OK I know several imagers/observers are off to Kelling over the weekend of the 23rd but ..................................
Is anybody left that intends to go to Rother ? Assuming half decent weather :-?
Yes - I'm intending to go to DSC, unless I can find a last minute place at Kelling ...
Mark
Mark, liaise with Robert as he told me he might not be able to go to Kelling.
Carole
Duncan can't make it, so I've just taken over his slot. It's for 2 nights but I might try to come down for longer. Who else is going and which nights?
Mark
Now I'm not going to Kelling I may still be able to make Saturday night at Rother Valley - depends what the weather is doing.
Oh Duncan, why cant you go to Kelling?
So Is Robert going?
Mark, you are going to Kelling? I wondered as you said, you may try to come down for longer, when Kelling is up!
Fay
Weather not looking particularly promising at Kelling or Rother :-?
I'm going from Thursday to Monday/maybe will stay to Tuesday depending on the weather.
I'm pitched in a different place to Fay, Robert and Julian as I booked a year ago when no-one else wanted to make a decision.
Pitch 328
Carole
Quote from: mickw
Weather not looking particularly promising at Kelling or Rother :-?
Plenty of time for it to change yet ...
Nothing bad coming from here.
Quote from: Rocket Pooch
Nothing bad coming from here.
You've run out of hurricanes then?
I've booked Rother Friday & Saturday.
Hopefully the weather gods will take pity :-?
Just had a message from Nige (remember him). He's going to try to make the DSC.
Yep me too
All down to the weather now :lipsrsealed:
Thursday night beginning to look clear. So is it Kelling? Or it OAS?
Tonight's looking pretty clear as well - better get out there quick!
Mark
QuoteTonight's looking pretty clear as well
Yes, I saw the forecast and thought I'd go a day early to Kelling (today), got all packed up, rang Kelling to just make sure my pitch was available, and it wasn't. :!
Only one pitch available and it's not even the main Astronomy event yet. I didn't want to pitch and then have to move tomorrow.
Carole
Should have booked earlier :cheesy:
QuoteShould have booked earlier
Very funny Mac, I am booked in for 22 - 26th, unfortunately you never know what the weather is going to be like until the last minute. Off to kelling this morning.
Carole
The weather forecast suggests Rother will be less cloudy than Kelling 8)
Looks like Rother is ON :cheesy:
Well, I'm here, not many other campers though.
Pitch firm and dryish, partly cloudy, bit breezy and reasonably warm .
Depending what forecast you look at, it could be quite clear.
Indian restaurant is "Opening soon" - contractors are in there - I told them to get a move on and they told me to "F#@# Off" .......................
I think that's Indian for "have a nice day" :o
Kelling Report for Thursday night. Clear until about 11pm ish, then cloudy. I looked up Satellite clouds and saw it was going to clear again at around 1.30 - 2am and indeed it did. Was clear then until about 5.30. Did my darks in the gap. Only got about 4 hours sleep in total.
Fingers crossed for tonight and tomorrow. Seen Fay and Julian.
Carole
I don't understand, 4 hours sleep ... call yourself an imager :lol:
Looks like I may possibly be able to get down to Rother on Sat night but won't know till tomorrow afternoon.
Well here I am sitting in a field, sober and bored :-?
Got polar aligned, synched on one star, decided to start PHD - Nothing :cry:
After about an hour I remembered what the EQmod settings were - Then PHD froze.
Finally got everything working and tried a quick focus - captured one frame, tweaked the focuser then APT froze.
Got everything working again, captured another focusing frame - blank screen, looked up, bloody cloudy.
Tried a couple of beers and strangely the clouds haven't gone away :roll:
Sat24 shows that it may clear up later but I'm not holding my breath :!
Well I managed to get targets nicely framed between the clouds, perhaps tomorrow I'll actually capture something other than clouds.
There is an owl or some other screechy creature in the trees behind my van, whoever comes down tomorrow would you please bring a gun :evil:
At Kelling the sky was perfect from 2am
QuoteAt Kelling the sky was perfect from 2am
Yes unfortunately I went to bed and missed it. Too
Kna tired from being up until 5.30 the night before.
Dew heaters were noted to have packed up, so couldn,t have done anything anyway.
Today Mark found a broken cable and soldered it for me, and I also bought a spare from Bern on the trade stalls as a back up.
That's another favour I owe Mark and thanks Julian for the solder. Or did I get that wrong, I know it was a joint effort. ;)
Fingers crossed for tonight, but it's really cloudy at present.
Carole
We have a nice clear sky in Orpington right now.
2am Sunday - once more the whole camp stirs to voices murmuring "clear skies
" and the sounds of slewing motors!
Quote from: Mike on Sep 24, 2011, 21:45:07
We have a nice clear sky in Orpington right now.
It's pea soup north of Tesco, roughly Mag 3 skies at the zenith I reckon. The only thing visible below 30 degrees altitude was Jupiter...
Sorry couldn't make DSC either (sigh)...
Rother was clear last night until about 2 when the mist started to get quite thick but it cleared again by about 4 - Dew heaters earned their money last night.
Spotted a meteor/fireball about 7:30 going east to west and it was below the clouds
Did a couple of test shots with flattener with and without spacer, I think there may be issues in bottom left corner - Mike did you resolve your problem corner ?
Carole - dew heater problems again ? You're not still using that cheap power adapter are you ?
Forecast for tonight is shite so I'm off home
Quotethe whole camp stirs to voices
It stirred also to voices of people shouting at me because my bloody LCD kept flashing on every time a new sub started despite switching it off and one woman coming and giving me a right mouthful. I was trying to stop it and each time I thought I had, it flashed again. Nightmare, couldn't stop it so ended up wrapping it in lots of red plastic and black bin bags etc. Quite upsetting really as it wasn't deliberate. This doesn't happen very often and I don't know why it should suddenly do so.
Anyway, hopefully got it sorted today. I had to turn a couple of other settings off besides the one I was doing. Also got duct tape stuck accross it.
Mark also frightened the life out of me when he crept up to me in the dark to check I had woken up (2am), so rather an ordeal of a night all in all.
Went to bed at 6am.
Quotedew heater problems again ? You're not still using that cheap power adapter are you ?
Yup, that wasn,t the problem, it was a broken cable (see back a couple of posts).
Looks like another late starter again tonight clear from 2 - 4 I think.
Carole
Quoteone woman coming and giving me a right mouthful
I normally find in a situation like this two swift words normally suffice,
the second one is normally off, ;)
Mac
Actually I could quite understand why everyone was annoyed, but I didn't like the inference that I was being thoughtless and not attempting to do anything about it.
It all worked out fine in the end as the woman came and apologised the next day, it gave me the chance to explain the whole situation and have now actually made friends with her and her husband who has found me the correct way to turn off the LCD and also given me some duck tape to put over the screen. Another chum has also shown me how to reduce the LCD colour to dark grey instead of bright white. I just wish these manuals they provide with cameras could be a bit more helpful. It still comes on when I first switch on though, but hardly visible through the duck tape.
Last night was a wash out.
Mark and Fay left this morning before I even woke up at 9.30, I don't know how they do it, takes me half a day to pack up. Julian has also gone. The sun is out and I have two more days here.
Carole
Sunday evening the sky was cloudy. Sure enough it cleared again at 1:30am but there was more cloud on the way so I decided against issuing a "wake up" call as I did the previous night. Went back to sleep - awoke at 7:15am to the sound of light rain. Hastily packed everything away in case heavier rain began and was ready to drive off at 8:30am. Arrived back at High Halden at 12 - just in time to fry up my breakfast 8)
A great weekend was had by all, with excellent daytime weather and a few hours imaging most nights.
Mark
Quote from: Carole
The sun is out and I have two more days here.
Enjoy your 2 days.
Clear skies!
Mark
Fay might find her way home in 2 days :o
Quoteit cleared again at 1:30am
What was the wind like at that time Mark, it was getting really windy at 11pm so decided to take the scopes off the mount as even though I have wind breakers I was still worrying the wind would cause damage to my mount like it did back in April, with a cover over the ED120 it was like a yachting sail.
I got some sort of creatures in my tent last night (like Fay did), guess it was rodents looking for food, they were making an awful racket scurrying around the tent, so I zipped up both sides of the sleeping compartment and put my ear plugs in.
I have to say what a treat it is to be able to get internet at Astro camp, I a 3 dongle on Chris's recommendation (thanks Chris) and made the salesman in the 3 shop look up their network coverage on all the DSC camps we use, and whilst all the other camps seemed ok, Kelling came up a bit dubious, but lo and behold it works here too, albeit a bit spasmodic, so useful to look up the weather forecast and Sat24. sorry Mark YR weather forecast let us down last night.
Carole
A few glasses of wine should make you look better ;)
QuoteEnjoyed every minute, even though no images. Did no cooking as Julian's friends wife, Maddy, did it all for 9 people, cooked breakfast, drinks etc , she is an angel, lovely person outside & inside. Thanks Maddie! Great group of chaps opposite, i even had live music in my tent!!!!!!! Met lots of people from the forums, which was really nice.
Fay - I take it you enjoyed yourself then despite lack of images - never heard you go on so much before about what a lovely bunch of people you were with.. Glad you had a good time.
Quote from: JohnP on Sep 26, 2011, 16:07:34
Fay - never heard you go on so much before about what a lovely bunch of people you were with..
Well she has NEVER said that about the people at our DSC's. :cry:
Maybe we are just not worthy.
Tony G
John you know I am always enthusiastic
Quote
Well she has NEVER said that about the people at our DSC's
I know Tone that's what I thought.. maybe she is thinking of deserting OAS and joing that Crayford lot... :-( since they are such a HAPPY SMILLEY CHEERY BUNCH !!!!!!! :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
Quote from: JohnP on Sep 26, 2011, 18:35:30
I know Tone that's what I thought.. maybe she is thinking of deserting OAS and joining that Crayford lot... :-(
Like a leech, I have noticed Fay sucking all the information on imaging from all you great imagers on this forum, and now the 'Sky at Night' is dedicated to Fay's images on a monthly basis, and I have also noticed that Fay hasn't mentioned next years calender, due to Fay's magazine publishing an image every month.......her own calender, imagine that! :roll:
Well, no doubt she will now venture over to the other side (Crayford) just to get her hands on the patent for that focuser or something, and claim it for herself........Deja vu.......Hubble images. ;)
We all had a good time at DSC's in the past :( and I suppose it had to come to an end at sometime, but to be told on the forum that they are much better than us, is like being dumped by text. :cry:
Tony G :cry:
:lol: :lol: :lol:
http://forum.orpington-astronomy.org.uk/index.php?topic=7832.0 (http://forum.orpington-astronomy.org.uk/index.php?topic=7832.0)
Not content with 'The Sky at Night' seems like Hollywood is the next step.
Tony G
QuoteFay hasn't mentioned next years calender
That's because she is thinking of doing a different one herself - don't you remember that 1980's week thread...!!!!!!
http://forum.orpington-astronomy.org.uk/index.php?topic=6626.15
Sorry Fay but you did say you might live to regret it......
Quote from: Tony G on Sep 26, 2011, 20:30:55
http://forum.orpington-astronomy.org.uk/index.php?topic=7832.0 (http://forum.orpington-astronomy.org.uk/index.php?topic=7832.0)
Not content with 'The Sky at Night' seems like Hollywood is the next step.
Tony G
They must be the SMILEY CHEERY PEOPLE :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: that Fay must be on about calling out 'Come and look at mine, Fay'
and 'Look we are all on the telly, all of us SMILEY CHEERY PEOPLE along with our new friend Fay'
Tony G :cry:
PS..............Don't show your new friends that photo, as you'll be back with us in no time at all. :lol:
Sorry this report is a bit long, but what a night!
Snatched 1 ½ hours sleep between 1am and 2.30am. Then it clouded over again at about 4am (fog).
Highlight of the night OMG was some faint aurora!!!!!!!
I had set up my imaging to do an hour on M101 (yes I know it's faint and low, but wanted to catch it while the SN was putting on a show). After the 2nd sub I went to Luke in the Caravan next door who was setting up his GOTO DOB, and as I was talking to him I noticed some beams of light projecting into the sky from behind the trees, it looked a bit like the old MGM start to a film, but not so bright. They were fanning upwards and outwards from behind the tree and I pointed it out to Luke, no apparent colour. Just then Sue (the lady who gave me the mouthful a few nights ago – we are all friends now), rushed over and called to me thinking I was in the tent "Have you seen the aurora". The beams were still visible and we watched them gradually fade and then a few very faint more beams appeared around the northern sky although you would not have noticed them if you weren't aware of their presence. There was a faint blue/green glow towards the North and as they pointed out, the next populated town in that direction is in Norway, as we were looking towards the North sea.
Together we all walked in the dark across the heath to the view point hoping to get a better view but it all faded.
Will certainly keep a look out again tonight and watch the sunspots. Hoping for something a bit more spectacular in Iceland.
Saw lots of things through big DOBs (one was 24"), Veil nebula, M13, Jupiter, the Crescent, AND got lots of imaging done. The subs of M101 were greatly affected by the aurora, which are very red, but not a lucky cam like Mark, the exposures were too long to get any detail of the aurora.
Carole
Yes we saw those beams, did not know they were aurorae, did not know they could be straight up like a searchlight though
Dont be daft, I never said anyone was better than our crowd. Would i pay £180 subs a year?? :lol:
QuoteWould i pay £180 subs a year??
Oh, so if the subs were cheaper you would then? ;)
Carole
Don't you start! :squirrel:
:cheesy:
That's really cool Carole - shame you didn't get a wide picture.
There are some images on Spaceweather, taken the same night, showing the aurora from Northumberland.
Mark
P.S. There were some beams in the mist on a previous night to the NW but these were headlamps or similar.
Quote from: Fay on Sep 27, 2011, 10:39:31
Would i pay £180 subs a year??
What's £180 from all those thousands in royalities from the sale of the DVD of 'Fay at Kelling Heath' in association with Angila Tonight. :roll:
Fay we all know money is no object to you. ;)
Tony G
Carole,
Did anyone get any images of the aurora?? and if so is there a link to them??
Tony G
Tony, how do you know about Anglia?
QuoteDid anyone get any images of the aurora?? and if so is there a link to them??
Camera was stuck in the back of the ED120 taking M101, and I didn't want to mess up the set up or miss the aurora.
Also I don't have any experience of using the DSLR as a stand alone camera i.e what settings to use. I will have to mug up on this before Iceland.
I am hoping that some-one else on the field might get some, same prediction for tonight too on the Geophysical auroral predictions site.
Carole
Quote from: Fay on Sep 27, 2011, 11:58:47
Tony, how do you know about Anglia?
It was on 'News at Ten' last night and in the Telegraph yesterday..............And no doubt there will be a mention or 2 in 'The Sky at Night' next month.
Tony G
http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Reed-Ingram-Weir-_MG_0088_1317084751.jpg (http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Reed-Ingram-Weir-_MG_0088_1317084751.jpg)
I think this is what Mark was talking about.
Lovely images.
Tony G
the white beams in that spaceweather image are similar to what we saw, but not sure if it was bright enough for a photo.
carole
Carole you are getting to be a trouper, like Mark!
Quotebut not sure if it was bright enough for a photo
Carole you take photo's of objects millions of miles away I am sure if you could see the aurora with your naked eye taking a photo wouldn't have been an issue...? or am I missing something?
:cheesy:
Another clear night last night all except for about 3/4 hour of whispy cloud around midnight when I snatched an hour of sleep. then stayed up until 6am!!!! That's four nights out of six I've stayed up all night, beginning to feel like a zombie.
Still can't complain, fabulous skies (no aurora last night), absolutely stunning at 2 - 3 am.
Have managed 10 1/2 hours actual imaging time so far plus the same again with darks and setting up setting down etc.
I've spread this over several objects doing a bit for each each night:
M101 - 1 3/4 hours so far (it's low and sinking so can only do it early if the skies are clear).
M33 - 3 1/2 hours so far
M81/M82 - 2 1/2 hours so far (can't do this until after 1am as too low before that)
M31 - 2 1/2 hours so far (wasted 2 hours when the dew heaters failed) now wrong scope on so will finish at Marks.
M42 - couldn't resist starting this as the skies were so stunning, will have to finish at a later date.
Hoping to get more on all of these except M31 tonight - my last night.
Coming home for a rest!!!
Carole
QuoteI am sure if you could see the aurora with your naked eye taking a photo wouldn't have been an issue...? or am I missing something?
The only thing you are missing John is my inexpereince at using the DSLR for stand alone use i.e. getting focus and using it manual with a normal camera lens on and at night. As said before, need to learn this before we go to Iceland.
Carole
BTW, found some interesting animal poo just inside the entrance to my tent this morning, and it wasn't rodent poo, I know what that looks like. Wonder what wandered into my tent, must try to google it.
Carole
Quotemust try to google it
Now this will be interesting, how will you be Googling "animal sh1t" ? :o
Hope you took a good image of it Carole! :ferret:
Quotehow will you be Googling "animal sh1t" ?
UK wild animal faeces/images - it's there if you want to find it :cheesy:
The choices seem to be stoat or hedgehog, I think probably the latter.
Carole
Finally home after 7 days. Of which 5 out of the 7 were clear 95% of the time.
Had a blast.
Was a bit worried about driving all that way home after 5 out of the last 7 nights up all night until 6am with only occasional cat naps while the subs were "cooking".
Now need a couple of nights sleep to recover before Saturday.
Managed quite a bit of imaging:
M101 3 hours
M33 5 hours
M31 2 1/2 hours so far (to be completed)
M81/M82 5 hours
M42 (1 hour to be completed)
Some solar images
Will take a few days to process it all.
Carole
Gosh Carole, you deserve some good results after becoming Kellings resident hermit!!!!!!!
Quite a few Astronomers stayed on, but we had to "politely educate" the new arrivals about light pollution and once they understood they were very co-operative and some had a look through the scopes. However why some people find the need to arrive or depart a camp site at 2 o'clock in the morning all lights blazing is beyond me. I just stopped the sub and re-started when the lights had gone.
I was quite snug in my tent with my wind shield/observatory conversion which worked really well - I guess I'm now spoilt with an observatory at home and if I can sit inside with my laptop rather than out in the damp I'd prefer it. Here's a picture of it during the day for those who didn't go to Kelling. It certainly helped protect the mount/scopes and guiding from the occasional wind that arose. Also with it being enclosed I could go to bed while the images are running and leave the side door open and peep out from my sleeping compartment (without having to get out of bed) if I am waiting for the skies to clear as well.
(http://www.caroleastronomy.webspace.virginmedia.com/_wp_generated/wpf9af6048.jpg)
i am disappointed i thought you would have taken your skypod there ;)
Mac
A very nice arrangement you have there Carole!
Blimey Carole, you're becoming a bit of a trouper !
You've done the pain now where are those lovely images?
Roberrt
Carole - where did you get wind shield from - looks good?
Look forward to images sounds like you have a hell of a collection...
The Wind shields were from Tesco, they have steel poles and were quite cheap I recall as I bought two, something like £12 each.
Quotei am disappointed i thought you would have taken your skypod there
:cheesy:, Do you know SkyPODshed say you can take them to star parties, can you imagine it - the transportation and time it takes!!
QuoteYou've done the pain now where are those lovely images?
I haven't unpacked the car yet, as I only got back at about 6.30 last night and just took out the essentials as I was too tired. I did some preliminary post processing at Kelling (just for reassurance), and also finally got to grips with High Pass filter while I was there. Was going to leave all the astro kit in the car ready for Saturday, but I'll see if I can dig out the laptop.
Carole
Some-one on SGL managed to get an image of the aurora. It's a 30sec sub so picked up much more than the eye could see. I didn't see all that red, but my 5min subs cooking away on M101 were very red.
As I say I also saw white beams as well.
http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-widefield-special-events-comets/158323-aurora-kelling-star-party.html#post1987905
Carole