Observing from the Somerset Levels

[lunator]

I had a week on the Levels in Somerset. A cottage in Henley. 

The skies were listed as Bortle 4, but we're right in the limit of 3.

There was a small amount of light pollution form Bridgwater in the North West and Street to the North East.

I managed to get out on 3 nights couldn't stay up too late as the the trip was also a bit of a house hunting trip 🙂.

On all 3 nights the Milky Way was clear and the dark dust lanes were very obvious. Although I had an observing plan I spent a lot of time with the 32mm/70° eyepiece which gave ~1.9° TFOV just sweeping along the Milky Way marveling at the sheer number of stars.

M13 looked like a bright ball of stars at the low mag individual stars weren't obvious. Stopped off at Cor Caroli on my way to M51.

I had my second best view of M51. Some definite structure and the bridge was obvious. (The best was SGL2 in the Brecon Beacons. 12" telescopes vs my 8" and slightly darker skies and younger eyes 😁)

I did observe 4 doubles as that's what I do 🙂

100.Herc. A beautiful bright double. A definite showpiece.

STF1702: A wide pair with a moderate difference in magnitude. The primary is yellow, the secondary pale blue.

STF2159: A wide pair with a moderate difference in magnitude. The primary is white, the secondary s pale orange. A fairly rich field

STF2165: A fairly wide pair of uneven magnitude. A white primary and a pale blue secondary. A 3rd stars lies some distance away..

Cheers

Ian

[John]

Nice report Ian 🙂

We are often down on the levels for birding. It's a great place 🙂

They have an active astro society down there:

Somerset Levels Stargazing welcome page (somersetlevelsstargazers.co.uk)

 

 

[lunator]

Hi John, It is a lovely part of the world.

I was enjoying the general darkness. Being back in Bucks just reminds me how bad LP has got over the last  10 years.

I hope to enjoy darker skies once I have moved but it looks like I will be South of the A303 so it little bit away from the levels.

Cheers

Ian