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2015 Lyrids

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8 years 11 months ago - 8 years 11 months ago #103925 by johnflannery
Replied by johnflannery on topic 2015 Lyrids
Great report Al ... that is real dedication to plan a meteor watch of that duration.

Ben, Val, Paul and myself set up last night at a forestry parking area close to Drumgoff, where the road that climbs out of Glenmalure begins to plateau. We arrived about 10pm with nayer a cloud in the sky and it remained like that until we packed up around 2am.

Lots of satellites, a smattering of meteors -- with Paul capturing a rather nice one on camera -- and plenty of celestial sights to sweep up. Ben showed us comet Lovejoy which is still a fine sight. We also picked off objects like M81/M82, M13, Saturn after the witching hour, satellites, some Leo galaxies, Jupiter, satellites, a handful of clusters, the Moon and Venus ... did I mention satellites? Boy, it was M50 rush-hour up there.

For me, it was great share the evening with the guys and just generally shoot the breeze while admiring the sky wheeling above our heads. I think we did more unaided eye observing than anything else, just getting familiar with the star patterns again under a dark sky. The transparency wasn't good enough to really appreciate the galaxies we saw but seeing the bustle of billions of stars at mind-boggling distances in the eyepiece really stirred the imagination.

Many thanks guys for organizing and to Ben who guided us back on to the main road home where I fell asleep having fallen in love with the hobby again.

John
Last edit: 8 years 11 months ago by johnflannery.
The following user(s) said Thank You: lunartic_old, Al costello

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8 years 11 months ago #103927 by lunartic_old
Replied by lunartic_old on topic 2015 Lyrids
Not much to add to that John, it was a great site that Ben discovered, lovely views to the north, east and south, the west wasn't too bad, just a few trees. It lies by the side of the road, though there were only three cars that passed us by, I would like to go back sometime later in the year, as I can imagine the Milky Way arching high overhead and diving south into Sagittarius would be stunning. It would be a great location for winter too, if it weren't for the roads, being that high up you are guaranteed ice on the surface, and I for one, would not like to be travelling back down that hill on any icy road, it was bad enough trying to avoid the cat that sat on the side of the road and watched us pass by. I guess we could always book into the Glenmalure Lodge for the night.

I haven't reviewed my images yet, like Al I believe that it is a case of three hundred images and one useful. The meteor that I managed to capture was a sporadic, it fizzed towards the eastern horizon, passing into Scorpius, with Saturn close by, it was a star trail image of Saturn rising that I was attempting at the time.

As regards the Lyrids, I only managed to see one really exceptional meteor, it shot overhead in the direction of Leo, there were one or two minor examples, the seeing was a contributing factor.

It was great craic with the lads, there were deep philosophical discussions such as Father Ted, The Simpsons and Spitting Image.

It was just great to be out in such good company and I look forward to doing ti again.

Thanks guys.

Paul

Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better programs, and the universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the universe is winning.

Rich Cook

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8 years 11 months ago - 8 years 11 months ago #103930 by astroman145
Replied by astroman145 on topic 2015 Lyrids
Alright lads had a good night Don,t know why I brought my scope had a better time looking with the binoculars and talking from father Ted to only fools and horses to occasionally hear "you missed that one ".
I thought Ben was bringing us on a mystery tour of wicklow but it turned out a good spot afterwards with only three cars to annoy us.
Thanks for good night by the way Paul I thought I heard a certain musical instruments when we were leaving sounded like banjos :laugh:
Last edit: 8 years 11 months ago by astroman145.

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8 years 11 months ago #103931 by lunartic_old
Replied by lunartic_old on topic 2015 Lyrids
That last line will confuse a few people. :laugh:

Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better programs, and the universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the universe is winning.

Rich Cook

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