(Continuing story of
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...d.php?t=140346 )
After that glorious night at Duckadeng things changed.
That afternoon, a very large thunderstorm rolled in and decided to stay around all evening. No stargazing, but beerdrinking and watching an impressive amount of "Hinterland-lightning". Thanks for the amusing company Tom, and the beer of course! And Belinda, thanks for that unexpected Christmas-diner.
Because of the flooded roads it had become a bit adventurous to leave Duckadeng. Tom's pickup did go first without a problem. But my little campervan was another story; ploughing through the water, the stream pushed the car sideways some inches. Ouch !! Streaming water is certainly not something to underestimate.
Next adress was at Cambroon. Wellknown Iceinspace-member AstroRon resides over there. Ron had invited me at his dark sky site. The main instrument is a 16 inch telescope. It is an oldskool-style dobson; oversized, heavy and hard to transport but... this machine is amazingly sturdid. One can actually lean against it without seeing any vibrations.
Attachment 191032
It is a whole other story than my own 16 inch which is very lightweight, but therefore also very prone to vibrating. This has opened my eyes. I have got some ATM-rebuilding to do when I return to the Netherlands.
Rons backgarden is an observers dream. Except for a few degrees of horizon, the whole sky can be seen. Being in a valley, the wind is minimized. But most of all: That darkness! This evening SQM got up to 21,70, limiting magnitude approaches 7,0. You Australians have some wonderful conditions over here.
That evening the weather cleared up very well and Ron showed me some amazing deepsky-vistas:
Here a few of the hightlights:
Tarantula: good Heavens!
in the 16 inch it is even more monstruous than in the 10 inch. Amazing new details in the center starts swirling around. Using a rigid telescope like this is a delight to scan the LMC with.
Grus Quartet. Very fine triplet of galaxies. All three of same size and dimensions. And clarity of detail.
But why do they call this a quartet then? Ron explains how to move the dobsonmachine. Yes there it is; number four. Also same size and magnitude. There seems to be some debate on considering this a quartet or triplet. I definitely choose the first. All four fit well inside a 17Nagler or 13Ethos view. So a quartet this is, no doubt about that!
Asteroid 747-Winchester inside the Orion Nebula. The ever glorious sight of M42 is a fitting background for this easy mag 11 asteroid. Next days the asteroid will be passing close to the Huygens area.
Ron asks me if i can spot red colour in the nebula. I tried that in the past from Holland without success. Also here it seems not to happen ; just a greenblue Huygens-nebulosity. But suddenly; i see it. The two arms extending seem at first to be grey, but only when you start comparing the color with the blue central parts, you suddenly realise that the arms are not grey, but pink. Every second it gets easier to see. I now realise that i have always seen it, but just never noticed it.
The trick is to concentrate on the
difference in color , instead of trying to detect red color directly.
Being in Orion i ask ron about
Ngc 2022; a very nice and bright planetary. Ron knows a staggering amount of nebula and galaxies, but to my surprise Ron admits he never saw 2022 before. Nice to put someting in return.
Ic 418: this name doesn't ring a bell, but the moment i lay my eyes on it, I remember. Once observed this little planetary from Holland, very low in the sky. Here in Australia it almost touches zenith. The colour makes it unique: as red as raspberry. Inside some tiny layered shells are detectable.
Horsehead. Always between very difficult and impossible. But under these circumstances an almost easy job. It is not only a formless dark bulge but already starts to show the horselike shape. Never seen it as clear as this night!
Same counts for
Flaming Star Nebula and for
M78 region.
Then the clouds rolled.
Time to dream on in the campervan.
Second evening at Ron' s place was cloudy and rainy, so ended up in a lot of talking.
The next morning i left Ron to meet my family for a stay at Noosa.
Ron, my sincerest thanks for your hospitality.
Whenever you are in the Netherlands you are invited to have a look at M82 through my (wobbly) Newton.