Attn SE-Qlders - Cambroon on again - 6 Oct AND 13th Oct

[[1ponders]]

The Cambroon observation site is open for business again this weekend (thanks Ron).

It would be great to see a few more of our BrisVeganite neighbours join us up here on the Sunshine Coast. The skies are nice and dark and the company fantastic. :D If you need a map you will find one here: Map to Cambroon (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=8808) If you are worried about the drive home, bring a tent and camp over, there is plenty of room. There is a barbque available for dinner (just bring your own food :P )

Hope to see a good crowd here.


ps, it may also be open for business the following weekend as well. Two trips up the Sunshine Coast in two weeks. You might as well move up here and save the travel time ;)

[davewaldo]

Its my birthday on the 7th, and I couldn't think of a better way than to see it in at Cambroon with everyone!

I hope to see you there! :D

[[1ponders]]

Cheers Dave, it will be great to catch up.

[Gargoyle_Steve]

I'm working the weekend of the 6th & 7th so sadly I won't be able to make it.

If Ron opens the doors the following weekend I'll certainly be able to make it then!

[astro_south]

Will be spending all week at a farm stay at Maleny next week - but unfortunately coming home Friday. Might opt for a shorter drive out to the Lockyer Valley next Saturday instead. The following weekend could be a possibility though - will watch this space for more news on that.

[Nightshift]

Bathurst weekend, now I'm torn between the two, I'll see what I can do.

[BluMoon]

I am possibly going to the Lockyer Valley next Sat with Andrew D and a few other Icers.The following weekend if open sounds like a winner for me though!

[jjjnettie]

I'm very low on brownie points at the moment so I won't be able to make it this weekend.

[Odlaw]

I have a wedding on so I am out....

I will try for the following weekend but... fingers crossed

[astroron]

As of today, Saturday the 13th october is now available for an AstroNight at Cambroon, as well as the 6th:thumbsup::astron::stargaze:

[[1ponders]]

I love a good backup plan :D

[BluMoon]

Looking forward to meeting you all!!..see you there.:thumbsup:

[DJVege]

I'm keen for the 13th!!

[Gargoyle_Steve]

I'll be there on the 13th - thanks for having us yet again Ron!
Look forward to meeting you there DJ, hope you're going to talk Rowena into coming along as well.

[rowena]

lol He already emailed me the link to this post! lols

I'm just having fun with my new motorbike atm! and cause i ride her for 4hrs a day on the weekend, im falling asleep by 10 at night! lol
but yeah might be able to organise both of us coming down! :)

[rowena]

ok so where coming down on the 13th! :)

[DJVege]

LoL. You drive down, and I'll drive up to Cambroon. ;)

[rowena]

oh shush u! all this moving around is getting confusing!

[Zubenel]

Hi Yall ,
Yep back from the Land of the "Round Rock " and Powder Snow. NZ was oresome. I can simpathise with you jjjnettie. the 13th is in the cross hairs but am working on the brownie points. See how we go. Ron did you get the postcard?? cheers Zubenel

[astroron]

:hi:Wes and:welcome: back.
Yes:thumbsup:
See you next weekend, Maybe:)

[John Saunders]

Hmmmmmmmmm, I'm interested in coming up...

What time do people start arriving?

[[1ponders]]

G'day John.

We normally start to gather around 3:30 - 4:00 onwards. It would be great to meet you if you can come up.

[John Saunders]

Thanks, Paul. I was going to head out to the Qld Astro Assn site at Rosewood, but then saw the promo for Astroron's place. Always good to get out and meet new stargazers.

Hopefully the clouds keep away and the "slight chance of a storm" the Met Bureau has predicted doesn't eventuate.

[davewaldo]

Hi john... I don't think anyone is going up Today anymore...

Best to speak to Ron and Check.

Everyone is planning for the 13th now. I'll be going then, it would be great to meet you there.

[John Saunders]

Oh, okay.

Can't make it next weekend...so it looks like I might still go out to Rosewood.

Cheers!

[DJVege]

What's the weather looking like for this Saturday, guys? I know it's all clouds and possible storms during the week.

[astro_south]

Add me to the list of definite starters (weather dependent of course! ;) )

Looking forward to meeting a lot of you face to face for the first time :thumbsup:

[jjjnettie]

I'll see you all there this Saturday!

[[1ponders]]

Looks like we've got a cracker turnout. Fingers crossed for wonderful weather.

[Zubenel]

Thanks for the welcome back Ron !!. Looks like jjjjnettie has worked up enough Browny points. :) Unfortunately I forgot about standby for work so am tied to the house:( NZ skies are very dark . Pity about the temperature:cold:.!! Cheers Wes

[[1ponders]]

There's that many coming by the look of it, with new visitors we might need some name tags :P

[jjjnettie]

I've run out of IceInSpace stickers to hand out as well.

[joshman]

ooooohhh, that is sooo tempting....wouldn't be able to get there till about 6 saturday night though....but tempting nonetheless...

*drool*

time to go find a friend to share the drive with....

[jjjnettie]

That would be great if you could come along Josh.
Well worth the drive up.

[Nightshift]

Hi all,

At this point in time I will be coming out, but I am keeping a close eye on the weather, very unstable here at moment. For what it's worth, those that want a close look at weather here on the coast can see live web cam footage of the beaches and local weather by going to http://www.coastalwatch.com/camera/cameraOverview.aspx

excelent site, keeping in mind it can be cloudy at the coast and clear at Rons and vice versa.

Cheers, Dennis.

[davewaldo]

Looks like the weather should be clearing up for Saturday night.....

:prey: :2thumbs: :sunny: :stargaze:

I'm having serious withdrawal, it been too long since I've had a good nights observing.

Looks to be shaping up for a great night!

Dave

[Nightshift]

if you can believe anyhting the BOM tell us the following says that it is shaping up to be good.

Forecast for Thursday
Some morning rain. A few showers and thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening. Moderate NE to NW winds.
Precis: Morning rain. Afternoon/evening storm.

Friday Shower/storm. Late W/SW change Min 18 Max 33
Saturday Fine. Cooler gusty SW winds Min 15 Max 26
Sunday Fine Min 12 Max 26

We'll see. Dennis.

[jjjnettie]

It'll be a great night Dennis. That wind will blow the last of the clouds away, and the rain will have scrubbed the sky clean so the seeing will be tops.
I'm not bringing my scope, I'll just go wide field all night with my new binoculars and the G-Star with the 100mm lens attached.

[[1ponders]]

Do you want me to bring out an EQ4 mount for you Jeanette?

[acropolite]

I agree with JJJ, live on the edge Josh, make the trip, you'll be rewarded with good skies and great company.

[jjjnettie]

Yes please Paul. That would be grrreat mate.
I'm splashing out tonight and ordering an EOS C-Mount adapter for the G-Star. Hopefully I can get it express posted and have it by this weekend. I can then use our 300mm lens with the camera.

[[1ponders]]

If it doesn't turn up I have one here I will bring out for you.

[jjjnettie]

Thanks again Paul. That would be better, save me fretting over the post arriving on time.
Have I told you lately that you're a top bloke?

[[1ponders]]

:lol: shucks :D

[joshman]

of course oyu do realise that i shall be wandering around with my camera mooching off everyone elses telescopes? i may set up and do some exposures for stacking at a later date...

and i may even try and convince some to let my camera ride piggy back...

or better yet....ride shotgun :D

[jjjnettie]

Josh,
You are going to have the best time.
We all have a ball at Ron's.
Good company, dark skies, you couldn't ask for more.

[jjjnettie]

I don't think we'd recognise you without your bucket though.

[astroron]

:hi:Phil, enjoyed you and your wifes company at Duckadang:) I hope that you may one day join our happy throng at a Cambroon astronight:astron::stargaze:
Regards to you both.:thumbsup:
Ron

[jjjnettie]

I hate to say it, but I'm kinda hoping that pulp mill goes ahead because we'd get to see Phil and HRH Liz more often.

[astroron]

I think they are planning to move over here sometime in the future:)

[Nightshift]

Josh,

your more than wlecome to piggy back your camera off my scope, it's a manual dob so the images may be a little blurred. LOL.

Fingers crossed for the weather.

Dennis.

[joshman]

well well well, guys..it looks as though i'm gonna have to pull out...


NOT!!!!! astro_south has kindly offered me a lift, which i have graciously accepted. so i'll finally get to meet all these people, to which i only know your forum pseudonyms.... it'll be nice to put some real faces to them!!! :d



looking forward to it...i sure hope ya'll don;t mind me buzzing around asking stupid stupid questions.. it is the only way to learn afterall!

[BluMoon]

Josh...sorry i didnt see your earlier dillema. Just for the future I can offer a lift if you need one. I may just drive shotgun with you guys as well if thats ok...then if we get lost we all get lost together:lol:

[astroron]

hi: people don't forget to bring warm clothes and footware as even in these warm days the nights can be cool, standing in one place canmake it even cooler:cold::
bring a tent or an air mattres, plusa chair and meat for the BBQ:)
See you all Saturday:thumbsup::astron::stargaze :

[BluMoon]

thanks Ron am looking forward to meeting you. Appreciate the offer I will be there with swag in hand and plenty of eats for barby

[Xeelee]

Well, well Cambroon is becoming very popular..............

...........of course there's nothing wrong with that!

Can't remember the last time I went so I'll have to go this time

Spartacus (Mike) is also coming too as usual

Chris

PS. We will be late in getting to Ron's.

[[1ponders]]

Don't forget to dim your lights then :P

[DJVege]

Hey guys,

I dunno if Cambroon will be the same as Brissy, but there are a tonne of mozzies out tonight! So I'll be bringing some RID tomorrow!!!!

[davewaldo]

Bug spray is a MUST at Ron's... not to far from a creek!

But the skies easily make up for it! :)

[[1ponders]]

You won't notice them DJVege, you will be too busy ;)

[jjjnettie]

They can't bite through jumpers and tracky daks very easily anyway.
Don't forget the warm clothes.

[astroron]

No Mozzies tonight as there is a force nine gale blowing at the moment so had to give it away as the scope was like a sail:P, but I still enjoyed 4hours observing.:thumbsup::astron::starga ze:

[[1ponders]]

I'm about to head off. I'll see everyone out there. Looks like we are in for a cracker of a night :thumbsup:

[BluMoon]

Ditto....I'm leaving now see everyone up there!!;)

[Gargoyle_Steve]

For those who are keenly interested .... tonight is one of those opportunities where you can see every planet (including Pluto) during a single night.

As darkness falls we will have Mercury visible in the western sky about 3 degress below a thin crescent moon (hopefully Mercury is still visible above the range from Ron's, it has been descending for the last 2 weeks).

Jupiter will stand out to the western sided of the zenith, Pluto located fairly close to a line from Antares through Jupiter and extended onwards towards M17 - though being on the edge of the Milky Way may be very hard to pick.

Neptune and Uranus are both well positioned in the eastern sky as darkness falls and will be viewable for several hours, Mars rising approx 1am and sitting below and between Orion and the Hyades (but above Procyon and Capella).

Finally Venus and Saturn rising around 3am and only about 2.5 ° apart, though may take a little while longer to get them to a "visible" position.

Cheers!

:thumbsup:

[jjjnettie]

Caio, see you all up there.
Drive safely.

[DJVege]

Well!!! What a night!

First, it took me 2 hrs, 45 mins to find Ron's place!! I read the map, and point (7) says 300m to intersection of Chapel & Chinamen creek roads. I thought that meant 300 metres from the left turn in point (6). I drove up and down that road a few times looking for this intersection!! 20 minutes later, I gave up and was on my way home when I ran into someone else driving in the opposite direction. I asked this awesome dude for directions, and he told me I had to drive for about 5 or 10 minutes (not 300m like I had initially thought) before hitting the intersection!! LoL! So, almost a wasted night!! :doh:

I arrived at Ron's around 7.45pm, in the dark! Here is where Rowena's getting a smashing! :mad2: 15 mins before she's due to arrive at my place, i get an sms from Rowena saying she's not coming due to a headache!! Rowe, you're gettin a swift kick to ur backside at work...and one from each of the guys at Ron's place last night!! :lol:

Anyway, took a little bit to set up, and being dark i couldn't collimate, but it was still awesome! With 1ponders, Andrew's and Blu Moon's help, I now know where M31, 47 Tuc, large and small mag. clouds, pleides, hyades and much more are!!! :thumbsup:

So, thanks AstroRon for the invite to a great night! Sorry I could only stay 3.5 hours, but I had to swim this morning at 5.30am! :eyepop:

1ponders, thanks for gettin me Polar aligned and answering all my questions! And for showing me that my mount is, in fact, not broken! :doh:LoL!

Top night! :thumbsup:

[[1ponders]]

Another great night at the Cambroon Observatory. It was wonderful to catch up with old mates (seems like ages since we have seen each other. Astrofest I think it was for most and longer for others, hey Andrew ;) ) and to meet new friends. I say meet new friends and not make new friends cos it seemed like we already knew each other from chatting on this place. :) I'm not sure of the exact numbers but there must have been at least 20-25 people there last night. There were some notable abscences though, and you know who you were. ;)

Everyone was busy doing something, it was great to just walk around and see how many different things were being done, observed, imaged, chatted about, learnt.

I would also like to thank everyone for not buying anything in the past couple of weeks as it was especially good news that the weather played the game.

Here's to more of the same in the upcoming months.

[astroron]

There were 20 observers and 3 children last night at Cambroon:thumbsup:
A great night was had by all:)
Steve ( gargoyle ) was the last to pack up, I closed my eyes at 04:00.
Steve was waiting for Venus and Saturn to rise, to view all the planets visible
in the sky over the nights observing:astron: I dont know if he was sucessfull as by that time I was in the land of nod:) I am sure Steve will enlighten us with his success or not.
Great turnup! lets hope for another one next month, and then Barambah in December.

:thumbsup:Ron

[joshman]

hey guys, that wasa fantastic evening! i'm so glad i came up, it was great to finally meet the people behind the various online persona's!!

oh and thanks to all who answered my questions!

[BluMoon]

:DWOW what a night....great to meet and greet everybody who turned out for a fantastic evening of looking up!!
Ron it was a pleasure to meet you and thank you for all the time you spent answering questions...Andrew THANKS so much for loaning me your 13mm Nagler(I have told my wife that that is my first EP purchase and when she found out the price she said"Oh thanks Andrew for the advice....not too sure how appreciative she was?):lol:.
Twas an awesome night thanks to all who were so helpful...will definately see you next time.
Guy:thumbsup:

[astro_south]

But I thought the plan was for you to get the Ethos :shrug: :shrug: :D
No worries about the eyepiece testing - very happy to help out.

It was a great night and it was great to put some faces to some of the new members around here ... including bucket-boy :D Seriously though, thanks to Josh for the company on the trip up and back to Brisbane, and I hope his experience from a social and learning point of view encourages more "lurkers" to make the effort and get along to a star party - it won't be your last!!

I will post some happy snaps a little later on.

[Gargoyle_Steve]

Quick response for now - YES Joy and I successfully viewed and positively identified every planet including Pluto in a single night!!!
:thumbsup:

Waiting for the last 2 - Venus & Saturn - to rise pre-sunup we were getting concerned as the NE sky above the hill became both VERY foggy and cloudy. Long story short we had intermitent glimpses through the cloudbank of Venus naked eye starting shortly after 4am, but it eventually rose into clear air about 20 minutes later.

Saturn was somewhat tricker - I saw 2 tiny "dots" dimly visible through the fog, etc, in the general vicinity, but the sky was getting definitely lighter and lighter by the minute! One of these dots was eventually revealed as Saturn when viewed through the scope - dim, but definitely Saturn!!

We left Ron's shortly after 4:30am and only some low clouds to the east saved us from driving directly into the freshly risen sun before reaching Caloundra and home at about 5:40.

Great night indeed! :thumbsup: Thanks to Ron for his hospitality, and to everyone else for such a fantastic night! We were counting names on the way home to help stay awake and got 24 (including ourselves), hopefully we didn't skip anyone.

I've got a few piccies to add here later, but for now I've got some sleep to catch up on.

[astroron]

The iceinspace attendees at Cambroon last night,astro-south (Andrew) Josh(joshman)
Blue moon(Guy) jjjeanette (Jeanette) and son,1ponders(Paul),xeelee(Chris),sp articus(Mike), gsb(Graham),davewaldo(Dave),nightsh ift(Dennis)djvege(?),terry(Terry),g argoylesteve(Steve) andJoy, astroron(Me) Maureen, Pete and two children,Shane and Brent friends of Dennis, and John a prospective member.
If I have missed you I am sorry:(please let me know so I can add you to the list.
I counted 13 scope plus a couple of astroimaging setups using cameras and telephoto lenses.
I hope to see you all next time :thumbsup:Ron

[middy]

Sounds like you all had a good time. I came close to making the trip up there this time, but my other half had already made plans for the weekend. I have now pre-booked all new moon weekends for the next 10 years. :)

I'll see you all up there one day. :thumbsup:

[Nightshift]

Thanks to Ron for his hospitality and a special thanks to Steve and Joy for putting on a terrific spread of goodies in the afternoon, the flies particularly enjoyed the jelly beans for some reason? It was very kind of you.

Take care until next time.
Dennis.

[jjjnettie]

It was a near perfect night!
I've posted some photos, there would have been more, but they all suffered from severe camera shake. Next time I'll stop talking while taking photos.

The Group Photo I've posted in the General Chat section as a poll.
Please keep the secret for a few days at least. I'm interested in what theories people come up with. :lol:

Thank you Paul for the lend of your gear. I've started processing some of the .avi's I took with the G-Star Ex. One of the discs didn't take, so I'm missing alot of data. Pity.
I've cancelled my order for the EOS/C-mount adaptor and ordered a focal reducer instead.

It was terrific to meet up with you all.
Thanks Ron for the hospitality.

[astro_south]

Here are some happy snaps from me.

Oh, and thanks again to Ron for hosting the event :thumbsup:

1) Blu Moon (blue hat) and Bucketboy ;)
2) Daytime LASER testing
3) I was 'pondering' what to say about this, but I think it is enough said :)
4) Ron and Blu Moon going over the finer points of footy from the mother country
and 5) the start of a great night.

[h0ughy]

OOHhh that is sickening:help::doh::screwy: - go on tell the missus Paul, bet she baulks;):lol:

[[1ponders]]

You can see now why I normally have a beard :rofl:

And who said I didn't know one end of a dob from another. Maureen trusted me enough to let me near hers with a sharp screwdriver :lol:


That looks like a sweet little setup you have there Jeanette. ;) I reacon we could do a bit bettern next time. Now I know what is neaded I'll bring a couple of other "gizmos" to keep the camera aligned and tight to the thread. :thumbsup:

[jjjnettie]

With husband reading these posts over my shoulder, I had to scroll down real fast so he couldn't see them.
Sad ain't it, when you can't be friendly and nice without worrying about people taking it the wrong way.

[h0ughy]

um no reflection on you just the fact that paul was called a top bloke:help:

[jjjnettie]

You worry too much Houghy. How could I ever think bad of you?

[[1ponders]]

Fear's an amazing thing isn't h0ughy :scared: Quite Pavlovian Doggish of you :lol: