DSC report Aug 2017

[Carole]

Three of us went to DSC this last weekend, Roger for 2 nights and myself and Dave from Swanley who both spent 3 nights.

Friday was only clear for about 1 hour maximum - enough time to polar align, focus and get a little bit of data.  Saturday was clear with intermittent cloud interruptions, so we stayed up to 3.30am.

Sunday night was gloriously clear except for a short cloud interruption for about 40 minutes which gave me time to sort out my miscreant laptop (the capture software kept freezing, not recognising the filter wheel, and not downloading and starting the next sub, so I changed to my spare laptop, but continued to guide on the original, by the time I had sorted all that out, the skies had started to clear again.

Dave T is from Swanley and a member of Star Gazers Lounge who i have previously met at SGL camps, and he seems to like it at Cairds so i think could become a regular, this is the 2nd time he has come.

He is an imager but also likes to do a bit of visual, so was showing Joe Public things like Andromeda etc.  I was most amused by his method of balancing a Megrez 72 on a Star adventurer.



Here's a photo of him with his campervan.



His scope for visual


Had some glorious weather - was really glad I had an Awning for my campervan, but it was really hot to pack everything up at the end.

No DSC next month because of Kelling, but here's hoping some of you regulars will be able to come in October (weather permitting).

Carole

[ApophisAstros]

Really enjoyed my two days, highlight was sitting and admiring the Milky Way and thanks to Dave's help  I've managed to Dither in APT.
I thought it was a great crowd of fellow campers as well , very appreciative of the subject and one couple even took the trouble to buy a "plant pot" to cover their bright porch light on their tent after "WORDS"from Carol .  All very amicable though...lol
Roger

[Fay]

well that looked like a good time had by all!!

Fay