When is the next Cambroon Night?

[davewaldo]

Hi Everyone.

Just wondering when we will be heading out to Ron's next?

I'm keen as a keen thing on "keen day"!! :D


Dave.

[[1ponders]]

Probably next new moon Dave. About 21 days time.

[astroron]

There is a possibility of two weekends in April:)
On the weekend of the 14/15th the Moon rises at 03:15 on the morning of the 15th.which is good for Deep Sky Observers:astron:
On the weekend of the 21/22nd the Moon sets at 20:30.so if you like a bit of Lunar viewing that might be the preferable night:stargaze:.
At this moment I have no plans for both weekends so am open for either weekends:thumbsup:

[davewaldo]

sweeeeet! I can't wait!

[Odlaw]

I'm in for 21/22 Apr.

No if buts or otherwise.....

[Gargoyle_Steve]

G'day Ron, I hope you've been having a great time while your sister has been visiting. I saw your brief post that you both went for a run on the Gympie Rattler, that would have been great I'm sure, something I've been keen to do for ages but never quite got there.

Sadly I'm working 3 pm to 11 pm Saturday the 14th (same again on the Sunday actually too) but I'm definitely available on Saturday the 21st so as Dave said above re "keen as a keen thing on a keen day" I'm Keen!

(May have a new pair of 20x80 bino's from AOE by then too with luck - great chance to try them on the moon, etc)

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Thought I might mention that for new moon March I packed the car up with astro gear while girlfriend Joy packed BBQ dinner stuff, and we headed off late arvo with no exact plan in mind. I headed up the highway north from Caloundra intending to get some hills behind us to obscure Brisbane's light glow, then headed west-ish to likewise lose the coastal glare.

As sunset drew nearer and nearer I started to despair of finding a good location and thought we'd end up in some playground on the edge of a small town just to get a view of the sky. I actually eyed off the open ground adjacent to a small bush church at one stage but abandoned that idea as soon as I realised how high the tree barrier was nearly all the way around.

The sun had actually set, but only just, and the sky was still light when we saw a roadside nature park / rest area. We pulled in and despite the fact that it did have a large number of trees spread around they were at least widely spread, and by picking location carefully there were significant views of the sky to be had. Lucky for us - 10 minutes later and the light was fading fast!

Long story short we were back off the road some distance with broad clear views directly east and south (thanks to a handy pocket compass, taken along for just such a purpose), and while I set up the scope, etc, Joy cooked dinner on the gas stove I had brought with us. We dined on scrumptious beef-and-bacon burgers and ice cold coke as the stars came out overhead - and the view was spectacular!

There are no lights in or near this park at all (although there ARE composting toilets at the far end of the park, very covenient!) in fact there was only one tiny light visible way, way off in the distance that looked no bigger than a pinprick. The park area itself is approx 100 metres long by maybe 70 metres deep. I set up the scope so that we could enjoy great views of Orion, etc, then as it dropped low in the sky I moved the scope about 5 feet south (Try that with a polar aligned whachamacallit guys ;)) to enjoy the southern sky vista rising gloriously, and with Jupiter, Scorpio, etc, rising directly through the clear gap to the east of us. The northern view was sufficiently clear to enjoy great views of Saturn over the trees almost all night long as well.

The only downside, and it ended up being a very minor one indeed, was that the park DOES run along the side of a connecting road between towns (literally the Kenilworth - Eumundi Road, on the Kenilworth side of the highway), so being a Saturday night and expecting traffic I parked the mighty Ford between us and the road & then attached a large heavy duty over it on the road side. This gave us a very effective light screen from the road, and I suspect made us invisible from there as well being that it is a dark green tarp mostly obscured by trees from that angle as well. There would have been no more than perhaps 15 vehicles all night long, surprising for a Saturday night, and they were not a bother at all as we observed from approximately 7:30 through to near 2am.

The LMC stood out bright and clear, M44 the Beehive cluster was so clearly visible that it caught your eye as a definite strong fuzzy patch from half way across the sky, Saturn & Jupiter were amazing, I saw for the first time ever the rear "connecting" loop in the Orion Nebula (also saw the flame nebula for only the second time). We observed so many objects, guided by both the Argo Navis and eventually by charts (due to a slightly loose grub screw on an encoder that I could not diagnose in the dark). Observig targets included the Centaurus A galaxy, the Sombrero, Leo Galaxy triplet (plus a number of other galaxies in the Leo and Coma Berenice areas), the usual Jewel Box, Gem, etc clusters, Omega Centauri resolved into amazing detail while 47 Tuc showed a hard bright core indeed, the view of the Tarantula was the best I have ever seen through my own scope, the Blue Planetary nebula was a sblue as I have ever seen, I mean REALLY intense blue. I can only wonder what the various nebula would have looked like were we equipped with a UHC / OIII / NPB filter.

Although the sky was very nice and dark it was not the darkest I have viewed under though it was pretty damn good! I can attribute much of this great viewing to a clear and cloudless night, complete lack of any jetstream, no fog or other apparent moisture (until at least 1am) and a rinse of my primary mirror that morning plus a very careful tweaking of my collimation afterwards. I was also using my Hyperion 17mm ep mostly that night instead of the 13mm Hyperion I usually - I like the mag in the 13mm better but I have decided that the 17mm really does give an even better view and it has now become definitely my favourite ep.

We finally decided to pack it in for the night so we had a late night cup of milo & then packed up and headed home. Another pleasant surprise - it was only 50 minutes direct travel time (it took longer on the way up as I looked around for a likely spot) and about 70 km's each way from home. All in all a great night at a wonderful location, excellent viewing, and home in bed by 3:30 for a nice sleep in the following day.

EVERY weekend should be like this!!

Looking forward to seeing you again soon Ron sharing some skies with you and everyone else!

[drmorbius]

Great post Steve... there's a lot to be said with just going bush and getting away from the lights. I'll have to try that with mini-morbius.

Ron - I can't make the 14th, but I'd be interested in the 21st...

cheers -- randall

[Nightshift]

Hi Ron,

I'm planning on coming across the 14th, the 21st I will be camping over at Imbil so that's out for me. Looks like a quiet night so far, i may bring a couple of chaps with me if they are interested. look forward to seeing you then. Cheers, Dennis.

[Nightshift]

Hey Steve,

Havn't seen you for such a long time, sure you can't move your shift????

And Paul, what about you? You didn't say if you were coming or not?

Well unless it rains I'll be there the 14th Ron, do you need me to bring anything? How you off for some beers? What do you drink?

cheers, Dennis.

[[1ponders]]

It was too early for me to commit Dennis.

A very busy month for me atm but my plan is for the 14th. I need it, it has been so long since I've had a full night out. :violin:

I have an exam due that day so as long as I can get it finished in the morning it shouldn't be a problem. I'd like to get it finished by Wednesday, but going by the previous exams it's going to take a few days of research to get all the answers. Exam is open for a week, it is open book, open internet, use what ever resourece needed. Consequently they are killers. :scared:

[astroron]

:hi: Dennis, look forward to the 14th, fingers crossed for good weather and a good turnup:P
Mid strenght will do:thumbsup: Ron

[Gargoyle_Steve]

Hi Dennis, yes it's been ages, look forward to catching up with you sometime before Astrofest again hopefully.

I'd love to try and move my shifts - trouble is I'm taking the evening of the 7th (that's tomorrow night) off to view the Antares occultation, then working Sunday graveyard shift (sleeping Monday) and taking the Tueday to Friday off next week (10th to 13th) as I have both my 8 year old son Tim coming to stay for school holidays, AND my other brother (the "not Don" one) is well on his way down from Alice Springs, and is barely a day or so away as I write this. He will be staying down here for about a fortnight and I'm hoping to get him out to Ron's at least once during his visit. This will be the first time that Don or I have seen him in nearly 3 years.

Sadly I think if I asked to extend my time off by adding a weekend I may not have a job to return to! I need this job - it pays for all my astro goodies.

Good news though - a VERY Big Box of Binoc's arrived today - 2 pairs of AOE's 20x80 triplet models - one for me, one for Phil (the bro' from Alice) so he can use them in his gloriously dark skies back at home. Sadly I had only a quick chance to use them tonight (gloriously clear skies, big old dratted moon lighting it all up) before coming in here to earn more astro-bucks again.


Hope to see you all again as soon as possible folks!

[Zubenel]

Hey all ,
Steve that report from last month was a TOME :screwy: , mate. Amazzzing!!. I am planning on being there with you all on Saturday Night and am trying to round up a few others to come. So we won't be lonely :whistle: :rofl: Looking forward to it . Bye Zub. :thumbsup:

[jjjnettie]

I'm hoping to make it on the 21st Ron.
I've a wedding to go to on the 14th.

[davewaldo]

I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone again, its a shame we wont all be there on the same weekend.

I'm still not sure which weekend I will be coming up.

I'm leaning towards the 21st as this weekend is filling up fast!

I will be able to bring my reborn Dob then too! I picked it up from the powder coaters today. They did a top job! I will post pics tonight.

[astroron]

The clouds Cleared away around 16:30 and stayed that way till midnight, I had a good nights viewing all on my lonesome.:astron:
Those who were going to turn up and didn't missed a reasonable nights viewing.:)
Just because it is cloudy down the coast doesn't always mean it is cloudy here.:cloudy: :thumbsup:

[[1ponders]]

Don't rub it in Ron, I know. I was cursing around 6 ish when it cleared here. :(

[astroron]

I tried to give you a call ,but Elvis had left the building:(

[Gargoyle_Steve]

I got home from work around 11 pm Ron and the sky looked stunning from my place. I did sneak out with my new 20x80 bino's for a bit of a look around as this was my first chance to give them any kind of work out against a decent sky, and I have to say the view was absolutely stunning! With only the gate/fence and the brilliant monopod support that Don whipped up to steady them I wasn't viewing long, maybe 20-30 minutes, but it was great stuff!

Today my right hand, especially around the ball of the thumb, aches quite a bit... I cant imagine why!
:whistle:

I considered getting the dob out but as it would be my first good nights sleep in a week (my son has been staying since last Sunday) I decided to capitalise on some shuteye instead to be fresh for work here today, and also to get in shape sleep wise for 2 possible viewing nights (weather permitting) Monday and Tuesday.

I was hoping to arrange to bring Phil (my brother from Alice) out to your place Ron at some stage, but due to dog issues (Phil's 2 dogs can't be left with my 2 and Don's 1 or violence will ensue) so it seems we may go to my "alternate" site at Gherulla Creek instead)

Regardless ... I finish work next Saturday at 7am so once I grab a few hours snooze I hope to be heading out for the night, I don't work again until 3pm Sunday so there's plenty of observing time in between.

Cheers!

[jjjnettie]

Ron,
We were driving home last night at about 10.15pm and saw that fantastic meteor that fell to the east. Jack then saw another bright one a couple of minutes later to the north. Did you catch it as well?
Once home, it was hard to make myself go inside. The sky was beautiful.
Tonight looks like another good one.

[astroron]

G_day JJJ no I didn't I had just gone in for a cup of coffee:( but I had a good nights observing all the same:)

[astroron]

Steve is that tomorrow night is out?
You can bring the dogs as long as they are restrained:thumbsup:

[drmorbius]

Hey Ron,

I was coming back from Brisbane last night about midnight and the sky looked great. The missus was not impressed when I rolled down the window and kept sticking my head out trying to get a better look. :P

I'm still hoping to be able to make it next weekend (21st) if you're going to be open for business :).

I'll have to clear the cobwebs from my scope though... it's been way too long...

ttfn -- randall

[Gargoyle_Steve]

Ron yes it was tomorrow (Monday) night and/or Tuesday night I was hoping to do some observing if the sky gods are still handing out clear skies. I finish up at work here 11pm tonight (Sunday) and I'm not due back until 11pm Wednesday night.

I'll give you a call tomorrow, it would be great to get out to see you twice in 1 week again!

Hope to catch the rest of you next Saturday!

[Nightshift]

Sorry I missed it Ron, I spent the morning cruising around the Sunshine Coast on my new Motorbike when the clouds rolled in and I got sprayed a few times fromt the rain, by 2pm I decided to cancel, by 6pm it was stunningly clear and I was kicking myself. On the upside, I leave Wednesday with the family for three nights at Borumba Deer Park camping and am taking all the gear with me, the weather man says it's clear until the weekend so I am hoping for some serious viewing, I cant make it on the 21st as it is my birthday (yes it's my 30th birthday for the 15th time) so fingers crossed for May. Take care until then. Cheers, Dennis.

[Gargoyle_Steve]

I've come home about half an hour ago after sneaking in a night of viewing at Ron's place - took my brother Phil out for his first time looking through a scope under good dark skies. We took our new 20x80's along (we got a pair each about a week ago) and my trusty 12" dob.

The bino's are magnificent!!!!!! Keep your eyes open for a separate thread on this subject. Phil spent some time using his bino's until his neck started to give out from looking upwards all the time, I used my dob for a while but then unleashed my bino's too. Awesome .. simply awesome.

We enjoyed great skies until near 11-ish? at which time it had clouded over a bit so it was time for a cuppa and a chat. By the time we came out again it had cleared somewhat but Phil and I have had a huge day and as it would take near 2 hours to pack up and drive home we decided to call it a night.

Seriously - does a day get any better than this??
I ordered some astro books / charts online :P, had a swim at the beach, changed location and went snorkelling - and finally dinner and viewing with Ron.
:thumbsup:

[Gargoyle_Steve]

OOPS - forgot to add that tonight was my first opportunity to try out my new DGM-NPB filter - these are very much like a UHC type filter for those who are not familiar with them.

I tried the Orion nebula first - I didn't see as much difference as compared to a non-filter view, but there was some enhancement. :rolleyes:

Next target - Carina nebula.
Wow. WOW! W.O.W.!!!!
I believe my exclamation immediately on seeing the nebula was "this filter has just paid for itself!"
:eyepop:

Moving on - Tarantula Neb - also looked great, nicely defined.
:thumbsup:


In short - add yet another great notch to my score card for this great day!
:D
Cheers folks!

[astro_south]

I am a very big chance of making it this weekend. I am also trying to coax a few others into making the journey (come on Andrew & Darren :thumbsup: )

[Zubenel]

hi Ron ,
Things have changed as far as the week end work for Saturday has been canned. :( HOWEVER , This free's up Friday Night :) So the Scope isn't coming out of the car:thumbsup: and weather permitting will be ready to go Friday arvo. I will give you a call before I leave:thumbsup: Zubenel

[davewaldo]

So is anyone still going out this Saturday night?

Ron, is it still ok if I come out? Will you still be observing if no-one else comes out?

I've been waiting for a night under dark skies for AGES!

Cheers

Dave.

[astro_south]

If the weather is fine I will be there - be nice to finally meet some of you guys

[Odlaw]

I'm Out.... ( S**T )

My sister has arranged a partyy for my mums birthday....

Maybe next month.....

[jjjnettie]

I'm still in for Saturday night.
Wouldn't miss it.

[Gargoyle_Steve]

I'm definitely still in - bringing along at least one of my brothers, perhaps even both yet.

[davewaldo]

Fantastic! I can't wait!

[jjjnettie]

If anyone has a spare laptop with tv card that I could borrow for the night, it would be greatly appreciated.

[[1ponders]]

If someone can bring along a laptop with a PCMCIA card slot I have a TV card for the slot that may help out.

[astro_south]

TV - can't miss the footy hey JJJ :D

Can I ask why?

I have a laptop and an external USB TV tuner if that would help. Is it for your video astrophotography?

[davewaldo]

I will have a very basic laptop there on the night. But I doubt very much it could capture video from a card without dropping frames.

But your welcome to try.

I will be using it briefly to check if my 20D comes to focus now on my dob.

[jjjnettie]

Andrew,
It's to give my new Gstar-Ex a work out.

[drmorbius]

Me and mini-me will be there tonght... looking forward to seeing everyone again.

[davewaldo]

hmmm there weather is pretty dodgy here south of Brisbane.

What's it like out there Ron?

[astro_south]

Good Question - exactly what I am wondering

[drmorbius]

There are a few clouds about here on the coast, but mostly sunny and lots of blue sky. There have been many times when it's cloudy down here, but ends up being a brilliant night at Cambroon. I'm still going...

[Xeelee]

Sorry just rembered I hadn't put my name down for Cambroon.

Hope the sky is clear :prey:

Chris

[Gargoyle_Steve]

*sigh* ...... late change of plans folks, I won't be making it after all.

I'm feeling really bummed but I hope you all have a really great nights viewing.

[davewaldo]

Its looking doubtful that I will head out now.:sad: My house is covered with storm clouds (with thunder)and the weather radar doesn't look much better:

http://www.weatherzone.com.au/currentweather/satellites.jsp?state=QLD

That bank of cloud has been heading our way since this morning.

I'm really keen for a great nights viewing so I think I'm going to wait for another weekend.

Sorry Guys:(

[astroron]

A good turnup last night with nine iceinspacers and six friends,after a BBQ feed enjoyed a mixed bag of observing, also jjj using her new camera for the first time? she was very happy with what she achieved in such a short time.:stargaze:
Saturn and Jupiter showed such crispness for such average coditions, Comet 2007 E2 Lovejoy was observed low down but still showing some hint of a tail,I was able to find admittedly with some difficulty Henize 2-111 in Centaurus also NGC5307 befor the clouds forced us to call it a night about 00:30.
Some nice Meteors were seen during the night.
Those who attended had a good nights viewing:thumbsup: :astron:

[Gargoyle_Steve]

Sorry I missed a great night - ironically both of my brothers here went to bed at 10 o'clock, leaving me alone and wishing I'd come out observing after all.

I ended up observing out back on my own until almost 4am - large cloudy patches were rolling through around midnight onwards, but had totally cleared again by 2 - 2:30. I saw comet Lovejoy again around 1am or so and again around 3am. By 3:40 Mars had risen from behind the shed and the neighbour's house behind me.

A good night for one spent observing mostly at home alone, but poor compared to what I might have had there with you all.

[[1ponders]]

I picked up one of those nifty little read projection clocks that Jeanette had, today. ;);) The squeeze and shake the box did the trick ;)


My wife thinks I'm such a geek :rofl:

[drmorbius]

:lol: :screwy: :rofl: :rolleyes:

[jjjnettie]

LOL Good on ya Paul.
They are just the best little gadget to come out of a Cornflake packet.

I had a great time on Saturday night.
I'll post again tomorrow, my Mother in law is asleep behind me on the couch. Do Not Disturb.

[Odlaw]

I will see you all on the 18 and 19th of may... Yes I promise.. 2 nights of me... If you want me Astroron...

[astroron]

:hi: Dave I think you need a little more courage,;) if you wait for Utopia it will never happen,sometimes you just have to take a chance:)
We had a good night uptill about midnight, quite a bit of observing was done after the BBQ till then.:) astroron

[NewToStars]

well i haven't posted in a while. but i might as well post in this section.

would u beleive it. the day before i sold my scope i had perfect seeing.. the night i sold it, it was overcast, but i got to show the buyer saturn and a few other lil clusters from our unit.

the night after for the following 6 weeks after that we had the best viewing conditions i have ever seen... hmm. grabed my new video camera and on 20X wouldn't really give a good picture of jupiter. buy hey, it caught it. :P.

so anyhow, though i miss my telescope at times, it's not a total loss that i've sold it. i know i missed the last meet, but i was on holidays anyway at that time.

i'm also handing in my forms for the police force in the next couple of weeks, so getting use out of a telescope might become a problem if i get accepted.

anyway. will chat to you guys later and i'll try and make the next meet up at cambroon.

enjoy the stars.