Central Coast Observing - 9th July

[iceman]

Hey guys.

It's that time again, to organise the next central coast observing session.

The choices are the 2nd or 9th of July, but after speaking to John B last night the more popular choice is the 9th, as many people are busy on the 2nd.

I've got my wife's bday dinner on the 2nd, and on the 9th my family are coming down and we're going out to dinner for my daughter Eliza's 4th birthday (which is the 10th), so if I go on the 9th I won't be there 'till later (after 9:30pm probably).

Speaking to John last night, Gary K, Andrew M (+ hector!) and John are all keen for the 9th, and I know Louie will be there too, so let's get a show of hands and see who else can make it.

So far:
John (ausastronomer)
Gary
Andrew (hector)
Louie (atalas)
Rod (rodstar)
NickandRebecca
David (h0ughy)
Mike (iceman) (later, around 8:30 or 9:30pm)
Anthony (frogman)
Brendan
Ed (Orion)
George

Ving, no excuses.. get yourself up here this month!

[trufflehunter]

I'm first!
the 9th is fine by me.
...and Ving'd better be there too! :P

[atalas]

Yesem I'll be there too!

Louie :party:

[Brendan]

hey i can make this one, count me in as long as weather conducive to observing i.e. these ****** clouds bugger off.

[atalas]

Good news Brendan , see you there.

Louie :jump2:

[h0ughy]

Yes yes yes . i have bought my way there by just purchasing tickets to see Disney on Ice for the Family. I have just earned big bonus "can i go out and leave you with the kids" points because Jamie Durie will be there in the night doing the final show for the new dancing on ice series. Wife extremely happy, kids happy and hopefully me happy on the 9th. :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

Now what does jamie Durie have that I don't. :D I have 12" of pure pleasure :astron: and all he has is a designer backyard :work::rofl: I really don't see what the fuss is about :2thumbs:

Mind you, the wife does have a new axe with a fibre reinforced handle :scared3:

[frogman]

Hey am i allowed to come to the event ?????

[h0ughy]

Is that on Ice or at your place? ;)

[xstream]

I thought Anthony meant your beheading with fibre reinforced handled Axe. :D :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[h0ughy]

I did realise that but didn't want to acknowledge it. it is a big yellow and black handled object. :D

[frogman]

hahahaha no i replied to the posts before hughys first post .... i can see where the confusion was! :D

im not into guys so spending the night drooling over an overrated ****sta.....woops i mean tv star, is not my idea of fun !:D

wanst jamie one of the ummmm the male strippers... famous bunch.... MAN POWER ...
crap.... that sounded too gay for me ! :D

Anthony

[h0ughy]

Ahh I wish to tell you I won't be present at that event :rofl:

[cahullian]

Where abouts is the observing site Mike?

[frogman]

If we are to set up in either of the two places we have observed from you will all need to bring a tarpaulin with you... i will have a few here but it would be wise to bring your own..... the latest spot we have observed has been leveled by bobcat as well....... i would rather keep using the one neer the van/water tank until the grass grows back on the original site.

240volt will be available upon asking.

[frogman]

cahullian when you drive in the players enterance , the dirt road turns to the right and we will be set up in the field to the left beyond the trees.

I assume you have the map ?

Anthony

[frogman]

just one dig.....cahullian football in australia is NOT SOCCER .... its league or union....


:D :D :D

[cahullian]

you lead an isolated life Anthony as football is the no1 team sport in this fine country not Aussie Rules/League or Rugger and it is now officially called FOOTBALL FEDERATION OF AUSTRALIA to bring the BEAUTIFUL game in line with what the rest of the world call football.
Gazz AKA Football Referee/fanatic/supporter/Bigamist(because my first love/wife is football and she never lets me down)

[ausastronomer]

Ving,

I was talking to Louie the other night on the phone about your intention to travel to Linden to observe on 2nd July. It is just as far from Louie's place at Bankstown to Linden as it is to Kulnurra. So wtf would you travel the same distance to observe under skies that will be considerably more light polluted than what you get at Kulnurra. More importantly you are going to have a small group with limited equipment at Linden as opposed to a larger social group of 10 or so people at Kulnurra with lots of high grade and large aperture equipment available.

It aint hard !!!!

All you need to do is drive 20 minutes to Louies place and he will drive you up to Kulnurra from there. About 90 minutes from your place in total (It will take over an hour to get to Linden) for considerably better observing conditions and a great group.

CS-John B

[Rodstar]

I'll be there on the 9th, hopefully by 6pm. :thumbsup:

[iceman]

Ok time to bump this again..

I've updated the first post with who is coming, let's see a new show of hands.. who else is coming? Any other NAS guys?

Ving, can you get another pass out from Cheryl to come up this weekend?

[Orion]

I'll be there with George if the weather is fine.

[NickandRebecca]

Hi Guy's

We intend turning up ang joining you for the meet and hope the stars come out and join us. From the chatter I gather it kicks off about 6.00pm. Look forward to seeing you all.
Nick & Rebecca

[iceman]

Great to hear Nick & Rebecssa. Some people will arrive from 4:30 onwards to set up scopes, it's really up to you.

[trufflehunter]

Count me in if the weather is anything like today! Hoping to get there around 4:00

[frogman]

Holy SCHEIITE its cold here at night people so i suggest you go and buy some really warm underware and something to cover the other "non-important" parts cause brass monkeys dont wont come up here in winter :D

Anthony

Same field as the last one boys and girls .... thoes that dont want to get dirt near your gear bring a tarp or something to lay down....night

[h0ughy]

Ok who ran over a ____________, ran infront of a black cat, walked under a ladder, and all the rest of them......

Have you seen the predicted weather report for Saturday night! Not very good!! :rain: :windy:

Houghy
Minister for Doom and gloom :poke:

[frogman]

looks like i might be spending it infront of the heater again :D

[h0ughy]

ah but keeping your scope company! :D

[Brendan]

anthony is that the field on the left as you go in the drive.

i sure hope the weather holds........

[atalas]

Ok who's still going out to Kulnura tonight ?


Louie :windy:

[cahullian]

I'm going if the weather still holds

[Rodstar]

Louie, I am hoping to be there. Mostly blue sky at the moment on the Central Coast. Wind isn't too bad either.

A few tears in our house today because we have just had our dog of 10 years put down..inoperable tumour in the throat. My wife might want my company at home tonight, I'll see how I go.

[atalas]

Sorry to hear that Rod, I hope everyone is ok.

Louie

[Brendan]

i still plan on going, its just started blowing a gale up here.

what time is every one arriving??

[atalas]

Well I'm planning on about 5.30pm Brenden just want to hear from Anthony to make sure everything is ok with him.

Louie

[Orion]

There is for of us going from the NAS and I think Houghy might be going too...?

[cahullian]

Sorry to hear about your dog Rod but it is in a better place now.

[Rodstar]

Thanks guys

[frogman]

YES
I see blue and a fair amount of :windy:

are you coming ?

Anthny

[frogman]

beatuiful slither of a moon and a bright jupiter next to it ..... whos coming .??? hmmmm bit late if they are on their way they wont get this huh ?

[stringscope]

Enjoy your clear skies guys. Cloud and light rain here in Canberra.

[h0ughy]

Hi guys as you can see I am not there. I have just repaired the trailer and painted it ready for the trip to queensland. It is very windy, cold and scattered cloud but apart from that it looks nice. Enjoy fellas, took these from home this evening :scared3: apologies for the bad images but the wind is horrid!

[iceman]

It was a beautiful clear night (albeit windy and cold). More reports later.

[xrekcor]

Sounds just like northern NSW last night. I put it down to being outside while the wallabies and the All Blacks trashed there respective opponents

Regards

[tornado33]

Hi all
It was my first night there and WOW what a night, waaaay darker than my Newcastle skies. The ppl there were great, and the tea, coffee and bikkies were MOST appreciated, as was the use of pepople's telescopes and eyepieces :)
Heres some pics
http://www.users.on.net/~josiah/Kulnura/kulnura%20ppl.jpg (Not all the ppl present)
http://www.users.on.net/~josiah/Kulnura/IMG_1071.jpg
http://www.users.on.net/~josiah/Kulnura/kulnura%20moonset.jpg
http://www.users.on.net/~josiah/Kulnura/kulnura%20antaressmall.jpg see the Rho Orphiacus nebula complex near Antares
http://www.users.on.net/~josiah/Kulnura/Kulnuramilkywaysmall.jpg
http://www.users.on.net/~josiah/Kulnura/kulnurra%20coalsacksmall.jpg
Use of equatorial platform most appreciated in taking these pics.
I saw many of my familiar objects, and some new ones I couldnt identify, in the dark skies.
Many thanks to all who organised and hosted it, and to Orion (Eddie) who kindly drove George and I to the venue.
Scott

[toetoe]

Great pics Scott. :thumbsup: They look pretty cold in that pic. The second image was a bit hard to work out though.

[iceman]

Great pics Scott! The widefield milkyway shots are awesome! Glad they worked out on the platform.

I'm sure someone will put some names and arrows on that 1st shot.

[tornado33]

Thanks.
That platform is a handy bit of gear.
I met most ppl there by voice only (was too dark to see ppl's faces clearly hehehehe)
Anyway for ppl reading this Im the one crouching down with eyes closed in anticipation for the camera flash on dark adapted eyes LOL)
Scott

[[1ponders]]

Looks a bit chilly :D Glad you guys managed to get together. Unfortunately I wasn't there so you guys will just have to do the best report you can :lol:

[Orion]

Nice photos Scott.
So that's what you blokes look like!... lol :D
Great night apart from the wind chill factor, it was really cold when that wind blew.
The night went well and as always we thank you Anthony for your hospitality. It was great to get under dark skies again and to be able to see what your doing by only the star light. I was amazed when it started to sprinkle though and there wasn't a cloud in the sky (weird)
I hope you got to know the argonavis a bit better last night Louie and it all comes with a bit of experience and patience.
Anyway it was nice to meet up with everyone again. :thumbsup:

[NickandRebecca]

Morning all,

Thoroughly enjoyed last night - the chance to put some voices to names and of course test out some of the various dobsonians available! ;)

Apologies for being the first to leave - we were feeling pretty frozen and were a little concerned as to how much sleep we would get when unpacking the boy back into bed at home (he actually managed the transition from bassinet to car seat, car seat to bassinet again - before waking at 5.30 or so this morning - yay!) ...

I have already gathered my snow boots, gloves, jacket and thermals for the next occasion - and am seriously considering some of those Irish battery powered socks!!

Thanks again to all. We felt very welcome and appreciated all offers of assistance on the night.

Cheers, Rebecca (and Nick!)

[ausastronomer]

My apologies for not making it last night guys, I am sure I was sadly missed, or at least my box of Pentax's would have been :)

I spoke with Mike and Louie on the phone during the day and indicated I was "a maybe" as my 8yr old son had his tonsils out on Wednesday and was a bit clingy. That wasn't helped when my wife got home from work at 5:30pm having aggravated a work related back injury which has been ongoing for over 6 weeks. I didn't have my scope finished either so I was going to be a "casual" observer at best, at least it will definately be ready for next month, just painting the control panel today.

Glad to hear the weather co-operated as well as can be expected at this time of year.

Louie, at least Ed was able to help you with Argo Navis so all was not lost there.

Hopefully I will get to catch up with those people I haven't met next month.

CS-John B

[atalas]

Well another good night at Kulnura ! cold and windy but fun. Nice meeting some new faces and catching up to some old ones. A thank you to our host Anthony and to ED for his time helping me get a better understanding of the Argo Navis . We visited a lot of old vafourites last night some being Eta carina , jewl Box ,A Crux , Alfa Centuri, Omega Centuri,Nu Scopio,M8,M20,M16,M17,M22 and later on in the night NGC 104,M57,M27 and the Helix. For those who could not make It last night you were missed and I hope we will catch up next month !

Louie :thumbsup:

[cahullian]

Big Thank you to Anthony for hosting another fine dark sky night.
I arrived just as the moon was seting behind the trees at the back of the field(which was a bit annoying for me as I'm still new at this and love to look at the moon as often as I can. Jupiter and four of it's moons looked great early on. Old favourites such as Omega centuri. Lagoon nebula and the Trifid nebula,were my first port of call. Later on Louie showed me where to find the Dumbell nebula and the Ring nebula. I only have two words to say to Louie "ZOOM,ZOOM" he he he. J/k mate thanks for your help finding my way around the night sky.
The sombrero Galaxy was a real buzz to see for the first time. (Ed also showed me a few other DSO's that I cant remember the name of)
Good to meet a few new people
Nick and Rebecca
George
Ed
Pat
Scott
and a few familiar ones
Brendan
Anthony
Louie
Mike.
I was really blown away looking through Louie's 20mm hand grenade on Anthony's 12" Dob, the nebulas really looked 3D with the UHC filter.
The Milky way looks amazing with the naked eye and everytime I wasn't looking through a scope I was giving myself whiplash looking up at such an fantastic site. It did start to rain for a few mins,funny thing was,there wasn't a cloud in the sky(maybe Quantas are cost cutting and installing old style toilets that the railways used to have)
The hot drinks were much appreciated and so were the biscuits.
Louie and I were the last to leave around 1:15 am as the clouds had put a big move on and threatened rain.
Most found the going a bit cold but George was in shorts the entire time and those born in the Northern hemesphere thought it was almost like a summer night (just kidding) brass monkeys were seen heading north earlier in the day...seems that the lower primates outsmarted a few of us and the pending weather.
Once again a big THANK YOU to Anthony for another fine evening

Gazz/Irish

[frogman]

Tah dude i would like to have a moon session this month crack out te old moon atlas and go nuts over thoes craters ($100 for the first person to resolve the lunar lander) and you guys can talk underwater with a mouth full of marbles :D and who kept farting ? that was rank !!!!
SORRY KIDDIES !

Anthony

[cahullian]

That was Nick he caused all the wind last night and most of tonights lol

[Brendan]

I'll add my thanks to those already posted.

I'm seriously envious of your skies frogman.

right to captions on the group photo.

from Left to Right (opps) :ashamed: we have
Brendan (me)
Ed (sorry mate)
Mike (Iceman)
Scott (tornado33)
Louie (Atlas (i think))
Patrick
Anthony (frogman)
George

Scopes present were Icemans 10" on eq platform and frogmans 12".

I must say that was the best nights observing i have had for ages, I think its about time i started makeing a record of these sights.
My thanks to Scott for the lone of his UHC, definately one of those going on the wish list. Also to Ice those views of 47tuc and megcent were fantastic.
till next time clear skies :thumbsup: : :)

[cynicmeister]

Hi to all and thanks to those who hosted the night. My apologies for not getting around to the board earlier & posting a thank you, BUUUUT I had "other things" to attend to like my crummy backed-up toilet (Eddie will know what I mean when I say Ole Blue Fingers had Struck Again.)

There was some interest in "staging" a "do" in the Maitland Area, for those who came from around / near that area, to (perhaps) form some sort of Society?

Please let me know via this forum if anyone is interested.

Hi To Gary....we look forward to seing you at the next NAS meeting.

Remember:

7:30 pm, Last Friday O' The Month,
GP 1.1, University of Newcastle.

[Orion]

This will clear things up a bit.

[iceman]

Thanks Ed, you can see my scope with all its bit and pieces and on the platform there too, and Anthony's 12" scope is on the right.

It was a good, fun, clear night, depsite the cold and the wind.

Got some widefield shots on the EQ platform again, will process them later and see how they turned out.

Was good company too, great to see some more NAS guys coming down too - except h0ughy, where were you!? And where was truffles?

I only stayed for 2.5-3 hours, as I didn't get there until about 9pm.. I didn't do a whole lot of observing, more socialising and whatnot. Great to see Nick and Rebecca there, getting some advice before making that all important purchasing decision.

After all the doom and gloom weather reports leading up to the night, it was great to have a clear night and at least make something of the new moon. I saw the helix for the first time, and also checked out a couple of the July challenge objects including NGC5128, M22, M20 and HN40. NGC5139 was amazing as usual,a nd had my first look at NGC4945 galaxy, a very night sight.

Was very impressed to see the SMC and LMC rising already, 47Tuc looked great and even got a glimpse of the Tarantula NGC2070 about 5-10 degrees off the horizon :)

Thanks to Anthony as always for hosting us bums!

[ving]

not a chance in hell... I had a very busy w/end but Cheryl has promised that I can go to the next one. So I'll see yas in... August is it?

[[1ponders]]

How are you going to manage that ving. I heard a rumour you were coming up here for the premier event of the Qld astrofest :lol:

[h0ughy]

Mike

I was preparing my trailer for the trip to Duckadang at the end of the month, thats only 2 weeks away. With the wind and threat of rain (that later left) I didn't make the effort. I wished I did. However, i have now got new wheel hubs and bearing kits installed, a spare tyre holder welded to the trailer, a new tie off rail welded on the front , three holes epoxyed up and painted the whole trailer in brunswick green rust paint. I have a fold up jockey wheel installed and bought a new tyre and rin for the spare. I added several reflectors tothe trailer and it now looks pretty smick, almost brand new. so i was happy for the trade off. i did get some meagre shots of mercury, venus and the crescent moon, boy it was windy when I tried to do that, it was just short of a full gale! and it showed in the photos!

[[1ponders]]

What ???? No "IceInSpace Touring Van" painted down each side h0ughy? :D

[ving]

eh? what you talking bout willis? :poke:
there just isnt enuff of me to spead around!!! :scared2:

[h0ughy]

got to get some stickers off Mike for that! :D