2014-01-11 - Astronomical Observatory Stargazing ride

Great ride, thanks Nick! Pretty sedate mainly, with a great tour of the observatory. Jupiter and the Moon were stunning.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2149388

as I said a couple of times, I've driven past the mill hill observatory ever since I was a little boy (a very long time ago) and I've always wanted to see inside. I was like a kid with a new toy - couldn't stop smiling ;-]
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thanks Nic for your brilliant route leading, interesting little info speaches and super explanations.
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now I've rekindled my astronomy interests from my youth and I want to buy a telescope.
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by tha way, was the route vaguely following the shape of the Plough?

What an excellent day out. Thanks Nick and everybody else. Here are a few pics...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/middle-of-nowhere/sets/72157639658835416/

I really like the Moon pic! Excellent!

A thoroughly enjoyable day. Thanks Nic.

Thank Nick and everyone, that was a great fun. I love all that old kit, it was really quite exquisite, the ultimate end of garden shed,. Even though its so old its still pretty awe inspiring seeing Jupiter with its 4 moons. The whole place felt like the set of a Sean Connery Bond movie. And we could'nt have had better weather. Great stuff.

Thanks for putting that together Nic - great company all round and an awesome day out. Loved the meander through London suburbs, some really informative commentary and the whole Mill Hill experience was way ahead of expectations. 150 year old piece of kit still doing the business - love it. Bar set very high for 2014 forum rides.

I'm so glad I saw the message in time, the mill hill experience was pretty unforgettable, seeing the moon in that level of detail was astounding, and your guided tour was great fun. Thanks for organizing and putting all that effort in, and thanks to Marco as well, was a lovely guy.

I'm glad you all had a great time. Thanks for making my first outing as lead successful and so easy. especially matt for taking us through Swiss cottage.

Did he try to drag you up the Avenue to the Flask? He's slippery like that.

Nope. Not a drop of alcohol passed anyones lips (unless I missed a sneaky hip flask sup). We did, however enjoy some excellent chinese sweets in Golder's Green

So I woke up this morning mumbling something about exoplanets and refraction. Guess It'll be a complete Astronomy weekend. That was a really brilliant evening. Thank you so much. Great way to start 2014 with a renewed interest in the cosmos.

Nope. Not a drop of alcohol passed anyones lips (unless I missed a sneaky hip flask sup). We did, however enjoy some excellent chinese sweets in Golder's Green

I had a can of Stella in my ruksak all day but the ride seemed too classy for me to ever crack it open! And I felt like a naughty boy who had'nt done his homework as I'd missed Stargazing live all week. As Balmain says this was a next level forum ride, at this rate they'll get us to wash and dress smartly soon, forum haz changed.....

On the plus side no punctures or any mechanicals of any kind, even the girl who fell was expertly caught by T.O. so it was'nt a fall at all. Oh an Balmain pulled an impressive one legged anti fall avoidance move in Covent Garden too which showed all the stars were in alignment for us yesterday.

She won't read this but, get well soon to the lady with the floppy shudder broken ankle who was being put into the back of an ambulance as we left Battersea Park. Don't know how it happened.

Thanks ever so much Nic for a very different forum ride. Good company as ever, but with a new dimension. Photos to follow - only a few, I promise!

Given the relative sizes, I was amazed at how MoN was able to keep up with t.o. on the bmx course:

The forum's finest are stunned as the interferometrist demonstrated nuclear fusion on his head.

The moonlight on the silver domes was rather a fine sight

and our leader shows us his version of the mindwarp

This was the chap we were watching through the 1862 telescope - admittedly, this was taken on Friday morning, but gives an idea of what an 8" aperture can do.

Agreed to all comments above, and I love the pics from everyone.
I liked how I ignored the cold because of the excitement of getting to the finish!
Learnt loads and was very nice to meet some new people.

BMX track was a def highlight too. Great pics.

Soooo jealous!! Can't wait for the next one :)

^ me too

Did he try to drag you up the Avenue to the Flask? He's slippery like that.

I resent that. I was going to try and take them to the North Star in Swiss Cottage, it was on route(ish) and we had a theme god-damn-it!

Given the relative sizes, I was amazed at how MoN was able to keep up with t.o. on the bmx course:

In my defence, as well as clearly only being marginally as tall as t.o.'s elbow, I was riding fixed, pedal strike on the peaks of just about every other "jump" (yeah, wasn't about to try and get airborne) was seriously slowing down me down.

Nic,

Thanks for such a good ride, really good vibe from everyone involved.

Nice to learn a few things along the way aswell...

Adding Mr Cake to the b list in case of any future ride!

b. Miss Mouse
b. keanulooser
b. T4
b. BisonIncandenza
b. Marco
b. Husy
b. Vanneau
b. Tanya g
b. Dr Cake
b. Nigel 182
b. Torker
b. sacredhart
b. Mrs Marco
b. Howard

now I've rekindled my astronomy interests from my youth and I want to buy a telescope.

Cool! But don't spend less than £250 or you'll be disappointed.
Maybe: This.

Nope. Not a drop of alcohol passed anyones lips (unless I missed a sneaky hip flask sup). We did, however enjoy some excellent chinese sweets in Golder's Green

I'm normally up for a few cans on a ride but obviously with the kit at the end I was being cautious!

The forum's finest are stunned as the interferometrist demonstrated nuclear fusion on his head.

Suffice to say this is not my best side.

Looks like it went really well! I'd like to re-apply for the b-list in case this runs again and I am able to join:

b. Miss Mouse
b. keanulooser
b. T4
b. BisonIncandenza
b. Marco
b. Husy
b. Vanneau
b. Tanya g
b. Dr Cake
b. Nigel 182
b. Torker
b. sacredhart
b. Mrs Marco
b. Howard
b. theatomium

b list for me as well,....coz Ive decided stargazing is funnnn

b. Miss Mouse
b. keanulooser
b. T4
b. BisonIncandenza
b. Marco
b. Husy
b. Vanneau
b. Tanya g
b. Dr Cake
b. Nigel 182
b. Torker
b. sacredhart
b. Mrs Marco
b. Howard
b. theatomium
b. tonyme

That picture looks as if it was taken in the middle of nowhere.

^ Where was it taken??