I've said it before, but I really am getting slack in my blog updating since joining the ranks of the unemployed; it's been 5 days since we went out meteor gazing and I'm only just getting around to putting anything on here!
Anyway, here goes. Being keen, if not prolific stargazers, we wanted to get a good view of the Perseids meteor shower and this was the weekend when in theory we would get to see 'hundreds' of them. So although we would be able to see them from the back garden, it would be much better out in the Peak District with the darker skies.
Now we have been out there in the past to watch an astronomical event, we walked up Mam Tor on a crisp winter evening and sat on the top watching Jupiter for a couple of hours. I'd suggested going back up Mam Tor again but Donna suggested Froggatt Edge, and being about 20 minutes closer to home it was a good shout. It's not exactly a 'dark sky site' out there as you have Manchester in one direction and Sheffield the other so always get the orange glow from each city, and tonight the moon would be about 3/4 full so the heavens would be bathed in light - still worth a trip out there.
Now the gods were looking down on us as the skies stayed clear, and it wasn't that cold. Yes we wore coats, hat, gloves but never needed the extra layers that we had taken. We parked at Curbar Gap around 9:30pm and were surprised how busy it was. Lots of teenagers in their cars, some people finishing off evening walks, and a few like us that were venturing out onto the edge.
Obviously torches were required, it was now too dark to walk with artificial light, and dangerous at that. We walked for about 20 minutes then found a nice rocky outcrop which was to become our base for the next 3+hrs. And yes it was successful, Donna saw loads of meteors as she focused on the skies, I saw a few but the distraction of trying to catch some on the camera took a little away from my viewing time; I did still see 10-15 though.
We left just after 1am, arrived at the car around 1:20am and were back home for 2:15am - a long but very enjoyable night. Unfortunately the photographic aspect of the trip wasn't really successful, I caught a few on camera but the photos weren't up to much so I didn't publish any. A great night though and one I'm sure we will repeat again when the man up there throws us something interesting.
Anyway, here goes. Being keen, if not prolific stargazers, we wanted to get a good view of the Perseids meteor shower and this was the weekend when in theory we would get to see 'hundreds' of them. So although we would be able to see them from the back garden, it would be much better out in the Peak District with the darker skies.
Now we have been out there in the past to watch an astronomical event, we walked up Mam Tor on a crisp winter evening and sat on the top watching Jupiter for a couple of hours. I'd suggested going back up Mam Tor again but Donna suggested Froggatt Edge, and being about 20 minutes closer to home it was a good shout. It's not exactly a 'dark sky site' out there as you have Manchester in one direction and Sheffield the other so always get the orange glow from each city, and tonight the moon would be about 3/4 full so the heavens would be bathed in light - still worth a trip out there.
Now the gods were looking down on us as the skies stayed clear, and it wasn't that cold. Yes we wore coats, hat, gloves but never needed the extra layers that we had taken. We parked at Curbar Gap around 9:30pm and were surprised how busy it was. Lots of teenagers in their cars, some people finishing off evening walks, and a few like us that were venturing out onto the edge.
Obviously torches were required, it was now too dark to walk with artificial light, and dangerous at that. We walked for about 20 minutes then found a nice rocky outcrop which was to become our base for the next 3+hrs. And yes it was successful, Donna saw loads of meteors as she focused on the skies, I saw a few but the distraction of trying to catch some on the camera took a little away from my viewing time; I did still see 10-15 though.
We left just after 1am, arrived at the car around 1:20am and were back home for 2:15am - a long but very enjoyable night. Unfortunately the photographic aspect of the trip wasn't really successful, I caught a few on camera but the photos weren't up to much so I didn't publish any. A great night though and one I'm sure we will repeat again when the man up there throws us something interesting.
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