Heathcote November 21-24

barx1963 (Malcolm) · #1 23-11-2014, 10:27 PM

A few of us who would normally have headed to Snake Valley this weekend just past decided to make a trip to the ASV site at Heathcote. Cannot quote an exact number who were there as I haven't totalled it up yet but a few are still there praying for the weather gods to play nice!
Friday night was very nice with only a small patch of cloud passing over at midnight and then beautiful dark sky until 4am. Saturday was cloudy all day and at night we watched a lovely rainbow pop out right on sunset and then a light show from the thunder storms of to the north.
A big thankyou to all the members of the ASV who came up and found a bunch of rather strange new members hanging around. Especially to Vicky and her partner(sorry your name escaped me), Rusty and Darren who showed us a few things through the 25" (I finally managed the Horsehead!!), Gavin for giving us a tour of the ASV dome, Eddie for coming over to say hi and make us feel welcome and Norm for showing us his Astrolabe (awesome work). Sorry if I forgot anyone or left out any names or got the names wrong, I am still a bit brain dead!!

Malcolm

Mckechg (Grant) · #2 23-11-2014, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barx1963

A big thankyou to all the members of the ASV who came up and found a bunch of rather strange new members hanging around.

I am sure you mean strange in a good way :-P

grant

barx1963 (Malcolm) · #3 23-11-2014, 11:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mckechg

I am sure you mean strange in a good way :-P

grant

We are a rather motley crew it must be said. Especially the odd lot sitting in tents, staring at screens and muttering!

Malclm

Paddy (Patrick) · #4 24-11-2014, 02:17 PM

Many thanks Malcolm for arranging a great get together for the Snake Valley regulars. It was a great weekend. Wonderful to catch up with everyone and some great observing on Friday night.

Is it March yet?

rcheshire (Rowland) · #5 25-11-2014, 08:30 AM

A further thanks Malcolm. An enjoyable couple of nights and company.

Hagar (Doug) · #6 25-11-2014, 09:38 AM

Seems a fairly select group.

mill (Martin) · #7 25-11-2014, 10:13 AM

All in all it was a good group of people and if we had more email addresses then we could have contacted more people to see if they could have come over.
Thanks go to the ASV for having us and showing us the equipment

mill (Martin) · #8 25-11-2014, 01:21 PM

Don't talk about a fairly select group Doug, because you know all about that too well.
Talking about calling the kettle black here is a bit two faced.

peterbat (Peter) · #9 25-11-2014, 02:04 PM

It was great to catch up with some of the Snake Valley people again, even if I was only there for the one night.
It was a pleasant surprise to see so many familiar faces.
Peter

Nico13 (Ken) · #10 25-11-2014, 02:33 PM

Glad you guys had a good night Friday, sorry to have missed catching up with everyone, worked Friday and Saturday night plus still sorting new equipment as well so next one maybe.

Hagar (Doug) · #11 25-11-2014, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mill

Don't talk about a fairly select group Doug, because you know all about that too well.
Talking about calling the kettle black here is a bit two faced.

For those who are unaware, I have a small forum 12 members who are all friends. Martin is obviously still quite upset that I removed his membership. It was removed for various reasons none of which I intend to go into here. It is now apparent he feels my comment was two faced because I considered myself to be one of the Snake Valley group yet removed him from the forum. I only attended about the last 7 years.(14 camps) or there about. I like to think I helped a lot of people at the camps and I certainly enjoyed them myself and made some good friends into the bargain.

barx1963 (Malcolm) · #12 25-11-2014, 03:26 PM

Hey Nico and Peter!
Peter, it was great to see you again, I am still finding those plans for the binocular mount we talked about and will email them hopefully tonight!
Nico, it was a great night Friday.

Malcolm

Greenswale (Wren) · #13 25-11-2014, 04:36 PM

Yep, it was a darn fine weekend, and a great catch-up. Friday night was pretty good for looking up, Saturday night the best for rainbows (curved inwards at the bottom!!!!) and lightning, and a fair bit of yarning and carry-on.

Was good to get to talk to a bunch of ASV people and to learn more about what goes on in the society. Looks like a great place to land!

New scope delivery is imminent, so definitely another visit to LMDSS in December. I have it on good authority that the skies will be clear for first light. Hahahahaha!

barx1963 (Malcolm) · #14 25-11-2014, 04:39 PM

Wren
Good to hear, just remind me what the new scope is going to be? Sorry I didn't make it over to you to have a look through the little Vixen!

Cheers

Malcolm

astro_nutt · #15 25-11-2014, 05:54 PM

Despite the inclement weather on the weekend, it was great to have met more fellow astronomers and listen to their stories and experiences which more than made up for the lack of stars. I will look forward to the next visit to the LMDSS.
Cheers!

byronpaul (Paul) · #16 25-11-2014, 06:40 PM

Hi all,

what a great weekend in general despite the somewhat less than perfect weather.

Arriving on Friday afternoon was great, really clear skies, go about the set-up the Caravan and Scope in unfamiliar territory, followed by plenty of good solar observing through an SM40, SM60 and a double stacked Lunt 50 …. The results, amazing views and plenty of sunburn to the neck.

Friday night was pretty good overall, patches of cloud throughout the night but it got really good for a few hours about 1am. Got the usual targets in, but also plenty of new ones as well. Seeing at times was damn good. Spent most of the night with Malcolm and Patrick with viewing through our 16”, 18” & 20” Dobs.

About 3am we all wandered over to Gavin and Rusty and the ASV’s 25” Obsession. First couple of targets were good through the Societies 22mm & 31mm Naglers, but we weren’t doing the scopes big 25” mirror justice at that magnification. Solution …. pop in Malcolm’s 13mm Ethos …. Now we are talking !!!!

Next few targets were fantastic. For me, the views of Thor’s Helmet and NGC1365 were amazing. NGC1365 wasn’t just a barred galaxy, the detail could be seen in the core as though it had been imaged. Four of the six observing also confirmed they spotted Horsehead with the h-beta filter. Capped of a great night and with cloud rolling in about 4am we called it a night.

Rest of the weekend for me was just R&R and general socializing as the weather hampered any further observing.

Quote of the weekend goes to Malcolm. When talking to the ASV boys at the 25” Obsession about what scopes we were using, Malcolm described them as “…. I’ve got a 20”, Paul’s got an 18” and Patrick got a little 16” …….. Made a few of us laugh and Patrick will never forgive Malcolm for the jibe

Great to catch-up with some familiar faces, and also to meet some next folks from ASV

Can’t wait for the next get together

Paul

Greenswale (Wren) · #17 25-11-2014, 08:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barx1963

Wren
Good to hear, just remind me what the new scope is going to be? Sorry I didn't make it over to you to have a look through the little Vixen!

Cheers

Malcolm

New scope is a C9.25 Evolution: http://www.celestron.com/browse-shop...-evolution-925 A neat and tidy solution!

Paddy (Patrick) · #18 25-11-2014, 09:11 PM

Yeah, Malcolm has certainly developed a penchant for saying "little" about other people's scopes. But we still love you Malcolm. Those views of Thor's Helmet through the 25" were just phenomenal!!!

Congratulations on the new scope Wren - hope the skies stay clear!

barx1963 (Malcolm) · #19 25-11-2014, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by byronpaul

Quote of the weekend goes to Malcolm. When talking to the ASV boys at the 25” Obsession about what scopes we were using, Malcolm described them as “…. I’ve got a 20”, Paul’s got an 18” and Patrick got a little 16” …….. Made a few of us laugh and Patrick will never forgive Malcolm for the jibe

In my defence, I would argue that it was a compliment, Patricks scope is very compact and well put together, so "little" refers to the entire package not the size of the mirror.

Hmmm. well that's my story!

Malcolm

Paddy (Patrick) · #20 26-11-2014, 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barx1963

In my defence, I would argue that it was a compliment, Patricks scope is very compact and well put together, so "little" refers to the entire package not the size of the mirror.

Hmmm. well that's my story!

Malcolm

Nice bit of reframing there Malcolm! Ever thought of a career as a media adviser to a politician?