Tweedledee Posted March 13, 2013 Share Posted March 13, 2013 Had an enjoyable night getting chilled to the bone with Damian (Damnuut) at the new Mansfield Dark Site. Here are a few snaps from my iPhone... https://dl.dropbox.com/u/104047272/762.jpg https://dl.dropbox.com/u/104047272/765.jpg https://dl.dropbox.com/u/104047272/773.jpg We set up Damians Bresser 152 refractor just after 6pm with high hopes of seeing comet Panstarrs. We had a great western horizon as you can see in the photos but initially we had lots of cloud. Almost as soon as the Bresser was fitted to the mount, we had a blizzard of snow. Damian put a plastic bag over the eyepiece in the Bresser and I zipped my 10x50s safely inside my coat and we stuck it out. The snow soon blew over but the western horizon and comet remained obscured by some cloud. As it got darker the thin moon was visible intermittently through gaps in the cloud and we had some very nice views of it through the scope with bright earthshine on the dark side. We were willing the cloud to move away, but despite our optimism, as the cloud moved slowly lower, so did the comet. So we never saw it even with a 98% cloudless sky. We packed away at about 8pm having had an enjoyable session in a pretty good sky, after checking out a few of the usual objects through binoculars and the Bresser. The Bresser gave some superb views of the Orion Nebula with its associated clusters and the Pleiades. We also had a nice wide field view of bright asterism Persson 1 alongside cluster NGC2169 in Orion with a 32mm Plossl. Damian commented on a little CA visible on Sirius which is to be expected, but the rest of the views through the Bresser were absolutely stunning. I scanned around a lot with my 10x50s spotting lots of fuzzy little clusters and the Andromeda galaxy but could not make out galaxy M33. M44 the Beehive looked great in the bins and Melotte 111 the massive Coma Berenices cluster showed well. M41, M35, double cluster, Stock 2 a few satellites and numerous other DSOs where glanced at. Lots of simple stargazing was done and despite not seeing the comet, we both agreed that it was really nice to get out under a starry sky again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tweedledum Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 Nice one Pete, have just defrosted!. Was great to get out though and have a small session. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T A WOW Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 Nice report thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angusw2 Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 Nice report Pete and is similar to my Mansfield comet hunt last night. I also had a scan with my 9x35 binos and saw Messiers 31, 41, 44, 35, 36, 37, 42 and 45 aswell as the double cluster. I was interested to hear of a 'Mansfield Dark Site', I didn't think that was possible! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 I just like to point out that the "Mansfield Dark Site" has nothing to do with EMS. It is a personal site which Damian and Peter found and use. If our members do use the site just bear in mind you are not insured under the club insurance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tweedledum Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 (edited) I think the 'dark site' was somewhat tongue in cheek!!!!!. It is the field at the top of my culdesac, that just happens to have a westerly horizon. And as it was snowing it was the nearest place to go without driving out.... Totally, absolutely, nothing to do with EMS not mentioned, and all about trying to see a comet that the great cloud gods deigned to cover . Edited March 14, 2013 by Tweedledum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweedledee Posted March 14, 2013 Author Share Posted March 14, 2013 Thanks Angus. You are correct Angus, the "Mansfield Dark Site" is a bit of an oxymoron It might have a fraction of a magnitude on my backyard, and it is good if we can't be bothered to trek to Belper. As Mick says, no EMS cover, we could have died in that blizzard! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 I would hate to fill out the insurance forms. What would I put. Died in a blizzard while viewing Jupiter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tweedledum Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 More like died of hyperventilation after trying to blow the 2% cloud cover from the only bit of cloud in the sky...Bitter, twisted, yes, Jupiter and the Orion Nebula ...priceless.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweedledee Posted March 14, 2013 Author Share Posted March 14, 2013 Comet kills stargazers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ely Ellis Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 (edited) "Comet kills stargazers!" They never saw it coming Edited March 16, 2013 by Ely Ellis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tweedledum Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 Hi Martin, Damn right we didn't! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brantuk Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 I'd just put "died without insurance" hahaha! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ely Ellis Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 Not covered by insurance, deemed 'Act of God'! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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