I dunno if Cambroon will be the same as Brissy, but there are a tonne of mozzies out tonight! So I'll be bringing some RID tomorrow!!!!
No Mozzies tonight as there is a force nine gale blowing at the moment so had to give it away as the scope was like a sail, but I still enjoyed 4hours observing.:starga ze:
For those who are keenly interested .... tonight is one of those opportunities where you can see every planet (including Pluto) during a single night.
As darkness falls we will have Mercury visible in the western sky about 3 degress below a thin crescent moon (hopefully Mercury is still visible above the range from Ron's, it has been descending for the last 2 weeks).
Jupiter will stand out to the western sided of the zenith, Pluto located fairly close to a line from Antares through Jupiter and extended onwards towards M17 - though being on the edge of the Milky Way may be very hard to pick.
Neptune and Uranus are both well positioned in the eastern sky as darkness falls and will be viewable for several hours, Mars rising approx 1am and sitting below and between Orion and the Hyades (but above Procyon and Capella).
Finally Venus and Saturn rising around 3am and only about 2.5 ° apart, though may take a little while longer to get them to a "visible" position.
First, it took me 2 hrs, 45 mins to find Ron's place!! I read the map, and point (7) says 300m to intersection of Chapel & Chinamen creek roads. I thought that meant 300 metres from the left turn in point (6). I drove up and down that road a few times looking for this intersection!! 20 minutes later, I gave up and was on my way home when I ran into someone else driving in the opposite direction. I asked this awesome dude for directions, and he told me I had to drive for about 5 or 10 minutes (not 300m like I had initially thought) before hitting the intersection!! LoL! So, almost a wasted night!!
I arrived at Ron's around 7.45pm, in the dark! Here is where Rowena's getting a smashing! 15 mins before she's due to arrive at my place, i get an sms from Rowena saying she's not coming due to a headache!! Rowe, you're gettin a swift kick to ur backside at work...and one from each of the guys at Ron's place last night!!
Anyway, took a little bit to set up, and being dark i couldn't collimate, but it was still awesome! With 1ponders, Andrew's and Blu Moon's help, I now know where M31, 47 Tuc, large and small mag. clouds, pleides, hyades and much more are!!!
So, thanks AstroRon for the invite to a great night! Sorry I could only stay 3.5 hours, but I had to swim this morning at 5.30am!
1ponders, thanks for gettin me Polar aligned and answering all my questions! And for showing me that my mount is, in fact, not broken! LoL!
Another great night at the Cambroon Observatory. It was wonderful to catch up with old mates (seems like ages since we have seen each other. Astrofest I think it was for most and longer for others, hey Andrew ) and to meet new friends. I say meet new friends and not make new friends cos it seemed like we already knew each other from chatting on this place. I'm not sure of the exact numbers but there must have been at least 20-25 people there last night. There were some notable abscences though, and you know who you were.
Everyone was busy doing something, it was great to just walk around and see how many different things were being done, observed, imaged, chatted about, learnt.
I would also like to thank everyone for not buying anything in the past couple of weeks as it was especially good news that the weather played the game.
Here's to more of the same in the upcoming months.
There were 20 observers and 3 children last night at Cambroon
A great night was had by all
Steve ( gargoyle ) was the last to pack up, I closed my eyes at 04:00.
Steve was waiting for Venus and Saturn to rise, to view all the planets visible
in the sky over the nights observing I dont know if he was sucessfull as by that time I was in the land of nod I am sure Steve will enlighten us with his success or not.
Great turnup! lets hope for another one next month, and then Barambah in December.
WOW what a night....great to meet and greet everybody who turned out for a fantastic evening of looking up!!
Ron it was a pleasure to meet you and thank you for all the time you spent answering questions...Andrew THANKS so much for loaning me your 13mm Nagler(I have told my wife that that is my first EP purchase and when she found out the price she said"Oh thanks Andrew for the advice....not too sure how appreciative she was?).
Twas an awesome night thanks to all who were so helpful...will definately see you next time.
Guy
..Andrew THANKS so much for loaning me your 13mm Nagler(I have told my wife that that is my first EP purchase and when she found out the price she said"Oh thanks Andrew for the advice....not too sure how appreciative she was?
But I thought the plan was for you to get the Ethos
No worries about the eyepiece testing - very happy to help out.
It was a great night and it was great to put some faces to some of the new members around here ... including bucket-boy Seriously though, thanks to Josh for the company on the trip up and back to Brisbane, and I hope his experience from a social and learning point of view encourages more "lurkers" to make the effort and get along to a star party - it won't be your last!!
Quick response for now - YES Joy and I successfully viewed and positively identified every planet including Pluto in a single night!!!
Waiting for the last 2 - Venus & Saturn - to rise pre-sunup we were getting concerned as the NE sky above the hill became both VERY foggy and cloudy. Long story short we had intermitent glimpses through the cloudbank of Venus naked eye starting shortly after 4am, but it eventually rose into clear air about 20 minutes later.
Saturn was somewhat tricker - I saw 2 tiny "dots" dimly visible through the fog, etc, in the general vicinity, but the sky was getting definitely lighter and lighter by the minute! One of these dots was eventually revealed as Saturn when viewed through the scope - dim, but definitely Saturn!!
We left Ron's shortly after 4:30am and only some low clouds to the east saved us from driving directly into the freshly risen sun before reaching Caloundra and home at about 5:40.
Great night indeed! Thanks to Ron for his hospitality, and to everyone else for such a fantastic night! We were counting names on the way home to help stay awake and got 24 (including ourselves), hopefully we didn't skip anyone.
I've got a few piccies to add here later, but for now I've got some sleep to catch up on.
The iceinspace attendees at Cambroon last night,astro-south (Andrew) Josh(joshman)
Blue moon(Guy) jjjeanette (Jeanette) and son,1ponders(Paul),xeelee(Chris),sp articus(Mike), gsb(Graham),davewaldo(Dave),nightsh ift(Dennis)djvege(?),terry(Terry),g argoylesteve(Steve) andJoy, astroron(Me) Maureen, Pete and two children,Shane and Brent friends of Dennis, and John a prospective member.
If I have missed you I am sorryplease let me know so I can add you to the list.
I counted 13 scope plus a couple of astroimaging setups using cameras and telephoto lenses.
I hope to see you all next time Ron
Sounds like you all had a good time. I came close to making the trip up there this time, but my other half had already made plans for the weekend. I have now pre-booked all new moon weekends for the next 10 years.
Thanks to Ron for his hospitality and a special thanks to Steve and Joy for putting on a terrific spread of goodies in the afternoon, the flies particularly enjoyed the jelly beans for some reason? It was very kind of you.
It was a near perfect night!
I've posted some photos, there would have been more, but they all suffered from severe camera shake. Next time I'll stop talking while taking photos.
The Group Photo I've posted in the General Chat section as a poll.
Please keep the secret for a few days at least. I'm interested in what theories people come up with.
Thank you Paul for the lend of your gear. I've started processing some of the .avi's I took with the G-Star Ex. One of the discs didn't take, so I'm missing alot of data. Pity.
I've cancelled my order for the EOS/C-mount adaptor and ordered a focal reducer instead.
It was terrific to meet up with you all.
Thanks Ron for the hospitality.
1) Blu Moon (blue hat) and Bucketboy
2) Daytime LASER testing
3) I was 'pondering' what to say about this, but I think it is enough said
4) Ron and Blu Moon going over the finer points of footy from the mother country
and 5) the start of a great night.
And who said I didn't know one end of a dob from another. Maureen trusted me enough to let me near hers with a sharp screwdriver
That looks like a sweet little setup you have there Jeanette. I reacon we could do a bit bettern next time. Now I know what is neaded I'll bring a couple of other "gizmos" to keep the camera aligned and tight to the thread.
, but I still enjoyed 4hours observing.
:starga ze:
![[1ponders]'s Avatar](../vbiis/customavatars/avatar45_9.gif){kind=avatar}
15 mins before she's due to arrive at my place, i get an sms from Rowena saying she's not coming due to a headache!! Rowe, you're gettin a swift kick to ur backside at work...and one from each of the guys at Ron's place last night!! 
I'm not sure of the exact numbers but there must have been at least 20-25 people there last night. There were some notable abscences though, and you know who you were. 
WOW what a night....great to meet and greet everybody who turned out for a fantastic evening of looking up!!
please let me know so I can add you to the list.
- go on tell the missus Paul, bet she baulks
