Trip To Dark Bortle 2 Site

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Refractordude
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Trip To Dark Bortle 2 Site

#1

Post by Refractordude »


The drive to Circleville West Virginia on October 24, 2019 took four hours. I stopped off at the Golden Carroll Buffet on the way. Minus two servings of rice with pot roast gravy, I ate Atkins haha. According to darksitefinder.com, Circleville West Virginia is a bortle 2 darksite. The night sky is diffidently much brighter than my two hour drive bortle 4 darksite. I could see more structure in the Milky Way. Be that as it may, the country side of West Virginia is very beautiful. The sight of the mountains and valleys was worth the long drive alone.

I used a 120mm f/8 achromatic refractor and 20x80 binoculars on a parallelogram mount.

Trifid and Lagoon nebula were very bright with nebulous not seen at my bortle 4 site. There is no doubt that gasoline is the best telescope filter.

M31 could be seen with direct vision. It was much wider than at my bortle 4 site. This galaxy is really huge. When it reached zenith I was able to see a hint of two dust lanes. With my 20x80 binoculars, it was jaw dropping. But not for long, time to get a zero gravity chair.

M110 was very visible but could not see any detailed structure.

M33 was a ghost, but a much more brighter ghost than at my bortle 4 site.

M74 was below the tree line. I waited a while, but could not find it on the first try. Got caught up with other sightings and forgot about M74.

M11-Wild Duck Cluster stars nailed real good with my Svbony Red Line 15mm eyepiece. I just wondered at the cluster. Thinking what might be out there kind of thing.

NGC 7293-Helix nebula was embarrassingly not found.

M45-Pleiades was very bright and for the first time I could see nebulous around the stars. Once again a great wonder observing it.

Was going to spend the night at the campsite, but changed my mind at around 1:00am. The mighty Orion was low above the tree line. I needed another two hours wait time to get a real good observation. Even low in the sky the NU Ori region was much brighter than at my bortle 4 site.

M78-Casper the Friendly Ghost nebula showed a ball of very faint nebulous and two tiny head lights.

Most of the time I moved in a circle, moving my parallelogram mounted 20x80 binoculars up and down. When I came across an interesting object I would enjoy with the binoculars, and then the telescope.

I will be paying a visit to this region of West Virginia again in the late spring. In the late spring M104 will be high in the night sky posing for my 6 inch aperture refractor telescope.
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Don Quixote
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Re: Trip To Dark Bortle 2 Site

#2

Post by Don Quixote »


Very good times, Refractordude!

I have enjoyed your account of darks skies and wonderful observations. The photos are icing on the cake.
You brought a good combination of kit. I would have carried the same guns into the field !😊

My wife's family is from WV, but I have never had a telescope there.
Thank you for posting.
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Bigzmey United States of America
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Re: Trip To Dark Bortle 2 Site

#3

Post by Bigzmey »


Great session and report Refractordude!

Helix Nebula is huge and as a result has low surface brightness. I would not be surprised that even from very dark site you will need filters to see it. With OIII filter and low power EP it should be no trouble for your 120mm.
Scopes: Stellarvue: SV102ED; Celestron: 9.25" EdgeHD, 8" SCT, 150ST, Onyx 80ED; iOptron: Hankmeister 6" Mak; SW: 7" Mak; Meade: 80ST.
Mounts: SW: SkyTee2, AzGTi; iOptron: AZMP; ES: Twilight I; Bresser: EXOS2; UA: MicroStar.
Binos: APM: 100-90 APO; Canon: IS 15x50; Orion: Binoviewer, LG II 15x70, WV 10x50, Nikon: AE 16x50, 10x50, 8x40.
EPs: Pentax: XWs & XFs; TeleVue: Delites, Panoptic & Plossls; ES: 68, 62; Vixen: SLVs; Baader: BCOs, Aspherics, Mark IV.
Diagonals: Baader: BBHS mirror, Zeiss Spec T2 prism, Clicklock dielectric; TeleVue: Evebrite dielectric; AltairAstro: 2" prism.
Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.

Observing: DSOs: 3106 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2180, S110: 77). Doubles: 2382, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 255
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Juno16 United States of America
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Re: Trip To Dark Bortle 2 Site

#4

Post by Juno16 »


What a wonderful trip! No Bortle 2 anywhere near me. Good for you!

Thanks for the fine report!

Thanks,
Jim
Jim

Scopes: Explore Scientific ED102 APO, Sharpstar 61 EDPH II APO, Samyang 135 F2 (still on the Nikon).
Mount: Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro with Rowan Belt Mod
Stuff: ASI EAF Focus Motor (x2), Orion 50mm Guide Scope, ZWO 30 mm Guide Scope, ASI 220mm min, ASI 120mm mini, Stellarview 0.8 FR/FF, Sharpstar 0.8 FR/FF, Mele Overloock 3C.
Camera/Filters/Software: ASI 533 mc pro, ASI 120mm mini, Orion SSAG, IDAS LPS D-1, Optolong L-Enhance, ZWO UV/IR Cut, N.I.N.A., Green Swamp Server, PHD2, Adobe Photoshop CC, Pixinsight.
Dog and best bud: Jack
Sky: Bortle 6-7
My Astrobin: https://www.astrobin.com/users/Juno16/
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bladekeeper
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Re: Trip To Dark Bortle 2 Site

#5

Post by bladekeeper »


A nice trip and a great report! Nice photos to accompany the narrative. Thanks for sharing the experience with us! :)
Bryan
Scopes: Apertura AD12 f/5; Celestron C6-R f/8; ES AR127 f/6.4; Stellarvue SV102T f/7; iOptron MC90 f/13.3; Orion ST80A f/5; ES ED80 f/6; Celestron Premium 80 f/11.4; Celestron C80 f/11.4; Unitron Model 142 f/16; Meade NG60 f/10
Mounts: Celestron AVX; Bresser EXOS-2; ES Twilight I; ES Twilight II; iOptron Cube-G; AZ3/wood tripod; Vixen Polaris
Binoculars: Pentax PCF WP II 10×50, Bresser Corvette 10×50, Bresser Hunter 16×50 and 8×40, Garrett Gemini 12×60 LW, Gordon 10×50, Apogee 20×100

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Peter802
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Re: Trip To Dark Bortle 2 Site

#6

Post by Peter802 »


Great report and photos of the dark site.
Thank very much for sharing your experience.
Clear Skies.
Regards,

Peter
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John Baars Netherlands
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Re: Trip To Dark Bortle 2 Site

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Post by John Baars »


What a great trip to Bortle 2 skies. Nice experience and well written report.
It was well worth the trip.
I know Bortle 4, but this is quite something else!
Thanks for your observations!
Refractors in frequency of use : *SW Evostar 120ED F/7.5 (all round ), * Vixen 102ED F/9 (vintage), both on Vixen GPDX.
GrabnGo on Alt/AZ : *SW Startravel 102 F/5 refractor( widefield, Sun, push-to), *OMC140 Maksutov F/14.3 ( planets).
Most used Eyepieces: *Panoptic 24, *Morpheus 14, *Leica ASPH zoom, *Zeiss barlow, *Pentax XO5.
Commonly used bino's : *Jena 10X50 , * Canon 10X30 IS, *Swarovski Habicht 7X42, * Celestron 15X70, *Kasai 2.3X40
Rijswijk Public Observatory: * Astro-Physics Starfire 130 f/8, * 6 inch Newton, * C9.25, * Meade 14 inch LX600 ACF, *Lunt.
Amateur astronomer since 1970.
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Arctic
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Re: Trip To Dark Bortle 2 Site

#8

Post by Arctic »


Nice report. Looks like a beautiful area.

The Helix can be tough due to its large size and low surface brightness. From my latitude it's also pretty low in the sky.

That said, I can see it with the 9x50 finder from my backyard, and with the 8-inch at 83X it is a DIM doughnut that fills most of the field. The UHC filter improves the view.

A dark sky AND good or excellent transparency are required to see it.
Gordon
Scopes: Meade LX10 8" SCT, Explore Scientific AR102 Refractor on ES Twilight 1 Mount, Oberwerks 15X70 Binos, Nikon Action Extreme 10X50 Binos.
Eyepieces: ES 68* 24mm, ES 68* 20mm, ES 82* 11mm, ES 82* 8.8mm
Observing: Messier Objects--110/110, H1 Objects-- 400/400. Hundreds of additional NGC Objects. Significant Comets: Kohoutek, West, Halley, Hyakatake, Hale-Bopp, McNair, Neowise. Transits of Mercury and Venus.
2017 Total Solar Eclipse
Refractordude
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Re: Trip To Dark Bortle 2 Site

#9

Post by Refractordude »


Correction, it was actually a bortle 3 dark site, but still worth the drive.
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Kingofthehill
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Re: Trip To Dark Bortle 2 Site

#10

Post by Kingofthehill »


Bortle 2, Bortle 3, still looks pretty good to me. Nice report.
Paul
Main telescope used is Obsession 18UC
Cut my teeth on Orion 10" Dob
AR152 and Orion ST80 sit mostly unused
Lots of binoculars
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astrorlk United States of America
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Re: Trip To Dark Bortle 2 Site

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Post by astrorlk »


Very nice indeed! I'm only 3+ hours from there. Where did you actually set up? Is there a lot or park open to the general public?

Thanks,
Richard
Refractordude
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Re: Trip To Dark Bortle 2 Site

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Post by Refractordude »


astrorlk wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 3:28 am Very nice indeed! I'm only 3+ hours from there. Where did you actually set up? Is there a lot or park open to the general public?

Thanks,
Richard
I wrote a response twice, but the page just disappeared on me. There is a key at the lower left that I have a problem touching. Just don't go to Camping at the Grove. I used another campsite near the Grove spot, but can not recall the name. There are some nice cottages that seemed to have pitch black rears at Smokey Hole Caverns. Smokey Hole Caverns would make a nice weekend vacation spot. I would call first to ask about lights etc.

https://www.smokehole.com/

www.campingatthegrove.com/index.html
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Peter802
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Re: Trip To Dark Bortle 2 Site

#13

Post by Peter802 »


A great dark site session. Thank you for sharing your experience and photographs with us.
Clear Skies.
Regards,

Peter
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depratnt United States of America
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Re: Trip To Dark Bortle 2 Site

#14

Post by depratnt »


that sounds like an AWESOME trip. nice captures!
Scopes: GSO 8rc
Mount: iOptron CEM60
Camera: ASI1600mm-PRO
Guide cam: QHY5L-ii monochrome
Filters: Astrodon Ha/Oiii )3nm) / LRGB
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Re: Trip To Dark Bortle 2 Site

#15

Post by terrynak »


Very nice dark sky trip - I don't think I've ever observed from Bortle 3 skies.

The pics are wonderful!
Scopes: Reflectors, refractors, and 1 catadioptric. Ranging in aperture from 50mm to 150mm.
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