Kulnura - this weekend 18th Nov

[iceman]

New moon is on the 21st (Tuesday), so it's probably best to meet up this weekend rather than next.. We had enough of the moon 3 weeks ago :)

Who's keen to meet up?

I'll check with Froggy and make sure we're ok to use the site.

[Rodstar]

I'm in, subject to SWMBO and favourable weather.

John Bambury, Gary Kopff and Andrew Murrell are heading up to Ilford to catch up with Van Robinson (from Texas), so they won't be able to make it this time.

[RB]

How can I say no !

Unless of course The Boss tells me to say no.

:sadeyes: :ashamed:

[iceman]

The weather is predicted to be CLEAR!

[jakob]

18th Nov ??? sounds familiar Oh! Wedding Aniversery!
I better stay home. Sorry.

[iceman]

bummer Jakob! Go out friday night instead (pretend you got the date wrong ;))

btw good news, I have boss approval! I'll be there for sure.

[RB]

Can you please get your Boss to call my Boss, I need help on this one Mike.

:prey:

[Glenn Dawes]

[quote=iceman]New moon is on the 21st (Tuesday), so it's probably best to meet up this weekend rather than next.. We had enough of the moon 3 weeks ago :)

Who's keen to meet up? [quote]

Hi Mike and all,

Count me in, subject to natural disasters (like clouds!).
I've got an Argo Navis, since I was up there.
What a wonderful toy to play with for the evening!
(Don't forget the Leonids on the Sunday morning, fingers crossed!)

Glenn

[RB]

Fantastic Glenn !
The Argo is the best add-on you can buy for a scope IMO.
I'm really hoping I can make Kulnura this week.

[wavelandscott]

Not sure if I can make it but I am sure interested...

I'll have to see how I go on my "honey do" list before I can confirm.

[iceman]

Excellent Glenn! Look forward to catching up again.

Andrew and Scott I hope you can make it - it won't be the same without you. Get those chores done!

[Rodstar]

SWMBO has given me an official leave pass.

Hopefully I can ingratiate myself sufficiently to have access to someone's scope....being desperate and scopeless ATM....

[iceman]

Come with undies on your head Rod, and i'm yours! :D

[Rodstar]

I am going to resist the temptation to take that comment any further. :P

It will be good to use your scope, Mike! I am WAY behind on my observing targets for the year, so if you don't mind, I might take charge for a while and hunt down some DSO's to try to make some inroads into the October and November lists. :astron:

[iceman]

Not a problem, Rod... I'll share the EP view when you find the objects :P

[RB]

Get a bino viewer boys and your problems are solved.


Mine on the other hand are only just beginning, The Boss is threatening to join the forum and post all the chores I have to finish before Saturday arvo....:scared:

[h0ughy]

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: I have yet to approach SWMBO, so I cannot talk here. I also have 2 computers to get out this weekend for a business, so I wont be there. However in saying that, there is always hope. If I get them completed by saturday arvo there may be a chance;)

[wavelandscott]

I "mentioned" to SWMBO tonight (after I helped with our childrens reading, tooth brushing and bed tucking in...all without complaint or grumble) and I did not get an immediate NO! so put me down as maybe...is it okay with Froggy?

Most likely I'll have Campbell in tow too...it is his Birthday Thursday so I suspect that as a new "9" year old he will feel (since he thinks he is nearly an adult) entitled to tag along...


So many questions...
Who's underwear is Rodstar going to wear on his head to view through a scope?
The mind wobbles..
Hey, just remember that I may have my son so nothing too lacy (or racy) ;)

[RB]

:jump2:
Oh Boy, I wonder if this will be one of the best Kulnura meetings to date?

Houghy I made the effort with Mike to come up there for the transit mate, it's your turn to come down. You can bring the new mower to show us how it works !

Scott it will be great to see you and "young" Campbell again.
Since the weather won't be as cold as at SPSP, I reckon the undies Rod will wear on his head will be briefs.........:P

Jakob not fair mate you promised to be there this week for my b'day to have a Cuban with us! :(

Rod I'll be bringing Amanda ! :cool3: ;)

Froggy if it's still on this week, I hope your there, we missed you last time. :sadeyes:

Mike if my wife signs up, ban her straight away !!! :eyepop:

[GTB_an_Owl]

gentlemen! (and others)

there will be no excuse for not turning up this week to Kulnura
(it may be our last nite before xmas)
all those that have previously turned up are obliged to do so this weekend.

ANY ONE who does NOT, will have the letters "hwiutt" added to his signature.

Trust ME - i know a moderator that will do this thing for me

geoff

[cahullian]

Sounds good guys. I already have half a dozen hedgehogs ready for the weekend and am looking at maybe another half dozen by Sat night.
Looking forward to seeing you all again. I'm lookiing forward to using my new seat again.

Gazz

[cahullian]

Disaster
Came home last night and some one had eaten all the hedgehogs.
I will go looking again tonight but the little buggers are hard to find.

Gazz

[RB]

"Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

They were my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My moon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that the hedgehogs would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one:
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods:
For nothing now can ever come to any good."

Unless of course Gaz can find some more !
:lol:

[iceman]

geez gazz I thought that was your condition of entry! :)

[iceman]

Just checked with froggy, we're ok to come! :)

He'll be there this time too!

[iceman]

PS: I'll probably get there between 7 and 7:30pm, since it's not dark until 8pm atm.

[cahullian]

lol nice one andrew

[GTB_an_Owl]

Where DID you get that from 'RB'

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

good luck with the hedgehog hunt 'Gazz'
(but you only really need them if 'h0ughy' promises to come)

but there again, there are those that will not say no to a bit of hedgehog if they can be captured

[ausastronomer]

As Rod mentioned, Gary, Andrew and I will be at Ilford this weekend due to a mutual friend from Texas visiting. Hope the weather is clear for you guys and the night goes well.

CS-John B

[sejanus]

hey guys i might be there not sure yet. I have a wedding to shoot but it may end about 9:30pm and it's up north so I'll put the scope in the car and come out if I'm not too buggered after the wedding.

I still haven't used my scope properly as it's been cloudy darn near every night at where I live.

[David]

see you all there, don't know if I can stay the whole night but I will be there for the start

[wavelandscott]

I'm pretty solid after an early evening of "chores" and "honey do" items...

Most likely I'll have at least Cam and maybe Tom too...probably can't stay too late but any scope time will be nice!

See you all soon...

[RB]

Is anyone going to stay back till late tonight?
Looks like a top night coming up !

[Rodstar]

I could be convinced if you bring your Tak, Andrew.;)

[h0ughy]

I am not allowed to come tonight guys:sadeyes: :sadeyes: . i have been grounded:scared: . I have been roped in to help my wife mark 170 exam papers. not happy either, hole in jetstream, clear skies, no dust in the air, no cloud, and no moon either. its not fair.......and to think that hedgehog had my name on it???? I am not even allowed to set the scope up until after the papers have been finished.

please take some photos to tease the proverbials out of me showing clear skies, everyone happy and a hedgehog.......I want to show my wife there are normal people out there who care about me and need me:whistle: . and that I should have been there:sadeyes:

[iceman]

Back home already.. something weird tonight, the sky just wasn't dark. And it got worse as the night went on, could hardly see anything in the north.

Good company as always, but transparency was shocking.

Maybe next month.

[wavelandscott]

Mike was right about the seeing but the company was good...three tired Mitchell boys just arrived home...we will unpack in the morning...off to bed now...

[GTB_an_Owl]

You ok 'RB' ?

did you get roped into helping H0ughy and his missus marking papers?

hope all is well

absolute crud of a nite with the seeing - and it didn'get any better after 12 as it usually does - in fact it got worse - we packed it in about 12-30

looking forward to next month and your pleasurable company again guy's - xmas party hats are optional :D

[Rodstar]

We missed your company RB!

As Mike and others have said, the conditions were quite bizarre. We saw 15+ satellites, was looking very promising early on with clear skies and still air, but as it got darker, it became apparent that the sky background was much lighter than we have ever experienced before.

It wasn't skyglow in the usual sense....it was not particularly coming from the direction of Sydney or Newcastle, it was everywhere. Glenn Dawes' laser pointer hinted at the problem, the laser beam picked up an enormous amount of moisture in the air, (although not a huge amount of dew fell on the equipment).

The north was just plain dull, like someone had smudged the stars. It had the appearance of dull storm clouds, but there were no clouds!

I am wondering if a coven of wives got together to conspire against us....we certainly all got home much earlier than usual!

I would be interested to hear how John B and the others found the conditions at Ilford.

Thanks to Cahulian and Geoff for the generous supply of hedgehogs and beer. Also to David for kindly sharing his mint slice chocolate bickies! Was nice to have the company of both Campbell and Tom Mitchell, who were very patient and well mannered (like their daddy!). Also good to see Froggy, who stayed for a good while last night.

Thanks Mike for letting me set the observing agenda. Before the conditions deteriorated too badly we saw some interesting targets in Sculptor, Tucana, Cetus and Aquarius. Perhaps the most interesting sight was a group of 3+ galaxies in the one FOV in Cetus. Two of them were NGC 584 and 596, not sure of the ID of the third. NGC 157 is another nice compact galaxy in Cetus worth a visit; I would like to see it again another time with 20" to see how much detail I can elicit.

I had a chance to try a new EP out....I picked up a 12mm UO HD ortho from Frontier Optics for a mid-high power EP in the short term until the budget will stretch to the premium end. Although the FOV was rather narrow, the views were tack sharp to the edge, and image brightness and contrast excellent given the conditions. If it performs as well in my new scope, I think I might just pick up the 6mm and 9mm EP's as well!

Look forward to seeing you all next month.

[RB]

Guys I'm so sorry I couldn't make it last night.
I was gearing up to be there around 7.30pm but something unexpected came up and had to attend to it.

I was thinking of you all, sorry to hear the seeing was yuk.
It looked like it was gonna be a stunner night, although I wonder if there's particles in the air from bushfires. :shrug:

Anyway missed you all :sadeyes: , I had planned to bring the 12" LX200 just for a change, looks like it'll have to be next month.

Cheers.

[Rodstar]

Glad to hear you are OK, Andrew. Hope all is OK at home and with the chickens.

Look forward to seeing you next time, with the 12" LX200!

[wavelandscott]

We forgive you RB...meant more "Hedgehogs" for the rest of us...and my youngest son Tom has decided that he likes "Hedgehogs"...

Hope all is well!

[astropolak]

Hi Guys
Thought I send you few notes here. I could not attend last two meets at Kulnura, first one because I was scope less and last night because of family engagements today.

I did get a chance to observe last night with my new LX200R 10" :D:D:D
If you are interested to find out more read my post in Equipment Discussions...

RGDS Joe

[Rodstar]

Great to here about the new gear, Joe. Hope I can have a play with your new scope sometime soon!!:thumbsup:

[iceman]

We missed you RB, glad to hear everything is ok.

Look forward to catching up soon!

[astropolak]

Rod
On that note - how did you transport your LX200? I find that the OTA is way too big for the box I have made for LX90. Do not want to use the original Meade box...

RGDS Joe

[Rodstar]

I used the original Meade Box. It was still in OK shape after 18 months use when I sold it to Odlaw.

If you do likewise, that would give you a bit of time to save up for a proper purpose built aluminium case, like the ones advertised on Astronomyonline. I think they might retail for about $750. Ouch!:scared:

[cahullian]

Good night for chatting, not too good for seeing. It was all my fault, for the first time in about a year I took my scope out of the car. LOL

Beer, Mint slices and hedgehogs went down well but I really missed the olive and cheese pizza after midnight.

Maybe next month if i can make it. Wifes birthday on the 20th so I'm not sure atm when she wants go out and buy me a feed and a few drinks. I mean I will take her out for a meal and a few drinks. Even though it's her birthday I'm hoping she is the designated driver that night. he he he

Gazz

[GTB_an_Owl]

Just a thought Gazz

now that Scott's boys, Cam and Tom, have a taste for the hedgehogs, you better try and capture a few smaller ones especially for them next time round.

you definately have to find a way to diguise the smell so that Froggy's dogs don't come round trying to sniff them out.

if you were to put them on the roof of your car the dogs would only scratch the crap out of the duco trying to reach them - wonder what we can come up with?

what do you fella's reckon? - can we come up with something?

geoff

[cahullian]

I may just have to gut them at home. But then the entrails wont taste as good. No easy solution that I can think of.

Gazz

[GTB_an_Owl]

Gee Gazz
Froggy might not be pleased if you did that - seeing as how he went to the trouble of setting up the slaughter area specially for the purpose.

geoff

[ving]

were yuo guys observing or did yas go out to dinner? :confuse3:
;)

[GTB_an_Owl]

Xmas party is next month Ving - coming UP?
love to see you up here

OH! and no we don't go out to dinner up here - it comes to us
(at least when 'RB' brings the pizza along)

just let Gazz know a few days in advance so he can catch a few more hedgehogs

geoff

[ving]

whens that? I'd like to make it if i can fit it in :)

[GTB_an_Owl]

when is it MIke?

16th or 23rd?

[iceman]

hmm good question.. new moon is on the 21st, which is closer to the 23rd, but the 23rd is closer to xmas so people might not be able to make it.

I reckon there's more chance of getting people to rock up on the 16th. The 3rd quarter moon wouldn't rise until well after midnight i'm sure.

[GTB_an_Owl]

I vote for the 16th

cause if we make it a xmas thing we probably won't do MUCH observing
(unless of course Rodstar gets his new BEASTIE by then)

[ving]

16th is better than 23rd but dont base your decision on me cause my movements are somewhat unpredictable at the best of times :)

[RB]

I'm not coming.......

[GTB_an_Owl]

not even to see another slaughter of hedgehogs ?

you sick or something?

[RB]

Shhhh I'm trying to use reverse psychology, cos last time I was soooo sure I was going to be there........;)


So ...........:whistle:

[ving]

i personally am a little worried about this hedgehog thing... it has a somewhat rude meaning in my house :eek:

[ausastronomer]

Hi all,

Sorry to hear that conditions weren't favourable for observing. I spoke with Rod on the phone and the phenomenon you guys experienced is known as "air glow". Where the sky is clear and conditions should be great, but it doesn't really get as dark as it should and the sky has a "glow" to it.

This can occur for several reasons but one of the more common is:-

Free molecules of Nitrogen (N2) and Oxygen (O2) are dissassociated from the parent atoms by solar activity in the upper atmosphere. These free molecules then re-combine to form Nitric Oxide (NO) and in the chemical reaction that takes place a photon is emitted. Air Glow only occurs under a special set and combination of atmospheric, chemical and solar phenomena. It is not all that uncommon.

We had excellent conditions at Wiruna (Ilford) seeing wasn't great but transparency was superb. Air glow certainly wasn't an issue. You know conditions have to be good when I pack the scope up because the sun is starting to reflect off the stainless steel bolts in the mirror cell :)

Andrew Murrell, our Texan friend Van Robinson and myself did an "allnighter", sharing the views in the 18" and 25" Obsessions. Gary Kopff from Wildcard crashed about 3 am. A memorable nights observing was had by all.

CS-John B

[Glenn Dawes]

Hi guys,

Despite the air glow, it was great catching up with you guys.
I was also honoured to have consumed my first hedgehog. It will not be my last - is the possession of such a tasty morsel legal in this state?

I enjoyed the chats. Who was it that mentioned the arthors Orson Scott Card and Arthur C. Clarke. They are 2 of my favorites and would like to continue that discussion sometime.

btw, Froggy (or whoever) did you happen to find a pair of track pants (black with white stripe) on the field?

Regards

Glenn

[iceman]

Was that you doing the nudie run? I was wondering who Scout the massive half dog half horse was chasing! :P

[wavelandscott]

Glenn,

I am the Orson Scott Card fan...I have most of his books from several series...AC Clarke is no slob either similarly the Herbert boys etc.

It was nice to meet you although I did not get much chance to visit with my boys there and all...

Cheers!

[cahullian]

Im the Arthur C. Clarke fan. Just started rereading Rama 11.
Hey ving you are starting to be known as the VIP (Ving Invisible Person)
no excuses this time just tell Sheryl your butt is going to Kulnura and if she has any objections you wont bring her back any Hedgehog leftovers.
16 th sounds great Mike I hope Froggy has no objections?

Gazz