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Impressions of Hardraw, August 12-14, 2005 ...
Our first visit of 2005 is an astronomical and culinary success ...!
After being in work for 0730, I was able to make an early start (1600)
for travelling to Harris House along with my friend Andrew. By all accounts
it was a very good journey - no traffic delays and the Sun was shining.
Things were looking very promising indeed - that was until we left Ingelton
...
The Sun gave way to cloud and it looked like it was settling over the
top of Hardraw! On arrival we were met by others who told the same mournful
story: 'It was clear until entering Yorkshire ... '
As the evening wore on and various people made the trek to the chip shop
in Hawes, I took the opportunity to have a nosey around everyone's equipment.
What an array of fantastic instruments - 10 and 8" Meade's, lots
of refractors and binoculars and a brand new 8" reflector (you know
who's that was don't you?!). Most intriguing of all was Alan Banks' meteor
and satellite detection equipment.
By the time those who were fully chip and fish-laden returned, the sky
was slowly starting to improve - but only a little. A lamentful Derek
Sherwin had spoken to his wife in Alsager who was enjoying a completely
clear sky and bright Perseids ... Hmmm, thoughts of returning to Cheshire
crossed my mind. Then, the Moon broke cover and it looked lovely, hanging
low in the West. Many of us watched in binoculars as it sank towards the
horizon. Just before, I had been speaking about my experience watching
the green flash of Venus earlier in the year. With this in mind I was
watching the Moon as it set behind a nearby hill. Sure enough as the smallest
hook of the crescent remained, it turned from an orangey-yellow colour
to bright yellow-white and then finally to a pure icy green. Again, the
green flash! I ran into the hall and out to where we had all been watching
the Moon previously, fully expecting others to have been watching, and
you know what? No-one had been.
Of course, when I spoke of my observation a chorus of 'Yeah, yeah' erupted.
'Tsk' I said, 'We must all look for it tomorrow night'. Deep down I knew
they were just jealous ...!
Later we found ourselves huddled along the wall facing West as I gave
an impromptu observing session with binoculars directing others as we
travelled through Sagittarius sweeping up M8 the Lagoon nebula, M20 the
Trifid nebula, the Sagittarius starcloud, open clusters M6 and M18, the
Omega nebula M17 and various others. It felt so satisfying to be outside
under the stars. Our observations were occasionally interrupted by a bright
Perseid or two streaking across the sky leaving trains behind them. The
first I saw was in fact a binocular meteor, which was very impressive
indeed. Oddly, the train it left seemed to be in two components similar
to a jet's contrail (before you think it, no it wasn't!).
Shortly after, the sky was completely clear with the Milky Way metaphorically
'blazing' overhead. It was beautiful. It took me a while to decide to
get my telescope out because I was so engrossed in just drinking-in the
starlight and the falling meteors around me.
First stop with my 'scope was NGC 6992 - the Veil nebula. This object
has become a routine stopping place under Hardraw skies. I can't get enough
of it. Many people looked though the 8" and let out gasps of amazement
because it was so bright. Even those who weren't seasoned observers could
see it and were fascinated when I told them it was the remnants of an
exploded star.
Actually, whilst I refer to non-seasoned observers (in the nicest possible
way) it was nice to see a fair few new faces as well as the 'Hardraw Hardcore'.
The message about our observing trips seems to be reaching far and wide.
I digress ... I went on to observe the Scutum starcloud and M11 the Wild
Duck cluster taking note of the dark nebula in the vicinity.
I soon decided to pack the telescope away in favour of my camera in order
to try to capture one or two Perseids. Now that I have seen my results
it seems that I missed them all - how typical! Still, I have some nice
Milky Way images to process. Whilst I took pictures of the sky I spent
more time simply using my eyes to appreciate the night sky splendour.
All too soon, even though it was about 0300, clouds began to gather and
obscure the stars. Interestingly, as the thinner bits came over it was
still possible to see the Milky Way shining as a diffuse glow through
the clouds - that's how bright it is at Hardraw.
After packing equipment away happy observers chatted inside then we migrated
outside under the cloud canopy, still stared at the the sky - desperately
searching for stars. Mars remained visible for sometime tempting us to
bring out our 'scopes out again, but when we decided it might be a good
idea, he'd promptly disappear. It wasn't a very fair game of hide-and-seek,
I can tell you.
Talk of astronomy quickly broke down into comedy, and as happy as we were,
we now began to laugh out loud! It seems that early morning darkness does
strange things to the soul.
At 0430 we went to bed.
Next morning after a lazy breakfast (make that early brunch) we pottered
around discussing observations and hopes of clear skies for later. The
rain gave way to sunshine and we piled outside with PST's and white light
filters to observe the Sun. I got the chance to get my hands on Roy's
Canon 20D SLR (and my old 4" Vixen refractor that was once mine)
and imaged the solar disk for him. I think he was pleasantly surprised
how easy astro-imaging can be - I hope it encouraged you to try more,
Roy.
An interesting series of observations were made with my PST and Stephen
and Diana's PST stacked with the instrument for lowering the bandpass
and hence showing more solar surface detail. It was very nice to use and
certainly presented more detail, but was it worth the price tag? I thought
not, but it certainly made me think I'd want one!
The evening arrived and a short trek to Simonstone Hall was rewarded with
a fabulous meal - one of the best I've had in a while. I think collectively
we'd agree to that fact. A really superb find, and no doubt we'll go again
and again when we visit Hardraw.
As we waddled home slowly, squeezing through stiles that were easily dispatched
on the outward journey, the sky was fairly clear. On arrival at Harris
House things looked less favourable. Once again we found ourselves huddled
against the westward-facing fence hoping the sky would clear ... When
it started to rain, we knew the game was over. We raced inside, sat down
and talked, or flaked-out depending on how you felt. It was at this point
we watched one member (who shall remain nameless) who kept almost falling
asleep whilst 'nodding' back and forth with his mouth wide open. We coined
this state the 'Hardraw Nod'. Most fun to watch!
After another (and perhaps another) Scotch the group dwindled as we retired
to bed. I think it was almost 0400.
It was all over far too quickly, and we never did get to see the green
flash on Saturday ... Here's to our October trip.
Andrew Greenwood
Click on an image to see a larger version.
Hardraw astronomy weekend by Megan Argo
The village of Hardraw is pretty dark. On the Philip's Dark Sky
Map of the UK it lies in a patch of blue which corresponds to a visual
limiting magnitude of 5.5 to 5.75. The theoretical limiting magnitude
of the average human eye under perfectly dark conditions is about magnitude
6, so Hardraw is pretty good. (One of the things about astronomy is it's
slightly bizarre measurements, mostly due to the fact that astronomy is
such an old science. Magnitudes get larger as objects get fainter, so
magnitude -27, the apparent brightness of the Sun, is brighter than magnitude
0, the apparent magnitude of a star such as Vega, which is brighter than
magnitude 6.)
Malcolm, one of our members, gave me a lift up on Friday afternoon, and
during the drive up the weather looked very promising. Most of the way
we had clear skies and sunshine, until we got north of Lancaster and into
the Yorkshire Dales National Park at which point we encountered thick
grey cloud. Typical. Still, we were not too upset as we've had worse evenings
turn out reasonably. Sure enough, by sunset the skies were clearing slightly
and most people had set up their telescopes just in case. The sky was
patchy for quite a while but that gave us plenty of opportunity to investigate
the range of equipment that had been brought along. There were short-tube
refractors, large schmidt-cassegrains and a few newtonians, as well as
several different styles of camera.
My favourite was Alan's new aerial: a quadrifilar helicoidal antenna which
is used to pick up weather satellite transmissions at 137 MHz. It's a
beautiful-looking piece of technology, a helical structure constructed
from copper piping. The signal is sent through a hand-held scanner, the
output of which is fed into a computer using the soundcard line in as
an analogue to digital converter. Some software then takes this signal
and translates it into an image, similar to the way a fax machine works.
When he set up for the first time we heard the satellite through the speaker
on the scanner and the software appeared to be receiving data, although
the picture on the screen looked rather like noise. After the satellite
had passed below the horizon the data was processed a bit and we got an
image. It may have been cloudy in Hardraw, but the skies were clear over
Sicily!
After that, the skies cleared up nicely and we were treated to some of
the best seeing conditions we have ever had. The Milky Way was easily
visible rising in the east underneath Perseus, running overhead through
Cassiopeia, Cygnus and Aquila, and setting behind the hills in the west.
There is so little light pollution there that the Galaxy can be seen almost
to the horizon. While some chose to recline in deck chairs watching for
Perseids, others spent the evening hunting for faint deep sky objects.
I spent most of the evening sat on the wall with my camera taking time
exposures of the Galaxy, accompanied by a soundtrack composed of a baseline
of whirring motors, periodic calls asking if anyone wanted to see such-and-such
an object, and a chorus of 'ooohs!' and 'ahhhs!' as meteors flew overhead.
The Perseids put on a good show this year. There were many faint ones,
and several really bright ones that left glowing trails that persisted
for several seconds in some cases. One was even seen to break up as it
appeared to fall towards the roof of the hut.
Saturday dawned cloudy and wet. Making the most of being out of Manchester
for a bit, I decided to go for a walk, even though the weather was gloomy.
The Pennine Way runs up the track beside the hut so I headed off up Great
Shunner Fell in the occasional downpour. I got to the top as the cloud
descended so turned around and wandered back in the general direction
of the village. As I got back, the sun made an appearance so out came
the solar telescopes (you don't go on an observing weekend expecting to
get any sleep!). Unfortunately the break in the weather was temporary
and the clouds were back by the time we had finished dinner.
Despite the cloud, it was still a great weekend. The sky on Friday night
really was one of the most spectacular sights I have seen in a long time.
Rarely is the seeing that good, and for that to coincide with a night
when we happen to be far from any light pollution was really, really lucky.
----
Notes from a Hardraw Astronomonger by Derek Sherwin
Arrived friday evening. Good journey up the M6 (for a change). Drove through
sunshine and blue sky until I got to junction 37 at Kendal, when it became
cloudy - typical! Met up with the others at Hawes chippy. Had a good meal
and a chat before heading off to Harris House.
Arrived at Harris House, emptied the car, established which bunk I sleep
in and hoped for clear skies.
No such luck at first, wall to wall cloud except for a thin slot on the
horizon which gradually crept up on us offering tantilizing binocular
glimpses of the nebulae in Sagittarius, a region of the sky which I have
never seen (not even naked eye) up until that moment.
After frantically setting up the LX 90, I got superb views of the region
in and around Cygnus. Old favourites such as M27, M57 and M13 in Hercules
stood out like beacons, with the Milky Way forming a bright arc across
the sky. I also took wide field constellation photos on 35mm to compare
with those taken at home.
We also had clear enough skies to see the Perseid meteors. several 'ooohs'
and 'aaahs' sounded throughout the night, as many were quite bright, leaving
trails.
It was good to see a variety of scopes being used, from Apo refractors
to Newtonians and large Schmidt Cassegrains. It was also good to see binoculars
being put to good use too. Finally, the cloud got the better of us and
we retired into the hall to chat and discuss the nights viewing, I fell
into bed at about 4.30 am.
Saturday dawned with wind and rain. Being new to this area, I decided
to go out and explore when the weather finally subsided. I thought I'd
go for a walk up the hill at the back of Simonstone and take some photos,
i'd not been hillwalking in years and it felt like it.
Managed to recover in time for the evening meal at Simonstone Hall, fantastic
food and great company, what more could I ask for?
Suitably fed and watered, we trooped back across the fields, in the dark,
to Harris House, hoping for yet more clear skies. Sadly, no such luck,
we adopted the standard stance for astronomers, head back, eyes straining
for a clear patch, hands in pockets, generally looking depressed. Several
scopes stayed indoors that night.
Instead we put the world to right over tea, coffee, Malteesers and whiskey,
(sometimes all at once).
Early night that night, 2.30 am.
After a superb breakfast on Sunday it was time to pack up and head for
home. Altogether a fantastic weekend. Would love to go again.
----
Hardraw – 12 to 14 August 2005 by Stephen and Diana Willcox
The clouds parted to give us a two hour window for observing the night
sky on the Friday night. Many meteors were spotted during this period
with much 'Oohing' and 'Aahing' from us all.
With the fish and chip supper providing inner warmth, we were happy to
show several members of the Society a varied selection of double stars
(Albireo, Vega, _ Andromedae, _ Delphini and 61 Cygni) with our 10 inch
Meade LX200. We then went on to look at several deep sky objects including
the Ring Nebula M57, the Dumbbell Nebula M27, M13 – a spectacular
globular cluster in Hercules and NGC7006 in Delphinus – one of the
furthest globular cluster associated with our galaxy and about 185.000
light years from us.
At 2am, we tried looking for the Garnet star using co-ordinates only.
We had not tried this before and only succeeded in twisting the leads
of the telescope around one another. This hopeless mess meant that we
abandoned the session early, just before it clouded over.
On Saturday we did some solar observing with our Coronado PST Hydrogen
Alpha telescope. We have recently acquired a T-Max tuner which screws
onto the PST and by narrowing the bandwidth to < 0.6angstrom gives
more detail. However in order to see the features clearly it is necessary
to move the PST so that the feature being observed falls into the middle
of the field of view whether or not the tuner is used. A tripod with slow
motion controls makes it much easier to move the image around to see this
detail. BC&F latest offering does the job admirably.
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 July and August updates ...
The bright twilight nights are slowly giving way to darker skies and the prospect of revealing a little-known nightly sight. Away from the towns and cities, the Milky Way will soon be glimpsed meandering through the constellation of Cygnus. This river of stars was worshipped by the ancient Egyptians ... Nowadays, especially when we approach the end of Summer, it's astronomers that turn their gaze skyward and praise the sight of a myriad of stars arching high above them.
The following sections have been updated: This month's night sky and observations.
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Would you like to join our newly formed visual observing group? We will now be holding regular observing sessions at some of our dark-sky sites across Macclesfield. If you would llike to be added to our contact list, don't delay ... Click
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For information on our observing
field trips to Hardraw, Yorkshire ... Click
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Our Workshops continue to be a
great success. As a result we are looking for more of you
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