Astrocamp - Brecon Beacons - 7th to 10th Sept.

[doug]

We have lots of new television stars being created then ..... Mike, Carole, Kylee, Petra and.... and ..... 

[Mike]

The sky last night was fantastic. Very little light pollution here and milky way visible from horizon to horizon.

As Carole said, Lucie Green spent some time with my gear and the society coronado filming a spot. A nice sun halo had appeared and they took the opportunity to film a short segment about it. Later one of the cameramen attached a Mallincam (very nice) to it to film a very large prominence.

Chris Lintott was filming a segment with someone who had baked some astronomical themed cakes.

Pete Lawrence is apparently here but haven't seen him yet.

Later when it was the dark the TV crew were wandering around with a night vision camera and spent some time filming Petra and I with Petra's 6" babydob.

Although the sky was fantastic it wasn't great for imaging as clouds kept rilling in then clearing away then repeat. So I just set up my Nikon with fisheye to do some shots of the sky.

This morning it is cloudy and looks like it might rain. It rained a little over night too but there is a possibility of another clear night tonight.

Went to the toilet and Chris Lintott was in there having a shave.

The campsite has WiFi, which is impressive, although it is slow and unreliable. Better than nothing though as there is zero mobile signal up here.

Pictures to follow...

[Mike]

Lucie Green and the Stargazing Live crew filming a short segment with my gear and the Coronado.



Cameraman with a nice Mallincam attached to the Coronado.



The view through the Mallincam.

[Carole]

We had a planetary imaging talk late morning followed by a Q&A filmed session with the Sky at Night team.  Then this afternoon we had an excellent talk in the pub from an Astrophysics student on Exoplanets etc and "is there life elsewhere", followed by an Astronomy quiz which the S&N people all joined in as well.  First prize was an Altair Astro Triplet refractor and not a small one at that!!!!  We didn't win it. 

It's been raining but we are as ever hopeful it might clear for tonight.

Carole

[MarkS]

Cool!

That Mallincam looks the business.

What's the red "string" wrapped around the tripod legs?

Mark

[MarkS]

"is there life elsewhere"

Yes - plenty of it - just down the road at Myrthyr Tydfil.

[The Thing]

Cool!

That Mallincam looks the business.

What's the red "string" wrapped around the tripod legs?

Mark

My guess is Firemans Hose (that red liquorice stuff).

[Fay]

Myrthyr Tydfil! Richard Burton had fantasies about that place. remind me to tell you one day...........................

[Carole]

Well last night was grim, clouds, clouds and more clouds and it's been raining all night.
Fingers crossed that tonight will be ok.

Carole

[Mike]

Mark - The red stuff is electro-luminescent wire. I've spiraled it around the legs and it glows dimly red. It stops other people and also myself from accidentally kicking the tripod legs. Duncan, it looks exactly like red licorice laces.

Yesterday was cloudy. The Sky at Night crew came around again filmed me setting up and then James (I think that's his name) did a short interview piece with me and my kit. They asked me to send any pictures I did to them but it was cloudy all night and nobody got a thing. Later they filmed Lucie Green in front of my kit as the cameraman thought the glow from my laptop screen onto my face looked cool. Most of the night they were filming either Lucie, Chris or Pete saying how great the skies were and how clear it was. Even though in truth it was clouded over. Obviously some clever editing will take place with some shots of clear skies in-between from Saturday night. The BBC crew are packing up this morning and leaving.

It absolutely chucked it down last night and now it is foggy across the valley. Forecast says there is a chance of clear sky tonight so fingers crossed.

Mike

[MarkS]

The red stuff is electro-luminescent wire.

That's exactly what I need at home for marking the outside steps in the dark.

Sounds like you're having a great time there despite last night's weather.  Looking forward to watching the programme.

[Carole]

Lunchtime Monday, the clouds are clearing.  It's forecast to be clear tonight and tomorrow night, so might stop one extra night.

Carole

[Mike]

Well last night was clear but there was a lot of moisture. A lot more light pollution was visible due to it. Still a lot better than Kent though.

Tried to image but it was very frustrating. Got about 5 frames of the Crescent and then clouds rolled in. After that it was wave after wave of clouds followed by clear sky. Really frustrating.

In the end I kept losing my guide star so gave up.

[MarkS]

Same here.  Really excellent sky at first, then it filled with moisture, then it dripped on my laptop, then my laptop filled with moisture and died, then it clouded over.

[Carole]

I had one of those evenings where nothing would go right on Monday, typical when you have lovely dark skies.
Had just done an alignment and stood up and hit my head on the counterweights so had to start all over again.  I can't remember all that happened but I know I had to align about 4 times in all.  Then I found my dew heaters weren't working. Swapped my hub to my spare which worked the last time I used it, swapped my power supply, but still not working.  All dewed up by this time.

In the end I went round the large group of Astronomers a couple of rows down and asked if any-one could help.  Some-one loaned me a hairdryer, and some-one else loaned me a dew heater controller (not used one of those before, as my DH's are just plug and play).  Got the guide DH going but the main imaging scope was only warm on one side.  Subs don't look good, so I don't think they did the job properly.  Stayed up a lot later than Mike, but then went down with a really rotten cold.  

Feeling really rotten - Faced with the prospect of stopping another night in the cold and damp or driving home 200miles and getting back in the warm I decided the latter was the sensible option.

I could have done without all the packing up and such a long drive, I just wanted to crash into bed.  

On the way home I got held up for half an hour on the M4 between Bristol and Swindon area, because there was a car on fire in the central reservation, high flames and black smoke, I was about 7 cars back.  3 policecars, 2 ambulances and the fire brigade were called.  No idea what happened as I couldn't see a 2nd car, so presume it hit the central reservation because that's where it was parked, the car was smashed in at the front and totally burnt out.  Also can't find anything in an internet search.

Carole

Carole