Motorhomes and astronomy

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Viewing the heavens from your motorhome

How many of us have wandered between motorhome and toilet block late at night and somewhere along the short journey paused to look up at the heavens above? Did we pick out any of the constellations or famous stars such as Polaris? Did some of us wonder about ‘what’s really out there’? Did we think ‘who is watching me watching them watching me?’.

Of course, we did. Human curiosity, eh?

On some of our motorhome tours, one of my great joys has been those opportunities for stargazing under good dark sky conditions. Exmoor, The Lizard, Sennen Cove, the Lleyn Peninsula, I’ve been lucky with some of the places we have visited since buying Bryony.

I’ve also added to my list of potential new star gazing places for future trips – the Brecon Beacons, the Elan Valley, Bodmin Moor. All future tour destinations, I think.

After a lovely day of walking, cycling, exploring towns, villages and country houses, we set up the bed and then I sneak out around 11pm for a few hours stargazing of the celestial heavens above.

Whilst most people chat to their camping or motorhoming neighbours earlier in the day, I seem to do it late at night. I am genuinely surprised at how many people stop off for a chat on their way to/from the toilet block; their natural curiosity and genuine fascination to learn a little new nugget of information about the stars above quite charming.

I have posted about the joys of astronomy whilst motorhoming before and you can access the post here:

https://wherenexthun.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-joys-of-astronomy-is-it-hobby-we.html

(I have also done some detailed posts about what I learned about astronomy equipment, when I first started out some seven months ago and these posts can be found here, if you are interested:

https://wherenexthun.blogspot.com/2021/01/buying-your-first-telescope-what-do-you.html

https://wherenexthun.blogspot.com/2021/01/a-beginners-guide-to-telescope-mounts.html

https://wherenexthun.blogspot.com/2021/01/a-beginners-guide-on-understanding-how.html )

For now, in today’s blog, I thought I would just share some of my stargazing experiences and give some tips for any of you who would like to dip your toe into the world of astronomy, from the comfort of the vicinity of your own motorhome.

Firstly, let me say straight off, you don’t need to buy any gear. Pick a clear night; wrap up warm (several layers with hat and gloves as well), put on warm walking socks and thick soled shoes (insulate your feet from the cold ground) and stroll off to a dark part of your campsite. Then wait. No torches, no looking at your smartphone. It will take around 15 – 20 minutes for your eyes to acclimatise to the dark.

Now look up! Dark adapted eyes see far more stars than you think! Isn’t it a truly amazing, awe-inspiring sight?

Can you pick out some of the brighter stars? Or just make out some really faint ones? What about all those different colour stars; or the ones that seem to twinkle?

Every single star you see now is a distant sun, just like ours; a gaseous ball of intense heat. Some are close and bright but surprisingly of only low energy. Others are distant but faint but don’t be fooled; in their neighbourhood they are incredibly high energy bright stars.

The blue stars? Incredibly hot (10000C). Red stars? Far less so (3000C).

As I write this now, sat outside Bryony, high above me I can see the Milky Way Galactic Core. The Summer triangle of Altair, Vega and Deneb is off to my right, almost at the zenith of the sky. Jupiter and Saturn are low on the horizon, just to my left. If I swivel around slightly, I can just make out with my naked eye, the very distant smudge that is possibly the Andromeda galaxy.

Having wrapped up warm, having waited so that you are ‘dark eye adapted’ and having started to look upwards in fascination, now is the time to use your smartphone app.

There are several star chart apps to choose from but the two I like are Stellarium and Sky Safari. You can download free versions or pay for the full ones. These apps use your phone GPS to work out where you are and then show you a star chart of the skies above you. As you rotate the phone, the chart re-orientates itself. Put it into ‘red light night mode’ so that your dark-adapted eyes are protected. Hold it up to the sky above you. Hey presto, you can start naming the stars and constellations above. Now its starting to get even more interesting isn’t it.

(Quick tip here: I recommend you start using the app during the daytime to work out its quirks, processes and functions. That way, you don’t waste valuable night sky observing time later.)

The Galactic Core of our Milky Way. Imaged whilst touring Exmoor.

Ioptron Skytracker Pro Canon 800d, 24mm lens F/2.8, ISO 800. 30 images at 45s each; 20 darks and 20 bias frames.

All stacked in DeepSkyStacker and then finished and image processed in Affinity Photo

Here is a starter. Look up and find The Plough. Then, depending on your season, try and find Orion with its three-star belt. What about the distinctive W shape of Cassiopeia? There we are three constellations straight away.

If you found the Plough, you can now search out the north star Polaris. The outer two stars that form the square bit of the Plough are ‘pointer’ stars. Line them up and head upwards from the Plough. The next star up will be Polaris.

Polaris is special. The only star above you in the northern hemisphere that doesn’t actually move; positioned directly above the Earth’s northern rotational axis, all other stars above rotate around it. Great for doing photography star trails!

Remember, the constellations you see above you don’t remain the same throughout the year. They change. We have winter and summer specific constellations! Stellarium and Sky Safari will be your friends though. They will inform you of what you can see each night and over time you become familiar with key stars and constellations. Just like the old ship navigators of old.

My telescope travels in this crate. It is wrapped in giant bubble wrap and then some foam swimming noodles have been cut up to keep it securely in place. Foam either end cushions the optical tube.

It is stored in the shower when we are on the move or on site.

Look out for the planets. Sky Safari will name the ones in view and they change nightly, weekly and monthly. You will see them as very bright shining ‘stars’ (which of course they are not). I will never forget the first time I saw the banding of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn through my telescope. I was so elated and excited I fell over my little astronomy table which holds all my various bits and pieces. Almost woke up an entire campsite as I scrambled around!

Then there are the shooting stars. I always manage to see a few of those on any observation night; meteors, space dust burning up in the upper layers of the atmosphere above us. Mid-August brings us the Perseid meteor showers and if I remember correctly October brings the Orionids.

Grab some binoculars next time there is a half to full moon in the sky and go view that. See if you can pick out various craters and mountain ranges. Take a good look at some of those darker patches, The ‘Mares’ or various seas on the Moon. There are moon phase apps and apps about the landscapes of the moon which can be downloaded to inform you.

The telescope mounted on the WIFI GOTO ALT-AZ mount and tripod.

For me the real jewel is the Milky Way during August and September. You will need to be away from any lights to see it well. It will look like a misty, smudge like band of lights across the sky. A wispy line like an aeroplane vapour trail only much bigger. Use your binoculars to see the millions of stars which make it.

And then think on this. The milky way you are looking at is our own galaxy. A barred spiral galaxy with a middle bump. 200 billion stars, of which our sun is just one. Taking 250 million years to rotate just once, we are just seeing the flat edge of the disc (think looking at the edge of a plate sideways rather than directly looking down on it).

According to Prof. Brian Cox, it is likely that within our own spiral galaxy, there are just five planets like ours that have a ‘civilisation’ and such diversity of life. Our planet and the life on it is part of his ‘Goldilocks theory’ of the universe!

Six months on and my very first attempt at imaging another galaxy

M31 – Andromeda - a barred spiral galaxy just like our own.

Canon 800d and 200mm lens at F/5.6

50 images of 50 seconds each at ISO 800. I then took 25 dark frames and 25 bias frames as well. All these images were RAW and were stacked in a program called DeepSkyStacker before editing the final image in Affinity Photo. I could take such long time images without star trailing because I was using the Ioptron Skytracker Pro

If you want to go one step further and try some astrophotography, then you will need to invest in some equipment. You might have the basics already. You can catch good photographs of the Milky Way using a sturdy tripod, a cheap DSLR camera and its kit lenses. Some of the more expensive smartphones with high quality, sophisticated cameras can do it just as ell. You will need to know how to operate your camera/smartphone in manual mode and have some basic understanding about the ‘Exposure Triangle’ relating to photography. There are some excellent YouTube tutorial videos about how to photograph the Milky Way as well.

Want to go further? Try using a star tracker and you can start to image deep space objects. Again search ‘star tracker’ on the internet for YouTube videos and reviews of the various trackers out there.

The various eyepieces, DSLR gear and smartphone holder laid out on the little astronomy table I made

This is the equipment that I use for my basic astrophotography:

· Canon 800D DSLR with 18 – 55mm and 55 – 250mm kit lenses

· Canon 50 mm F/2.8 prime lens

· Canon 24mm F/2.8 prime lens

· Intervalometer

· Carbon Fibre tripod

· Ioptron Skytracker Pro

The Ioptron Skytracker Pro

All the images in this post I have obtained over the last few months from various campsites across Wales and southern England. It has taken me six months to gain sufficient proficiency and understanding about how to use my camera, take the photos and then process them in various astrophotography and photography programs. All of my skills so far have been learnt from internet research and watching YouTube videos.

If you search for ‘stargazing live’, you will find an informative website which also gives details of on line ‘Go star-gazing’ seminars, workshops and area meets across the country. They are a great source of knowledge and inspiration.

Or you can, of course, just keep it simple. Stellarium, binoculars, warm clothing and your natural, innate curiosity about the heavens above you. Next time you get a clear sky, pop outside around 11pm and look upwards.

M45 Pleiades or ‘The seven sister’s Bright stars surrounded by blue space dust clouds

Ioptron Skytracker pro with Canon 800d 200mm lens at F/5.6 ISO 800

50 images at 45s each followed by 25 dark and 25 bias frames. Stacked in DeepSkyStacker and processed in Affinity Photo

Stay safe, stay curious, enjoy.

Steve

PS: for those interested in astronomy and telescopes: I have a ‘beginner’s telescope. It is a Skywatcher Discovery 150i WIFI GOTO. Controlled by my smartphone using a free app, I can use a database of over 30,000 space objects to explore the skies above. I just plug it into a power bank, align it and then tap on the object I want to study and the telescope magically swivels about tracking the selected object. It whirr’s quietly and on a clear still night, it is honestly brilliant fun! So exciting, exploring what’s out there and possibly invisible to the naked eye.