M33 LRGB stacks. No processing.

The best one night stand ever!

Monday 17th of September 2007 11:36:37 PM

I now know what truly great skies looks like. Saturday just gone was my long-awaited trip to the autumn star party at Kelling Heath. I can't honestly remember a great deal but I'll do my best...

So I woke up far too early saturday morning (excited, moi?) knowing that I had a bit of a day of it, what with plasterers coming round between 8-9 in the morning, my mother in law coming over later on and I had to sort out my stuff by lunchtime. TBH it was a chaotic morning and when Phil (my brother in law who was coming along) came over, I was well glad to be getting out of the madhouse :).  Fortunately, Kelling is only a couple of hours away by car so we arrived by mid-afternoon and had ourselves sorted, ready for the night ahead. There was a fair few people I had met before at the StarGazers Lounge star party earlier this year and a few new faces, all good people and no sad faces amongst us. As we were fed by the crack team of SGL chefs and waited for the sun to go down a couple of us decided to have a tour round the place as the event was taking place on two fields, many many serious setups around, some costing tens of thousands of pounds. Not exactly Grab & Go most of them!

Light cloud above but nothing serious and just as the sun went down it magically disappeared! When things like that happen, you just know you're in for a treat! Got the mount aligned and even when it wasn't fully dark I could see far more stars than what I could normally see from my back garden. Gradually, as the light faded, the glory of a truly dark sky was there to be seen. I could have quite happily sat back in my chair and looked up, marvelling at the bright Milky Way and picking out constellations I'd normally never see. But as the scope was there... Way too many objects to remember specifically but all the favourites I've seen before but much, much better! Martin from SGL VERY kindly lent me his 17mm Nagler eyepiece for a while and you can see why these things cost way into three figures! Super wide field of views with no distortion whatsoever and clear as day, marvellous stuff. I managed to wander over to the other field and had a look through a 12" Takahashi cassegrain scope which was amazing. Jaw-dropping views that only a big scope like that could provide. Another moment to remember. 

After quite a long day, I couldn't literally stand no more and I gave up at 1.30 and turned in. I didn't get much sleep at all and I had to relieve myself at 5am and to my surprise there was 3 guys still up capturing images! That's dedication for you. I've seen some of the results and they were certainly worth it, no question. Sunday morning came and most people were pretty hazy from the night before, tired but happy. A superb breakfast from Cafe' SGL supplied us with the fuel we needed to get us through the day and after saying out goodbyes, it was time to leave.

 I consider myself to be pretty lucky as to go there for one night and see skies like that. I've only ever seen close to that when I've been on holiday up in the highlands of Scotland. A great night and something to be put in the memory bank and fondly remembered when things aren't going so well. What got me was even though the event was fully booked and the site itself was pretty busy, then atmosphere was laid back and EVERYONE was friendly and happy to help out one another. You'd consider stargazing to be a fairly solitary pastime (and it could quite easily be like that) but forums like SGL and star parties like this shatter that image. In fact, I would say that as a communal thing, stargazing can be a great way to meet new people and share the love of something. 

I'm off to Kielder Forest in just under a month for a long weekend for another star party. If it's as good as this, then I'll be one happy bunny. I'm not expecting it to be as warm though!

Clear skies all,

Tony..