AstroCamp 9 - At Season's Start

My Official Start to the 16/17 Season.


I quite like the band Green Day.  I wouldn't call myself a die hard fan though.  I've been to see them once.  I've got a few of their albums and might even be able to strum a few chords of a couple of their songs.  As I left AstroCamp yesterday lunch time, the rain was being driven against the windscreen of the van by the breeze swirling around the hills and mountains of the Brecon Beacons.  Before I got as far as the Farmers Arms, some familiar notes came from the radio.  The opening sequence to Green Day's 'Wake Me Up When September Ends'.  I always find myself in a very reflective but positive mood when I leave camp and this time was no different.  The subject of the song doesn't have a connection with AstroCamp,  In fact, it's about death, memory and missing a close relation.  Out of all those lyrics coming out of the radio though, there are a couple taken out of the original context of the song which made me smile.
Here comes the rain again
Falling from the stars
Drenched in my pain again
Becoming who we are
This Autumn, we've had all sorts of weather thrown at us.  From driving rain to wonderfully clear sky with bright sunshine, and those lyrics taken from the chorus of the song pretty much sums up AstroCamp for me.  We spend a huge amount of time when looking up, either looking for gaps in the cloud waiting for an end to the rain, or spotting the stars and constellations through brilliantly clear skies.  We stumble around camp during all hours of day or night getting drenched, but jumping at the smallest chance to get some observing or imaging in.  That, as the lyrics say, is just who we are.

Camp started a day early for me this year, arriving on Friday after a rather hectic half day in work.  The tent was pitched and the site was already populated with familiar faces from all around the country.  Some of the most eager people had turned up even earlier in the week, determined to be there and ready to go when the clear sky put in an appearance.  The buzz and excitement had already started.  As a bonus, Friday evening produced an opportunity to get stuck straight in with the observing and imaging.  For this first evening, there was no need to drag all my kit up the hill onto the common area because there was plenty of room around me with clear sky above, so I set up the AVX mount and the Dob ready for a bit of imaging and observing,  It must be said, conditions weren't the most steady, or clearest.  There was a great deal of moisture in the air and at times, visibility was a little patchy, but for a couple of hours at least, there was always something to look at or photograph.  I tried two different imaging runs that evening.  The first was of M33, the Triangulum Galaxy,  It was positioned just above some nearby trees, so I could get a view of it.  I could observe it through the 150p telescope, so I put the camera on, and started the run.  Results though were disappointing.  In the final stacked image of 30 x 90 second frames, and even with a couple of hours attempted processing, only the smallest sign of the galaxy could be coaxed from the data collected.  In fact, the data has now been binned.  I thought this was going to happen by looking at some of the sub frames as they were coming onto the screen, so at the end of that run, I decided to go for the tried and trusted Andromeda Galaxy.  It's often the first choice for astrophotographers and observers.  Sitting in the constellation of the same name, the galaxy is huge in terms of deep space targets, quite comfortably filling the frame of most cameras.  I let the AVX track the constellation while the camera run worked through it's list of exposures.  It was quite a short run, taking in the following:

  • 15 x 60 second at ISO 400
  • 15 x 60 second at ISO 800
  • 5 x 60 second dark frames at ISO 400
  • 5 x bias frames at ISO 400
This is the result of stacking that data and putting it through some processing.  I'm surprised, and very pleased with it, although I think with better conditions, resolving more of the core of the galaxy should be possible.  I'm particularly pleased that some of the dust lanes of the galaxy have come out.

The Andromeda Triplet of Galaxies.  M31, M32 and M110
Saturday is the first official day of camp.  It's when most people arrive and the campsite gets prepared for the rest of the event.  Shutters are put up over windows to block out as much local light pollution as possible,  The common is officially takes it place as the main centre for observing and meeting people, and the camp HQ is created.  Soon, it was thriving with people catching up with each other and meeting new people.  There was even a collimation talk thrown in for good measure for people who wanted a refresher on how to carry out this extremely important task.  However, the prospect for observing on this first official night was absolute zero.  It rained.  It rained lots.  It rained in the only way in which it does rain in the Brecon Beacons.  So, what do astronomers do when they haven't seen each other for a long time, and the rain puts pay to any observing?  Well, back at Astrocamp 8 in May, I started my blog post of the camp by saying that amateur astronomers are a bunch of hardened drinkers with an astronomy problem.  That pretty much sums up my experience.  In with the rain, throw in a marquee, trying to attach, and then re-attach walls to the marquee in the dark, a mini keg of beer, bison vodka, a Chewbacca mask and a bunch of like minded people with a rubbish internet connection for good measure and you might start to get an idea of what could happen.  Let's leave it there.
Sunday.  The day of rest.  At least, the day of getting up, having breakfast, and then going back to bed for a couple more hours following on from the previous nights antics.  As is tradition, Sunday is take over day at the village hall, and the Spiral Arms is born once again.  It's an afternoon requiring a degree of concentration, but relaxing.  For me, there are two highlights of the whole afternoon.  One being the main pub quiz, and the other being the talk.  The pub quiz is always great fun, with some excellent prizes being put up for grabs courtesy of Tring Astronomy Centre.  This year's main prize was a small refractor travel telescope, followed by some vouchers and then DVD's and books etc.  The great thing with the quiz is that there is usually a prize reserved as a beginners prize, often given to the people who scored the least.  Plus, this year, in an act of incredible generosity, the first prize winners decided amongst themselves that they had no need for the refractor telescope and insisted that it was put up as a prize for the younger contingent of the gathering.  An impromptu quiz for the under 15's was arranged and the prize was given to the winner.
We then moved onto the main talk for the afternoon.  Dr. Chris North of Cardiff University, an AstroCamp regular, gave the most interesting and well pitched talk on a topic that is incredibly complex.  The discovery of gravitational waves.  Starting with an explanation of Isaac Newtons equation describing gravity, then moving onto Albert Einsteins theory describing the existence of gravitational waves, Chris was able to explain this is apparent ease in a way which I found quite easy to follow.  Even the workings of LIGO were put across and described in such a way that people from a none scientific background could follow.  I could have quite happily listened all afternoon to the information that was being offered.  I found it a very engaging afternoon, just brilliant.
That afternoon, rumours started to gather some momentum about the potential for some observing opportunities for Sunday evening.  With one eye on the weather forecasts I made the decision to leave the AVX and photography kit in the scope tent for the evening.  I broke down the dob, and carried it up to a spot on the common ready to snatch any chance I could get at observing.  The choice was a good one.  We were blessed with some excellent skies for more time than the initial forecast gave.  There was a great buzz of excitement on the common.  As I sat down on my little stool and waited for darkness to arrive, trying hard to pick out the first stars of the evening, I could hear people around me receiving help and advice from others on how to use their scope and get the best out of it.  It brought home how important events like this are for our hobby, and for people on their very first steps into amateur astronomy.  Collectively on the common that evening, there was literally hundreds of years of experience on all different aspects, and the most generous thing about it all is that everyone is only too happy to help anyone.  I could hear people experiencing their first views of Saturn with the yelps of excitement and disbelief.  I even heard the winner of the under 15's impromptu quiz, Harvey, cry out that he had accidentally found the double cluster with his new scope.  This brought quite a few laughs and chuckles from around the darkness of the common.  It all adds to the experience of camp.
My own observing list for the session was quite extended.  It was a mixture of new targets and old favourites.
  • NGC 7790 - an Open Cluster in Cassiopeia
  • The Ring Nebula in Lyra
  • The Bubble Nebula with UHC filter in Cassiopeia
  • M29 - an Open Cluster in Cygnus
  • M72 - a Globular Cluster in Capricornus - tricky to find and quite low on the horizon
  • M73 - an Asterism in Aquarius - again tricky to find and quite low in the night sky
  • NGC 457 - the Owl Cluster in Cassiopeia
  • NGC 7563 - a Galaxy in Pegasus
  • Andromeda Triplet - M31, M32 and M110
  • NGC 7789 - an Open Cluster in Cassiopeia
  • M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy in Canes Venatici
  • M101 - a Spiral Galaxy in Cassiopeia
  • The Cygnus Loop - the visible portions made up of the 3 parts of the veil nebula.  NGC 6960, NGC 6992 and Pickerings Triangular Wisp
The Veil nebula, under the conditions offered at AstroCamp is simply stunning.  It has confirmed itself as my favourite Summer time target.  When observed at UHC, it simply pops out of the background of the Milky Way at you.  I was able to observe 3 main parts to the nebula and spent more time observing it than any other object.  It was also my absolute pleasure to show it off to around 8 or so other people, most of whom had never seen it before.  Words can not describe.
Alas, unfortunately, the session was brought to quite an abrupt end when rain was felt on the faces of people trying to eek out the last observing opportunities as the cloud began to threaten.
I didn't want to leave my telescope out overnight given the the forecast for further rain overnight, so I brought all the kit back to my own scope tent and bedded down for the evening.
It's becoming a bit of trend at the moment for the last full day of camp to become a bit of a washout.  Weather warnings had been released for the rain during the day on Monday and extending into Monday night.  This meant that many people, myself included, decided to pack up and leave early with no foreseeable chance for any sort of observing to take place on the final evening.  It does mean that one part of camp, High Tea, on the common does suffer a little.  In the halcyon dreamy days of wall to wall sunshine and uber dark skies, people would be found around the common sharing stories in the sun, relaxing, and getting ready for the final nights observing.  This time, it was not to be.  
So that was my experience of AstroCamp 9.  It's always sad to leave camp, and I find myself in the familiar process of having to re-adjust back to normal home life.  Each time I've returned from camp, it's been like returning from the end of the best holiday that you never want to end.  We now find ourselves waiting for bookings to open for next Spring when it will all begin again.  I so much want to go again and will be waiting for news for when bookings open.
I've already posted my thanks to the event organisers, but once again, thanks to Ralph, John, Damien, Paul, Jennie and Chris for all the hard work put into getting the event up and running.  Thanks to everyone who took time to stop and talk and laugh and not cry!  I sincerely hope to see you all again at AstroCamp 10!

Comments

  1. Lovely Blog post. I had to miss Astrocamp this time, but you've almost made me feel I was there.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the descriptive blog. Was enjoyable to read!
    Looking to go to my first astrocamp this autumn.. Is there power available at the site? I am mobile with my setup but I may be purchasing a new astro camera that may need its power adaptor plugging into some juice!! 📸😅
    All the best
    Wayne

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your comment, Wayne. I'm glad you enjoyed the read. I try to do a similar post after each camp. Have a flick through my other posts too :-)
      In answer to your question, yes. There is power available at the site. The Astrocamp pitch allocation is split into 4 areas.
      The top field has power on each pitch, and pretty clear views around the sky. It is also the most popular, so quickly gets sold out when the pitches go on sale.
      Then there is the Common area. There is no camping on this area, and it is reserved for communal observing/meeting up etc. However, there are power points there which are free to use, so if you need to recharge powerbanks, phones, laptops etc. then that's a place to do it. I don't think they permit trailing leads there though, because of people moving around the observing area in the dark.
      The lower field has electric pitches too, but they are amongst trees, with limited access to big patches of the sky. Having said that, you can usually set up your kit and see at least a portion of the sky from there. It is where I have stayed for a majority of my attendances.
      Finally, there is the bottom field, which has quite clear sky to the South and West. All the pitches are large, and have electric hook-ups. However, this area is next to the road running through the village. Astrocamp organisers make arrangements for the streetlights to be switched off at 10pm each evening of camp, which makes a difference, but you still have vehicles passing with their headlights on.
      Give the Astrocamp Facebook page a like, and follow them on twitter. They will announce when tickets go on sale, and there are plenty of opportunities to get more information on individual pitches etc.
      Clear skies,
      Tony

      Delete

Post a Comment