Anglo-Australian Telescope (3.9 m - AAO)

[abellhunter]

G-day Astro Heads!

Here are a couple shots from my tour
of the 3.9m Anglo-Australian Telescope!:eyepop:

http://www.aao.gov.au/

Lance aka "abellhunter"

http://www.anzaobservatory.com

[glenc]

A belated welcome to Oz Lance.

[anj026]

Thanks for the pictures Lance. I did the tour in 1999 and was very impressed. This telescope may not be the biggest in the world but along with some of the other telescopes at Siding Springs it has been part of world leading research and technological developments. It is a beautiful part of the world anyway even in the daytime. I would love to visit Parkes one day.

[abellhunter]

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Thank you, my wife and i love OZ! The people, the land, the wildlife and last but not least the SKY!:D We flew into Sydney around the 27th of Feb. only to be greeted by Thunderstorms that droped enough rain to rivial Hilo:scared:. You can imagine how scary that was! We did a wet 2 day tour of Sydney harbor, the Blue ridge mountains, Featherdale park and Observatory.
Then after a 7 hr train ride and 1 1/2 hour car drive we made it to DRY Coonabarabran and Siding Springs!:D Out of the 10 nights, 9 1/2 were totaly clear!:thumbsup: Heres what i liked about the sky from Coona:

1. Zodiacal light in the west
2. Gegenschein light in the east
3. Centaurs A galaxy Naked eye
4. 7.3 mag stars at zenith
5. No light domes
6. No twinkling stars above 20 deg.
7. Dark Neb, darker than sky
8. No air traffic over Siding Springs
9. 100% outdoor lights off at 11:00pm
10.Strict lighting codes & enforcement

And last but not least the Milky Way
is SO BRIGHT that it can cast a faint
shadow on a piece of white paper! YES
the Milky Way took my breath away. At
4am Sag-Sco was at the zenith, the halo
added 30% to the centers width as seen
from a typical dark site!

JAW DROPPING!:eyepop:

One of the best views was the The inner Homunculus Nebula :P
....through Andrew Merrell's 25 inch with a 31 Ethos ep!:D You could eaisly see 2 dark lanes in the brightest lobe!

http://www.gemini.edu/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=180

Aloha, Lance aka "abellhunter"

http://www.anzaobservatory.com

...is Moving to the Southern Hemisphere any ideas, suggestions or
comments?

humphreys@greencafe.com

[Omaroo]

Welcome Lance - good to have yourself and your wife (name please) here :)

I guess we take a lot of what blows you away for granted. We grow up with it. It's so nice to hear how good it really is from someone who's not experienced it before and yet knows what they want out of it.

Just remember - the country doesn't revolve around the tiny little town of Coonabarabran. There's Narrabri too! ;)
There's a whole country out there! I hope you get to see some of it while you're here :hi:

[abellhunter]

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Thanx Chris!

we can't believe how big OZ is!:P we figured that if you take away Alaska and Hawaii from the US land mass that would match OZ. Now if you take all the people in Texas (20 Million) and spread them coast to coast... that's why itz so frigin' DARK!

i'm allready planning to return and visiting other spots to build..... i couldn't leave my 16 year old boy home alone for too long!:eyepop:

peace out, Lance & Leslie

Image #1. Les & i in the AAT's 3.9m mirror box!
Image #2. Les & i under a tree with a Koala bear in it!
Image #3. Les & i at the 2.0m Faulkes telescope!

[erick]

Hi Lance :hi: Glad that you and Leslie made it to Oz and had a great time! Come back soon. :thumbsup:

One suggestion - you can drop the "bear".

(OK, that would be a joke - http://www.kadaitcha.com/2007/10/07/the-dreaded-drop-bears-of-oz/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_Bear )

but it's true, koalas are not bears! "Koala" is sufficient to describe the little beasties!

Eric :)

[abellhunter]

LOL, yea can you believe those guys... they tol' me about the "drop!"
you cant imagine how scared i was!:scared:


oh, and how about having to check under my chair for SPIDERS:eyepop:!

NOW i owe THEM one!:D

Aloha, Lance:rofl:aka "abellhunter"

[erick]

Geez! We always do that, and in our boots left outside, and under the dunny seat, and in the bedsheets! Some things are no joke!! :scared: