Central Coast Observing Group, this weekend

[iceman]

Hi guys.

May 7 was completely clouded out, so we've planned to have an impromptu session either Friday or Saturday night, this weekend (13th or 14th of May) up at Kulnura again (paintball place).

No BBQ's, just observing. Arrive when you want, leave when you want. But it's dark by 6pm, and of course it would be good if people arrived together so they could setup and observe together.

I had originally planned Friday, but am now free Saturday, and it might be more convenient for people because most wouldn't be working and so would be able to get there before sundown to setup. But i'm easy, so I ask for your preferred night.

The moon will be up, but not for long. On Friday, it sets at 8pm and will be thin and low. On Saturday, it sets at 9pm but again it shouldn't impede much at all on dark sky observing, especially towards the east and south.

Friday night, the GRS on Jupiter transits the middle at about 6pm. On Saturday night, about 11pm. No moon transits unfortunately, unless you count Io at 2am on Sunday morning :)

Of course everyone is invited.. it will be informal and this is the basis for our central coast observing group, which will get together whenever the sky is clear and the need is great, and people organise it. It could be once a month on new moon weekend, or last quarter, or even early in the lunar phase when the moon sets early.
I'll set up a mailing list for interested people, so they can email out and say "it's clear tonight, who wants to head up there?". or "planning to go on saturday, who's with me?", etc. Ideally phone numbers should also be swapped, so plans can be arranged etc.

Email or PM me with your email address and phone number, so you can be added to the mailing list.

You don't have to be from the central coast, of course if you're from Newcastle or Sydney or inbetween you're more than welcome. It just depends how far you want to drive. I know for sure that the core will at least be:
Me (iceman), Rod (rodstar), Andrew (hector), Gary (gary), John B (ausastronomer), Anthony (frogman), maybe Brendan?.

Hopefully Greg Bryant, John H, Louie, Narayan, Wayne, Ed + the newcastle boys might also make it from time to time, and anyone else who considered coming on May 7.

So, let me know if you want to come, what day you prefer, and if you want to be on the list for future impromptu observing sessions, PM or email me with your email address and phone number.

Thanks!

Definites for this weekend:
iceman
ausastronomer
h0ughy
atalas
rodstar
frogman
trufflehunter
frontieroptics

Maybe for this weekend:
gary
orion
hector


On the centralcoast mailing list:
iceman
ausastronomer
gary kopff
h0ughy
atalas
orion
rodstar
frogman
trufflehunter
frontieroptics
hector
greg bryant

[ausastronomer]

Mike,

Put me down as a definite. You already have all of my contact details. I would prefer Saturdays but could also make Fridays.

BTW- This weekend I may not be able to bring my scope as I have it in 1,000 pieces installing the boundary layer fan and a couple of other mods, but I can bring myself. I may get it finished not sure.

CS-John B

[iceman]

Hi John.

The preference for Saturday night is really only referring to this weekend.. in the future, it could be any night of the week when people are free and want to get together.

Don't worry about your scope, just bring yourself and your eyepiece case.. oh and your argonavis :P We'll hook it up to my encoders :)

Early forecast for Saturday is scattered cloud.. that's better than blanket cloud :)

[h0ughy]

Saturday sounds better to me, also gives some time for those showers on thursday to go away. And the moon is always a treat to have a look at in this phase. Same location details as before?

[iceman]

Yep David, same place. Andrew will be coming with his 20" so that'll be a treat.. Put you as a definite? Do you want to be on the mailing list?

[h0ughy]

yes i wil pm you my details

[Rohan]

i'll be in dungog on friday night, unfortunatly i won't have my scope. travelling with work to do mapping in the barrington tops area for a week.

[Brendan]

not sure if i can make it yet, friday is deffinately my prefered night.

[iceman]

Updated the post with definites/maybes/mailinglist group.

Let me know if you want to be added to the mailing list, even if you can't make it this weekend.

[Rodstar]

Mike, goes without saying, but PUT ME ON THE MAILING LIST!!!!

Friday and Sat are both OK. I would prefer Sat cos I can set up earlier, but no other reason.

Can't wait!

[iceman]

Added Orion, frogman, rodstar, atalas.

It will be Saturday this weekend.

[Brendan]

sorry guy's im out, will be in mudgee on Sat night. probably up to my armpits in a greasy engine bay :lol:. Taking the missus classic car for a run.

hope the skies are clear for you
B

[atalas]

Sorry Brendan catch up to you next time .

Louie:cool3:

[iceman]

Hope it improves.

[h0ughy]

lets see if we can avoid this

[iceman]

I reckon, let's hope the wind turns southerly.

[iceman]

There's a -2 iridium flare at ~18:30 on Saturday night at Kulnura.. if the sky is clear we'll have to remember to look out for it.

[iceman]

Apologies to those that got 50+ copies of the same email - i've fixed the problem.

[trufflehunter]

Mike, I'm definitely "in" for Saturday night if the weather holds up and please add me to the mailing list!

A thin crescent moon after sunset will add to the glamour (and you can never have enough glamour :P)

Houghy, will you be bringing your 12" LX200? I'd love to have a gander through that! I'm sure Rod would too!

John, can you please, please, please bring along your Pentax's and UO's? I can never get enough of them!!! ditto to Louie re your LE's!!!

Rohan, you say you'll be up this way on Friday night without a scope... does that mean you're planning on coming along? It would be great having another LX90er and someone with Middle-earthly connections!

Hoping for clear skies and no dew! (reminds me: must still get a 12V hair dryer)

[frogman]

Ouch dude 92 emails thats a stinger.....
the last 2 nights have been magic hope it stays

[h0ughy]

sure thing, I never leave home without it, mind you no one else fits in the car!


I have a few 2" eyepieces, just ask orion what they are like for an honest opinion, he used them on his 18"

[Daniel Beringer]

Hi group,
Count me in for this saturday if the weather holds. Please also add me to the mailing list

thanks,
Daniel

[iceman]

Hi Daniel.. :welcome: to the forum. Lokoing forward to meeting you on Saturday.

Wayne and Daniel, i'll add you to the mailing list this morning.

[iceman]

Added Greg Bryant to the mailing list.. though he can't make it this weekend.

[frogman]

Wanna hope it gets better than this real quick boys or its going to be another flop

it stopped raining for about 30 mins today.

[Orion]

Well we know next time there's a drought, just hold a central coast star party.:D

[frogman]

Yeah your not wrong 2 photos for you ....

[frogman]

raindrop lower left cool huh ?

[iceman]

It's predicted to be scattered clouds/shower or two.. so it's really just going to come down to if we get a break on the night.

[iceman]

hmm the weather site I'm looking at right now says Saturday night will be clear!!!

http://english.wunderground.com/global/stations/94777.html

Here's hoping..

[iceman]

Here's another prediction, backing it up..

http://www.snow-forecast.com/maps/auscloud_48.shtml

We might be lucky afterall.

[Rodstar]

I saw Sirius and Canopus walking home from the bus stop earlier on.....it certainly seems to be improving. She'll be right on the night!

[iceman]

Were they holding hands? What bus did they catch? What direction were they going.. I was meaning to ask them something..

:lol2: :doh: :lol: :poke: :D

[Rodstar]

Mike, I vowed to them that I would make no disclosures....solicitor client privilege.

[seeker372011]

well i'm glad someone saw something..all i can see is cloud

[iceman]

Guys, meet in the main carpark, we'll probably go up to the top field (3rd driveway on the left), where we were the first time in April.

[cynicmeister]

Hi all...probably most people know me, so just a short intro for those who don't:

my name is Patrick, and I was sent along by one Tornado, I am a member of the NAS, but my knees got totalled in a car accident there in January, so I have been less-than-active.

I used to be their Secretary, too, but I had to start looking after my frail elderly mother, so I had to give that up, too.

I don't a telescope...yet...I am trying to build a 10 inch. and every time I try, MURPHY decides to trip me up in some way...that's Murphy of Murphy's law.

So it's a big "hi" to everyone!:cheers:

[atalas]

Hello Patrick, your knees got totalled ouch!


Louie:scared2:

[ausastronomer]

Hello Patrick,

Welcome to the group.

CS-John B

[Rodstar]

Hi Patrick. Where is Spears Point?

[Orion]

Well finally Patrick!
We convinced you to sign up.
I don't know if this is your first post or not but if it is Welcome!.:cool:
Sorry you can't come to the star party.See ya next meeting

[iceman]

I'm still intending to go tonight, as long as it clears a bit by 6 or 7.

[frogman]

patchy fast moving cloud but i CAN SEE BLUE STUFF......

[trufflehunter]

I just saw a star! Unfortunately clouds were racing across it :(

[seeker372011]

dont know how you guys went...I set up at home and have just returned defeated ..sucker holes everywhere

[iceman]

It was crystal clear, from about 8:30pm onwards.. before that, patchy cloud but areas of the sky were still clear.

It was a GREAT night. Will do a full writeup later, or others will chip in.

[iceman]

Attendees:

- frogman (anthony) with his 12" dob
- Rodstar (rod) with his 10" LX200
- h0ughy (david) with his 12" LX200
- Orion (Ed) with his 18" obsession clone
- atalas (Louie) who brought his Tak but didn't get it out of the car
- george (from NAS) who didn't bring his scope
- iceman (mike) with his 10" dob
- my dad (allan) who came up for a couple of hours

Will post more later.

[h0ughy]

the group just before suffering deer eye syndrome! in the left corner is Orions scope, in the distance are my small 12" and to the left of that was Icemans dew bucket on the worshipping mat, and near that was frogmans light bucket, and behind mine was some little goto buzz click that has GPS (genral pointing skills) Oh I think that was Rodman's! And to top everything off they even wanted to christen me Mr Gadget.:P BTW Iceman I will get a replacement 9V battery off you sometime, you never know when I will need it when I use up the other 3:D

[h0ughy]

and yet again. SHame really that I wasn't in that photo! Not! I want to thank Frogman for the venue and the supply of 240 volt. My scope likes to live on the good stuff rather than that stored stuff!:P A snobbery thing really!:whistle:

[h0ughy]

we saw the moon, (taken through a meade 12" SCT with 30mm eyepiece and a afocal prjection using a scopetronix gadget thingy that looks like a german hand grenade (and can swollow anything including a 31mm nagler), and a superior Pentax *istDS. None of that cheap taiwanese plastic here, just japanese!

[h0ughy]

and we saw jupiter, a moon go behind and just before I left the GRS was peeking around the corner with the two moons on the same side. Technical description, it looked nice!

[h0ughy]

and orions scope. Looks a bit like Mr Vader! :fight: Or with that red eye a cylon! :lol2:

[h0ughy]

an my small little scope expertly forelit by one of those eveready energizer headlamp thingy's. A great find on this site as I went and bought one and fully reccommend it to anyone else out there who hasn't yet got one. I had a great time and it was worth the 154km round trip.

[Rodstar]

Great shots HOughy, it was great to meet you (and your JOYSTICK!!)

For those that don't know, HOughy has lady luck on his side having WON his LX200 12" in a competition. Think of all the eyepieces you could buy with the money saved!

Thanks to Ed (Orion) who was a true gentleman, letting us all ooh and ahh with the many vistas through his 18" scope. In the end I didn't spend more than about 30 mins at my scope, because there were so many great things to see in everybody else's scopes!

I don't know how George can survive those temperatures in thongs and shorts. It was bloody freezing, and he was completely unaffected! Maybe many winters of observing builds one's immunity to the cold???

Louie, great to share your company, mate. Next time I'll bring the beer. You'll have to bring the girls.... Oh, and I'll take good care of your 11mm EP. Thanks for the loan. Regarding my power pack that packed it up early on the Orion Dewzapper, the strangest thing is that this morning, it has 75% power without using the charger...work that out!?? I think the message is that a cheap power pack often turns out to be a NASTY power pack!

Anthony and Mike were their usual enthusiastic selves. Nice to meet Papa Iceman too! Anthony, you truly have the best viewing site within cooee of the Central Coast (I wonder if your boss would sell a small parcel of land to the CC astronomers...maybe I am getting ahead of myself!!!?). Mike was showing off his home made remote controlled focuser. Very cool, mate!

For those that missed out (eg Wayne, Andrew M, Gary K, Narayan), you truly missed a spectacle. As Mike has said, the skies were a bit cloudy between 6-8.30pm, but even then there was some good moon viewing to be done. After 8.30pm, the heavens cleared up completely, and by 11.30pm, the sky was so dark and the viewing so good that I would describe it as "Champagne Viewing". Brilliant. You can imagine my surprise when everyone started packing up around midnight. The night was yet young! I succumbed to public pressure and packed up too, rather reluctantly.

Whilst I visited mainly well-trodden paths last night, I took a peek at the Sunflower galaxy (M62) for the first time, and found some nice globs around the sky. The GRS (or is that the GOS [ie great ORANGE spot]?) was clearly visible, and there was also an occultation of a moon of Jupiter, with Jupiter. Saturn had at least 11 moons visible through HOughy's 12". For the first time, I didn't take any notes, so I'll leave my viewing comments at that.

Thanks everyone for a great time. I hope this becomes an Every New Moon tradition. If so, we will have two gatherings in December: there are two new moons that month (I don't think that qualifies as a Blue Moon, which, if I understand correctly, is only when you have a second FULL moon in the one month).

See you next time guys.

[ving]

good one guys!
sounds like fun was had :)

[Orion]

Nice pics H0ughy and a good write up Rod.

It was good to finally meet all you guys.

I didn't think that we would have such a great night. I remember diving down and the sun started to come out of the clouds and it was shinning in my eyes. I was saying to myself I hope it clears up, and it certainly did!

Anthony,s hospitality is to be admired.
Thank you Anthony for having us and for the warm welcome and a nice cuppa.

Through out the night I enjoyed seeing how the other scopes operated and getting to use some eyepieces that I nomaly wouldn't get to use (thanks for that) One thing that I noticed was that the dew behaved itself. "Great stuff" honestly I don't think we could have asked for a better night.

And what can I say about those dogs. I'll tell you what next time I have to go to the dunnies I'll just hop on the back of one of them and ride it there, it's big enough!:confuse3:

[atalas]

Wow !so that's why I had so much fun last night,thanks guy's .
To Houghy,ED and George and Al it was nice meeting you last night and to our host Frogman thanks again.


Louie:)

[trufflehunter]

:( :( :(
Oh nooooo!!!!!!!!!
It was *horrible* up here and didn't clear up until quite late.
I'm kicking myself that I didn't come down!!!!

But I'm glad to hear you all had such a great time... and even the dew behaved itself... incredible!

NAS members... I really need to get myself along to your next meetiing! When/where etc are they held?

[atalas]

Don't be hard on yourself Wayne ,catch you next time!


Louie :cool3:

[Orion]

All you need to know about the NAS is here Trufflehunter....... http://www.nas.org.au/ The next meeting will be held on the 27th May I believe that Mike is also coming.

[frogman]

Hey Wayne i used my newish grenade with "gadget mans" 2" barlow on the moon........... fantastic....the foon almost filled the EP and i was able to see the darkside of the moon and a star that was slowly hidden by the darkside...

I tell ya Wayne you missed a pearler! :D

Thank you Louie for your assistance with my collimation (straightening)...... Afterwards the "great Orange/beige Spot" was clear again.....

I enjoy it when you guys come up and veiw with me, let me know when you want to come up again ,.,.,..,.,.,.,.

Hahahahhaha i noticed too that Orion has started using the......buzz clickers ......too :D

Anthony

[h0ughy]

orion,

what time did you really pack up and get home?

Yes ANd I cannot get over Anthony's hospitality, he is a legend. His animal management skills are to be commended. I think he must have watched the horse whisperer many times!

[Orion]

Houghy
I had to get up early on Sunday so I called it a night around midnight, I got home 1pm.

[h0ughy]

Yawn!

Long trip home after a satisfying night out! There are plusses and minus's for both scopes. But the light bucket weighs in on the heavier side!

[trufflehunter]

Next time I'll be there no matter what the weather! Who would have thought the skies could have been so different only an hour away... bumma

[h0ughy]

Yes they were only clear in a little circle around Kulnurra!:D

[trufflehunter]

You guys must have had your cloud-repellent on!:whistle:

[h0ughy]

most certainly did and it lasts for hours!

[h0ughy]

As a comparison, tonight is raining in Newcastle, last night CRYSTAL clear in Kulnurra!

[iceman]

It was a great night..

The clouds were hanging around all day, but the stiff southerly was blowing them fast and so the predictions for a clear night were still possible.. by 4pm there were patches of clear sky, and every time I went out and looked, it was clearer.

So I didn't get up there as early as I had planned, but arrived at about 7pm. I took my Dad (papa iceman) up as well, as my parents were visiting from Bellingen for the weekend.

There were clouds, but they were only covering 50% of the sky. The moon half of the sky was clear, so while the moon was up it allowed us to get some nice views of the west and southwest sky. The clouds moved fast though, and it got clearer as the time ticked by.

A few calls to John B, Andrew and Gary K were made to convince them to come up, but after very busy days they were reluctant to make the trip. You guys were missed, but i'm sure we'll hook up again very soon.

It was great to finally meet Ed, and the other NAS boys, George and h0ughy. Ed's 18", driven with servocat and controlled by ArgoNavis, was a thing of beauty. A really really nice piece of work and joy to look through.

h0ughy's 12" was full of gadgets and is one big looking scope, it really looks so much bigger than Rod's small 10" version :D

I took my 10" up as usual, and the bedroll dew shield was working well, however the need certainly wasn't as great as the last time we were there.. it was quite a dry night, albeit very cold later. Dew didn't really start forming until 11pm or so, and none of my eyepieces nor secondary fogged up. So the battery pack and hairdryer stayed packed up.

My DSC's got a workout, they're still my favourite tool. I aligned on sirius and regulus at the start of the night, and didn't need a realignment for the rest of the night, no matter what part of the sky I was viewing in. Every object was found in the FOV of my 14mm Meade UWA. Many many thanks to h0ughy for the loan (?) :D of the 9v battery as mine was flat.

My Dad and I installed the motorised focuser during the day on Saturday (many thanks to Laurie for making the motor/controller). I didn't use it on this night because I didn't have a suitable O-ring to attach. I used Eliza's hair band which worked, but because of the elasticity of it, it took a couple of seconds before it had stretched enough to take up slack and turn the knob. I've since found a suitable O-ring and hope to make much use of it from now on. I'll post pictures of it tomorrow, hopefully.

Louie it was a pleasure to see you again, you are a true gentleman, so helpful and kind. It's not a short drive from Bankstown but I'm always glad you make the effort to observe with us. Thanks for the loan of the 5mm celestron ultima, i'll hopefully get to test it out a bit more in the next week or two, though I think the focal length will be too short, for what i'm after.

Anthony is the hostess with the mostess. :D Thanks again Anthony (and your boss!) for your hospitality. As Rod said, it would be very hard to top this observing site. 30 minute drive from home, for dark skies, flat ground and convenience of toilets, 240v power, coffee/tea etc. Thanks very much!

Thanks to h0ughy for the photos above.. even though we hated you for that darn bright flash at the time, it is nice to have the moment recorded. I think you need more than a 2-second self-timer to get yourself in the shot though :) Thanks for the loan of the Orion Steadypix adapter. I'll hopefully get to try it out in the next few weeks and will hook you up with some $$ for it.

Rod, always a pleasure sir.

George and Louie, thanks for some tips re my mirror. It seems I have a bit of astigmatism in my mirror. They suggest it could be the clips are too tight. I'm sure I barely let the clips touch the mirror when I reinstalled it after cleaning it last time, but i'll pull it out this week and check. George is the man to talk to if you want to talk about mirrors :D

My highlights for the night:

- Almost all DSO's in Ed's scope :D
- Omega Centauri in Ed's scope. He had a 12mm EP in (24 with a 2x barlow) and it literally gave you an eyeful of stars, blew you away. I suggested to throw my 14mm Meade UWA in, and it gave the BEST view of Omega Centauri I have ever seen. The wider field, pinpoint stars to the edge, literally thousands of stars filling up the eyepiece. Best view of the night for me. A real WOW factor.
- Eta Carinae region in h0ughy's 12", as well as in my 10" with Rod's OIII filter in my Meade 14mm.
- Eta Carinae region with Louie's 27 Pan in my scope. Beautiful.
- Antennae galaxy pair (NGC4038/4039) in Ed's 18"
- Jupiter in Anthony's 12" after Louie helped him collimate. The GRS was right in the middle, and the disturbance in the SEB following it was crystal clear.
- I used my SkyCommander to take a tour of every object brighter than mag 9.5 in Sagittarius and Scorpius. Some great sights. M17 was one of my favourites, as well as M22 and of course M8 and M20 were beautiful as usual.

Thanks again to everyone for a great night. Like Rod, i'm keen to do it every new moon or last quarter.

Here's h0ughy's pic again, this time with some names attached.

[ausastronomer]

Mike,

That problem with astigmatism is very common with the GS scopes. It is caused by the "SECONDARY" mirror not the primary. I will give you a call tonight and tell you how to fix it. If your not comfortable pulling the secondary mirror out of the scope and pulling the secondary assembly apart I am happy to do it for you.

CS-John Bambury

[iceman]

Thanks John, now that you mention that I do remember George saying that it could be the secondary. I'll definitely check it.

I have pulled the secondary out once before, when I cleaned the primary i decided to do the secondary as well. I bent one of the spider veins a small bit when putting the spiders back in because it was a tight fit. I'll try and do better this time :D

ie: I took the veins out, while connected to the secondary. Should I just unscrew the secondary on its own and leave the veins in?

[ausastronomer]

Mike,

I will phone you tonite and explain how to do it, you actually need to sand or grind away part of the secondary holder. When you remove the secondary from the scope, you lay the scope towards horizontal so that if you drop something, it doesnt hit the primary. You then undo the centre bolt holding the secondary holder only, you dont move anything else, this way your secondary collimation won't change much.

Cs-John B

[iceman]

Sounds good John, i'll talk to you tonight.

[beren]

:confuse3:

[slice of heaven]

Ice & Aus
Can we get a rundown on the problems with the gs secondary and a fix for the problem?
Every little bit helps.

Slice

[atalas]

beren, the perfect star test looks just like my Tak newt star test !


Louie:D :whistle:

[frogman]

im just curious Mike, .....In the photo, why do you only comment on my backside ???? :) and its not that big !

[ausastronomer]

Slice,

Here is a link to a post I made on the talking telescopes group a year or 2 ago. It will help you out in the short term

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/telescopes/message/85404


When I get some time I will wrote up some notes and post them in the "how to" section


CS-John B

[slice of heaven]

Thanks Aus
A write up onsite would be great.
I'll slip the secondary out and check the fit

Slice