First report from SPSP

[iceman]

Hi guys

Well i'm at SPSP, arrived just before 10am to help Rod set up his tent (which is fair enough cause i'm sleeping in one of the rooms of it :)).

My NextG wireless modem works great but my blackberry gets no signal :shrug: go figure. :bashcomp:

I've registered, setup the scope and ready for it to get dark now. It's pretty cold in the shade but nice in the Sun. It's going to be a very cold night tonight.. Geoff will be pleased :)

Have caught up with some familar faces and met a few new ones already, looking forward to the next day and a half of fun and frivolity.

Just about time for lunch now, catch you all later for more updates :)

[h0ughy]

LOL I talked with the crew from NAS this morning and they said it was a lovely warm night last night, and only just a hint of breeze......clear skies and couldnt wait for the doughnuts...... (i think they froze their proverbials off.....and it was gusty so the wind chill kicked in big time - even George wore a few layers of clothes and a blanket)

Mike Sidonio is on his way - probably get there around 2 or 3 this arvo.

enjoy the warm night you are going to have tonight

[[1ponders]]

have a great time guys. Wish I was there with you instead of enjoying the moderately warm climes of SE Qld ;)

[spacezebra]

Hi guys

Missing you all - big time! David has been home sick for the last week and work is full on! There has been no escape for me this time.

Hope you are all having a great time - wishing you all clear skies (keep warm!).

Cheers Petra

[h0ughy]

thats no good - wish him well from me will you Petra. Can you escape to Qld astrofest this year??

[spacezebra]

Thanks H - will pass your message.

I would love to do Astrofest (there is method behind my madness for organising BSG to be at the end of August (just dont tell David that!;)).

Did Al go up to SPSP this year? - I know that he was thinking about it.

I do hope that Anna and John bring a T-Shirt home for me :sadeyes:.

Take care - looking forward to all the pics in the coming days!

Cheers Petra

[xstream]

:lol: Yeah funny to see George wearing a pair of trakky daks but still with his thongs on.

[xstream]

Sorry Petra, Anna tried to buy you a Med but they had sold out! :P

[spacezebra]

:sadeyes::sadeyes::sadeyes::sadeyes ::sadeyes::sadeyes::sadeyes::sadeye s::sadeyes::sadeyes::sadeyes::sadey es::sadeyes::sadeyes:



Cheers Petra

[iceman]

Well the first night is underway.. Absolutely perfect conditions. Very cold, but transparency excellent and seeing above average too.

Anna's Guiness Stew was an absolute treat for John and Anna, Rod, Chris (33South) and myself. Definitely warmed up our insides.

I finished drift aligning at about 8:45pm and I've just setup the imaging run on the Leo Trio and that'll keep it busy for the next few hours, so I'm off to go observe through Rod's scope.

[iceman]

Last night was absolutely beautiful, too. Better than the first night, which ended up getting smoked out for a couple of hours from a backburn in the nearby forest.

Imaged until dawn with Chris Wakeman's modded 350D :jump:

Heading home soon, very chilly this morning with wind and cloud.

Have had a great time, there'll be more reports soon I'm sure.

[AstralTraveller]

Glad to hear that everyone is having fun up there.

I sounds like it has been a great weekend along the east coast. On the southern highlands it was great on Friday and Saturday, though quite wet last night. The small group I was with observed until 2.30 and a good time was had by all. Fingers crossed for next month.

[Orion]

Our group from the NAS arrived on Thursday night and that night was freezing. We had a fantastic time...shame you could not make it Houghy.

Now this is a bit of a laugh get a load of our imaging gear! The bricks were a touch of class.;)

Pic...NAS President Ghul Hussain (standing up) and Committee member Dennis Zambelis.

[Kal]

Hi Guys,

Here is a pic of Fahim next to "the Losmandy boys" setup, which is Fahims, apomans, and my scopes.

[h0ughy]

LOL what a clanger with the bricks Ed - George must have suggested that one?

Feeling secure in that shot Fahim?

[GrahamL]

SEE Duct tape really is the binding force that holds the universe together:thumbsup:

[Satchmo]

I really enjoyed my 16th SPSP. It's great to catch up with astronomy friends made in 30 yrs association with the ASNSW. Myself and two friends were the first to observe there one weekend in 1986, and `luxuries' consisted of a shelter tarp we strung up between some trees, so its heartening to see how far Wiruna has come. I love the balance they have struck between development, and natural minimalism. ASNSW have got the running of the camp down to a fine art.

We were really lucky again with the weather. The second night had increasingly excellent conditions, with an asteroid occultation occurring at 3AM Sunday. 'Late' on early Sunday morning, I felt little desire to look much through any telescopes: the bowl of sky rising with the Saggitarius Milky way nearly overhead was exhilerating, and my deck chair seemed to be the best place on Earth right then.

Stand out experiences for me on the first night were many hours spent with neighboring 20" F4 and 16" F4 Newts mainly using the 100 degree AF Ethos 13mm, which used with shorter ratios becomes a great allround eyepiece ( 3mm pupil), rarely needing to change power up or down. Maybe I'm getting old and lazy, but I didn't feel up to climbing any ladders for my viewing fix : one step is about it these days and comfort is becoming paramount. Peter Bobfroffs all aluminuim open frame 16" F4 seemed to allow the optics to deliver crisp images no matter how fast the temperature was falling, as the mirror was so well ventilated : no fan in sight.

The other 'high' was hours spent with the Kendal's pair of amazing `Kunming Optical 'BT-100 45 degree ocular binoculars on fork mount. Being able to use 24 Pans, 17 Stratus, 13 Nagler and 7 Nagler pairs with them brought a whole new meaning to "grab'n go" binocular astronomy. I had to rethink what I know of refracting binoculars . These binos are basically a pair of 100mm F6 Triplet semi-apos in a sturdy housing, on a very stable fork mount. Images were crisp and sharp to the edge at all times, superbly baffled, coated and collimated. I just couldn't fault them. It is truly remarkable what can be seen if you persist with smaller bino apertures, and some magnification, and the convenience was incredible. I visually detected the dust lanes in a number of edge on spiral galaxies, and tracing threads of dark nebulosity through the Milky Way was like strolling in the park. Teaming these with an Argo Navis would be a binocular enthusiasts heaven.

I'm allready looking forward to the 17th SPSP and all the new toys that another 12months will bring . :thumbsup:

[netwolf]

Cold and freezing but lots of fun. It was great to see you all, and the variety of scopes on the field.
Mostly i enjoyed the naked eye view of they sky above, it was just awesome.

Pics, the first is of the lost boys myself, apoman and Kal, and the second one is of a confused bird.

[wavelandscott]

I'd agree with Mark on the viewing through Kendal's "Kunming Optical 'BT-100 45 degree ocular binoculars on fork mount". Both the 24 Pans and the 13 T6 pairs were really enjoyable to look through. It was a very pleasing experience.

As noted in another thread on this topic...it was a nice weekend of Astronomy!

[h0ughy]

Fahim - did the kookaburra leave a message on the mirror?

[netwolf]

Houghy i hope not.

[rmcpb]

Missed it!! All booked in then ended up chasing bushfires Friday and Saturday. Oh well there will be next year.....

[Deeno]

Bloody terrific to be under some very dark skies......
We had our usual contingency from Kulnura only at a slightly different location. Maybe we should have a flag....
Had a great time with the Argo Navis directing the 10" dob to objects that simply can't be observed from home.
Could easily spend a week of new moons up there.......
Thanks to Geoff, Geoff, Rod and Mike (sorry for not voting on the astro comp as I was searching for Amanda's missing name tag) for the company and Rick for helping me collimate the scope properly and Michael from Bintel for the generous use of his eye pieces.
Can't wait for the IceInSpace star party.

Deeno

[Rick Petrie]

What an amazing experience at Wiruna - How was the serenity?
Congratulations to the organisers for providing a really TOP weekend and the weather God (GTB) was right again. :thumbsup: Thanks to all for the hospitality - Geoff's, Deane & Amanda,(thanks Deeno for giving Lyn all the good advice on the Argo!!!!!),Michaels,Scott and Rod once again for the views through
Mary Rose. It'll be a hard act to follow for sheer Wow factor.
Good shots Deeno of Dob alley!
Cheers Rick

[DaveM]

My first star party and I really enjoyed myself. Must remember to bring an extra blanket next time...
It was great to look across the observing field at night and see a sea of little red lights and hear the whine of scopes slewing about.

[robgreaves]

Had a good time - some pretty decent skies, and brought home some nice images from my TOA150 rig.

Had fun early hours of Sunday morning with a fair bit of excitement on my 'potential' comet discovery. Rob McNaught assisted in interrogating the MPC databases, as did Monte Wilson in follow-up observations. After a bit of head-scratching, it turned out to already have been discovered not so long ago, so maybe next time :)

Regards,
Rob

[GTB_an_Owl]

just thought i would pop in to tell you all that i am recovering slowly from the weekends events.

no sleep thursday nite before i drove up early (4am departure) friday morning put me behind the 8 ball as far as doing all nighters on the observing field over the weekend (and probably influenced my decision not to stay for the sunday nite - or was that the clouds that appeared ?).
then of course i had to get up early each morning to set up for the vendors stalls in the main hall.

the weekend just seemed to fly past - didn't even get a chance to put the batteries in my camera - let alone have a walk around the field to look at all the scopes that were assembled. (I did notice that "MY" 16" lightbridge was there though h0ughy)
of course i set up the little scope with the pony club brigade and it was great to be able to observe with nephew Michael for a couple of nites. i hope we convinced him he would have fun if he joined us up the mountain now and then.

the SPSP mob did a great job in running the event again this year and my hat goes off to them - hope the two people that picked up my two eyepiece cases in the raffle can put them to good use and there is sure to be another couple on offer next year.

we added a few more people to the freezer suit tribe over the weekend and if the prediction for the winter months ahead is correct, they will not be left hanging in the cupboard.

more latter perhaps when i get a bit of work done

geoff

[RB]

Wow what a beautiful setup Rob !


:sad:

Shhhh keep it under your hat Geoff.

[GTB_an_Owl]

we missed you RB (and h0ughy)

thankfully i only had ONE ticket to keep under my hat this year

geoff

[gary]

Hi Rob,

For me, this event was the highlight of the star party and it showcased
the incredible capability that comes from the convergence of several key
technologies along with the ability of professional astronomers being able
to co-operate with amateurs.

A small group of us were assembled in the Meeting Hall where Monte Wilson
had his laptop computer interfaced to his Takahashi robotic mount equipped
with SBIG camera. The laptop was also interfaced to a LCD projector so we
could all watch what was happening on the 'big screen'.

Monte was preparing for the asteroid occultation due later that night and those
assembled were assisting him in identifying the correct star in the field.
I was sitting next to Monte when the walkie-talkie call from Rob Greaves came
through. Rob was imaging on the upper field at the house on his own
well-equipped rig and reported a possible comet candidate he had spotted
on the edge of the FOV near the Antennae interacting galaxies.

Calling out the RA and Dec, Monte's rig slewed into action and within a few minutes
we were scrutinizing the image on the big screen. Sure enough, there was
a nebulous object at the co-ordinates Rob had reported and though there were
several known galaxies in the region, none corresponded to this fuzzy object.
A few minutes later, Monte performed a second image acquisition and performed
a blink test comparison. Lo and behold, it was moving.

Monte had his NextG handset interfaced to the laptop and the first port of
call was the Minor Planet Center in Harvard where we used the search engine
to try and determine if there were any known minor planets or comets near these
co-ordinates at this time. The MPC server reported none. It was now 3am but Rob's
candidate object was giving us all a shot equivalent to a dozen espressos.

Could this be a new comet? By now, Rob had joined us in the meeting hall and
we agreed some consultation from an expert would now be prudent. By luck, the
guest speaker that same day was none other than Rob McNaught, the man that
has discovered more comets as an individual in the entire history of of mankind.
Rob Greave's wife, Jessica, who has acute night vision, managed to track down
Rob McNaught on the observing field. Rob was attempting to capture the
asteroid occultation event on a video camera. When Rob McNaught became free,
Rob Greaves explained to him that he had found an object that might be a comet,
that it had been imaged on two scopes and that a blink comparison showed
movement and that a preliminary MPC search drew a blank. I mischievously
asked Rob McNaught, with regards these comets, would he happen to know anything
about the topic? He answered something to the effect that he had some dealing with
them professionally before. :)

Rob McNaught came to the meeting hall and started to ask a series of questions.
For example, does the object move when the scope is panned, which might
indicate an internal reflection? As the object had been imaged on two different
scopes and when panned did not moved, we were confident it was not an
internal reflection. Had we entered our latitude and longitude into the MPC
search engine to account for parallax if the object was close, or had we used the
default geocentric co-ordinates? When we explained we had hurriedly used the
defaults, Rob requested we revisit the MPC search engine. He typed in the
code for Siding Springs (close enough) and widened the search, explaining that
the orbital elements could be providing positions that might be as much as a couple
of degrees out. The wider search kept the MPC server busy for about a minute
and then a series of candidate objects appeared on the big screen.

"That will be it", Rob McNaught said, pointing out C/2007 W1 (Boattini), a 12th
magnitude comet discovered by Rob's northern hemisphere counterpart around
about last November.
See http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Comets/2007W1.html

We were disappointed and I imagine especially Rob Greaves. Who would not be?
However, the chase had been an exciting one and watching these amazing
technologies in action made one appreciate how far things have come. Only
a few years ago, if one had seen such an object at Wiruna, it would have most
likely be seen visually rather than through imaging and would probably then
have had to await returning to Sydney to check on the Internet rather than be
able to access the Internet from a location that has no fixed telephone
wiring or mains power. Even the LCD projector and the ability for several
people to view what was happening and make comments and suggestions
enabled new levels of co-operation between amateurs - the whole time
sitting indoors in relative comfort with cups of coffee. It had a "Mission
Control" feel about it. Then what chance having Rob McNaught on the field
and his experienced hand being able to direct us?

The next day Rob McNaught explained the chance of someone discovering a new
comet is increased if they have discovered a new comet before. This at first
might seem paradoxical, but it was clear that the experience of finding and
verifying a new comet then assists one through going through the motions of
finding and verifying the next.

With that in mind, there are possibly a few tips in the above commentary
when it comes to verification. Pan the mount to check it is not an internal reflection.
Acquire at least a couple of images and do a blink comparison or visually
compare with the target field. Get a second verified observation from an
independent observer. Try and determine the astrometric co-ordinates
as best as possible by multiple images with an accurate recording of the time.
This will help practitioners to determine its orbital elements. Use the
information and search capabilities of the MPC including entering
your latitude and longitude and widening the search to at least 300 arc minutes
from the nominal co-ordinates you have estimated. I am sure experienced comet
discovers would have plenty of additional advice. However, I would like
to thank Rob Greaves, Rob McNaught and Monte for making the early hours
of Sunday morning so exciting whilst we hunted this down. It was also
a nice opportunity to meet Rob Greaves and Jessica for the first time.

Keep looking up!

Best Regards

Gary Kopff
Mt. Kuring-Gai

[Rodstar]

What a great SPSP!

I was delighted to enjoy the company of some great people, many of whom have posted above, and to meet a host of new acquaintances. There was a great feeling of commradery at this year's event, and I was heartened by the welcome extended by many ASNSW members....so much so that I have finally applied to become a member! I particularly enjoyed meeting Bernie and Eddie Bernard and their wives. They were set up right near us and made for good neighbours. Also, I learnt that Roger Davis and Gerry Aart are both very adept at the guitar.

In terms of observing, I was inspired by my purchase of Uranometria to hunt down some galaxy clusters in Hydra and Centaurus, and boy was I in for a treat. The Centaurus cluster is mind-blowing under dark skies. In Xstream and Anna's 26 Nagler, we saw 12+ galaxies in the one FOV, with many many more crammed into the region immediately adjacent. When confronted with such a scene, it really does provide food for the mind and imagination.

Michael Chaytor (Bintel) was kind enough to introduce me to the galaxy NGC 2442, which is a lovely S shaped spiral, with an ESO galaxy in the field. That is a very fine object indeed. Other galaxies that impressed included NGC 2997 in Antlia, M83, M104 and the Blackeye galaxy in Virgo (M64) was a treat too.

By Sunday, I was full up with amazing sights, so it almost came as a relief to have a night of wind and cloud on Sunday evening. I had over 9 hours sleep that night, just what the doctor ordered before the long drive home.

It was very cold, but not oppressively so....according to the Mary Rose it did dip down to 0.0 degrees at one stage, but with Geoff's freezer suit, I was toasty warm!

I particularly enjoyed the usual hospitality from John and Anna (thanks again, guys!) and Mike is a good tenant....he does not snore, and he always puts out the cat before going to bed.

We missed the dry wit of HOughy and David (the Unbeliever) and the bubbly company of Petra. And RB.....mate, it was such a shame you couldn't make it, but we will catch up soon.

I understand that next year's event is to be held in late May to avoid the Anzac Day long weekend in April. Hardy souls will be required to endure yet colder conditions. So, if you are thinking of coming next year, come prepared!

[robgreaves]

Gary - an incredible write-up, and most interesting to read and recall the events of that night (or should I say morning!).

Thanks also Gary for your efforts and enthusiasm during the events of that evening.

It is a shame, in a sense, it wasn't a new discovery (as you and others mentioned), given the circumstances and the people present that weekend!

It was hard not to be hopeful after the first MPC search revealing nothing, only then to find out it was indeed a known object. That's comet hunting for you! You won't find if you don't look.

Regards,
Rob (& Jess).

[netwolf]

Gary it was fun to watch, we had just dropped by to grab a coffee and watch the asteroid occultation but we got a special treat. It was just awesome to watch the comet move as Monte imaged away. We went to bed thinking we had just watched the discovery of a comet. I even heard people running around outside the tents yelling "Is Rob McNaught here" (pommy accent). It was certainly the highlight of the weekend.

Regards
Fahim

[DaveGee]

Here's an update on the asteroid occultation...

Hristo and I went mobile;
- I went up the Mudgee Road to Lake Windamere which proved to be too far as I observed a miss. :sadeyes:
- Hristo went to Illford and recorded a positive event on video

Patrick, Margaret, Ted/Geoff, Rob/Gerry, Brett/Frances and Rick observed from the main field. (there may have been others, if so please advise)
- Patrick observed a positive event visually
- Margaret observed a positive event visually
- Ted/Geoff observed a positive event by video
- Brett/Frances and Rob/Gerry had technical difficulties
- Rick observed a positive event visually in a 60mm refractor!

I know of at least one observer in New Zealand and anther was to observe near Wyong. It's early days yet as all the reports have to come in and the event properly analysed but as soon as I know I'll post and update.

Thanks to everyone who attempted to observe the event.:thumbsup:

[Paul Hatchman]

From an organiser's perspective, I can honestly say that this year's SPSP was an absolute joy. Everyone who attended really contributed to the great atmosphere. A big thank you from the ASNSW to you all for helping us put on a great event.

Of course, it doesn't hurt to have 3 clear nights viewing, only spoiled by a couple of hours of bushfire smoke on the Saturday morning. For me, the whole weekend was a total blur, so I'll have to leave it up to others to fill you in on gory details.

For this year the Thursday was for volunteers only and even though that shortened the event for some people, I think it really helped make this year a success as we were able to make sure we had enough volunteers at the front gate, registration desk, camping areas, on the observing field etc before everyone came flooding in.

I'll keep an eye on this thread for any positive or negative comments, but I'd really appreciate if you could send any feedback via the link on the ASNSW web site http://asnsw.com/spsp/feedback.asp .

Thanks again and I look forward to seeing you all next year.

Cheers,

Paul Hatchman
Vice President (Crago)
ASNSW.

[iceman]

Excellent shots, Tilt! Great composition and DOF. However you should reduce them to 800-1000px wide so they don't need to be so compressed to fit under 200kb.

btw, #4 and #6 looks like a really nice setup ;) :lol:

[Tilt]

Ok, another go with the images ;)

SPSP 16

[ngcles]

Hi Gary K & All,

You guys weren't the only ones!

While the SPSP was on, the Sutherland Society was being hosted by John Vetter at his Mudgee property "Observatory Downs" at the Mudgee Star Party, about 60km up the road near Gratti.

We went through a somewhat similar process in the _very_ early hours of the morning on Saturday 5th April.

At about 3am a young observing tyro at our society by the name of Darren Clarke came down from the top field to the bottom field where I was observing saying that he had found a nebulous object in Corvus using John's 16" Dob "Tweety" (it is painted yellow) that wasn't plotted on his maps. To be honest I was pretty sceptical at first and and he wasn't able with any certainty to pinpoint its location. He went back up for a while and came back with his own 8" dob and quicky picked in up a short distance from Gamma Corvi.

I took a look through his 'scope and it took me completely by surprise -- it was a pretty big (maybe 8 arc-mins diameter or larger) nebulous object, probably about 10th magnitude with a weakly brighter zone/spot in the centre. Then went over to my own 18" and within seconds had it in the field and Thought I saw a weak greenish hue in the centre -- it certainly looked like a comet. The Argo Navis gave me an almost pinpoint RA and Dec and a search on Megastar with Realsky showed there was definitely no known object at that position -- certainly none that matched the appearance. I also displayed the known comets -- none.

I usually download and instal the orbital elements of new comets if it looks likely to be bright and it didn't fit my additions -- excitement was building.

The next step was to go to the internet to check for other known comets using the MPC data -- a visit up to the shed to log on proved a big frustration -- the net positively refused _point blank_ to connect (don't ya just love dial-up??) whatever we did. Gary Mitchell told us it was showing evidence of motion -- it had to be a comet there was no other alternative. The only question that remained was whether it was an already known one.

I tried waking-up a couple of people that could help without success. I knew Rob McNaught woudn't be available (in Ilford), so no point making that call and with time passing on (now about 4.30am) there was only one alternative -- ring Brian Marsden at the IAU.

I made the phone call at 4.35am and gave the accurate position we had determined firstly using the Argo and refined to almost arc-second accuracy using Megastar. Silence for nearly a minute then ..

We got the same news -- Damien had re-discovered 2007 W1 -- just like you guys! Disappontment! ... but it was exciting while it lasted.

It was a great weekend's observing. I was also wondering whether anyone at the SPSP had/used a Unihedron SQM (Sky Quality Meter). I just got one and used it at Mudgee and am interested to see how the readings compare to Ilford -- let me know if you have some readings.

Best,

Les D
Contributing Editor
AS&T

[Paul Hatchman]

Great report Les. It certainly was the weekend for rediscovering comets.

Yes at least one of our members has a sky quality meter. I'll see if I can find out what the reading was.

Cheers.

[Inmykombi]

This was my first visit to Wiruna. The Dark Skies were amazing.
To see the Milky Way stretch from horizon to horizon was something I wont forget for a while..

Thanks must go to the ASNSW crew for organising an event like this.

It was good to be among the Central Coast crew as well. Even if they surrounded me with their DOBS.
I still cant work out why their images are upside down and back to front. :lol:
Thankfully there were other robo-scopes around to help me hold my own amongst them.
Thanks to Geoff, Rick, Deeno, Scott, Joe and Rod for making it very memorable to me.

Sleep was a luxury I didnt get to see much of though.
Observing till the "wee hours", then running around all day to the events that were planned, and even looking through a Solar Scope or two, to see a solar flare for the first time was spectacular.
Quite a few bargains at the bazar too.

A time to remember.


Cheers to all.

Geoffro

[Rodstar]

Geoff,

It was nice to have the familiar whirring sound of your LX200 on the observing field. We don't mind the odd SCT or two.:thumbsup::lol:

[gary]

G'day Les,

Great story and it goes to show that it's pretty tough for an object like this
to pass by without anyone noticing. :) There are just so many eyes and
cameras looking up these days!

Having said that, there is no way you want to pass one of these objects
over without following them up. Just ask Lachlan MacDonald why Comet Lee
is not called Comet MacDonald. :)

Hat's off to Darren being on the ball.

Rob McNaught emailed me to qualify that the ephemeris for Boattini is nailed.
The reason we did not get a hit immediately on the MPC was due to
our own rough RA/Dec estimate and the time it took us to then Google and
enter the MPC checker form rather than the elements being wrong.
Normally Monte would be able to do a plate solve on the spot but for
some reason it was not happening. Similarly we had downloaded
the orbital orbital elements for comets from the MPC into TheSky but we
were damned if we could get them to appear as icons on the screen at their
computed positions, otherwise we would have spotted Boattini earlier.

Rob advises it is important to either get the position as accurate as you can,
including knowing your own lat/long and current UT or at least know what the
uncertainties in your measurements are.

Les, with regards the dial-up modem problems, if anyone has a NextG
phone on the field it might be worth checking if they can get a signal.
Most handsets can be interfaced to a laptop via the appropriate cable to
provide wireless broadband connectivity. The data charges are expensive, at
up to a couple of dollars per MB, but would probably be cheaper than calling Brian
Marsden. :)

Once again, thanks for the story which is fabulous!

Best regards

Gary

[gary]

Hi Les,

Though I don't know of anyone who took readings last weekend, I know
several people, including John Bambury and visiting Texas, Van Robinson,
who have taken readings several times before and I will find out for you.

When comparing readings with the northern hemisphere, take note, as
mentioned on the manufacturer's web page, no allowance is made for
the Milky Way in the original units. With the Milky Way at the zenith here, compared
to our North American friends, I suspect when trying to compare with
northern hemisphere results, it's not always an apples for apples comparison.

However, it would be interesting to compare Ilford and Mudgee. We also
have some readings for Coona I will try and pass on.

Best Regards

Gary

[Deeno]

[quote=RB;313345]

:sad:
Had no trouble finding volunteers to help fill the air with the sweet acrid aroma of Cuban stogies........

Still not the same without you RB


So dry your eyes princess and see you soon

[ausastronomer]

Hi Gary/Les/Rod,

I have taken several readings in the past at Ilford under dark clear skies. As Gary correcty points out, the Milky Way effect on the SQM can be significant and you cannot accurately compare Northern Hemisphere readings with Southern hemisphere readings, for this reason.

I will list some of the readings I have taken in recent years.

Coonabarabran. (Timor Cottages, 10km NW of town)
21.45 to 21.88. Coona normally averages between 21.5 and 21.7 with partial milky way effect. I got readings consistently over 21.7 with a best of 21.88 in October 2007 with no milky way effect. The best reading I got was 21.88 (repeated 3 times on the night) on an excepionally good night. Dave Kriege from Obsession Telescopes, who has observed all over the world, commented on that night that it was the 2nd best night of observing conditions he had ever encountered, bettered only by one nights observing atop Mauna Kea, about 10 years prior. Mauna Kea has a significant elevation advantage.

Ilford
21.45 to 21.58 depending on Milky way effect. Ilford averages normally 21.45 to 21.55. I got 21.58 in November 2006 with no Milky Way overhead and very clear skies.

Bucketty (private property about 5km from Koolang Observatory)
21.4 to 21.52 (this is an excellent spot considering its close proximity to major civilsation and its convenience)

Lostock (NSW Hunter Valley)
At the 2007 IISAC at Lostock in Jan 2007 I consistently got readings between 21.45 and 21.55

Border Stargaze (10km north of Albury)
21.45 average to the north away from the Albury Skyglow. 21.3 to the South with skyglow effect.

2007 Texas Star Party (Fort Davis, Texas)
21.45 average with no Milky Way effect.




Rod,

It is actually in Coma Berenices, about 5 degrees North of the Coma Berenices/Virgo border.

Cheers,
John B

[ngcles]

Hi Gary,

Gary wrote:

"Having said that, there is no way you want to pass one of these objects
over without following them up. Just ask Lachlan MacDonald why Comet Lee
is not called Comet MacDonald."

Or indeed why it is not called Comet Dalrymple. Lee was discovered by Steve Lee _at_ the Mudgee Star Party. Steve found the comet while searching for NGC 5189 using "Tweety" (same 'scope Damien was using this year) so he could show the planetary to some people because it was in his talk the next day.

Not knowing the exact position and not having DSC he pointed the 'scope roughly to somewhere near NGC 5189 and waggled it around and stumbled upon the comet. About 20 mins later he came down to me because I had DSC on my 10" to get an accurate position for his report, and to get an image done.

I had been observing NGC 5189 about an hour and a half earlier and it was only 1 field away ...

"Stupidly", I was using DSC and not star-hoppping.

Sigh ...


Best,

Les D
Contributing Editor
AS&T

[gary]

Hi Les,

Thanks for the anecdote. That certainly is a Mintie's Moment. However,
I believe Lach's story is even worse because he even looked
at Comet Lee one full week before Steve looked at it.

If you all gather around, I will tell you the story ...

Once upon at time, Lachlan was up at the house at Wiruna attempting to
show some visiting Americans the Blue Planetary using Tony's 20". They
did not have a DSC/DTC installed then and in stumbling around the
Crux/Centaurus region, Lachlan happened across what later was determined
to be the comet. He apparently puzzled over it for a moment, but feeling
the pressure to help entertain his guests and deliver a view of the Blue
Planetary, decided to move on, possibly with the plan of checking on a
chart later what the unexpected nebulosity was. However, he failed to
follow up. So that boys and girls is why we call it Comet Lee and not
Comet MacDonald.

When Rob Greaves radio call came from the house the other night, the same
place that Lach had passed over Comet Lee even having spotted it first, Lach's
lesson was planted firmly in my head and I was as determined as Rob to follow
this one up.

Les, thanks again for the story and hopefully there is one still out there yet
waiting to have your name tagged to it. :thumbsup:

Best Regards

Gary

[ngcles]

Hi John B, Gary and All,

Gary wrote:

"Lachlan happened across what later was determined
to be the comet. He apparently puzzled over it for a moment, but feeling
the pressure to help entertain his guests and deliver a view of the Blue
Planetary, decided to move on, ..."

Goodness me! I can almost feel his pain. The night Lee was found both Gary Mitchell & I were observing with our 10" Newtonians and we both happened to look at 5189 at almost the same time and also looked through each other's 'scopes. It wasn't just me who missed it by a field-with or so -- it was both of us -- both using DSC.

Gary wrote:

"hopefully there is one still out there yet waiting to have your name tagged to it."

It'd be nice! Tell the truth, when Mel Hulbert & I were doing the investigation leading up to my call to the IAU I was just a tiny bit ticked off that someone with just a year or so behind the eyepiece was seemingly about to rack one up while I have been observing for, shall we say a teensy bit longer ... hmmmm ...

But, that's the way it goes. Both Steve Lee and Peter Williams have logged many, many more hrs than I before they found their comets. In fact Peter Williams just needs an asteroid to complete his set. He has already found a naked-eye nova too.

John & Gary, thanks for the SQM readings -- much appreciated.

They are most interesting and I presume that they are with the old "wide-field" model. I purchased the new model which has a lens providing a much narrower HWHM sensitivity of 10 degrees. FWHM is therefore 20 degrees. It also has an IR blocking filter to take ambient temperature out of the equation and therefore the readings might therefore be a bit different to the older model. I noted that if I pointed it in the direction of Eta Carinae, I got a reading 0.2 higher than a non-Milky Way field.

I took a lot of readings over the 4 nights I was at the MSP (well, it's a new toy isn't it??). In the hope of pursuing some semblance of scientific rigor, every time I used it I took _4_ separate readings. If the Milky Way was close to Zenith, I aimed a little (15 deg) away from it. I never aimed lower than 15 deg away from Zenith (except to experiment!).

My first reading was always discarded (as per the instructions -- in the FAQ sheet). I then averaged the next three. At the moment, the readings are all on my voice recorder and as I transcribe I'll note them and they will appear in an observations post sometime in the future (I've presently got more than 100 _more_ to transcribe on top of the 40-odd already done). The worst reading I got in a cloudless true dark sky (long after astronomical twilight) was 21.38. Between 11pm and 3am It was generally somewhere between 21.60 and 21.75.

The best _averaged_ reading I got was at about 12mn on Friday night/Sat morn which was 21.82. That reading run consisted of 21.85, 21.82, 21.82 & 21.83. 21.7s were pretty common throughout the weekend. I have observed for a total of about 30 nights at Wiruna and over 100 at Mudgee and the Mudgee sky seems to me to be pretty-much on par with Ilford. It would seem to me therefore that the wide-field meter will provide a brighter reading than my spot-type one.

Also confiirms my long-held belief that John's Mudgee (Gratti) site is top-notch!!

Best,

Les D
Contributing Editor
AS&T

[xstream]

Here's a few images from SPSP.

[xstream]

And some more.

[iceman]

Great images, John! Brings back memories already and it's only been a week.

[Bassnut]

It was nice to see Rob and his wife, Martin, Mike (a souse, to the core, we get on), Monte, and Lachlan, plus other real imagers imaging at the house site (no light nazis). Id like to make an official complaint tho, far too much Grog, should be moderated :P.

[spacezebra]

Hey John

Great pics - and a huge thankyou to you and Anna for bringing home an SPSP T-Shirt for me!!:D:D:D:D:D Im pleased that you all had a great time.

Excellent - I love it!!

Cheers Petra

[Orion]

Nice pics John....it was nice to catch up with you again.

[Ian Robinson]

Quite a few $ in mounts and telescopes there.

[netwolf]

Ian, shhh dont tell the wife.

[iceman]

Not as much as what was up at the house! :lol:

[Inmykombi]

My first SPSP was an wonderful experience.
I am sure glad I made the effort to attend.
I almost didnt go due to work and time constraints.

Well worth the effort.

I will definately be going to the next one in 2009.

See you all next year.:thumbsup:

[DSO]

Hi all, and greetings from a spring-like Up Over. I have enjoyed reading this thread as I am hoping to make a trip back Down Under in the not-too-distant future (next year or 2010) and SPSP is included in my plans. In the meantime, I'm off to my second Texas Star Party at the end of next month.

[Zuts]

Hi Guys,

A bit belated but anyway. This is my imaging setup at the house at the SPSS, only managed to take one 5 minute photo but still had a good time camping, and my daughter enjoyed making nests :). She also got to look through the Mary Rose which was great.

Paul