Snake Valley - Friday 7th December

[erick]

I'm coming down?, up?, aaah? sideways! :confuse3: Anyway, I'll be there. I reckon the change will have blown over and the sky will have been washed clean!

Who is coming for some dark sky action? :)

[ballaratdragons]

Yep, I'll be there! :lol:

This Friday night we are covering 'Webcam & simple Digital Camera' Astrophotography :thumbsup:

Forecast is for some showers in the morning, then clearing :)

[erick]

Make note to self - remember to turn the flash off! :D

[ballaratdragons]

:lol:
But you might need it to image the Moon. It will be night time, and most of the Moon is dark at present :P

[erick]

What a fantastic night! I haven't done an all-nighter since...., well since the last time I was at Snake Valley!

Here are a few details:- An irritating trip out of Melbourne - at least an extra 45 minutes stuck in freeway traffic! Grass had been cut recently - good! Club members gathered with webcams at the ready and we fiddled for a while getting overexposed snaps of Sirius through our dobs, while Ken produced lovely Toucam images of M42 on the club 120mm refractor.

Crystal clear skies (I suspect some smoke arrived by early morning), seeing was above average. A little wind earlier, but I said an incantation (which included some choice thoughts) and it died for the rest of the night. A little dew formed mid-morning meaning the eyepieces needed a little hairdryer treatment. Cool but not chilly.

Watching Orion spend the night sweeping across the heavens; watching the Milky Way rise to the zenith - simply marvellous!

Apart from Uranus, I spent most of the evening with old favourites.

After midnight, Ken and I retired to the clubroom to educate me in the finer art of processing avi data from my webcam - processing another of the videos I took of the early crescent Moon at the recent SV Camp.

Then back out to a few more hours of imaging for Ken and observing for both of us. We had two 8" reflectors and the 120mm refractor as our tools.

I did experiment further with my erect image adapter:-

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=25920

and was very pleased. It did just what I wanted and, after getting lost looking for Uranus, I put it into the focusser/eyepiece train and the task became easy!

I did put my hands on a GEM for the first time in my life. I don't think I broke anything, but there is a fair learning curve for me there, compared with the faithful old dob mount! OK, move it to the Pleides - won't get there - bumping into knobs etc! "Flip it" says Ken. Push, twist, shove - thank goodness I had nipped up the eyepiece or it would have hit the dirt! Didn't bother to go for NGC253 - I don't think I want to view on my knees. Sitting down - that's astronomy!

Followed Mars for much of the morning - Ken's eyes were more experienced than mine, but I could also make out some surface detail. Saturn was a delight to see a little later.

Caught an early glimpse of M104 at low elevation - it was good to practice the starhop from Corvus again.

Packed up club and Ken's gear so he could retire for the night and I spent a little longer, until the eastern sky brightened and M104 faded into the morning dawn.

Watched Venus take over the skies and a waning crescent Moon, then time to catch some sleep in the clubroom. Woke up to the sound of willow on leather as the local junior cricketers played a match.

SV does it again! :thumbsup:


Eric :)

[Louwai]

damn sorry I missed it guys. Sounds like it was a great night.

Been absolutely swamped at work. My boss is on Hols, so guess who gets to practice doing all the "important" stuff.

Twice as much work & 4 times as much travel. Was in NZ all last week, will be in Qld next week. And I think Perth the week after. Might get to see the wife the week after that. (maybe)

Bryan

[danielsun]

Great report Eric. I also would have loved to have been there, especially as I'm craving for some dark sky's but unfortunately had to work on Saturday.:(

[Rob_K]

Sounds like a great night Eric! :thumbsup:



And...........???? C'mon, don't hold out on us Erick! :P

Cheers -

[ballaratdragons]

Thanks for the great report, Eric!

Yep, last night was a blast!!!!!
That is 4 absolutely clear glass-like skies in a row, and we have another one tonight!

The subject for last night was Astroimaging with a webcam.

It was great to be able to share imaging techniques with other members, and see the new members getting excited about a clear image on their monitor.

I did another one of those flukes: when I arrived, a couple of members from Ararat were already there, so I used the daylight to show them how to set up an EQ (they are dobbers). I just plopped the tripod down, showed them how I use a bubble level to level the mount, the put the EQ5 head on and pointed it sort of South. Then I popped the scope on top to show them how it works.
Later on, when dark came, I was showing people how to image the Orion Nebula in long exposure. Orion stayed dead centre for well over two hours and I hadn't even polar aligned!!!!!!!!!!! I wasn't even sure if it was near south when I plopped it down. :eyepop: :lol:

Anyway, members filtered off home at different stages of the night until just Eric and I had the magnificent sky to ourselves. :)

I packed it in and left for home at 5:15am very satisfied with the great night. Eric kept observing :thumbsup:
We also observed many meteors, and a great Iridium Flare.
As usual, I'm looking forward to next months get together :)

[erick]

OK, I'll post the image in the thread the previous one was in. Ken worked hard at it, but I think the raw data was a bit limiting! :sadeyes: