Ten Chain Hill New Moon Nights

[pmrid]

Well, I'm back from my recent wanderings. Had some exquisite nights in central Qld near Clermont while you enjoyed the rains down here.

It looks like the weekend of the 20th this month although the following might be OK as well. Any takers?

Peter

[RickS]

Welcome back, Peter! I'll be down at Glen Aplin on the weekend of the 20th (weather permitting) but perhaps the weekend afterwards...

Cheers,
Rick.

[ozstronomer]

Hi Peter, Nice to see you had some good weather on your trip.

I'm hoping to be up both weekends, will be good to catchup.

Lets hope the weather is in out favour

Cheers Geoff

[Spookyer]

Hi Peter, Sat night is not looking too bad. I might come out if that is ok.

Brett

[pmrid]

G'day Brett,
sure. Be glad to see you again.
Peter

[ozstronomer]

Hi Peter

Skippy and Accuweather both predict clouds and possible rain for tonight :mad2:

might get an update from you after lunch

Geoff

[pmrid]

Just got back from a run down to Ipswich and see that (about 11.30 am) there is a lot of haze about (burning-off plus school holidays always brings on a bout of idiots losing control of fires accidentally or deliberately) and the cloud does not seem to be clearing yet. My present instinct is to say wait until next weekend.

Peter

[Spookyer]

Yep, things seems to have gone downhill in the last 12 hours.

[ozstronomer]

Peter

Thanks for the update.

I don't think it will clear for tonight so i won't bother this weekend.

I'll stay intouch and hopefully next Saturday will be clear.

See you then

Geoff

[RickS]

I'm still keen to come up next weekend if the weather behaves!

Cheers,
Rick.

[pmrid]

G'day Rick.
Fingers are crossed!!
Peter

[pmrid]

Gentlemen, if Skippy is to be believed, this Saturday evening holds serious promise.
Start packing!
Peter

[RickS]

Woo hoo! I'd love another night of data on this one, Peter: http://www.astrobin.com/122238/

[lazjen]

Gees Rick, no wonder you want more time on it - only 11 hours? :p

I'm unsure if I'm going to try for this night as well - still haven't managed a real visit yet. :) There's stuff happening on Sat arvo that might make it too tight for me to arrange. It'll be a last minute decision if it happens I think.

[RickS]

11 hours isn't that long on a galaxy at 2700mm FL, Chris :)

Weather is looking a bit dodgy, Peter. Hope the outlook improves!

Cheers,
Rick.

[lazjen]

Ah great, the weather is sensing I might be able to make it...

I'm sure 11 hours isn't that long - it is to me since I think the most of I've been able to do on one target is 3.5 hrs. Perspective. Hopefully in a few years I can look back and say something similar. :)

[Spookyer]

I have a back fence and retaining wall to fix this weekend and a wedding to shoot, so won't be able to make it. Hope the weather improves for you guys.

Brett

[pmrid]

It's hard to pick isn't it?
After that storm went through yesterday, it was clear and calm up here with great seeing.
Peter

[lazjen]

It's looking a bit iffy, but my choice has been taken away anyhow, so maybe another time.

Perhaps now that I'm not coming the weather will be ok for the rest of you. :)

[RickS]

Hmmm, what do you reckon, Peter? I'll see how things are looking at lunchtime and decide...

Cheers,
Rick.

[pmrid]

Hey Rick!
Skippy gives a clean sky until about 1.00 a.m. with a bit of cloud pushing up from the south. The BOM maps don't show any cloud either but it's there all the same. It shows on the SE Qld Synthetic map - in fact that map shows something of a front forming by about 0800 UTC and hanging around most of the next few hours. That must be the "possible storm" the Bureau forecasts.

So my best guess right now is to believe the synthetic forecast and make sure there is a bottle of red handy because THERE WON'T BE MUCH IMAGING DONE TONIGHT!!.

Ahhhhhhhh dammit!!!


Peter

[RickS]

Thanks, Peter. I guess I'll stay home and process some more data from California. Hope to catch up another time...

Cheers,
Rick.

[ozstronomer]

Ok thanks Pete, hopefully next month might bring clear skies

Geoff

[pmrid]

Just gone 5.30 and you know what I'm going to tell you, don't you?

Yep!!

Clearing and nearly cloudless. Light breeze dying with the light. On this occasion, it's staring to look as if I should have believed Skippy after all!

Peter

[ozstronomer]

Sounds good Pete, cloudy here, unfortunately... hope the weather stays clear.

Cheers

[pmrid]

Greetings all you happy little campers. It's time to chase the ants out of your telescopes, charge the batteries, clean the optics and look towards TCH. This Saturday - if all the planets are in alignment, the Moon is in the right house and if all other signs and portents remain auspicious - there will be stars.

Peter

[ozstronomer]

Hi Peter

I'll be up Saturday, see you then

Geoff

[pmrid]

Weather permitting, Rick is coming up Friday as well. Anyone else wanting to do the same is welcome.
Peter

[whzzz28]

I'll be up Friday weather permitting.

[pmrid]

Cheers Nathan. Skippy doesn't look too flash either night at the moment though.
Peter

[DavidTrap]

If the storm clouds rolling through tonight is a sign of what to expect over the weekend, I think there might be a chance to catch up on sleep / TV / red wine...

DT

[RickS]

Oh well, at worst I still have a couple of hundred hours of data from SRO to process. I would like to finish off my two southern galaxies though, and it would be especially good to catch up with Peter. It has been an awful year for new moon weekends...

Cheers,
Rick.

[ozstronomer]

Peter,

I may be able to get up tomorrow night, I'll check with you first before I drive up.

Geoff

[RobF]

I've been having a bit of fun figuring out the cloud/weather forecasts for the weekend too. Certainly looking like a tough one to predict this time. Possibility of very clear great night after rain too of course.

[pmrid]

What a tragic lot we are - clinging to these little rays of hope. But we do! And I am!!

Peter

[pmrid]

Right! Weather report.
The forecast storm for last night happened well to our south. We had a clear cool night.
At the moment it is still, clear and low 20s.

Skippy shows some cloud moving in here well after about 10.00 p.m. and clearing us again by early evening Saturday.
So I'm inclined to be optimistic at this stage.

If anyone is going to have a crack tonight, could I make a request? I need to borrow a laser collimator. My own is on loan elsewhere and I've decided to resurrect my 10"f3.8 astrograph and would like to give it a collimation tweak.

Thanks in advance for that.

Peter

[RickS]

Hi Peter,

I guess I'll cross my fingers and come up this afternoon. I have a Glatter collimator that I can bring.

Cheers,
Rick.

[pmrid]

Thanks Rick.
I'm going to duck over to the Post Office in Esk sometime around the 2.00 p.m. mark - and it will take me an hour or so for the round trip so if I'm not here when you arrive, make yourself at home. The sheds, Obs etc are all unlocked so plug in and hook up and I'll see you when I get back.

cheers

Peter

[RickS]

Thanks, Peter.

[ozstronomer]

I'll chance the weather and pop up as well tonight Peter

See everyone then

Geoff

[Tandum]

An hour to get to the shops and back .....

I think spitting distance to myer's has it's up side.

[pmrid]

G'day Robin. It does, if you have an overwhelming urge to spit on Myers. For my part, I can take it or leave it. :lol::lol::lol:

We had a surprisingly good night up here last night. Windy until about 7.30 and the threatened clouds didn't make it this far north. A bit soft around midnight but it cleared again quite quickly and remained that way until sunrise.

Here's hoping tonight follows the same pattern.

Peter

[RobF]

I'm in for tonight.....forecasts have improved a little
Bribe the weather gods for me just in case please Peter? :)

[RickS]

Thanks for another weekend of your fine hospitality, Peter. Appreciate you putting on some good weather last night as well. Great to catch up with Geoff and Rob too...

Cheers,
Rick.

[ozstronomer]

+1...

Great to catch up with everyone, should be some nice images from the weekend data collection.

Thanks Peter for your hospitality


Cheers Geoff

[RobF]

+2

Thanks again Peter. And Rick and Geoff, thanks for the company - great to catch up.

[pmrid]

You're very welcome guys. Always a pleasure to lean on your knowledge of PI.
Rick - thanks for bringing that crazy blighter Jason up.

Peter

[Jason_FJ_Djamm]

It was wonderful to meet you esteemed and sagacious Peter and share your beautiful skies!!! I would love to visit again. If Rick is not coming perhaps I could ride my bicycle from Toowong.

Best wishes,
Jason.

[pmrid]

Yep. 22nd November and it's a Saturday. With Christmas and summer it will probably be the last usable New Moon for the year if the weather allows it. And January is almost certainly going to be problematic - always is isn't it? So put the 22nd Nov in your diaries.

Peter

[RickS]

Alas, I'll be somewhere over the Pacific on that Saturday night, Peter. Good luck with the weather.

Cheers,
Rick.

[lazjen]

Hey, maybe next year for me then. :) I've got stuff happening on the Sunday, so I'm out.

[ozstronomer]

Peter

Weather permitting i'll be up

Geoff

[pmrid]

G'day TenChainers.

I've been busy these last couple of days. That Pegasus pier that, until now has been standing on its own out in the rain is now indoors. I took up some of the floor of the observatory and dug a third pier pit underneath. Concrete and reinforcing went in yesterday with a cage of bolts to hold the pier base. I mounted the pier this morning and it went in smoothly. All levelled up and waiting for a mission.

It occurs to me that one of you may want the opportunity to put your own mount on it and leave it here - all nicely aligned and ready to go with power on tap. Anyone interested?

Peter

[RickS]

I'd take you up on that offer if I had a spare AP900, Peter!

[pmrid]

Cheers Rick.
It occurred to me that many of us have, at different times, enjoyed (perhaps suffered is a better word) a surplus of astro gear including the odd EQ6 or HEQ5 lying about unloved and unused at the back of the garage. It would be a great burden off the conscience to be able to put these lame ducks to good use.


Peter

[DavidTrap]

Now that would be a first world problem!

:rofl:

[RobF]

Thanks Peter. If I was a single lad I'd probably do it, but just never sure when I can get away these days. I'm still tweaking the EQ6 while using the HEQ5 routinely last couple of months.

Good to know there is a pier option there though. My jealousy of your set up increases...... :P

[pmrid]

I've picked up an HEQ5Pro to whack on it for now.
That'll be enough for the light stuff I want to do - I have an old 4" Orion achromat and a FLI DF-2 focuser and - wait for it - an even older SBIG ST7 CCD and a manual Orion FW and a spare set of Baader NB filters. And finally a WO-4 flatterner/ .8 reducer. So as soon as I can get a PCMCIA card with a parallel port to fit into my laptop, I'll use it to do widefield NB stuff or something similar. All good fun.

Anyone have a spare EQMOD connector for a HEQ5 or a wiring diagram for one I can make? I thought I had one bit it turned out I have a Shoestring focuser dongle and a DSLR shutter dongle but not an EQMOD. Damn!


Peter

[ozstronomer]

Sorry Peter, No EQMOD cable spare, Bintel will have one

Geoff

[RobF]

I wouldn't be trusting my wiring knowledge - the smoke got out the first time I built one. I'm using an EQDIR from Bintel currently too from memory. Different plug on the 5s of course.

[pmrid]

Hi guys. Just an update on my current project - Pier 3.
It's more or less ready to roll. EQMOD runs the mount back through a HitecAstro Mount Hub Pro to a laptop with a nice nw SSD to make it a bit quicker.
A touch of drift aligning via PHD2 if the weather clears a bit.
Disappointed with the WO reducer/flattener IV. I can't squeeze enough backfocus out of this old Orion scope. I put a JMI focuser on it a long time ago and it's a big mother. And its R&P as well with no reduction gear. Those were my visual days. And I can't even get a DSLR to get the minimum 66mm focal distance the WO requires. So I lose my reduction factor and may also not get much flattening. Some star time will tell. If I can't, I'll take it off and put it on the ED127 instead of the AP .67 reducer.
And in that case, I'll try to get the FLI focuser and FW back onto it.
Whatever, it'll be a touch of fun.

Peter

[RickS]

It's starting to look like one of the sheds full of scopes at SRO, Peter :lol:

[pmrid]

Yes, it does a bit. My obsession is showing I guess. That section of naked floor has been nagging at me for ages - it just cried out for some better use. And of course, I do just happen to have the next project in mind - to put the ED127 on the HEQ5Pro - should squeeze within its weight limits - and refurbish my old 10 inch f3.8 astrograph and whack that on the EQ8. The old Orion is a bit of fun but not a serious rig and heaven knows you have to be serious - right???

Peter

[RickS]

Nothing good ever came of "fun" ;)

[RobF]

I'm frightened of squeezing around in there in the dark as it is, but good on you for scrounging more space and putting another rig to use Peter.

[ozstronomer]

Peter

I think you may need to rearrange the furniture in the Control Room to accomadate the extra computing power required :D

[Spookyer]

Yes, perhaps floor to ceiling monitoring screens for the feeds from the multiple scopes!:eyepop:

[pmrid]

Yes. I was impressed with the layout of the ESAmission control room for Philae. There's a lot to be learned from their example.
Peter

[pmrid]

Well, I've solved the problem of too little infocus. I took 60mm off the end of the OTA with my trusty angle-grinder. Probably hasn't done much for resale but now I can get all the bits and bobs I wanted into the optical train AND use the WO flattener/reducer. It is an extension of my general philosophy of "things that don't work " - the product of ignorance of course but there you have it - if it doesn't work, and it can't be fixed with a hammer or an angle grinder, then it just wasn't meant to work and it should be junked.

Peter

[RickS]

Next you'll be making delicate adjustments to the optics with a chainsaw, Peter :lol:

[ozstronomer]

Hi Peter,

I won't be up tonight, hope the weather holds for a good night

Cheers geoff

[RobF]

Yes, all the best guys. I'm staying with the family tonight. Hope those degenerating thunder clouds behave.

[RickS]

I arrived back from California this morning. Did I miss anything?

[pmrid]

Not a bleed in' thing! Heat, cloud, smoke, ants. That's about it.
Peter

[RickS]

That's a shame, Peter... crap weather in California too. No data from SRO this week.