So Thandiani was great.. so many people joined us from three different cities: Lahore, Islamabad and Abbottabad. I, on the behalf of Lahore Astronomical Society,​ am very thankful for those crazies who drove all the way up to the 9,000 feet high peak.
It is always nice to be up there.. i think i have been going there for fifteen years now​ and the main reason is that Thandiani has extremely raw night skies and it has a great scenic beauty; plus for us 'land dwellers', mountains always have very pleasant weather. The above shot is the morning view from my mobile camera, just a few yard away where we were staying.
Though we were struck by the astronomers'​ nightmare (clouds and a bit of rain), the sky did allow us to set our telescopes and watch clusters, binary stars and planets. Milkyway is always one of the best treats a good night sky can offer us.
I enjoyed meeting my old astro pal Saif Sahib from Islamabad and my new friend Asadullah from Abbottabad. We had a lot of time for our heavenly and earthly talks and everything in between.​
I so wanted to image from Thandiani but this time clouds won.. Also, this time i did notice a considerable decline in the quality of night sky there.. It seems the nearby city Abbottabad is growing fast and in a few years we will definitely loose the advantage of a light pollution sky at Thandiani. ​
​Thank you again everyone who came for our two nights observation session at the mountains.. more trips coming up..
​
​
​