Guerrilla Astronomy with Binoculars in Richmond Park

[GeorgeB]

As I have a very restricted view from the car park of my flat I've taken to having the occasional wander up to Richmond Park in SW London with my bins. As the park has been closed in the evenings over the past few weeks for a regular deer cull I've not been able to go. Thankfully, this week the pedestrian gates have been reopened at night so I strolled up with my 15x70's and monopod for a session. My previous visit was disturbed by a continuous procession of dog walkers and joggers with torches, and mobs of cyclists with full-beam headlights (the place is just as busy after dark as it is in the day), so this time I was careful to go off the beaten track.

Richmond Park isn't exactly what you would call a dark sky site, but it offers a refuge from immediate light pollution and a pretty good building free view of the whole sky in all directions. I started off with my favourites: The Double Cluster in Perseus and M42 in Orion. It never ceases to amaze me how bright the Great Nebula is; even from close proximity to central London! Managed to find M35 at the feet of Gemini. When I saw M35 for the first time the previous week in my 102mm SLT I wasn't impressed as it was washed out in skyglow. This time in the bins the view was much more impressive than through the scope; something I find for many objects, such as my next target: M44 the Beehive Cluster. Locating M44, I tried to find the open cluster M67, which is close by, but struggled to identify it convincingly. I was pleasantly surprised to discover there was a group of deer sat down in the grass watching me only 30 feet away! Thankfully, they are tame and used to Humans behaving oddly. Next up was the clusters in Auriga. For the first time I definitely found all 3 (M36, M37, M38) with the bins. Previously, I've only spotted 2 with the bins and had to rely on the scope to bag the lot.

Finally, I capped off the evening with Saturn, which was low in the SE just above the trees. Steadying myself with the monopod I could easily make out a tiny disc with "ears". A sight that left me drooling for later in the year when it will be visible from my car-park. In the meantime, I'm planning to cart my 102 SLT up to the same spot to give the GOTO tour mode a good thrashing. I just need to convince the girlfriend that her carrying a Maplin powertank is a crucial ingredient for a romantic evening stroll to the park.

[scogyrd]

Sounds like you had a good night. This is what I like most about binocular astronomy, being able to easily get out under the stars observing.