Star party in Cerne Abbas, Dorset

[kev100]

Hi all, 

Over the past few months I've been in discussion with all involved parties (land owners, business owners and locals) about holding a star party in the Dorset village of Cerne Abbas.

Anyway, things have moved on, finally, and it's penciled in for the first weekend in September.

It's to be based at the Cerne Abbas Brewery ( https://www.cerneabbasbrewery.com/ ), with camping in the adjacent fields, and an area set aside for setting up telescopes/observing.

Details are as follows: 

Dates - 6, 7, 8 September

Facilities - basic, no electric hookups (sorry) but there'll be battery charging facilities, portaloos, a chips and burgers outlet/pizza van

Events - talks and a quiz in the taproom (tbc)

Setting- idyllic, with lots to do and explore locally, village shop and pubs, plus it's at a brewery!

Skies - class 4/good

Weather - good (usually)

Cost - a nominal fee to include entrance, camping and to cover costs (portaloos, mainly) ... Tbc but in the region of £40 for the weekend

This would be the first such event here, but could grow into a regular thing, with electric and less basic facilities if there's the interest. 

So, what I'm looking for here is some indication of numbers/the level of interest... Plus ideas/things I haven't thought of....

I've got a meeting arranged for next week, so any input would be welcome beforehand....

Cheers, 

Kev.

Edited July 8 by kev100

[Peter Drew]

Good luck, hope it all works out.     🙂

[cajen2]

Plus there's a certain giant with a very big.....telescope! 😂

I'd certainly be interested, though early September will mean rather short periods of astronomical darkness.

[kev100]

8 minutes ago, cajen2 said:

Plus there's a certain giant with a very big.....telescope! 😂

I'd certainly be interested, though early September will mean rather short periods of astronomical darkness.

True, on both counts, but it's warm 🙂

[Phil Fargaze]

39 minutes ago, cajen2 said:

I'd certainly be interested, though early September will mean rather short periods of astronomical darkness

Thinking about it, those dates in September give at least six hours of astro darkness which I would be happy with for doing visual observing.  These days I just  go for it and get what chance I can. I took the large dob to Suffolk last weekend knowing I only had just over two hours of astro darkness and ended up seeing the amazing aurora on Friday night and I also managed to get a good number of  galaxies and globular clusters observed on the Saturday night. A weekend I will never forget! 

[lunator]

I might pop down. I am only 30mins away. 

Cheers 

Ian

[Gfamily]

Sadly we're away, otherwise it would be definitely a draw.

Hope it goes well, Kevin.

See you at Astrocamp later in the month perhaps. 

[kev100]

13 hours ago, Gfamily said:

See you at Astrocamp later in the month perhaps

 definitely👍🏻

[reddoss]

Hi Kevin,

             Yes I am interested.  Will PM you on Messenger later.

 

Cheers,

           Justyn

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

If I can convince the missus to come on a 5+ hour drive and presumably not shower for at least two days I'll come. 😁

Otherwise I find very long solo drives massively boring. Around 3hrs is my limit. 🫣

Good luck either way. The place looks lovely and the beer selection is magnificent. 😄

Edited May 26 by ScouseSpaceCadet

[kev100]

There is now a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61560006209961

[JOC]

Sooner or later it will dawn on folks that there are many of us enlightened enough to NOT do Facebook!

[kev100]

Update:

I'm really pleased to say that FLO has agreed to provide some prizes for the Astro quiz. Also, any 'profits' left over after costs are paid will go to Parkinson's UK👍🏻

[kev100]

Hi all,

Just had the last piece of the jigsaw fall into place this morning, and I'm thrilled to say that the Cerne Abbas Star Party finally got the go ahead. I'll create an Eventbrite page later/tomorrow and will post a link here when it's up. Those of you who 'do' Facebook can keep an eye on the event FB page too.

Cheers!

Kev

[kev100]

Bookings are now open:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-cerne-abbas-star-party-tickets-942265681017

[CraigT82]

This sounds great, I’m only an hour away. Would the campsite be suitable for a folding camper/trailer tent? 

[kev100]

1 hour ago, CraigT82 said:

This sounds great, I’m only an hour away. Would the campsite be suitable for a folding camper/trailer tent? 

Hiya. I’m not sure what you’d need for the trailer tent, but there is a slight incline on the field. You can see it in the picture, just beyond the gate.  It’s pretty flat to the left….

[Stu]

Only 35 mins from me, may well pop along, provided I can negotiate a pass 😉

[dweller25]

Expensive telescopes in a pitch black field next to a brewery, what could possibly go wrong ? 🤣

Just joking, well done @kev100 for pulling it all together 👍

[PeterStudz]

Yes, well done @kev100 for organising this. It’s certainly in a lovely location in a beautiful part of the country. 

It’s actually not that far from me. I’d love to go, but unfortunately I’m busy on those dates. Although I might be able to rearrange and juggle things about! 

[kev100]

Thanks for all the support. Although not a perfect site for such an event, lacking electricity and home comforts, it should be fun, providing the weather plays ball (but then that’s true of all such things). All we can do is keep our fingers crossed 🤞 for at least a few hours of clear skies 🙂

[Stu]

Booked now 👍

[reddoss]

I booked last week and have just ordered a Cerne Abbas star party Hoody.

Looking forward to my first star party  of the new astronomy season.

Cheers,

           Justyn

 

 

[CraigT82]

Booked  

For the occasion I may have accidentally on purpose bought myself an ex-demo FC100DC from FLO 😈. Don’t really know why, as I already have a lovely 102ED frac. Moment of madness I guess… but strangely no buyers remorse yet 😇

On 06/07/2024 at 21:35, kev100 said:

Hiya. I’m not sure what you’d need for the trailer tent, but there is a slight incline on the field. You can see it in the picture, just beyond the gate.  It’s pretty flat to the left….

Yeah I think it’ll be ok with the trailer.

Just thought I’d check as some small or very rural campsites exclude trailers/caravans because access is tight and they don’t want roads getting blocked with stuck caravans! 

[kev100]

The first guest speaker to be announced is Dr John Macdonald, who will be discussing the Analemma on Sunday afternoon 👍

John is a local amateur astronomer with former research interests in polarimetric remote sensing. This involved adapting the techniques used to determine the nature of the lunar surface back in the 1960s to environmental mapping here on Earth.He is currently Chair of Weymouth Astronomy Club and teaches sixth form students in Southampton.