Orinids dark sky trip

With the twilight fading and clouds thinning, prospects for excellent stargazing were on the rise, but temperatures were on the fall. We divided the work of setting up camp and laying the fire, and soon tents and beds were set up, with chairs arranged the nascent flames of a good campfire.

With ponchos donned, soup heated in a billy can on the fire, and the usual rehydrated meal on the alcohol stove for Sam began the cozy phase of the evening. Then the first of the scientific phases: an analysis of which combination of marshmallow, biscuit and chocolate makes the finest vegan S’more. Whilst the need for further research into chocolate and marshmallow brands is clearly indicated, it seems conclusive that S’mores are the very finest use case for a digestive biscuit.

Once comfortably replete with food, and with evening teas brewed and ensconced in our flasks, it was time for some stargazing. We were pitched on ‘the view’ - the premium pitch that offers the best all around views - and Saturn had risen from behind our campsite, and was shining brightly above the trees. I trained our travel telescope around, and got some of the best views I’ve managed of the rings, and even a suggestion of the clouds in the distant atmosphere. Regrettably I hadn’t brought the apparatus for taking pictures through the scope - it’s very difficult to look directly through the scope without sending the lightweight travel scope bouncing in a most unhelpful manner.

After preparing some hot water bottles to preheat the beds on this late October night, we did our last gazing. We watched the brilliant constellations with the naked eye and took a few long exposure photographs of the milky way, Then it was to bed with a view to picking up again closer to dawn.

With some new gear on this trip, there were a few wrinkles in terms of getting good rest - the insulation below not quite passing muster on the damp Welsh hillside. A few lessons were learned, and definitely we’ll place a Mylar mat over the air beds next time.

The best hour to watch the Orinids was between 0500 and 0600 - the darkest time, with both the sun and moon well below the horizon. Unfortunately, only S - who had obtained the best sleep - made it out for that time seeing meteors streak across the sky. When I drew back my tent flap just before 6, I found the constellation Orion and Sirius framed by the opening. I caught one meteor on camera in the earliest of the dawn twilight, at a few minutes past six.

Another few minutes later my stargazing was beautifully capped off by seeing a spectacular flyby of the International Space Station. With twilight just beginning, ISS 400Km above ours was brightly illuminated by the sun, against a still largely dark sky - it was so bright, that it appeared in my vision to have rays - suggesting to my brain that I was making out individual solar arrays and modules (even though it’s distance made that impossible).

A little snooze in warm beds, then breakfast around a fresh campfire (which served as our toaster) rounded out this trip to Ecocamping wales.Read more