Astro Camp, May 2015 …

I have now just about recovered from Astro Camp (though still tired and quite sunburnt) – a fantastic weekend-long star party in South Wales’ Brecon Beacons. It’s a relatively small affair, though this one it did seem busier than previous events, but it was absolutely brilliant! The observing was somewhat spoiled by cloud cover, but that really didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits.

So, what did I see? Well, Saturday was clear enough for a very good view of Saturn, which I hadn’t viewed since last autumn. Seeing wasn’t particularly good, so I couldn’t use much magnification, but at x75 in my 16mm MaxVision the planet looked bright and clear, with the rings tilted nicely. Can’t wait for a ‘proper’ look at that. M13, and M92, Alberio, Jupiter, and Venus all showed themselves in the gaps in the clouds, and apart for some solar observing during the day (obviously), and a brief and hazy glimpse of the Owl Cluster in my binoculars on the last night, that was it really.

So, whereas the observing wasn’t great, the social side of the event, the tutorials, and the brilliant talk on asteroids and comets by Nick Howes, more than made up for it. I caught up with friends I’d made on previous Astro Camps, met some new and very interesting people, looked through and discussed new scopes and binoculars, had a few beers, took part in a quiz, and listened to music and people’s astronomy stories (everything from observing reports to why they chose their new scopes/eyepieces, etc). It was a total ‘immerse yourself in astronomy’ experience; and I loved it!

Of course, being on the winning team in the quiz was an unexpected bonus, but that’s a whole other blog post …