the 1960's during the beeching cuts.

Around 70ft at the highest point and 900ft long 

No longer in use the structure was reinforced during the 1920's due to the original pillars developing cracks. Hence the unusual granite and red brick construction.

Time for a cuppa 😉

[petevasey]

Hi, Damian,

That looked like a grand day out - even better than moon cheese 😉  The viaduct looks particularly interesting, and a bit of browsing led me to this site.  He's obviously a keen walker in the area, and there are several interesting walks shown.   Some of them pretty l  o  n  g, but for those who are able (my walking days are pretty well done although I'm hoping to get a new right knee this year) a good way to blow away the cobwebs after a long night in the warm room!  In one of his walks (Killantringan Lighthouse Circular) he mentions Portpatrick.  We visited it when at New England Bay Caravan Park in 2022 - a delightful little town and well worth a visit even if not on a long walk.

Hope to see you in October.

Cheers,

Peter,

Edited February 10 by petevasey

[mapstar]

Good to hear from you Peter. Hopefully you are recovering well.

I visited Portpatrick a few years ago whilst up and was a good stroll along the front. Maybe try it again in the better conditions today. 

This mornings photo of Ian wandering down the field to maybe find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? 

It is improving especially now we can see blue skies  

[mapstar]

And finally we have some clear skies 

mad rush to set up the scopes next 😁

[Physopto]

Got up into the area by 1435 hrs this afternoon my friends health is slowly improving. So happy about that. Whilst returning to our caravan we could see Orion quite clearly. So I hope those staying on tonight get some good viewing in. If Damian and Ian maybe Jon are there tomorrow. I will pop down to see you all.

[LandyJon]

Indeed, we're getting some good clear skies with the occasional patch hazing up.

Got my hyperstar collimated pretty good and some good data on M42 and now horsehead coming in.

Would be good to see you but I'm hoping to get underway before lunchtime to get back home at a reasonable time since I'm back in work Monday.

Glad to hear your friend is getting better, hope you're on the mend too.

[AKB]

29 minutes ago, LandyJon said:

Got my hyperstar collimated pretty good and some good data on M42 and now horsehead coming in.

Really glad to hear you’re getting up to speed with the Hyperstar.  Enjoy!

Tony

[LandyJon]

38 minutes ago, AKB said:

Really glad to hear you’re getting up to speed with the Hyperstar.  Enjoy!

Tony

 

Yes, I've only had 1 opportunity to try it since and had trouble with it not reaching focus, so I had to wind it out a bit and forgot to not do it on the bright star I'd focused on.

Just done it on a star field and happy with the result, maybe a little tweaking could be done but left it on M42 for an hour on live stack and this is the "save as seen" result.

Its got an hour of horsehead now too, but we're in the warm room for a chat, I'll go pack it up shortly.

[Uplooker]

Skies have been kind to us this evening. Not perfect, but gave newcomers a taste of Galloway Star Party skies 👍. Wind has given us break too. This afternoon was a glorious day up here.

 

[Physopto]

So happy for you all.

Jon, I will see you in the Autumn, have a safe trip home. Nice picture as well.

[Lucas M]

Great night last night and a great few days in general, really enjoyed my first star party and meeting everyone, thanks for making me feel so welcome.

Another time-lapse from last night's viewing, this is straight out of the camera but needs a little work as it's a bit dark for my liking.

Also some quick autostacks/stretches of M44 and M33 taken last night, both need stacking/processing properly but very encouraging straight of of the little red box 🤪

Also got some good time on the Orion Nebula as well as Horse head/flame, I'll post final images of everything when all the processing is done.

Thanks again all 👍

Edited February 11 by Lucas M

[Physopto]

Glad you enjoyed  Our Scottish Star Camp. It was a pleasure meeting you this afternoon. I am glad you are wanting to return in the Autumn. Please make sure you book early to avoid disapointment.