Super Trooperstown

hi all,

excellent spot of observing with Paul Tipper down in Wicklow last night after skies began to clear late evening. Congrats to Paul for sussing out a new observing site in Trooperstown Wood, near Annamoe (sheet 56 O.S. Discovery Series map).

the location has a wide open parking area when you drive down the path into the woods. Great views of the sky and a few tall trees don't really hinder observing. No lights at all either. There's a possibility too of driving even further down the path as a pickup came by around 1:30am and headed off up into the woods, climbing up the path, to the top of a low hill in the distance -- must explore that as it would enable a 360deg unimpeded view.

using Paul's 8-inch Dob we spotted a number of deep sky objects along with Neptune, Uranus, and Mars. A good smattering of Perseids with the odd sporadic (wrong way Perseid???) Space birds aplenty too. M33, the Triangulum galaxy, was a nice find on the night.

my own 20x60s gave me the best view I've even had of some globulars with M13 particularly stunning. M81/M82 were quite nice also to see together in the same field.

left Trooperstown with Aldebaran and Hyades peeking above the horizon . . . nice to see old friends back on view again.

John

Cloon is dead - long live Trooperstown!

Sounds like a great site. How long did it take to get to from South Dublin?

a pickup came by around 1:30am and headed off up into the woods, climbing up the path, to the top of a low hill in the distance

Were there any bodies in the back?

Sounds like a great site. How long did it take to get to from South Dublin?

I took me about 50 minutes, travelling from Goatstown/Stillorgan down the M11 as far as Ashford, then heading inland, following the signs towards Glendalough. After you pass through Anamoe, drive on for about 2km until you come to a B&B on the right; opposite this, you'll see the sign for Trooperstown wood on the left. Turn in here, and follow the road/track; the place we used last night is about 500m down the track.

the place we used last night is about 500m down the track.

. . . and the bodies are buried a little further beyond this John :lol:


my own trip down was to Kilmacanogue, then turned on to the Glendalough road, going the scenic route (if you could call it that in the pitch dark) through Roundwood and then Annamoe. Can't remember if that was any quicker. I came back through Ashford and the N11 (my poor car isn't as quick as Paul's though ).

just to add to the earlier report, the dark clouds of the Milky Way were very prominent to the unaided eye in the early part of the night. Especially obvious was the North American nebula . . . better than I've seen it in a long time. Clarity varied over the course of the evening and once dew started building up then the eyeball only view of the sky deteriorated a little . . . though the northeastern part of the sky was brightening then too (no, not an aurora )

John

O 160 970 for those with Sheet 56. I'll upload a map in the next couple of days.

Another way there is to head toward Djouce car park then keep driving, through Roundwood towards Laragh. The road between Ashford and Annamoe isn't the safest imho.

Steady seeing is probably a problem there, you are in the valley afterall.

I've parked there many times for walking, but had throught the tree cover arround it was too much for observing (not as bad as Djouce though) . Guess its not!

Many years back I used to be away with the scouts I used to observe at Ballylug, on the other side of trooperstown. O168 936. There was a nice gravel clearing there for setting up my tripod and binoculars. The problem though, as with many places is that coillte have a habit of locking the barrier at the bottom