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Wolves and Black Country observing group...

wulfrunian

By wulfrunian
in Star Parties & Astro Events

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steve_bham

steve_bham

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I might've known when I knew I was free too. Wall to wall cloud here now, oh well. It'll be clear next week when I'll be watching the England match over a few beers instead!

If its clear next week bring a portable TV :D what could be better!

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wulfrunian

wulfrunian

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And can you get HD on your portable TV??

Actually, the game will be over by 9.45pm and it's less than half an hour's drive for me, so I could still be there before dark if I load up the car at half time and go easy on the beers! :D

All this cloud today is my fault, my patients were co-operative and spent most of Wednesday night asleep, so I spent a quiet hour planning a list of targets for tonight.....

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wulfrunian

wulfrunian

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Right folks, I have a feeling in my water that this coming Saturday is the one, it's going to be clear, the weather gods have a sense of irony as it's the shortest night of the year, but I'm definitely going to be up for it, let's make it a date :)

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MrGoatsmilk

MrGoatsmilk

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It's bound to be as every time I see a post re a meet I'm busy. typical!:)

It's my little uns 3rd birthday party this Sat so can't miss that one.

I will endeavor to get out to a meet very soon.

Hope it stays clear for you all the weekend.

Stu

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wulfrunian

wulfrunian

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It's my little uns 3rd birthday party this Sat so can't miss that one.

Ah but surely her party will be over before 10pm? Failing that, bring her along, it's never too early to start, I'll bring some balloons and you bring the cake :)

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MrGoatsmilk

MrGoatsmilk

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Ah but surely her party will be over before 10pm? Failing that, bring her along, it's never too early to start, I'll bring some balloons and you bring the cake :)

I'm sure it will but after a day with screaming kids (and adults) I think I will be finished too, you never know though if he is in bed by 8pm and I'm still walking I could shove a few bits in the car.

Stu

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Worzsel

Worzsel

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Can I just give you all a wave and say hello :)

I live near Dudley and have just got my first 'scope. I'd be up for a meet at some point if you'd have me but i'm a proper beginner so might lag behind a bit.

Where do you normally go ?

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steve_bham

steve_bham

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Can I just give you all a wave and say hello :)

I live near Dudley and have just got my first 'scope. I'd be up for a meet at some point if you'd have me but i'm a proper beginner so might lag behind a bit.

Where do you normally go ?

Your more than welcome to join us. pvt me if you want the details.

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wulfrunian

wulfrunian

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Last night's late night seemed a really bad idea when the alarm went off this morning to get me to an early service over at Streetly, but I'm over that now! - so....

Me, haitch and orions-knight took a leap of faith in the Met Office forecast, and despite a mostly cloudy sky in the West Midlands, drove over to the farm in hope that it was going to clear. Arriving at around 10.30 we were rewarded with a mostly clear sky, just starting to darken.

In the semi-darkness we took in Venus, Saturn and the Moon. Venus was very low and looked like little more than a very bright shimmering star with no real phase showing; the seeing wasn't great, confirmed by the views of the Moon and Saturn, though they were nice to gaze at, three Saturn moons visible.

Had a brief glimpse of the Ring, before the clouds rolled in, and it looked as if it might be a short night. However by midnight it had cleared again, and turned into a superb dark sky especially for the time of year. Can't remember what order we did things in, but here's what we then took in:

Great views of the Ring. Used magnifications of x200 on my 10" and just over that in haitch's 14" beast, and it was brighter than I can ever remember seeing it. I tried some nebular filters, but they just seemed to make it disappear. Best views were without, in a field sprinkled with stars.

M13 at high power - wow! Almost looked like an open cluster! - seemed to be resolved right into the centre. Never seen it like that. While I was first looking at M13, the other two were apparently wasting time scouring the brightest part of the sky in search of Comet McNaught - except they weren't actually wasting time, as they successfully found it first in binoculars, then in the scopes. "Not a show-stopper" according to Astronomy Now, but we thought it was fantastic! We all thought we saw a short fan-shaped tail, too, at x40.

We went for M81 and M82, which I was having trouble finding until orions-knight managed to locate them for me - I was using the guide stars of the Plough, just heading in the wrong direction :icon_scratch: nice views in the same field using his Nagler and my Pentax. Through the 14" we could clearly see a dust lane in M82, another first for me!

Other sundries... Albireo is always a great sight, and it shone in a lovely field of stars out there. In fact looking more closely around the Cygunus region, we realised we could see the Milky Way, which was a very unexpected bonus! A few meteors, none of which I spotted but never mind! Lots of satellites. And plenty of time just gazing at the sky without binos or scopes, just taking in the view.

Packed up around 1.30am. Thanks to the other two for a brill night's viewing, looking forward to the next one :)

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haitch

haitch

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Nothing to add apart from thanks for a great night guys!!! :)

Ohhh, and thanks for letting me try out the EPs! Now I've got to start saving. I think I'll stick with looking for Nirvanas or Naglers but I now at least know what the Ethos fuss is all about! :icon_scratch:

Look forward to doing it all again as soon as time/clouds/wife allow!

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Astronut

Astronut

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Sorry me and Lulu couldn't make it. We were in 2 minds looking at the cloud cover and it was past 11.30pm when we decided it might be too late to come over given the time left available and it was still mostly cloudy over Dudley then anyway. We did get a free lunch at the pub in Kinver today though so that made up for it :)

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lulu57

lulu57

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Yup - they messed up the lunch order and took ages, so it was all on the house! It was tasty food, but you know what they say about a gift horse...

We spent a lot of time walking in and out the back door last night, generally looking up and urming and ahhing. By midnight, there was still a lot of cloud cover, so we decided to climb the stairs to Bedforshire.

Drat!

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orions-knight

orions-knight

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Nice write up Michael but you really need to know which way to point that scope of yours..........:). and both scopes performed really well when they had cooled down with lovely views in the 10" and the 14". Really wish I could've bought mine. :mad:. Sorry.

It was a good night folks and astronomy is I think a case of 'he who dares', especially where the great old British weather is concerned. :icon_scratch:

I was really pleased to have located the comet last night as trying to view it from home is an absolute no. To view a comet is quite a rare thing in life and, although not as spectacular as some have been in the past, It was still a wonderful experience.

Lets hope a few of you who couldn't make it last night will soon share with us again the passion of astronomy.

Clear skies everyone

OK

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