First time at this site for most of us, all very impressed with the dark skies available just 15 minutes from a major town. Milky Way clearly visible from horizon to horizon, crossing almost directly through the zenith above us. At times there were so many stars visible it made picking out some northern constellations difficult for those of us used to poorer skies populated only with the major stars.

Four of us set up directly behind our cars in the rather snug gravel car-park and two tried nearer the shoreline of the reservoir on a spacious grass area, but the general damp and dew rising from the reservoir forced them over into the car-park again. Views were stunning in most directions, except for the trees blocking a small section of sky to the far south and the skyglow from Edinburgh to the east making low observations difficult.

Observing went well for the most part, but all started suffering from misting as the night went on and several of us had to return our scopes to the car for a short time to demist the corrector plates and secondary mirrors, mere dew shields being insufficient to stop the problem. From 12:30 onwards the skies started clouding at the horizon, and then swiftly formed over the whole sky, blocking almost everything by 1am when we departed.

Kenny Mitchell

Just wanted to add a big thanks to everyone who came along. It was good to see some new faces and different scopes etc. I hope that we'll have several more sessions this winter. Definately an encouraging start to the season :)

Paul Stephen