Kulnura this weekend - 19th

[iceman]

Have got a leave pass to go to Kulnura this weekend for some dark sky observing.

I've emailed the froggy lord to make sure it's ok for us to use the site.. pending his affirmative reply, who else is coming?

[GTB_an_Owl]

Good one Mike!

just after i post Andrews package to him - you tell me i could've hand delivered it the day after!

guess i will have to turn up to see that it fits him and try mine out too!

Mmmmm - i will have to find a reflective OWL to put on the back of my suit

geoff

[Rodstar]

I'll be there Mike and Geoff, subject only to weather and Sir Froggy's admission.

What's the bet it will be FREEZING, and I will rue the decision not to buy a freezer suit?! :cold:

[RB]

I'll be there if it's on !
Geoff I'll wear your's if mine doesn't arrive tommorow. :rofl:

Rod I bet it'll be Freezing. :poke:

[wavelandscott]

Not sure if I can get approval from the wife or not...if the weather holds and subject to her approval I'm game...

[GTB_an_Owl]

WELL - if "H" comes along i can always leave it with you when I go home Andrew

What are YOU up to "H" - plan to come along?

be my luck to wear the suit and have to take the fan off the dob to cool me down

geoff

[iceman]

The word from froggy is yavohl!

So i'll see you guys there tomorrow night! I probably won't be able to get there until 6:30pm or so.

[Satchmo]

Mike,

I'll be up at Mangrove Mountain airstrip tomorrow flying gliders, so if the weather is good after sun down I'll drop in for some viewing :thumbsup: . Can you give me directions to your observing field ?

Mark

[xstream]

Try here (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/downloads/kulnura_map.jpg) Mark.

[iceman]

Will be great to see you there, Mark!

Bring a 20" mirror or something ;)

[Rodstar]

Or even a 22" binoviewer!?:eyepop:

[h0ughy]

enjoy guys, I have my nuts still on higher purchase at the moment, so wont be going anywhere. Take some images for me please!

[Orion]

I am planning to come along with Scott and George so hopefully we'll see everyone at 5:30 or 6:00.

[h0ughy]

make scott take berts 300mm lens and his camera:thumbsup:

[Orion]

Will do ,Iv'e yet to see Berts lens.

[h0ughy]

AND ANOTHER THING.......wish I was going:sadeyes: :sadeyes: :sadeyes:

[Orion]

I'll come around, you can sneak out of the window and we'll make a getaway!

[h0ughy]

Clone me with something from M.I.D. and leave that here at home

[RB]

Ed it will be great to see you guys there.
Come on David, please, you can make it.
:prey:

[Octane]

Geoff,

I'm in Sydney this weekend, but, I'm not sure if I can make it. I'm run down and need some time to relax and unwind. If I feel up to it, I'll try my best.

Regards,
Humayun

[iceman]

Will be great to see you novocastrians!

[RB]

Wouldn't you know it.....it's gonna be 26'C tonight.....:mad2:
I don't care, I'm wearing my Hepworth.:(

Froggy make sure you have the water tanks filled......:D :P

[GTB_an_Owl]

Andrew - maybe we could mod some peltiers into the suits for air beditioning?

i want to know how i am going to drive the car with it on - cause i don't want too much on underneath it to-nite

might be a blessing if the wind gets up to-nite
bit blowy here at terrigal now

[RB]

We're gonna look like our airbags have deployed while we're driving !:doh:
:P

[Orion]

We will have Georges Nasmyth 18" telescope tonight, so for people who haven't looked through a three mirror dobsonian before your in for a treat.:thumbsup:

[wavelandscott]

Hope everyone has a good time...it looks like I will not be able to make this one...see you all the next time around next month...

[RB]

Ed I'm looking forward to it.

Scott we'll miss your company.

[Rodstar]

Look after yourself Scott, I hope we can see you next time.....

[iceman]

Awesome night, great to catch up with everyone..

Tornado33 (Scott)
Orion (Ed)
George
Mark Suchting
GTB (Geoff)
Octane (H)
Rodstar (Rod)
Rocket Boy (Andrew)
astropolak (Joe)
Froggy (Anthony)

DOn't think I missed anyone.

Great company again guys.. thanks for the hospitality Froggy.. thanks for the pizza and beer, Andrew!

Andrew and Geoff looked hilarious in their freezer suits.. the red headlamps really made the reflective strips stand out :)

Froggy also showed us his new paintball gun! Man, what a weapon! 32 pellets a second, firing at 100m/s! I wanted to send Andrew and Geoff running out in the field with their reflective targets on the back for target practise :)

Saw a lot of great objects.. highlight was Barnard 86 and the triplet in Grus. Stunning objects.

Thanks again for a great new moons observing. Look forward to it again next month.

[h0ughy]

I am so glad that you all had a wonderful night! And froggy should have had target practise anyway!

[tornado33]

Howdy all.
Thanks for a fantastic night, including looking through impressive telescopes and eyepieces, under an impressively dark sky. It wasnt a matter of wether one could see galaxies or not, but rather seeing detail in those galaxies and other deep sky objects.
It was great to meet the people of IIS too, both imagers and observers.

Heres some shots of the nights proceedings, taken with my modded 350D (no IR filter).
Thanks agin all. A night thoroughly enjoyed.
Scott

[Orion]

Another great night at Kulnura, clear night and absolutely no dew!

Thanks once again Anthony!

The views from Mike and Rods scopes were first class and thanks for sharing them with us guys.
Humayun, I hope those (test shots) were worth while considering you were testing till around 1:00 in the morning!

Here are some pics before dark.
Setting up, Scott next to Georges 18" and some last minute alterations.

[RB]

What a great night.
No wind, no dew, clear all night long and best of all: wonderful company.

It was great to meet Scott (Tornado33) and Mark and to see Ed and George again.
We all shared Pizza and a beer or two (at which time the "seeing" improved :P )
Stayed up with Geoff till about 3am helping H(Octane) image some widefields.

Rod showed me some wonderful doubles in his scope which I really enjoyed.
Thanks Rod, we'll have to have those cigars next time though. :D

The Hepworth suits were truly wonderful, so comfortable and for the first time I didn't feel the cold, thanks Geoff, although we did become targets for a certain boy with a toy gun !:mad2:

Thank you most of all to Anthony (froggy) for hosting the night once again.

And again thanks for everyone's company.

[GTB_an_Owl]

Absolutely FABULOUS nite (and morning)

Anthony served up another great viewing get to-gether

meeting the Novocastrians for the first time was an absolute pleasure and hope they can turn up more often.

the oportunity to look through other scopes and have objects identified is a great help to a NEWB like me - thanks fella's

hope to see you all next time

geoff

[Octane]

All,

Last night was fantastic. I feel as though last night was the best night I've attended at Kulnura. Great company, nice pizza, and wonderful cigars.

Thanks to Anthony for his hospitality, once again, and thank you to Andrew for allowing me to use his camera and lens, and all his other assistance! :)

I thoroughly enjoyed myself and was surprised that I started imaging well before the standard 3 AM; I took my first proper exposure at 12:00:13 AM. That's a first.

I really needed to get out and socialise and look through my telescope. Well, not look (I haven't done that for months), but use. The only visual I've done is through the 9mm illuminated reticle whilst drift aligning. ;)

Regards,
Humayun

[Rodstar]

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, great night guys!

If it were a restaurant meal, I would describe myself as having glutted on a ten-course meal. I went home thoroughly satisfied (at that is without even mentioning RB's pizza and beer!). What a great night's observing, with a great bunch of guys to-boot!

The conditions were very good, no dew, no cloud, very steady seeing. My goto performed flawlessly (as always), and I churned through about 50 new objects, as well as visiting some old favourites that shone like diamonds.

It was a pleasure to have Tornado33 and Mark Suchthing visit. May we see you again very soon!

Astropolak (Joe) was good company chatting about equipment. I also enjoyed sneaking a view in some others' scopes, including Geoff's: it is always fun scanning the skies with a dob, and M8 looked mighty fine! It is also always very interesting comparing the views in Mikes 10" dob with my 10" SCT. My slower scope does not afford such wide-angle views, so some of the larger galaxies and OC's are a pleasure to see in Mike's scope. Also, George's scope was quite unusual to use. George always has something new to show!

Like Mike, my highlight was Barnard 186. To my eyes, there is an inky black dark nebula under a beautiful ring of stars, on top of which is beautiful "setting" with a central orange star. Well worth a visit to anyone who has never seen it. I might just put Barnard's list on the agenda for next year's observing targets!

Great conversation flowed....thanks for the company everyone. Keep those cigars for next time Andrew!

[h0ughy]

Cigars, WHAT!!:eyepop: Who gave birth???;) :rofl:

[wavelandscott]

Sounds like everyone had a grand time...sorry I missed it! Hopefully, I can get there next time...

[frogman]

sorry for going to bed early too guys.(sat on the foot of my bed and fell asleap) ....but im glad you all enjoyed yourselves.
i remember waking up at somestage and swearing at that bloody useless dog barking. heard a few giggles from outside before i remembered you guys were out there ! :) did i scare anyone? ? :)
your welcome anytime guys ...im just happy your all happy !

Ant