Wednesday 12 August 2015

I travelled to Kilmington near Mere for the Mendip and Dorset (MAD) Viewers Perseid watch on Whitesheet Hill. The lovely sunset was seen from the pub as we had a drink before driving up to the top of the hill. I set up my 30×100 APM binoculars on the homemade mount while a strong but warm wind kept the dew at bay. Frequent meteors were seen, including one that went off like a camera flash leaving a smoke trail but the clear skies were interrupted by frequent banks of cloud.

The clouds gave a good opportunity for some landscape photography and I did some casual viewing with Jonathan Gale until we saw the Pleiades rising out of the murk  at about 0115.  All in all a fun if not particularly productive night.

 

 

 

Saturday 15 August 2015

What a weekend! After a wildcamp in Bentley Woods and a day at the Bushcraft Show with Ed Hopper, we travelled to the Andover AS (of which I am now Secretary) Star BQ. It was partly cloudy but a good opportunity to eat loads and for some casual stargazing with the APM binos on their new mount. I also had some excellent views through Ian and Wendy’s 4” Genesis. What can be better than eating and star gazing? We even caught some meteors although I seemed to be facing the wrong way each time. I certainly heard lots of oohs and aahs! A great fun evening as we dodged the clouds!

Updated on 30 August: alas it has been wet and cloudy since these last two updates. I am now counting off the days until we fly to France for a week at Les Granges.