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Salisbury Revisited - An informal gathering


dark knight

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Saturday and Sunday nights may just be looking better than I'd feared - at least on metcheck, so I'm sticking with that one. ;)

And if all else fails there are always beer goggles....or wine goggles - just packed a few bottles to take down :) And there is always the pub, as Rob pointed out....

We're going tonight, so no internet for us from this evening. We won't be able to badger you to come any more after that.

So no more wussing out Steve, you won't melt! And you never know, we may just be pleasantly surprised by the skies....

Ever the optimist,

Steph

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Hey Astrokat ! - good to see you back in the land of the living. Have just landed back at base and all unpacked (talk about adventure getting the tent back in the wind - extreme hats off and thanks to Carl and Steph)

Was fun ! I look forward to those M42 subs !.. Did you manage to catch any on NGC7789

Cheers

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Good to see you got back fine Steve, and the tent didn't win!

Although we left before dark on Saturday, and missed the clear skies (it was clear by the time we got home of course!), we had a great time and it was a pleasure to meet up with everyone again.

Nelson, of course, enjoyed himself, and now has a great friend in Jasper, Carl and Stephs lurcher :(

Many thanks to Carl and Steph for bringing a few of us together again....we must do this sort of thing more often ;)

Cheers

Rob, Amanda and Nelson.

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Well folks, we have literally just walked through the front door and couldn't help but get my fix of SGL,,,how sad am I. Anyhow we had a fantastic time meeting up with old friends and making some new friends also, we had a blast. Even when the clouds tried to ruin things nobody's spirit was dampened, we just had a big party instead lol. On the nights which were clear Steph got busy with the dob and aided by Steve managed to dramatically increase her Messier count and I'm sure her report will follow.

Many thanks to Rob for the great tutorial and advice on processing and using Photoshop, I know it was greatly appreciated, there really is nothing like being shown how to do something rather than read a complicated manual. Jasper cried for half a day when he realised his pal wasn't coming back, he really wasn't himself for a while.

Great to meet Astrokat and the boys from Salisbury, what a great bunch, Toby those pictures look fantastic. Amazing to think you easily got 10 min subs and unguided as well. I'm glad you got some memorable images and just think the camp site is on your doorstep.

As always it was great to see and catch up with Steve, many thanks for sorting out Steph's dob (counter-weight) and confirming I wasn't going mad just yet when I thought the springs on Steph's mirror cell were at fault for collimation issues. 1st priority now were home is to source some stronger ones.

It was great to see Michigander and Michigoose and to share that momentous occasion as Orion arose from the East allowing Dana to strike M42, M43 off his list in addition to M35 and M1.

To be honest, we all made the most of the clear spells and I think took something memorable home with us, whether it was great images, new friendships, camaraderie, improved processing skills and for Steve how to put a tent up lol.

Thanks to all.

Carl

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Sounds like you all had a great time - so sorry that we had to miss it in the end as we had been looking forward to it and planning for it for some time.

We too have some good news, we learn't this week that Cherry's cancer has NOT spread to her lymphatic system so as soon as she has healed (boy that is taking time!!) she can have the original growth removed and in theory, all will be well.

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Wow! What an amazing 6 days!

I got to bag 7 new Messiers, got a brand new shiny counterweight for the Beast so it is now perfectly balanced, thanks to my mate Steve (my Lightbridge hero - you name it - brakes, bearings, balancing - he's the man! ;))

I played with my OIII filter (report later), got to see the jaw-dropping White Rose cluster (Steve, what is it's NGC number please? I couldn't remember - and the directions I wrote down were a little vague, probably thanks to the cider :p so I never saw it again, not for want of searching....sooooo pretty...)

But the best part was getting to spend time with some brilliant people :D

Great images Toby - how exciting was it when you were getting those subs? Good to chill with the Salisbury boys :p

Jasper loved every minute of it, apart from when Nelson went home :D

Reece loved it - he is now saving for an 8" dob like Dana's and wants to join the forum! (not sure if there is a lower age limit - I'll have to check it out - he will be 12 next month) It was great that Dana and Marion's friends were able to make it on Monday night - shame it was drizzling, but I had to laugh - I've never seen so many people in a VW Campervan! Hilarious! And thanks for entertaining Reece for the evening :D

Reece and I would also like to thank Rob for the guitar masterclass - and for letting us play your lovely little instrument :(

It made such a difference to us having the use of our mate's caravan - how useful was that awning when it chucked it down?We had a fantastic time and I'm looking forward to SGL5 now more than I even was before.....it's going to be a long time till April :(

But I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight....if it's cloudy! lol

Steph

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glad to see your back safe and sound what a wicked weekend still cant beleve them 10 min subs anit in focus lol god dam beer eyes, never mind i would be well up for doin some thing like this again i had such a good time it was great meeting you guys also a big thank you to rob helping to understand processing a bit better and another to carl for helping set up and explain setting up my mount,also to jasper for keeping my lap warm lol

thanks again toby

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Good news about Cherry Steve ;)

Are you feeling a bit better now Richie?

It was brilliant to meet you all, some for the first time, and please feel free to pop over to the seaside to see us....bring a scope too and we'll have a micro starparty in the backyard.

Cheers

Rob

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bring a scope too and we'll have a micro starparty in the backyard.

Hmmm.. be careful what you wish for Rob... you may get it. Have you got dark skies ?

Good to hear Steph and Carl back on line and would happily do that all again - except this time, could we have a little less wind and rain please ??

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Hmmm.. be careful what you wish for Rob... you may get it. Have you got dark skies ?

They're mag 5 in the right conditions Steve, so not bad.

We just have the English channel to the east, there's some glow from Portland port to the south, and after about midnight, there's very little light from the houses to the west and no direct light sources visible at all.

The north isn't great as Weymouth centre is that way and we are only a little over a mile away.

From about 45 degrees to the zenith is good in all directions though.

We do a fine curry too, even if I say so myself ;)

Cheers

Rob

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Here are a few pictures from Salisbury Revisited.

By the time we got there - Sunday afternoon - it was just Carl and Steph, Reece and Jasper (and a bunch of Bambi Owners).

We had a great time anyway - except we forgot to bring a tablelamp - so Michigoose had to abandon her curtain hemming, which didn't bother her as it's a boring job anyway. So she just snuggled under the duvet and napped, emerging only to look at Jupiter and Andromeda, sigh, and go back under the duvet.

After a beautiful sunset, Sunday night was clear off and on. Thanks to Carl for collimating my scope with his laser thingy - it really made a difference. And thanks to Steph for letting me look through the big Dob. Reece and Jasper were excellent company and we all showed off to some guy from Reading who came over out of curiosity. Great fun had by all.

Rained all day Monday - and all night Monday - went to bed early. But the skies were busy over Sixpenny Handlay and a balloon provided the only skywatching at all. Here's a few photos - including one where the balloon almost disappeared into the clouds.

Steph serenaded us with Pink Floyd tunes during the afternoon. Some good stuff from 'Dark Side of the Moon'. I was going to request 'Careful with That Axe Eugene' but.......

Our friends from Gillingham came over again. Some of you may remember the bunch of perpetual motion kids from the Star Party. Nothing seems to dampen their spirits and they had a great time with Reece and Jasper, eating chocolate cake and chasing round in the dark and rain.

Yup - they did all manage to squeeze into the van during brief pauses to catch their breath - on the floor - lounging on the bed - anywhere they could 'not sit straight' as kids do.

As Steph said I added 4 new objects to my list. Before anybody says anything, yes, I have seen M42 before - but I thought it only fair to restart in a new country. Besides, I lost my old list!!

Dana

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