Going It Alone

Hi lads, all good points there. I'd bite the bullet and always tell my other half where I am going and what time I expect to be back at. I think it is better to be honest

As for Safety, ALWAYS check your site by daylight first, a site at night can look very different and not as easy to negotiate then by day, and can bring up some unexpected surprises! Potholes and uneven ground, large barriers closing off access, barbed wire and muddy areas after the rain to name but a few. Your car can get you into trouble also encountering these. The mobile phone on silent is also essential, try not to go anywhere with a very poor signal, and also watch for 'neighbourhood watch' areas, well intentioned but it's better to arrive at your site in the evening twilight and not arrive at 3am if you can help it. Public carparks in forests, lakes and beaches are the most risky, especially on Friday & Saturday nights.

Don't get me wrong, it's not all bad but forewarned is forearmed.....I've done some silly things over the years and have gotten away with it :whistle:

From my experience, discarded beer cans and bottles can show it is a really dodgy site. Best avoided. Bear in mind to bring some proper clothing also and bring spare batteries for your torches, you will need them at some stage. Also a pouch of snacks and water go along way for comfort.

I've had a few dodgy moments myself down through the years, once a group of scangers came along and caught me out, but all in all they didn't mean any harm, just light up a few red lights is a good idea. I think that they were just curious. They even offered to turn on their headlight so as I could see everything :laugh:

It sounds scary, but with a little diligence and preparation, chances are you will have a very enjoyable night !
I'll be mentioning these at Cosmos on Sunday

Keith.

Previous advice sounds good. When you park, park with car pointing in direction of intended escape. A tip from a public health nurse that I know.

Mark C

Great advice, as always.

I guess it would be better if I were honest with my wife and tell her what I intend to do, that way any unpleasantness in the future would be avoided.

I'm also thinking more along the lines of getting a dog, don't know what the cat will think, though. :whistle:

Selecting a site during the day makes a lot of sense, I have been on forest walks before and noted beer cans, etc., so any site that displays such paraphernalia indicates much use and may be best avoided.

Self defence, while a great idea, I can see myself throwing someone in a judo move and throwing my back out at the same time. :pinch:

I understand that the vast majority of people are decent folk, even those who venture out in the depths of the night. : blink: Anyone intent on some criminal activity are not likely to be seeking it on a back road in the hills, joyriders possibly being the exception and finding someone in the woods with a camera or scope will arouse more curiosity than animosity.

I guess it's like when you first learn to drive and the first time out on your own was a terrifying experience, but becomes easier with the passage of time.

In conclusion I'm going to tell the wife, buy a dog that is half wolf, point the car in the direction of escape, leave the engine running, become a black belt in karate, hang fifty red lights around me and inform everyone I know of my movements. :laugh:

And hopefully at the end of all that I will get some decent images. : blink:

Once again many thanks for the advice.

Paul

I have to say I've very rarely gone observing on my own, its one of the advantages of been in a club that you never really have to go it alone,
Even when 2 or 3 of us were out, we've been approached by passersby, but never any trouble,
I often wondered if i'd resort to using my laser pen if I ever got into real trouble... dunno...

I heard about a classic incident back in the late 80s when some of the club members had an encounter with the gardai when observing with the club scope, the guards couldn't figure out what a bunch of guys were doing up a mountain at night with no lights and with a long tube like device, they thought it a morter believe it or not, they had to look through the eyepiece to finally believe it was a telescope

I've had an encounter with the Gardai while doing some planetary imaging alone in a carpark just about 10min east of Cork city. They were curious but once I showed them Saturn through my C8 they seemed genuinely interested.
Other than that, I've had no troubles observing alone, just use common sense where to go. For example, the glen, in Cork would not be a good place to setup a telescope at night :lol:

Myself and Michael Sully had the same thing happen to us whilst observing at Banna Beach in Kerry in 2006. ...... here's the observing report from the kac website. Was a good night observing too!!!



OBSERVING SESSION JAN 29th 06


VENUE: BANNA BEACH
TIME: 7.30pm 'til 11.20pm

Smaller than our recent observing sessions but every bit as good. This session started off with some constellation pointing to some beginners who have signed up for our introduction to astronomy course. We saw and explained the Zodiacal Light. A brief tour of some notable highlights followed including Saturn, The Pleiades, The Great Nebula in Orion, The Andromeda Galaxy and The Double Cluster. As we looked at these objects in Binoculars and telescopes we explained their nature, distance and scale. The cold finally got to most around nine or half, nine leaving just two members to brave the biting wind.

Over the course of the next two hours a huge amount of objects were tracked down starting with a few Messier objects. M81, and 82 were targeted and a bonus of NGC 3077 (I think) was spotted, Next up were M51 and 101, which were hiding low in the murky atmosphere. Another look at M31, M32 and M110 followed which was a stunning sight. After gorging on galaxies, it was time to track down some clusters and Nebulae in the southern sky. M50, M46, M47, M48, M41, M93, M35 and NGC 2158, M67, M78, M1 and the globular M79 were spotted and bagged.

After Messier we moved on to a number of NGC'S. First up, the rosette cluster (2237/44), The Cone and Christmas Tree (NGC 2264), NGC 2215, NGC2232, NGC2185. Then Mike Scully pointed out what was the highlight for me, NGC2024 (The Flame Nebula). It was a stunning sight through the Dob, and is definitely one of those Objects that will be revisited again and again.

To round off the evening we had a quick look again at Saturn. Finally admitting that we could no longer feel our fingers, we left at 11.20 PM
One of the other highlights of the night has to have been a visit from the Local Garda, approaching with headlights on full.... “What are them Yokes there Lads, they're not rocket launchers or anything”. The temptation to start flashing the laser pointer around was overwhelming, but sense prevailed and we explained that we were amateur astronomers and would he care to look at Saturn