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SPRING 2015
WELCOME TO ASTROCAMP
It’s our aim to continue the AstroCamp tradition of being the friendliest and most helpful star party there is. So, if
you’re feeling sociable, come and set up around 'The Common', near the reception and the AstroCamp HQ tent. If
you want to look through a range of scopes or ask questions, 'The Common' is the place to come!
In this pack, you find a guide to the scheduled events and talks that will
will be taking place this AstroCamp. All talks,
events & workshops are included in your admission, so please feel free to come along to any or all that you’d like.
We've also listed five objects each, as a starter for planning your observations over the weekend.
week
All the observation
times are listed in UK local time.
Apart from the Astronomers in the Pub event on Saturday afternoon, all workshops will begin from the AstroCamp
HQ tent on 'The Common'.
Having outgrown the pub, the Sunday afternoon talks & quizzes
quizzes will be held at Cwmdu Village Hall. This is easy to
find: from the Farmer’s Arms pub, continue north on the A479 and turn left after 140m. All events are free.
HOW TO GET TO ASTROCAMP
AMP
By Train: The nearest train station to Cwmdu is Abergavenny. Bus services run weekly to Cwmdu so booking a taxi
from the train station is recommended. Taxis
Taxi cost around £25 each way, but most operators seem to be happy to
negotiate a fixed price if you guarantee that you will use them for the return journey.
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By Car: Cwmdu Caravan & Camp site is located four miles north of Crickhowell just off the A479 Turn right at the
Farmers Arms public house in the small village of Cwmdu and follow the signs for 300m.
PLEASE NOTE: While SATNAV may bring you successfully
successfully to the area it may NOT deliver you to the campsite. Please
follow the "camping" road signs from the Farmers Arms public house for the final 300m to the campsite.
Campsite Address: Cwmdu Campsite, Cwmdu, Crickhowell, Powys, NP8 1RU
CAMPSITE LAYOUT
Unless pitching in the 'Unallocated Pitching' section, please pitch in your allocated area according to the map below.
ASTROCAMP EVENT SCHEDULE
Saturday 9th
En route to Cwmdu, listen to the Awesome Astronomy special podcast extra just for AstroCampers!
13:00 ............... Arrive at campsite, pitch up & set up.
17:00 ............... Meet & Greet. Come to the gazebo on The Common to meet new friends, share stories & a drink or
two.
18:00 ............... John’s collimation workshop on The Common - to help make sure your scope’s mirrors are perfectly
aligned for 3 nights of stargazing.
21:00 ............... Paul’s star hopping & navigating tutorial on The Common. Learn how to find your way around the
sky.
Sunday 10th
10:00 ............... Eric’s Solar SUN-day - solar observing in white light and hydrogen alpha on The Common.
Once again, we'll be holding the Sunday afternoon talks and quizzes at the Cwmdu Village Hall. We have a licence
to sell ale, cider, lager and wine at the Village Hall but you’re welcome to bring your own drinks.
14:00 ............... The main Astronomy Pub Quiz - keep your teams small as you won’t want to share the prizes!
14:45 ............... Guest talk - astronomer Nick Howes takes us on an exploration of Comets: Cool and Catastrophe...
history of exploration and fear.
15:30 ............... The Champions of the Universe Quiz - for those who want to really show off what they know. And
you're playing for beer.
16:00 onward .. we have the village hall all day, so people are welcome to stay and socialise. We'll close it in time for
people to get their scopes set up before nightfall and for Pat's tutorial.
19:00 ............... Pat’s equatorial GOTO setup tutorial on The Common.
Monday 11th
14:00 ............... High Tea on 'The Common'. Bring food, drinks, (guitars?), chairs & tables if you have them, for this
social gathering that proves so popular each year.
17:00 ............... Pat's "Considerations When Buying Your First Telescope" tutorial on The Common.
Tuesday 12th
12:00 ............... Leave campsite & book for 19th-22nd September 2015!
NIGHTLY SPECTROSCOPY DEMONSTRATION
This camp Damien will be giving demonstrations
of amateur stellar spectroscopy. Including
explanations of the equipment and software
needed, as well as what you can learn from the
spectral profiles that are generated.
The demonstrations will be held nightly, just
after dusk, at the bottom of 'The Common'.
GUEST SPEAKER - NICK HOWES
Nick Howes is an amateur astronomer, former deputy director of the Kielder
Observatory and freelance science writer whose work has included the European
Space Agencies Science Portal and NASA Blueshift.
A Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, he has written for Astronomy U.S, Sky
and Telescope, Popular Astronomy, Spaceflight and many other publications and
websites, including major work for the world’s largest telescope project, the
Square Kilometre Array. A speaker at international conferences, he has shared the
stage with Apollo astronauts, NASA MSL teams and some of the world’s leading
experts in comet research.
His images of comets and asteroids have graced the NASA home pages on
multiple occasions. Have won awards and been featured by the like of National Geographic, The Times, Universe
Today, Space.com, The Financial Times and Discovery Channel Science as well as multiple books and peer reviewed
journals.
For 5 years, Nick was the Pro-Am Programme Manager for the twin 2-metre Faulkes Telescopes, where he
coordinated projects with the European Space Agency on their near Earth object program, ESO on massive star
cluster observations and NASA’s comet observing campaigns as well as projects with the U.S based Space Science
and Planetary Science Institutes monitoring a range of comets and their activity.
With the Planetary Science Institute and Space Science Institute teams Nick works on observations he makes with
large robotic telescopes around the globe focusing on comets and their morphology. He also contributes data to the
Italian CARA comet research group on dust measurements for cometary bodies.
Nick has over 430 NASA ADS citations for observational work on comets and asteroids, and is in the Guinness Book
of records for leading a team of UK Astronomers in creating the World’s largest image composite of the Moon taken
by ground based observations.
A STEM ambassador in the UK, he has appeared on both BBC television and radio and he regularly features as the
official astronomer for the BBC in the South West of England. He is also the tour leader for astronomy holidays in
Africa and Oman and was technical consultant to the GEO Observatory in Andalucía, Spain.
RALPH'S DSO IMAGING TARGETS FOR BEGINNERS
My picks are all visible in a 4” (100mm) scope and can be imaged in 1 minute exposures with a tracking mount. With
a good polar alignment, you may be able to take 3 minute exposures or longer. But look at them carefully and if the
stars look like they’re smearing, discard them and take slightly shorter exposures or refine your polar alignment.
Come and ask me if you have any imaging questions and any of the imagers on site will be happy to give you pointers
if you’re new to astrophotography.
M13 - THE GREAT GLOBULAR CLUSTER IN HERCULES
High up in the east, and well placed to observe or image as
soon as it’s dark, Messier 13 sits roughly two thirds the way
along a line imagined between the stars Zeta and Eta Herculis
in the keystone shaped asterism in Hercules.
This is the largest and most spectacular globular cluster for
northern hemisphere observers. M13 is a gravitationally
bound ball of more than a quarter of a million stars, 22 light
years away in a halo around our galaxy. This wonder has
become a firm AstroCamp favourite.
A one minute DSLR exposure from an alt/az or equatorial
mount will show dozens of individual stars. If you have an
equatorial mount, try taking longer exposures or stacking lots
of 1 minute exposures in Deep Sky Stacker - don’t worry if you’ve never tried stacking images before, we’ll be happy
to show you and you’ll be surprised at how much detail you can reveal.
NGC 869 & 884 - THE DOUBLE CLUSTER
Dipping in the sky, so better to image or observe as soon as
it’s dark, The Double Cluster can be found by locating Gamma
Cassiopeia (the apex in the centre of the ‘W’ shape of the
constellation anytime after darkness sets. Draw a line from
Gamma Cassiopeia to Ruchbah at the bottom left hand dip in
the ‘W’ and follow that line for the same distance. You’ll
almost certainly see a large faint smudge of light with the
naked eye.
Using a small scope or binoculars will show it as two pretty
star clusters in the same field of view. They’re actually moving
towards us at 25 miles per second but, luckily, it’ll take 13
million years to get anywhere near us!
As with M13, a one minute exposure with a DSLR fixed to a scope will easily reveal the mass of stars in these two
clusters. Multiple images stacked in Deep Sky Stacker will be almost as good as taking much longer exposures.
M51 - THE WHIRLPOOL GALAXY
Perhaps the most mesmerising of the brighter galaxies,
Messier 51 lets you see two galaxies merging high up in Ursa
Major all night. The dark skies of Cwmdu will let you see the
famous Whirlpool Galaxy at its very best and 1 minute DSRL
exposures will show you far more detail as these two
monsters enter their inevitable death spiral.
Find the star Alkaid – the first star in the handle of the plough.
Trace a line to the next bright star to the right, Cor Caroli.
About a quarter of the way and just above that point along
the line to Cor Caroli sits a unique wonder for amateur
astronomers.
VENUS
As inferior planets (planets that orbit closer to the sun than
Earth), many people are often surprised to see Venus and
Mercury with a ‘phase’. The outer planets always show a fully
illuminated globe but the inferior planets often look more like
a small moon than a planet. In fact during AstroCamp, Venus
will be showing a 63% lit gibbous phase – much as our moon
does each month.
Venus will be the first ‘star’ you’ll see as the sun sets as it’s far
brighter than all the stars and 6 times brighter even than
Jupiter. Look West and you won’t miss it until it sets around
midnight.
Being so bright Venus is best imaged with a fast frame rate
planetary camera or webcam but a fast shutter speed setting on a telescope mounted DSLR will let you grab a very
good image of the second planet and catch that Venusian gibbous phase. I’d recommend a low (200/400) ISO and
shutter speed of 1/250 as a starting point, but adjust the shutter speed to get the exposure just right.
COMET C/2014 Q2 (LOVEJOY)
With a few faint comets around in May 2015, it would be
remiss of us not to give you the opportunity to take a snap of
one. The brightest one at the moment is Comet Lovejoy,
which would have been naked eye visible under Cwmdu’s
skies in February but is now fading.
Saying that, Lovejoy’s still visible in binoculars and small
telescopes and that makes it ideal to take an image of too!
To find Lovejoy, look north for the simple house-shaped
constellation of Cepheus and the star in the apex of the roof,
Errai. Follow the point of the house through Errai for about
the width of your outstretched hand and Lovejoy should be in
the field of view. A one minute exposure with a DSLR on a
telescope should show you the fuzzy ball of the comet’s nucleus. Under these dark skies you may even record the
green hue caused by diatomic carbon venting from the comet. If you stack 5 or 10 one minute exposures in Deep Sky
Stacker, you’ll see even more detail.
PAUL'S VISUAL DSO HUNT
For this camp I am going to suggest a tour through what looks like a pretty unremarkable pair of constellations, both
with odd names, Canes Venatici and Coma Berenices. What these constellations lack in readily identifiable shape and
size they more than make up for in deep sky targets, between them they contain 13 Messier objects!
M94
I have chosen a series of targets to draw you through these
neighbouring constellations and we start with an object that
sits between and above the two main stars of Canes Venatici,
Cor Caroli and Chara. These stars are quite close together and
forming a flat triangle with them is galaxy M94. This is a
tightly wound spiral with a magnitude of 8.2 making it slightly
brighter than that most famous of Canes Venatici galaxies
M51 and at 14 million light years distant it less than half the
distance of the whirlpool. Small telescopes in a dark sky will
start to get a hint of the spiral arms, medium and large
telescopes will certainly be able to tease out the detail.
COR CAROLI
Before moving on to our next target do take a look at the star Alpha Venaticorum, or Cor Caroli - which means
Charles’ Heart and is named for one of the two King Charles’ in the 17th Century though there is debate about
which. You will see that it is an easily resolved double with the brighter of the pair being a curious variable that is
believed to dim due to enormous starspots that cross its surface.
M3
Our next DSO is M3, a globular cluster that is thought to be
the Messier original (despite being designated 3) and is the
object which pushed the comet hunter to create his famous
catalogue. It is a bright cluster but one that can be hard to
locate as there is no easy bright star nearby. If you locate
Arcturus by following the handle of the plough and curving
down, then following a line back to Cor Caroli you should be
able to locate M3 not quite half way along that line. It is
bright so is not easily missed and is visible in your finder
scope if you are paying attention. This is perhaps one of the
best globs in the northern hemisphere and is magnitude 3.2
despite being almost 34,000 light years away
COMA BERENICES CLUSTER
Now it is time to look for our next constellation and like Canes
Venatici, Coma Berenices is not a stand out bright group of
stars. But one good signpost in a dark sky is the naked eye
cluster known as the Coma Berenices Cluster. This is about
250 light years away and can be seen as a fuzzy area of stars
about half way between Cor Caroli and Denebola in Leo. This
represents the hair of Queen Berenice of Egypt. You should
be able to locate the three main stars of the constellation
forming and upside down L shape.
NGC 4565 - NEEDLE GALAXY
Using the cluster as a reference you should be able to locate
our next DSO to the east of it about halfway down the cluster.
Here you will find a spectacular edge on spiral galaxy that in
medium telescope will show a dark dust lane and a bright
central bulge.
M64 - BLACK EYE GALAXY
From NGC 4565 draw a line to the brightest star in the
constellation Alpha Comae Berenices, the one nearest
Arcturus and the opposite end of the ‘L’ to the cluster. You
should be able to locate a star called 35 Comae and M64 is
very close. This galaxy is the famous Black Eye Galaxy and
even in a small telescope a darker region in the centre will be
revealed. This galaxy is magnitude 8.5 and is just 19 million
light years away which makes it far closer than the Virgo
Cluster.
M53 AND NGC 5053
The last object is one that often gets overlooked because of
the presence of so many galaxies. M53 a globular cluster is
easily located near Alpha Comae and should be in your finder
scope if you place it on Alpha Comae and nudge it slightly to
the east by about 1 degree. Here you will find 100,000 stars in
a ball 300 light years across about 65,000 light years away. As
a bonus, move your scope a just over a degree to the southeast and see if you can locate the faint globular NGC 5053.
This is a globular that has been disputed as a such in the past
but is now been firmly proved to be a globular cluster, though
lacking that bright central core. There is some evidence that it
was a globular of the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical galaxy that is
currently in the process of merging with the Milky Way.
DAMIEN'S SOLAR SYSTEM ROUND UP
MERCURY
(ALL TIMES IN BST)
DIAMETER: 8.6"
MAGNITUDE: 0.8
Look to the west at dusk to spot the 'Messenger of the Gods' hot on the track of the setting Sun. Just past the most
easterly point in its orbit, Mercury should be visible for about an hour before it sets behind the hills.
Rise: Day
Culmination: Day
Set: 22:24
VENUS
DIAMETER: 17.9"
MAGNITUDE: -3.7
Venus is currently sitting in the constellation of Gemini, just under 3° from 1 Geminorum. At magnitude -3.7 , you
don't need a star chart to find it, just look west at dusk!
Filters: #25 red or #38A dark blue to bring out the upper clouds.
Rise: Day
Culmination: Day
Set: 00:17
JUPITER
DIAMETER: 36.8"
Jupiter is currently sitting in Cancer, and can be spotted easily by looking SSW at dusk.
Filters: Blue to bring out rills, festoons and the GRS, dark blue for the belts and GRS.
Rise: Day
Culmination: Day
Great Red Spot Transits:
9th
Start: 20:45
Midpoint: 22:45
11th Start: 22:30
Midpoint: 00:30
Moon Transits:
10th Europa
Set: 01:40
End: 00:45
End: Jupiter Set
Start: 20:01
End: 22:58
Moon Shadow Transits:
10th Europa
Start: 22:31
End: 01:31
Moon Occultations:
10th Ganymede
End: Jupiter Set
Start: 22:51
MAGNITUDE: -1.64
SATURN
DIAMETER: 18.5"
MAGNITUDE: 0.28
Saturn is currently sitting in the constellation of Scorpius so don't expect it to get very high in the sky this season, or
for most of the next decade! Don't let that get you down though, the rings have increased in tilt since last apparition
to 24.5° providing a fantastic view.
Filters: Blue to highlight the cloud bands and poles, yellow-green for the Cassini division.
Rise: 23:05
Culmination: 02:06
Set: Day
2 PALLAS
DIAMETER: 0.3"
MAGNITUDE: 9.31
DIAMETER: 0.1"
MAGNITUDE: 9.69
2 Pallas is the second asteroid to have been discovered, in
1802 by Heinrich Olbers. It was initially categorised as a
planet, until the discovery of other many other asteroids in
the 19th century, leading to their reclassification. Pallas is
one of the largest asteroids and accounts for 7% of the mass
of the asteroid belt.
You can locate it by drawing a line between Omicron Herculis
and Rasalhague, 2 Pallas can be found approximately two
fifths of the way along it., close to the 5.6 magnitude star HIP
87777.
Rise: 21:20
Culmination: 03:58
Set: Day
3 JUNO
The third asteroid to be identified, 3 Juno accounts for 1% of
the mass of the asteroid belt. It was discovered in 1804 by
the astronomer Karl Harding.
Juno can be found directly below Jupiter, not far off the line
between Acubens and Asellus Australis in Cancer.
Rise: Day
Culmination: Day
Set: 01:00
COMETS 22P/KOPFF AND C/2013 A1 SIDING SPRING
The In addition to comet Lovejoy mentioned by Ralph, there
are two other comets that will be visible from AstroCamp.
Although at magnitudes of 13 and 12, these will be out of
reach of small to medium scopes and are more suitable for
imagers.
Comet Siding spring is located two thirds of the way between
Dubhe in Ursa Major and Edasich in Draco on the 9th.
Comet Kopff can be located by drawing a line between Sigma
Virginis and Nu Virginis. The comet will be located just above
a point a third of the way along.
STAR CAMP ETIQUETTE
LIGHTS
Please only use red light torches at night. If you use a laptop, please cover the screen with a sheet of red acetate.
Toilet block lights will be switched off or covered in red acetate during the dark hours. We discourage the use of
laser pointers as they'll interfere with astroimaging and can be dangerous. Also, cigarette lighters produce light as
well as heat. Please screen your lighter flame from astronomers. Please be aware that lights inside tents and
caravans are also visible to people outside of them - red lights or no lights please.
This is the one piece of etiquette that will make offenders very unpopular - dark adaption takes up to half an hour to
achieve but only a second of normal light will take you back to square one.
EQUIPMENT
People will be happy to let you look through the eyepiece of their scopes but please do ask the owner before taking
a look. Be aware that telescopes are carefully aligned and assembled and as little contact to see through them is
best.
Be mindful of astroimagers. Astrophotography requires very steady and unobscured exposures, so please don't
touch or walk in front of a scope being used for imaging. We will try and set aside an area for astroimagers for this
very purpose. I'm told they're still a very friendly bunch despite their obsession with long exposures!
CARS
No car movements are permitted after dark, so please arrange to arrive before this time. Remember that opening
car doors or the boot always turns an interior light on so disable them if you can, or remove the fuse before sunset.
Alternatively, cover them with opaque tape, including those in the boot. If a bright light is unavoidable call out:
“LIGHTS IN 3 SECONDS” to give everyone time to turn the other way.
The best advice here is to remove everything you'll need from cars before nightfall and don't return to them.
CHILDREN
Children are welcome to the event, but please remember the field is dark, there are lots of very valuable bits of
equipment and many people will have carefully aligned their telescopes. Also, tired astronomers are often glad of a
lay in the following morning. Please keep your children and their volume under control.
NOISE
We want this to be an astronomy party, but please be considerate of others and refrain from any raucous behaviour
or loud talking. Some people will want to catch up on some sleep for a few hours during the night and others will be
sleeping during the day. Please be considerate of others trying to sleep when it is cloudy by not playing music late at
night.
RUBBISH
The site is rich in wildlife and a very pleasant place to stay. We would like to keep it that way. Please keep your
rubbish in a suitable container and dispose of it in the bins provided. Dark sites and loose rubbish do not mix well.
DOGS
Well behaved dogs are welcome to the event, but please remember the field is dark, there are lots of very valuable
bits of equipment and many people will have carefully aligned their telescopes. Also, tired astronomers are often
glad of a lay in the following morning. Please keep your dogs on a lead if they are anywhere near other people’s
equipment and barking under control.
Please also be mindful of others who might have a fear of dogs.
CAMPSITE PERMANENT PITCHERS
While we have exclusivity of the campsite regarding regular pitches, there will be some non-astronomer campers at
the site who have permanent pitches. The campsite owners have done their best to make sure that they are aware
of the star party etiquette, but in very rare circumstances they may be unable to keep a light off when visiting the
facilities. Please be respectful towards them.