Blue Mountains - Katoomba Airfield 10th AUGUST :)

[mental4astro]

Hi all,

Katoomba Airfield is available to us for Saturday 10th of August. :)

Sunset being around 5:30, Peter & I will try to be there before then.

Just a quick note. I'll add more details tonight.

Mental.

[rogerco]

Should that be August :)

[mental4astro]

:doh:

Ah, yeah. I meant August.

Thanx Roger, :thanx:

[absolut]

Count me in!

Bit more prepared this time! :)

Rob

[MortonH]

Cool. Hope to be there.

[killswitch]

Might go for a couple of hours. Got city2surf on the next morning :(

[AG Hybrid]

:thumbsup:

[AstroJason]

Im in hopefully all my eyepieces arrive by then.

[mental4astro]

This will be a good opportunity to spot M31, the Andromeda galaxy, & M33. I spotted M31 this morning from home with my 11X70 binos for the first time, :). M33 was elusive though. M31 was on meridian at 4:30am this morning.

My very first view of M31 was two years ago at the IISAC11. Truely magnificent, even if it's only some 13* above the horizon for us. I managed M33 from the Airfield three years ago - it was a naked eye object that night as a nice big fat round smudge. Just gorgeous though a scope too.

[MortonH]

Can anyone help me collimate my Newt? It's been off since the bumpy road at IISAC.

[AstroJason]

I have a 1.25" laser collimator that you can use as well as a hex key set I can bring along if you need?

[Steffen]

Morton, I always have my Glatter, tuBlug and various attachments with me in my eyepiece case :)

Cheers
Steffen.

[mr bruess]

I want to go this time and test my telescopes with the optical pros but i still don't know directions.
I saw map before but was a bit confused.Not on ubd or other street directory.

Now that the temperature is starting to warm up i am having more incentive to go.

[MortonH]

Thanks Steffen (and Jason).

I've only done collimation once in my life and that was by eye and over 20 years ago!

So laser deely and hex wrenches would be good. :)

[Camelopardalis]

Hopefully I'll be there...though I don't think I'm hardened enough to make it through to Andromeda-rise :sadeyes:

[MortonH]

Last month was my first visit and it turned out to be much easier than expected. I'd checked it out on Google Maps beforehand and on the day I used the maps feature and GPS on my phone. The only 'slightly' tricky bit is when you turn off at Medlow Bath and basically do a 180-degree turn onto Railway Parade. After that you turn left into Rutland and keep going.

I would recommend doing it in daylight for the first time.

[mithrandir]

For directions, starting on the highway at Katoomba, see a couple of posts in the July thread. Mine (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showpost.php?p=995179&postcount=118) and Mental's (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showpost.php?p=995233&postcount=119).

[dulwich.hill]

Weather permitting, the new Mewlon and I will be there!

[mental4astro]

Ooohhh, that's pretty, :)

[Steffen]

Very nifty indeed!

Cheers
Steffen.

[dulwich.hill]

I really like it so far. The Mewlon's "First Light" was last night from our backyard.

It was a really bad seeing night - windy, turbulent atmosphere and our chimney was blowing hot haze over Saturn.

Despite this, the Mewlon put up a nice view of Saturn at 250x. I could clearly see cloudy banding and just glimpse the Cassini Division. Also, I could make out the shadow of Saturn on the rear part of the rings. I don't think I have ever seen this before.

Another big difference is the fixed primary mirror and motorized secondary mirror for focussing. It is so nice to focus without touching the scope and no more mirror flop.

Really hoping for a clear night on Saturday.

James

[MortonH]

Nice scope! :party2:

Never looked through a Tak before...

[Camelopardalis]

Very nice scope, I'd be interested in your experiences compared with the evil moving primary variety :)

I've not knowingly looked AT a Tak let alone looked through one :sadeyes:

[dulwich.hill]

Am I reading the weather for Saturday night correctly? It is going to be CLEAR!

Rainy on Friday and Monday, but clear on Saturday and Sunday? Unheard of!

I'm "Big Kev" excited!

[Oleg]

I'm in!

Andromeda at 4:30AM?! I think I'll take a nap at 2AM.

Will bring along Denk Binotron 27 and a pair of Denk's 14mm, just received them! If you want to give them a try you are welcome, might need to add some counterweight. Actually it would be very interesting to test it in different kind of scopes.
I'm afraid my stock focuser will be sagging baadly :( still can't figure out how to tune it and make it stiff enough.

[vic4loc]

I'm confirmed as well. Lets hope no last minute plan.

Victor.

[eclipse]

I don't think that we can make it on Saturday, enjoy.

Les and Deb

[Wavytone]

No-one bought a scope this week !

[Irish stargazer]

Might give it a go. My first time.

[mental4astro]

John, you're more than welcome come join us. We promise to be gentle as it's your first time, :wink2: . Honest...

[MortonH]

Hope to see you there John.

Bring the Polarie - it's nice and dark up there!

It's also colder than the Pony Club.

[AstroJason]

Quote from BOM re Katoomba weather for Saturday... "Sunny. Winds westerly 30 to 35 km/h increasing to 35 to 50 km/h before dawn then turning southwesterly and becoming light in the evening." Really hope it isn't as windy as last month! But at least its expected to be sunny. Lets hope the wind does as expected and becomes "light" by the evening.

[MortonH]

Saw that too. Last month was bloody cold!

[Steffen]

SkippySky has the wind speed at 10m at less than 5km/h (EDIT: make that knots. And westerly :) ). I choose to believe that :)

Cheers
Steffen.

[Camelopardalis]

Sounds promising...if the wind is going to be low, I'll bring the dew heater :D

On the upside, I think I've found a solution for my zenith-averse setup that I'm keen to put to good use :)

[mental4astro]

I'll be getting there a bit late, after 7.

Looks promising for an all night session. :)

[mental4astro]

For those of you who would like to come, but haven't been at the Airfield before, access is via Medlow Bath, the next village heading west from Katoomba. At Medlow Bath's only set of lights, turn into Railway Parade. Then it is a left into Rutland Street (aka Grand Canyon Rd), and onto the Airfield site 4km down. Note that the last 3km of Rutland is unsealed, and rain can cause erosion of the road surface, leaving nasty, deep gashes in the road, so take it easy.

This link shows the above, heading west from Sydney:

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/attachment_browse.php?a=143236

On entering the Airfield's gate, turn LEFT (there's no access to the observing area by heading straight) and follow the track to and past the "No Entry" sign. When you come to a set of buildings, turn right up the hill and head up to the main runway where we set up on the concrete slab on the left. The picture below shows how to get to the set up area. Doing a google maps search of "Katoomba Airfield" will give you the site too.

This link shows the access route to the set up area:

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/attachment_browse.php?a=141903

One last note, to show our gratitude for the use of the Airfield, we give Rod the Airfield manager a gift of his preferred brew, for which the hat gets passed around to cover the cost of the gift.

Mental.

[absolut]

I'm revved up for tonight!

I'm aiming for around 4:30-5pm.

See everyone there!! :)

Rob

[AG Hybrid]

Yeah Ill be leaving home at 3 PM. Should get there about... 4:30? Sounds about right.

[AstroJason]

Hoping to pull an all nighter as well. Aiming to get there around 4:30 too. See you guys then!

[Camelopardalis]

I hope to be there about 5-ish.

[killswitch]

Should be there 4:30ish

[rogerco]

havent seen any weather reports, so here is one, Perfect day, just enough temperature to take the nip out of the air very light breeze, totally clear sky's you should have a great night, good luck. That's at Woodford 2:45 :hi:

I'm staying home to test some gear, hopefully next time.

[absolut]

What a great night!! :thumbsup:

By far the best and longest observing session I've managed so far!! I crawled into bed around 5:30am... haven't been up THAT late in a while!!
There was some eyepoping moments trying out different eye pieces with and without the 0III filter!!

Planning on getting some sleep now... :rofl:

Thank you one and all!!

[Camelopardalis]

Yes another great night out, despite the best effort of the wind, at least it wasn't as windy as last month and did have some good calm spells. Got to see a bunch of new (to me) clusters and nebulae both in my little scope and those of others :thumbsup:

[MortonH]

Dunk,

I'll never forget my first view of the Veil through your scope last night. Just fantastic!

[AG Hybrid]

Yep, a pretty good night. Great to see so many people and a diverse number of scopes. Naturally, a special mention for James and his Mewlon 250.

[absolut]

We're not worthy, we're not worthy!!

Special thanks to James, Adrian, Morton, and Steffen!!
Your equipment loans and views really helped open my eyes (pun intended!)... :D

With now further delay, here is the timelapse from yesterday...
Camera suffered a little bit of dew right at the end, but it seemed like a nice end to the sequence, so I left it in. Enjoy!

http://www.darsolut.org/Photography/Time-Lapse/30396891_MZgzmr#!i=2692816111&k=KJwT3dz

Rob

[vic4loc]

Apart from the occasional wind gust, it was a great night and great turn out. It was not so cold either, or that I was dressed really warm this time.

Some of the images I took from last night, just a pity didnt get a chance to image M31.

Taken with my standard Canon 550D
- James and his Mewlon
- Crux setting in the horizon
- Milky way core

Taken with my FSQ106
- NGC6744 (only 1 set of LRBG, 10mins exposure each), cropped approx 60%
- Corona Australis (3x10mins LRGB)

Initially planned to take the NGC6744 with the LX90 8", but the wind gust was not playing nice.

Victor.

[Irish stargazer]

My first time there. It a great location. That fireplace is really nice on a cold night! Next time I will know where to set up the scope.
Didn't get any images as there was some star trailing on the frames. That's what happens when you don't use a mount for two years and forget how to use the polar alignment routine.

[mental4astro]

It was good to be able to get in some photon time. Good to meet you John for the first time too, and the more familiar faces were also good to see.

A group of 5 of us stayed til very late to see Andromeda and M33 come over the tree tops. Seeing conditions weren't too good by then, and detail was difficult to make out in them. I did manage to pick out a few H2 regions in M33 using the blinking technique - just amazes me how these H2 region just leap out with the blinked in filter, and just so not there without it.

Oleg and I were the last to leave at 3am.

Adrian, that 30mm EP of yours has made a significant impression on me. VERY significant...

Oh, and that fireplace. Sooooo good in the cold...

Mental.

[MortonH]

Fireplace shmireplace. I stayed outside all night!

[Camelopardalis]

The natural antifreeze hasn't thinned out completely yet then Morton :D

I didn't even break out my heated jacket :lol: though I'll be glad my winter boots are arriving soon....