Blue Mountains - Katoomba Airfield 16th March

[mental4astro]

Hi all,

Rod at the Airfield's given the ok for us to use it on Saturday 16th of March. Fingers crossed for a good, cloudless evening.

Access to the Airfield is via Medlow Bath. Head into Station Street and hang a left onto Rutland (also called Grand Canyon Rd). The Airfield is 4km from this intersection, with the last 3km being unsealed, and can have errosion damage. On entering the Airfield, turn left at the entrance and head past the "No Entry" sign, and turn right at the buildings to the main runway. We use the concrete slab on the left just before the runway proper. The picture below will help with the route through to the set up slab.

We are welcome to stay overnight as there is plenty of space in the office building.

The Airfield is a total BYO situation: your own power, food, water, etc. There are loos for the ladies and kids.

Come for a couple of hours or stay all night :)

Mental.

[Wavytone]

Count me in, for sure - if the weather will cooperate :(

[AG Hybrid]

I'll be there

[AstroJason]

Just got Alex's message. Really looking forward to joining you guys. Also really hoping the weather is great by then. Can't wait!

[rogerco]

I will consider it, weather permitting. Unless we have someone closer to the field I can give a weather report in the afternoon as I am on the mid mountains.

Has someone checked the road? we got a lot of damage to the mountains dirt roads in the recent rain.

Roger

[vic4loc]

Would like to tentatively register my interests as well.

Victor.

[Wavytone]

Roger, there's a good chance earlier in the day I'll be flying at Blackheath if the weather is nice, I can report what the clouds are like first hand :rofl:

Also the webcam at the katoomba scenic railway gives fairly good idea of cloud and wind, if you check before 5pm (they switch it off at 5 sharp), more than you can see from Woodford.

[rogerco]

Actually its still on tonight, not that you can see much through the rain :sadeyes: pity their Alt control only goes down a few degrees rather than up ;)

Anyway, yes it sounds like you will have a better view, anyway the weather can be very different. The other week when we had a rescue on the other side of the valley from the airstrip we were telling the rescue team that they were having large hail and wind at Hazelbrook, but they didn't get anything over there.

Here's hoping for a clear night
Roger
from misty, rainy, damp, cool :( Woodford

[killswitch]

Count me in, weather permitting.

[MortonH]

I hope to be there. Negotiating babysitting/car availability!

[pluto]

That frustrates me too but I've found that if you choose "lilianfels/Echo" from the "Select an item of interest" pull-down menu it will point at a spot much higher than you can reach with the alt control. Then you can navigate side to side from there and see a fair bit of the sky while zoomed in.

Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure it's "lilianfels/Echo" but I can't check as it's night and I can't really tell what it's pointing at!

[Manav]

I'm in for now...scope less still

[AstroJason]

Well it looks like its going to be a cracker of a day! Is aiming to get there at 5pm too early?

[AG Hybrid]

yeah 5 PM is quite early I don't think we start even getting there till 7-8

[AstroJason]

Ok no worries. Might aim for around 7pm then cause I don't want to set up if its too dark

[vic4loc]

I'm confirmed as well, although its a bit overcast where I am at the moment (Hurstville area). Will be there regardless :)

Victor.

[MortonH]

Damn. Can't make this week due to family stuff :(

[eclipse]

We can't make it tonight, but hope you all have a great time, as weather seems very good.

Les and Deb

[mental4astro]

Ok, just spoke with Rod & says the wind is from the west! Excellent.

The bad news, I can't make it, :sadeyes:

And it looks like it's going to be a cracker, :sad::sad::sad:

Peter hopes to get there round 6:30.

Have fun for me!

[rogerco]

Sorry, I can't make it either, nursing a head cold and having equipment problems, I'll stay at home and draw the clouds away from the rest of you ;)

Have a good time

[AG Hybrid]

Bugger. Guess I'll say Hi to Peter then.

Can anyone keep us updated on the weather there?

[rogerco]

Well I'm at Woodford in the mid mountains and at the moment its 80% thick cloud overhead. But it looks a lot clearer to the west. I'll be going up to Hazelbrook about four so I can report back then unless there is someone already up there. Mid mountains isn't always a good guide to what is going on in Katoomba.

[Steffen]

I'll be there for sure. The forecast looks quite nice, with a westerly wind transparency is going to be good.

Cheers
Steffen.

[AG Hybrid]

Sounds good. Better start packing :D

[rogerco]

Just been up to the top of Boddington Hill (the start of the upper mountains). Cloud about 40% but more to the north and north west, slight breeze from the north west. Photo is Great Western Highway look west top of the hill Wentworth Falls.

[Wavytone]

Mount Boyce is showing WSW 12-18 knots so its going to be clear but windy on the airstrip.

Sorry I can't make it - I'm coming down with the 'flu, dagnabbit.

[Manav]

Is anyone there yet..Im running late will be there @ 10pm.

[Wavytone]

Let me guess... it clouded over anyway ?

[AG Hybrid]

It was totally clouded by 11PM. 70% cloudy from 8 PM onwards.
Still an enjoyable night. Met some new people and checked out James' C11.

Clouds or no clouds was still a fun night.

BTW to Edward and Jason. My parking lights started working again after passing Linden on the way back :rofl:.

[AstroJason]

Shame about the clouds but the company was great. I had a really enjoyable time meeting you guys. Cheers Adrian again for sharing those eye pieces with me! The views of eta carinae, omega centauri, the 3 galaxies in leo, sombero galaxy, tarantula nebula... just amazing. Now to invest in some ES eye pieces! Really wished we could've spent more time out there but those rain drops made my heart skip a beat! Haha glad your parking lights working again, but by the sound of it you'll be able to rewire it ;-) can't wait to do it all again next month!

[hickny]

Hi All,
Yeah it was fun meeting all of the first time attendees as well as seeing those who have come before. Pity about the clouds but the conversations made for an enjoyable night and seeing all the high end equipment was a real buzz. Next month coincides with the IIS camp at Lostock. Mental4Astro (Alex) will not be able to go as he is booked into the AstroCamp. I'll contact Rod closer to the date about us going, I cannot see it being a problem.

[mental4astro]

I'm disappointed I couldn't make it, and worse still that the blasted clouds came in right on twilight. Freak'n conspiracy I say!

How many turned up? Good to read about the first time attendees too.

[dulwich.hill]

It was still a good night, despite the clouds. The clouds came over in waves rather than sucker holes so we still got to see quite a bit. Damn shame the imaging guys with the FSQ106 (what a gorgeous looking scope!) couldn't get enough photons for dinner!

The clouds made us chat a bit more - great social night. And there was no dew or ICE ;) on our scopes that night - quite balmy really (16 C). I am guessing we had about 12 people turn up with about the same number of scopes!? Even had some scopeless people, which I think is a great way for people to get interested in the hobby.

Alex, I think you should expect more people in future as the airstrip is developing a name for dark skies and good seeing (when there is no clouds!). Still like calling this gathering "The Katoomba Cloud Makers"

I got some good views of Jupiter in the C11 about 8:30pm, and some terrible views of Saturn at 11pm - it was floating in boiling yellow oil on the horizon!

Peter, are you up for next month? I can't make Lostock. Happy to call Rod if you can't make it either.

James

[killswitch]

It was nice meeting you guys, had a great time. Saw some stunning views for the first time, quite amazing.

The sky in Katoomba airfield is great, minus the clouds. Hopefully it holds up better next meet.

[Manav]

better luck next time with the clouds. I was late but had a sneak peek at Orion and saw some great scopes. Hopefully next time we will have a longer night.

[MortonH]

I will make it there eventually, although the next two months are IISAC and SPSP.

Do you guys go up there in winter?

[vic4loc]

Pity clouds always spoil the party :)

But it was still good night, good chance to meet to talk to everybody. My friend (Mac) was his first time at a dark site, and thanks all to let us see through your scopes. He was so excited to see Jupiter, Saturn and some DSO for the first time.

I managed to get 1 set of 5mins RGB of the Rosette, no darks or bias/flast, and combined with previously taken Ha images to produce the HaRGB.

Victor.

[AstroJason]

Thats a great image Victor. You did really well to get such a great result considering how much cloud cover we ended up with.

[AG Hybrid]

Fine job on that image. Especially with such a small amount of exposure.

[killswitch]

I was emptying out my camera today and found these pics:

1) Peters dobs (i think?)
2 & 3) A stab in the dark between the clouds
4) Moon shot i took earlier this month

[AstroJason]

Great shots Edward. I really like the one of Peter's dob with the stars reflected in his primary mirror.