Galloway Star Camp where real Astronomers stay 'till monday

Wow! Galloway star camp 2011. What a blast! In my opinion the best ever. Not only were the first 2 night’s awesome skies but this year the crowd and the craic were the best.

I decided this year to go for the week so I arrived on the Wednesday 28th and got to the camp site at around 0630 a.m. I drove on to my usual pitch (5) and saw this figure approaching me out of the darkness. I immediately thought either I'm in someone else’s pitch or I had just run over the farmer's prize cow. Neither of these assumptions was correct and it was Geordie Mike inviting me over to the caravan for a welcome coffee (nice surprise) and bacon sandwich too! Ooooh had I just died and gone to heaven?

After the much needed sustenance I set about getting my tent erected. Those of you that saw me last year in the miniscule festival tent will recall I was flooded out on the first night. This time Camp Dasoc (Dunfermline Astronomical Society) was to consist of a 6 berth huge tent with standing room all to myself :)
I was buggered if I had a clue how to put it up and was grateful again to Mike and his pal Robin who came over and helped me to erect it in about half an hour. With the tent erected I started to unpack the grossly over packed car. About an hour later I went to the superb shower block facilities for the 3 S's and then got a couple of hours of kip.

Later that afternoon I proceeded to set up my gear for the evening. This year I had taken my new Astrotrac setup complete with AT wedge and AT 310 head ( a superb piece of kit) I had also got with me a celestron C6 SCT mounted on a CG5 mount (overkill I know) for some visual work.

The Astrotrac was mounted on a very heavy steel tripod and attached to the head was my Equinox ED80 and a Canon 1000D modded by myself. I had also taken some 15x70 Binos for wide field viewing.all I need now was darkness.

Evening came and I set about polar aligning the Astrotrac and went to connect the camera to my laptop and DISASTER I had forgotten the USB to connect the camera. Now I know you'll say I could have imaged without the laptop just saving the imaged to the camera's SD card, however, I wished to use the excellent APT software to control my exposures etc. So where was I going to get a cable from at that time of the night? Step in Geordie Mike to the rescue Thanks Mike! ( Later learned that Mike did in fact need that cable for himself but he managed to cadge one off Ace astroimager Robbie Ince who was 2 caravans down from me (talk about musical chairs:)
I particularly wanted to shoot the horse head nebula this year but as Orion would not be favourable until about 4a.m. I decided to try for M31 in Andromeda. I took a single 120 second exposure to check if I had it in the field of view (I was using a red dot finder) and all seemed ok so I shot a single 420s exposure which was not too bad however the background was still kind of browny-orange indicating that the dark sky wasn't so dark. The weather it seems was conspiring to cast a light mist on the proceedings and therefore the sky was subject to some sky glow. I wish it had been November as I remember the skies were black then. Upping the ISO to 1600 I took a series of 6 images for later processing and moved on. The many visitors to my little outpost were amazed at the Astrotracs' ability to produce nice round stars.

 Several expressed that they had owned an Astrotrac in the past but were unable to get these results. I asked if they had the AT wedge and head. They said no. Most were using the Manfroto route whilst good for wide field you really need something more substantial. This to me is the crux of using the AT, you need perfect balance, level and polar alignment, and then it works! So investing in the AT wedge and Head is the best money you will ever spend.
I waited for Orion and after what seemed an age it gradually crept above the horizon and first images of the Alnitak region was taken.
I should mention that during the whole evening we had the chorus of the cows in a field behind mooing and farting. At least they masked Brummie Carl's own chorus  LOL.
Did I mention Brummie Carl? He that taught me all I know about astrophotography. Last year I was very new and hopelessly lost about imaging and after seeing Carl's efforts I asked him for some help, "keep at it son, it will come in the end" he said. And with that he returned to his imaging :) Well, I was inspired! Thanks Carl.

I visited several of the other tents and caravans that evening and saw what everyone else was up to. This was the first year that everyone mingled and mixed and what a great experience it was too. I had a look through a couple of big Dobs and saw some stunning views of Jupiter. I finished off the night with a coffee laced with whisky and went to bed at 0500. What a difference to last year! nice double air bed and so cosy slept like a log after that whisky.

 Hi all, got up at the crack of 1130 :) and made breakkies. Eggs, bacon, tomatoes, black pudding, square slice, sausages and fruit dumpling topped with baked beans and toast (now that's the full monty) After gobbling that down I took a run into newton Stewart about 9 miles away to get some Camping Gas as I had forgotten mine at home and also noticed I had forgotten my pills so had to call home and get the wife to royal Mail SD them to me. On the way back to camp I called in at Wigton and purchased a couple of Astronomy books at the Wigton Book Fair.

On return to camp I had a look at the previous nights images and processed the pics of M31 Andromeda. I walked around the camp talking to some of the new arrivals and helping them to set up their tents (as I had been helped).

One thing I noticed the night before was how vunerable the tripod legs were to well intentioned onlookers so while in Newton stewart a trip Aldi's saw me buy another set of wind breaks which i erected around the imaging area, much better!

The night drew on and all indications were that it would be a cracker! how right they were. I should at this point mention that I changed the orientation of the tracking arm of the AT from 10 o'clock to 8 o'clock to facilitate easier slewing to Ursa Major and wish I hadn't bothered as the stars were trailing at 420s ever so slightly so, plan B!( Iwish Richard would come up with a way of rotating the AT tracking arm in the field at night without having to unscreww the bolts and repositioning. Perhaps some kind of lockable rotating collar?)
I dropped the exposure time to 90 seconds and shot 10 subs of each target, result?nice pin sharp stars. But part of the sky was now inaccessible because of the angle of the arm. (Richard OK for just a DSLR mounted on the Astrotrac but not for a scope mounted on the arm -sigh- )

Steve Foy one of the organisers of the event came around to see everyone was O.K. which he had done on the previous night. Steve, however having started at the Scots lads tent (of whom I will say more of later) Arrived at my tent 3 parts to the wind LOL and insisted they had forced him to try several different Highland Malts. Lucky Bugger!
I thought this was a nice touch as Steve was able to help with any queries we had ( not that I had any queeries in my tent, no all was above board and there was no impropriety whatsoever :)


The night wore on and i was getting some great images of M42 etc, Horse Head, M33 and the Pleiades. I also popped across to one of the tents that was opposite to me and met a lovely couple Neil and Karen. They invited me for a cup of tea and we started chatting i noticed as the Flaps were open, (hang on I'll rephrase that) as the Front flap on the tent was open, I could see into the bedroom and noticed the biggest camp bed i'd ever seen. It was a full size full height inflatable type and duvetted up and had nice frilly pillows. This bed was to become the talk of the camp. Karen told me that one of the conditions of following Neil around Britain at starcamps was that she should have all the luxuries normally afforded to a camp follower. (hang on I'll rephrase that- nah on second thoughts I won't hehehe) Anyway neil let me have a butchers at the Crab Nebula through his impressive C11 and waht a view I could see tendrils of fine nebulosity. I have never visually seen that! Along came Robbie and we tried to see the flame nebula visually with the C11 although me and Robbie saw it faintly, (remember Alnitak is very close) Neil was having difficulty and asked what he should be looking for and I told him it looks like Marijuana. Karen shouted, "OH yes! and how would you know?" well I've seen pictures of it you know :)
Well as I said (moving quickly on) lovely couple and I hope to see them again soon. I should also mention that Neil was involved in a dramatic helicopter rescue of an injured person down by the sea. Neil you are a hero! and I do hope that you managed to trade on Karens loving admiration and buy a Nagle 13mm LOL.

The rest of the night was taken up till 0630 by images of Orion Nebula, Running Man, Flame, Horsehead, M33, M45 and many others. All in all a perfect night.

Day Three and it's raining on prom night!

Sorry about the title of the page (page 3) but no topless babes here ;)

 

Well here we are day 3 and it's Friday and it's raining heavily and the forecast looks terrible for the rest of the week. I feel sorry for the ones arriving today. The sky was terrible and rather a dull day but thank heaven for Mike's caravan a veritable Oasis. I spent most of the day in there processing images and getting some instruction from Robbie Ince on levels and curves in photoshop. Thanks Rob. Had an early night and looking forward to tomorrow's events at the Kirkinner Inn. Yawwwnnn Zzzzzzzzzz.

DAY 4.....the talks

Saturday and another dreech day in Galloway but decided to go for a full english to the Kirkinner Inn and arrive to find a gang of the campers already sitting waiting eagerly for their breakfast and watching the England V Scotland game at the Rugby World Cup.
Scotland are in the lead and the Jock's from the Scots lads tent are very noisy in their support. I order breakkies and wait and by this time Scotland's fortunes have changed for the worse and the boys are very dissapointed ( I learned a few new words too LOL)

Breakfast was super and lots of it. I return to camp and nearly crash into a deer that suddenly runs across the road and my whole life flashes before me. I drive very slowly down that road from now on. I make my way down to the Kirkinner Inn again at 13:30 to get a good seat and findmost of the camp had the same idea and there are no good seats :(

John Rose has a fine display of Astro goodies for sale and I do a little retail therapy and lighten me wallet a bit. I get a drink and find a seat and wait for the talks. Now bearing in mind last years talks I wasn't expecting too much, How wrong I was!

Robbie Ince (see picture below) gave an excellent talk on Astro imaging and delivered it with a style that allowed all levels of competence to understand and enjoy it. We all learned something from his great talk and the lovely Astro Images he shared with us. There was a lively Q&A session after his presentation which Robbie handled very well indeed.

The next presenter was Keith Muir who is the Head of Tourism & Communication at Forestry Comission Scotland. Now I was not sure if this would be of interest to me or anyone else but what a pleasant surprise! His presentation was enthralling and very informative indeed. Keith works tirelessly for the preservation of our dark skies and is to be commended for the hard work he does on all our behalf.




Steve foy suggested in his summing up that next year we could hire a bus and have tour of the dark sites in the forest. Cracking idea Steve!

Very nice to see Mike Alexander at the talks. Mike took time out from his busy schedule to ensure the day went smoothly.
After the talks I saw Guy (Coco) propping up the bar and consuming the most enourmous plate of double burger and chips. I had to have an emergency burger too.

We entered into conversation and it seemed to go on forever. Indeed it did as we ended up in Geordie Mike's caravan at night and talked until the early hours (and drank wine :) This was where we cam up with the idea for a readers wive's type page on the web site for your telescope ( I'm laughing to myself now thinking about it). We kept folornly looking out to see if the skie would clear but to no avail. It was becoming clear that the first two nights were all we were going to get.

Some hardy types battled on and stayed on though Sunday. Highlight of the day was Sunday Lunch in Mike's caravan and those bananas and custard tasted like profiterols and fresh cream after a week of tinned food and eating out of pan (Ireally must organise myself better next year :). The afternoon was taken up by getting ready for the evenings supposedly clear skies! (that was a laugh)

The evening wore on and despite trying to remain optimistic it was a losing battle and the cold realisation was that wedneday and thursday were all we were going to get this year.

 Robbie and I we the only ones up at 3a.m. trying desperately to see something in the break in the clouds.

Well that was Galloway Star Camp 2011. A fantastic experience and new friendships forged through the love of wonderful hobby, Astronomy.

The usual big hearty thanks to Leslie and Ralph fro the superb facilities at Drumroamin' Farm and I am counting the days until next year.

Geoff

 ...... to be continued

Images from Galloway Star Camp 2011

Horsehead and Flame Nebula Orion


M31 and satellite galaxies in Andromeda

M42, M43 and Running Man

 Messier 1 the Crab Nebula a selective crop of a tiny portion of the full size image.