Arrival & Optics Clinic
Collimation, filter fitting, and a red-light briefing before the first dark of the party.
Led by Non Pryce, optical engineer
Session notes✦ The Programme ✦
The Observing Timeline
Five sessions across three nights at Blaen Onnen, plotted from first light to last star.
Every session below runs from the same field under the same dark sky, but each night asks something different of you. Bring warm layers regardless of the forecast — the clear nights that make a star party worth attending are also the cold ones. New to the field? Read the venue notes first.
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Opening Watch: the Radiant Rises
A warm-up watch while Perseus climbs over the ridge and the rate slowly builds toward the peak.
Led by Dafydd Iorwerth, sky guide
Session notes -
Peak Watch: the Perseid Maximum
The flagship all-night watch, timed to the shower's maximum under moonless, Bortle 3 skies.
Led by Ceri Vaughan, astronomer-in-residence
Session notes -
Dawn Session: Zodiacal Light & Earthgrazers
A specialist pre-dawn watch for the zodiacal light cone and the shower's last long, low earthgrazers.
Led by Non Pryce, optical engineer
Session notes -
Closing Watch: Deep-Sky Marathon & Farewell
A final, lower-pressure night given over to deep-sky targets as the shower's rate tails off.
Led by Dafydd Iorwerth, sky guide
Session notes