NSW Northern Rivers 2008

[glenc]

It looks like it will be fine this Saturday night.
Does anyone want to come here to do some observing?
It will be dark from 6:40 pm to 9:20pm.

[GrahamL]

my sons passed on his flu to me glen so its probably best I keep it to myself.

hows next week sit with you guys?

[glenc]

I might be going to Leyburn next weekend
Looks like the next week will be fine at last!

[CoombellKid]

Glen, I'll see how things go but I have the boys with me this weekend.

We're not going to Alex place this month? I'll put a tentative down for
that as I may have visitors up here next weekend. So Graham if you
want to head out here next weekend weather permitting I'll more than
likely be here. I will confirm during the week.

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Hooli-Dooli we got our first frost yesterday... and another this morning.

regards,CS

[glenc]

I tried to phone Alex on his mobile yesterday to see if he was OK.
Didn't have any luck, he doesn't use that mobile number now.
I might come to your place Sat night.

[CoombellKid]

Been thinking of driving up there tomorrow if I get time, to see if he is
about.

Sure I'll be here, will have a couple of friends from down south staying
with me, who are keen for a look see. your more than welcome to come
out :thumbsup: weather permiting.

regards,CS

[glenc]

Rob, is your driveway ok for my car?

[CoombellKid]

It's a lil rough, but you should be alright if you take it slowly.

Nice morning out there this morning.

regards,CS

[glenc]

yes it's clearing up

[GrahamL]

Cloudy down here most of the night but it seems to be clearing from the west...I'll check in about 3..pm I guess ,what times it dark as I'd like to get to your place a little before for a change.

[CoombellKid]

O'l Sol hits the deck @ 5:12pm out here this evening.

regards,CS

[glenc]

Graham do you want a ride from Casino?

[GrahamL]

thanks glen ,i'll probably come over through dungarubba so will meet you there,,cloudy again here now

[glenc]

I'll arrive about 6pm. Twilight ends at 6:35.

[CoombellKid]

Well apart from the jet stream, it is looking pretty good out here. A little bit
of patchy cloud earlier but it has pretty much cleared now.

C U's when U get here : )

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

hmmmm looking a bit dodgy again.

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Perhaps I should just shut up :doh::whistle:

Looking pretty good again :D clear all around.

If ya need me (02)6664 1251

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

thanks rob ..was good to try out the scope somewhere dark
and have look at yours ...cleared up nice when i got home but a little to late to go again.

[CoombellKid]

Np's Graham and thanks to you too and Glen for coming out. The boys really
enjoyed doing something they dont usually do and asked me to thank the
both of you. In fact I think Andews might sell a couple of 10"ers shortly.
Sorry if I was a lil untentive it's been a while since I've seen these boys, and
I think I was a lil all over the place :whistle:

Graham, awesome scope mate! job well done :thumbsup: you have got the balance
down really well and I loved it's action/swingability <-- is that a word? also
you can tell the difference when you get those mirrors out of those tubes
and into am open box truss system. I've noticed this with my 8" as well. The
views through your scope were spectacular (when the seeing played good)
one particular view of the Eta Carina neb comes to mind. I would like a
closer look at the truss connectors in daylight.

I hope the driveway wasn't tooooooo bumpy for you guys. I can feel a frost
coming on tonight.

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

No worrys mate ,its always good to catch up with old friends and talk a little ****e together :lol: hope you all had a good night .

yeah the balance was fixed with a jigsaw around the secondary cage
one thing about building your own you always pick the little faults you will fix up with the next one we make:P.. You know I'm alittle suss on that textured laminate I used and gave you ..I picked the same little bit of stick on your bearing motion I can feel on mine from time to time,,maybe the surface of it isn't exactly even enough to give good movement .. though a sealed bearing type arrangement like what Ed used ( copy off others :)) would be great .

I don't think my mirror ever got close to ambiant/temp ..thats something that pops up i notice with a larger /thicker bit of glass
in that a fairly long time is needed to settle down ..I can really understand why people get thinner mirrors when you go up from 12"./..my 10" was quite useable after a brief move the 12 not as much.

[glenc]

Thanks Rob, I liked the bino mount.
Graham your scope is great too.
I just got clouded out here.

[glenc]

I was clouded out twice last night, but managed to observe from 10:15 to 10:45 and 2 to 3 am. I saw all the globulars I could think of with the 12" dob. Rob, how much was that 16" mirror?

[glenc]

The HST will be mag 1.6 when it crosses tonight at 6:26pm through Orion to Corvus. It will be similar tomorrow and Wed.
mag 1.6 18:26:10 10° W 18:30:31 (http://www.heavens-above.com/PassDetails.asp?Size=600&SatID=20580&Session=kebgcphdhpoocgpjnpjpcbim&Date=39573.3545207745) 84° NNE 18:32:00 40° E

[CoombellKid]

Thanks forthe heads up Glen!

Got the scope out and cooling nice clear night tonight. Even though there
is a hint of jet stream to the East.

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

SN had plotted it perfectly I came inside when I couldn't find it and SN had
a little east of Canis Major when I went back out there it was where SN had
it. I raced inside as it hit Corvus and it was doing the same on SN. Coming
back outside and watched it disappear into the Earths shadow a lil to the
upper right of Spica.

Nice night tonight : ) happy observing fellas

regards,CS

[glenc]

GREAT night last night. I looked at 38 of the 39 GC in James Dunlop's catalog.
Didn't see the HST.

[CoombellKid]

Awesome out here too:thumbsup:, I sat out in the yard with my 20x80's until about
10:30pm then was out again around 3:30am this morning. Mostly checking
out the Milky Way near Scorpius. I did manage the HST although it was near
overhead when I nabbed it. I followed it in the 20x80's until it disappeared
into the Earths shadow.

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

We're having some ripper nights eh' fellas

I spent last night early evening catching HST along with several other sat's
that I didn't bother ID'ing. Did a bit of bino observing, jeeez you get lazy
with the 20x80's on the parra mount as there is a heap to see and many
challenges still to nab, and they only take 3 minites (I timed myself) to set
up. Btw, we have two appearences for the HST tonight so both you fellas
and Alex (if your up here) should be able to catch them. For me 6:21pm
@ 1.5 mag and 8:03pm @ 0.5 mag. It's transiting pretty much West to
East.

Apart fromt that when I woke this morning it was spectacular as I lay
on the trampoline with the parra mount . At about 3:30am the center
of the Milky way was slightly west of the zenith. You could spend hours
scanning around that area, I didn't have any charts printed up.

On another note, My 16" mirror has landed on aussie soil, expected delivery
to Casino Monday morning. So in the next few months, you guys will have
a bit more aperture from the host at Coombell when you come.

Looking good out again tonight, might as well take advantage of the clear
skies.

regards,CS

[glenc]

Great again last night, but a bit of smoke around now.
Look forward to seeing the 16".

[CoombellKid]

Yeah :sadeyes: just noticed that as I was setting up. Seems mostly in the west but
I did notice a lil in the east too.

I expect at least 6 months of clouds, rain and flooding around the time of
first light with the 16". I must admit I am a lil excited as I've been quietly
burning with aperture fever for some years now :whistle: (buying ep's, kinda
soothed it) and are really looking forward to some more aperture.

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

How long did that take rob ?.. sheesh I thought you only mentioned going to order it a day or two back .. seems pretty quick ,is that direct from the maker?

Re the smoke they have been waiting to back burn a little down New Italy and bundjalung way this week looks like today was the day

[CoombellKid]

Yup straight from GSO. Sent an inquiry on Friday got an email back about
price and shipping 2hrs later. Confirmed the order Sunday afternoon, got an
email back from GSO about 20 minutes later with their account info, Sent a
telegraphic Transfer on Monday and an email to ask for confirmation. Got
an email from UPS later that night saying shipping request recieved along
with a tracking number. The Bank told me to expect a 48 hour delay before
the transfer hits there account. So I didn't bother checking until Wednesday.
Only to find it had left Taiwan 7pm the previous night and landed in the
Phillipeans 3am Wed, arriving in Sydney last night. Aparently it's on a flight
up here over night. But wont be delivered to Casino until Monday, my guess
is UPS doesn't do runs everyday out to Casino. And that's that, about to
order the Argo Navis shortly



Still a lovely night out there tonight :thumbsup:

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

I'll get those pics of the connecters over the weekend ,they are pricey but very good .

NGC 3132 3918 4361 5189 5844 6302 tonight
that eight burst has been a hard find for me all week from home with heavy dew every night popped right out tonight though ..as did 5844

couldn't nab 2736 ,very bright out your place rob but nowhere dark enough from home to spot it..2899 not yet ..eso97-g13 we looked for the other night glen is also playing hard to get .

All the local culprits of globs an galaxys were coperateing:thumbsup:

[CoombellKid]

Ok if we get lots of cloudy weather and rain over the next few months,
you can blame me. My mirror arrived in Casino today, and I've just ordered
the Argo Navis. Although for me I expect the weather to be perfect right up
until the day before first light.

We've been getting some lovely night and mornings out this way.

regards,CS

[glenc]

I painted my 12" black yesterday and put larger bits of teflon in the base, also washed the mirror and collimated it.

[GrahamL]

The only downside i find of a black scope is turn your back on the sucker for a minute and it dissapears:lol:

[CoombellKid]

What you guy's need is one of those remote car key finders. The ones where
you press ya lil remote and your keys play a little tune back at you, except
you could include some disco lights :P

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

I thought it rather ominous that I got my new mirror home yesterday only
to be hit with a rather happening storm last night. We almost lost power
there for a little bit. We got about 14mm in 30 minutes.

regards,CS

[glenc]

Showed the Moon, Saturn, NGC3532 and omega Cen to 16 cubs and 7 parents at Corndale last night.

[CoombellKid]

Are we at your place this coming new moon Glen?

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

Will your 16" be finished by then rob ?:):P

[CoombellKid]

:lol::rofl::lol:

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Graham,

Actually, I laminated the ply to make the SC rings last night, which I'm going
the cut later today.

I think it will be a couple of months before first light.

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

I was wondering why its raining again:D

[glenc]

If it is fine you can come over to my place on Friday 30/5 or Saturday 31/5.
It gets dark at 6:20pm.

[CoombellKid]

Sounds good to me :)

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Nah! it was the focuser I ordered from Andrews :P may I suggest you chaps
invest in your latest optical toys wish list :thumbsup: so you can absorb any cloudy
weather under my project :) ...and dont be buying anything around the time
I complete it :lol:

regards,CS

[glenc]

When will the 16" be ready?

[CoombellKid]

Glen,

The 16" wont be seeing first light for a month or two I'd imagine. I'm
compiling all the components. And still thinking about some aspects
of the design. Looking like I'll be going with the full SC look as oppose
to me cut down look I did on the 8". Moslty due to focuser placement
and truss poles.

Gary from Wildcard emailed me last night saying the AN with mounting kit
has been shipped which will come in handy as I'm building the SC at
present.

regards,CS

[glenc]

Did you see an IIS member at Lismore?
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=32349

[CoombellKid]

Yes I have noticed, perhaps we should rattle his cage. Have you PM'ed him?

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

I did a couple days back and dropped an invite to tag along this weekend
as I'm giving up on short cuts to casino and heading through lismore.
Thats ok with you glen isn't it :)

[Lismore Bloke]

Unfortunately this Saturday the wife and I have
to be in Brisbane, and probably won't get back
until late.

I'm assuming that your observing sessions are Saturday
night.

I will keep an eye on the forum, and hope to catch up
with some of the local group soon.

Cheers, Paul M.

[glenc]

The forecast says possible shower for both Fri & Sat but you are all welcome both days if it's fine.

[CoombellKid]

Looking at dusting off the o'l canoe again out here today. We've had about
an inch of rain by the look... to wet to run out over the yard and check the
rain gauge lol.

I recon we'll be right by the weekend... my busted bones haven't yet been
giving me grief :thumbsup: so it cant be lasting :whistle:

btw, welcome Lismore Bloke, hope to see you at one of our get togethers.

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

Hope it cleared a little for you guys to .. cloud drifting through now and
then on the coast.. but very nice all the same .. joops even dragged the wife in for a short while,,so it must be a pretty clear night up there .:):lol:

[CoombellKid]

Actually it was cloudy out here so I stayed home. Although nice and clear-ish
now.

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Glen,

Did you end up observing Saturday night? it got pretty cloudy out my way.

I ordered a bag full of bits from SDM yesterday, and what do you know...
bucketing down today. The pain in the *** is, it's too wet to get out in the
shed and do anything :mad2:

regards,CS

[glenc]

No, didn't observe, it was partly cloudy. Casino has had 60mm of rain in the last 6 days due to the purchase of a 16".

[CoombellKid]

We've had 44mm since about 3 pm yesterday. Maybe it an inch of rain
for an inch of aperture :scared: that will really flood us in. Nice to see a bit of
blue sky trying to poke through this morning.

regards,CS

[glenc]

Very clear last night, I observed 3 times: 6pm to 8pm with the 12" then 12 to 1am and 5 to 5:30am with 20x80s. NGC 4945 and NGC 7000 seemed brighter than usual with 20x80s. M31 is back!
I'll go to Leyburn today.

[CoombellKid]

Wasn't out last night but have been out the last couple of mornings with the
20x80's, very nice this mornings :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Have a good one out at Leyburn.... I got a feeling it's going to be frosty :whistle:

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

have a good one glen ... you up for any observing this weekend rob ..we all got the sack at work today ( 3 minutes to knock off time :screwy:.). so runs out casino way are probably going to be a little few and far between for me in the future.

[CoombellKid]

Man! I'm sorry to hear that, was that part of Howards doing? I hope you
can sort something out soon. It was pretty much what happened up in
the Mill last year. they were brought out by a big multi-national and sacked
everybody on the spot and we literally walked into the next room to be
rehired on AWA's my causal existance came to an end.

I'll be here if you want to come out. I have both my sons here, so will
probably have to tend to Hayden a little bit. But weather permitting by
all means come on out.

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

Nah it was just a buisness call from the major stakeholder I was told .
Been comimg for a while I think to be honest and I deep down new it ...A family member of the other half of the bizz has cost it so much IMO over the last couple years it was just a matter of time before the bean counters
come tax time looked over exp/income and said ditch it .

My only words to my employer were I work for you ( 14 years) ..theres only 3 of us btw ..
and the courtsey of a little notice when you knew the buisness was
up for major change just didn't figure in ?..I even asked about leave an hour before
and had to fill out a form ..LOL ...Sadly anothers wife was just operated on for breast cancer last week and now they are both out of work :(

[CoombellKid]

Geeez! you would of thought you were almost family. I guess there is loyalty
to your employer (they generally demand it) but there no loyalty when it
comes to business.

Well on another note, I dont think we'll be doing to much observing out this
way. We have bad weather coming in from the south, looks like it will be
raining here shortly according to the Grafton radar.

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Done a bit on the scope today, put the structure of the Sec' cage together
to see how things fit. The wall for it is at present has been cut and in a 44
being soaked and bent. So hopefully tomorrow if the weather plays nice I will
spray the wall ready to be fit on Monday along with the focuser board. Then
I will have to wait until the first or second week in July for the spider and
secondary from AstroSystems, yet to figure whether to make upper truss
connectors or buy them. I also made an adaptor plate for the focuser and
cut the steal for the tailgate. So tomorrow weather permitting I'll spray
the wall, finish the focuser adaptor plate, make a jig to weild the tailgate
and drill the appropriate holes and tap threads for the collimation bolts.
I'll take it over to a mates place Monday and have him weild it together.
The components for the floatation system should be here next week.

Went to Lismore Timber and Ply, looks like I need another $250.00-$300.00
for the plywood:eyepop: if I want some nice stuff, oh well I kinda knew that.
Which will more than likely be Hoop pine 18mm 2400x1200 = $170.00. They
have some really nice ply down there, nothing that remotely looks like
something Bunnings would sell, I wish I had of made the effort to go down
there when I made the 8". In about a week or two I'll make a start on the
mirror box and Alt bearings.

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

looks nice rob :)...yeah its raining here now
bunnings had zip when I was on the hunt except a couple of slings of nice a/c ply which I used but they havn't had any since...hurfords had some really nice marine ply but at $90 a sheet for 12 mm its not to differant to what your looking at and you'd still have to laminate som 6mm onto it.

[CoombellKid]

Mate! you just reminded me my nieghbour works for hurfords in Casino. I
must havea chat to him he might get a store discount. Cheers :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
I'll add an extra nip of bourbon in the next one :D

Yup! it's has rained yet but it's aweful dark out side, Alex looks like he has a
storm sitting right on top of him.

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

FWIW, and for interest sake. The holes drilled into the Sec' cage rings all 60
of them cut 253gms in weight off the sec' cage equating to 1265gms to
counter it in the mirror box. The bonus being I believe (as a rigger and one of
some engineering background) circles (holes) keep the structural soundness
of the rings whilest eleviating some of the weight. Plus they look good to me.

regards,CS

[xelasnave]

Great stuff Rob
alex

[CoombellKid]

Thanks Alex, looking forward to finishing it, although I did end up having a
very lazy day today.... so the plan went out the window :whistle:

regards,CS

[glenc]

That was very bad news Graham.
Rob's news is better, I look forward to looking thro it.
Leyburn was only clear for a few hours on Friday night but clear and windy all last night.

[CoombellKid]

No worries Glen :thumbsup:

Many people out at Leyburn?

regards,CS

[glenc]

Yes, a fair crowd up there including 1 each from the USA, Holland and Japan.

[CoombellKid]

Just ordered more bits, so expect more rain :whistle:

regards,CS

[glenc]

The Galactic Center (Sgr A*) is at declination -29d 00m 28s.
Coombell is at latitude -29d 00m 50s south, so the galactic center passes right over Rob's house at about 00h 25m tonight.
If it's clear you will see it. Six countries lie under the middle of the Milky Way: Australia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa and Lesotho.

[CoombellKid]

Interesting Glen, I always thought it must be close but never bothered to
look it up. It certainly is a spectacular view out here on a good night. Laying
on the trampoline it is front and center and one of the reasons for building
the parra' mount. Next time your out here you will have to take the
trampoline and parra' mount combo for a spin :)

Unfortunately tonight it's looks like low flying nebula

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Just thinking outa loud here. But maybe we should get together and look at
organising an astrofest/camp/weekend. Since the price of fuel seems to
be going up more than down perhaps some of our more southern New South
Walshmen/women might like to attend. I have access to large enough tracks
of land in a couple+ locations in my area. All with good dark skies.

regards,CS

[glenc]

August and September are the most likely to be clear.

[glenc]

I observed with the 12" Dob from 2am to 4am this morning and there was no dew! Started with all the nebulae and PNe I could think of, using a UHC filter, then looked at clusters and galaxies. I independently "discovered" a SN in NGC 7793, but I see it was found by Monard on 25/3.
http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/lists/RecentSupernovae.html.

[CoombellKid]

Bummer about the discovery Glen, almost had ya name on it. I'm thinking
of getting a search program together to look for those myself when the
new scope is up and running. Wouldn't mind scoring those nova charts
in the trade forum

I'm kidless this weekend, so I'm hoping for a couple of morning sessions
myself. Pretty windy out here this afternoon and we have a fairly active
jet stream over head :mad2:

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

So whens the thread start on your new scope rob :)
If your going to land some sketchy weather on us show us why :lol:

just occured to me that being out of work for a time is going to allow me to stay out late :)..I have had doom and gloom spinning round in my head all week .. finding something positive in all thistook a while :whistle:

[CoombellKid]

It's going to be littled slowed at this stage, still to buy the wood for the
mirror box and rocker...etc...etc... that's going to take a couple of weeks.
I've found a company in Lismore that is going to cut it for me. They are also
going to time it so I can go pick up the wood and bring it to them and have
them cut it while I wait, which is handy for me. Anyways... nah not going
to worry about a thread, I'll just post a photo or two in here as I go. Besides
it's a scary world out there in the land of IIS :lol:



Must admit I've thought about ya a couple of times this week, you've
been a little quiet. It's always a knock sideways when things hit you like
that. Remember though, as one door closes another opens. You might be
surprised where you end up or find yourself in a few months.

Keep ya chin up mate!

regards,CS... I think it'll get a lil frosty 2nite, light one this morning

[glenc]

Graham, enjoy the break while u can. Pity it's nearly full moon.

[CoombellKid]

Hey Graham,

What thickness ply did you use on your mirror box and rocker

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

2x 12- for 24 mm allround ..its a/c ply ..light and fairly cheap ..with a bit of thought i could laminate the c side out of sight mostly..24 was a little much up top in hindsight .

[GrahamL]

looks like the partys over for me... I stumbled into work with an old employer today quite by chance .. and may have more lined up with the other I visited today again by a weird chance.. I was going to drop in an application to a very large employer new to the area ..any way I'm walking across the front veranda of the office the manager comes out and says "graham" ..?..Now a friend told me this buisness does employ a lot of people
but I was surprised he had put such a good word in for me..anyway I go into the managers office and he starts talking about water control indexes and such and pretty soon I realise hes got the wrong graham :lol:
anyway he took me around the buisness and showed me around and we had a good chat about the company and a laugh.. about the mistake ..and he will give me a call when we drift out of winter and things start to busy again :)....one new moon would of been good but,such is life.

[glenc]

Graham that is good for the pocket, not so good for astronomy.
We might be able to observe on Sunday night till moon rise at 8pm.

[CoombellKid]

Who are you trying to kid?:shrug: it will be new moon, perfectly spectacular,
best seeing this century and you will have a 6 am start :lol:

Great stuff Graham :thumbsup:

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Did a bit more on the scope this weekend. Started putting the mirror cell
together, just waiting on a few more bits. Pete (SDM) has a spare set of
Obsession split bolts off a 15" which he has given me. Everything except
the tailgate and I think the collimation bolts is stainless steal. I hope to
have everything including wood and all the bits from SDM here by next
Friday or early in the week after.

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

looks good rob..felt pads from crazy prices ?
whay sort of ply did you decide on ?

[CoombellKid]

That most probably would of been cheaper. But I already had a pack of
16 x 1" I had from a previous Bunnings purchase. I needed at least another
4 maybe 6.

It will be either 'A' grade Hoop pine or Marine, will mostly depend on what
they have at time of purchase... but most likely Hoop pine it's slightly
cheaper. Pitty my week is pretty full up, I might not be able to sort until
the following week :mad2:

regards,CS

[glenc]

Rob, is your scope similar to one on the web?
e.g. http://www.xmission.com/~alanne/DS4Main.html

[CoombellKid]

No, it will be your standard Kriege and Berry design, with hints of SDM,
built by Rob. There are various reasons why I didn't go with the minimalist
approach. However I have been thinking of building a more grab and go
on the tri-dob or similar to the one you posted a link to in a 12". I think
I'm going to need a trailer to move the 16". Although measuring it, it looks
like I could still put the rocker and mirrorbox on the front seat. Have to
wait and see.

Actually if you look at Geoff's (aka: Starkler) it's the same setup. I've
added a dew controller for the focuser/ep and Telrad, the AN has one
built in and the secondary has an AstroSystem DG2

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Lovely skies out tonight... got the 8" out, pitty the moon will be up around
8pm.

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Nice again tonight too!

The forcast looks great, I'll be kidless this weekend if anyone is up for
observing. I Make the last of the big purchases tomorrow for my 16"
hopefully have all the plywood brought and cut (well most of it). And
and the last of the bits from SDM. Should be able to make a start
on the mirror box and rocker over the weekend.

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

I can't make it tonight ,I promised a friend a look through my scope a
couple of moons back ...next weekend any one ?

Was nice down here last night cept for the dew around late :)

[CoombellKid]

Had a big night last night, dont think I will be up to much tonight. Except
watch the wallabies v france in front of a warm fire :thumbsup:

School holidays start next weekend so I'll have the boys here for a week.
I have Jake here this weekend as he came down with a gastro virus on
Thursday. So I wont be moving to far from home.

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Started putting together the mirror box today. Tomorrow I'll radius the top
edges and sides and start the sanding and preparing to stain it. I'm using
a high gloss finish as appose to the satin Estypol look, the test piece on it's
first of 6 coats (as recommended) looks like glass. I'm also going to
Laminate the the ply for the rocker box floor and cut the base board and
get that ready for the installation of the stellar cat powered base board kit.

Because of the Estypol problem I'm going to recut the Sec cage rings and
coat them in high gloss as well. The stuff I'm using is more suited for outdoor
use. It's called "Feast Watson Weatherproof, clear high gloss finish" a tough
UV-resistant polyurethane. It's doesn't appear to change the colour of the
stain like some others can.

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

that looks great rob ,what sort of ply did you go with ?
gee its hard to get some scale ,it actually looks kinda small at a glance ,bet it isn't though;)

[glenc]

I'm looking forward to looking thro the 16".
Maybe you could start a business making 16" scopes!
You can buy a 16" mirror for $950 from: http://www.telescopes-astronomy.com.au/
What size is your diagonal?

[CoombellKid]

A grade Hoop pine with a b side, beautiful looking stuff. I had it cut at
Lismore Precut. Cost about $250 all up. It is hard to get a proper
perspective from the photo. Plus the camera seems to warp reality a little
(top right corner doesn't look square" I'll try and get a better perpective
shot later today. The mirror has a 15mm around the light baffle.

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

All the rest of the bits arrive this week, which I hope will speed things up
a little. I'm looking at having first light:) around next fullmoon :sadeyes: maybe.

It is something that I am definitely interested in, but I will wait to see
if i can pull off a good enough job. I did check Matt, but he had sold out
and it was looking like I had to wait until September before he was getting
anymore in, that why I went straight to GSO. If GSO resopnse wasn't
as quick as it was I would be waiting for a Mark Shutung mirror. Later
I'm going to have Mark hand figure the 16".

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Glen,

The GSO diagonal that came with the mirror was 3.5" which is oversized.
But Peter Read did a swap for a 3.1" which has brought a CO down from
22% to 19%. This should give me maximum illumination of the field. I'm
pretty chuffed about that.

regards,CS

[glenc]

First light at full moon should be blinding. :eyepop:

[CoombellKid]

I'll supply some sunnies :lol:

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

This should give you a better idea on it's size.

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

what didn't work out with your secondary cage ?

[CoombellKid]

A couple of reasons, firstly they're made out of cheap bunnings ply. Which I
found out later are glued together using even cheaper water soluable glues.
And secondly I'm seeing ply swelling problems on the 8" the Estypol I used
which I have also used (finished off the can) to spray the 16" Sec cage
isn't sealing the wood, as I had hoped.

I have enough 9mm hoop pine left as well as nearly a full sheet of 1.5mm
hoop pine I can laminate the 9mm with a few layers of the 1.5mm.

Bunning 9mm ply has 3 layers, the 9mm hoop pine has 7 layers an looks a lot
nicer.

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

yeah that sheet ply they sell at bunnings is pretty nasty ..I was a little lucky in that when i was looking they had a couple of slings of a/c
that was much better than the rest .. smaller sheets but very clean
with few voids.. must of just lucked into them as they have never stocked them again ..asfaik.

[Lismore Bloke]

Lismore Timber and Plywood in North Lismore generally have the best quality ply in town, better than the stuff Bunnings sells. Hurfords (now JH Williams) are also worth a ring.

Had some good nights last week. Friday especially good. Saw M83, M104, NGC5128. I know these are easy subjects for those lucky enough to have dark skies, but it's a bit of a buzz to see them from where I am, even if I can't see much detail in them. Tried to find the Blue Planetary and 4945 but didn't. I have spotted them before, a long time ago. Just need more telescope time. Amazing what experienced eyes can see and mine have been away from astronomy for a long time. Jupiter had a neat black spot on one of the main bands, probably a satellite shadow. Found the old setting circles and fitted them also fitted a couple of 12volt lights for the circles, picked up from Supa Cheap Auto, also fitted the Telrad I've been trying to find for ages. Won't be long and the old scope will be as good as ever.

A GSO 12" dob. is definitely on my shopping list when I have enough spare cash. That's the only thing stopping me from attending one of the local observing sessions. I feel I bit awkward using someone else's gear.

[CoombellKid]

Yeah I'd reccomend Lismore Timber and Plywood.




I wouldn't worry to much about that, we generally hang around one scope
mostly. So your welcome to come scopeless anytime... I usually do :thumbsup:

regards,CS

[Lismore Bloke]

Just on another topic. Glen had a post recently referring to the JR Torres Atlas. I have downloaded the C version. Very detailed. If anyone wants a copy on CD, PM me. I also have the whole thing printed up onto A3. One of the advantages of being a printer. Just not quite sure how I am going to bind up 571 pages of A3 paper.

[GrahamL]

... not for long mate ..get that big girl done soon eh:) :)

L B ... My 12 " dosn't cool down before I have to turn around
So dont think a scopeless night isn't a great time !!

[CoombellKid]

I'm working on it ;) the last of the bits were shipped from SDM yesterday.
Although it's still going to be a few weeks before I can complete it. Plus I'm
pretty busy at the moment, to be able to do much :rolleyes::(. And I'll have both
boys at the end of this week for a week.

regards,CS

[glenc]

The 16" must be nearly finished!!!
We have showers and rain at: http://www.weatherzone.com.au/local/local.jsp?lt=aploc&lc=2960
At least I will get more sleep.

[CoombellKid]

Nope! still waiting on bits:rolleyes:, been bucketing down here. It will be
interesting to see what the rain gauge says in the morning.

edit: we got 16mm

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Well I expect it to rain now, for weeks. The rest of the bits arrived from
SDM today and boy it was an ATMer's dream looking at the assortment of
things that were in that package lol.

Anyways as it was last time it will most probably rain for weeks and I wont
be able to get in the shed to carry on building :mad2:

regards,CS

[glenc]

Be fine by tomorrow night!

[CoombellKid]

Be fine for the next month!!!! me hopes!

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Your wish looks like it will be granted.... a bit slushy on the yard
out here... but I might stick the bino's out all the same. I get a
week free of kids next week, So hopefully it'll be nice enough for
me to do some work on the 16". Got the Ali for the truss poles
today... bar ordering another piece of gear off Peter today I'm
finish (well almost, need a power pack) buying stuff for the time
being. Although there is probably a few dollars in bolts, nuts and
screws (you'd be surprised how many you need) I've pretty much
have everything here.... boy there are a lot more bits than I first
imagined and a few bits I ended up buying instead of making.

regards,CS


regards,CS

[Lismore Bloke]

Just ordered a 12 inch GSO super deluxe dob from Andrews today.
Will try and figure out how to carry it
when it gets here. Where there's a will, there's a way.

It might end up on the Patrol's roof rack in a padded bag.

Please note that it is a normal 12 inch scope, not one of
those 16 inch howitzers that Some People build.

Will look forward to trying out some of the more modern
eyepieces, but just for the moment will use what I've got.
The wife would start pulling bits off me if I started buying
Naglers and suchlike.

Cheers, Paul M.

:)

[glenc]

Paul congratulations, the 12" should fit in the Patrol OK. I bought one up from Sydney in my 307.

[CoombellKid]

Congrats on the new scope purchase :thumbsup: you'll need the Patrol
to get up my driveway if you ever come out this way :lol:

btw, I willingly now pass on the bad weather baton :P

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

you can squeeze a couple of eyepieces over time
with only mild suspicion l found ;)

It is important to only leave retailers websites loaded onscreen that carry some cheaper offerings never what your really looking at:lol:

whos off to astrofest in a couple of weeks btw ?

[Lismore Bloke]

It's struck already. No sooner ordered the scope
than the freezing wind came up our way
and a bloke at work we call "walking epidemic'
gave me his lurgi. Damn.

[CoombellKid]

I'll be staying away again this year, I think I have spent enough money
on astro things this year.

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

lotsa moon... clear and Brrrrrr out here

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Yeah! those Pentax XW's look just like them GSO plossls :whistle:

regards,CS

[glenc]

How's the 16" going? I decided to skip the Qld Astrofest this year, will go to Undara and Lostock instead.

[CoombellKid]

Slowly as I've been a bit busy doing other things, Hopefully I can focus
on it a bit more over the next few weeks. Recut new rings for the SC
they have been stained and are now recieving 6 of the required coats of
high gloss polyurethane finish... 12 hrs between coats.

Hopefully have an almost complete SC at the end of the weekend, then
I can start working out weights and balance...etc...etc.... and the height
of the rocker box.

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Well I'll chirp in here again to keep us active... anyone notice the view
counts on our thread(s)... considering there is only 3 maybe 4 of us active
in here... might as well give them something new to read :whistle:

I have put four coats of clear on the rings and in the process learnt a
couple of things. Firstly painting with this poly base suff, intricate obljects
like SC rings with decorative holes isn't a good idea with a brush no
matter how expensive the bush. And secondly let the warmth of the day
set in before trying. I think the best alternative would be a spray pack
which I dont have access to. but I did find something that has allowed
me to fix my mistakes (kind of). A 25mm x 150mm roller stuck on the end
of some 3/16" boker rod has worked a treat and fits nicely into the 15/16"
decorative holes. I've got two coats to go and already the rings feel, sound
like poly or plastic. Sorry no pictures but I reckon the rings will be ready
to be built into a SC in a couple days and I'll have some photos then.

Well it's has been fairly nippy out here over the last week or so...
difinitely stoking the fire of a night and morning. It has been quite nice
doing an early morning session with the bino's and coming inside to stoke
the fire into action with a ciggy and a hot coffee.

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

Funny rob I was just slapping a little gloss on my uppercage on the weekend..and yes getting the dribbles down those holes is pretty easy to do :)..heres another I stuffed up last week ..I put a second coat of gloss on fairly late in the day while it had quite a few hours to dry ..it musn't of been quite there when the dew came in just on dark ..every upward faceing surface finished up matt instead of gloss .:screwy:

[CoombellKid]

Ouch! can it be fixed? sanded out maybe.

I've finished coating the rings and although I'm not hugely impressed with
my initial effort, a bit of sanding and using the roller has brought it back
to almost reasonable. Was going to try and fit the secondary cage wall
today but didn't have time. So here is a couple of pics of the wall sitting
in the cage, not in it's proper location and yet to be cut to size. But it
gives you an idea of where we're going. the wall is made from 1.5mm
hoop pine 3 ply.

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

looks good mate:thumbsup:

easy fixed just put another coat over it.

[glenc]

Do you want to come to my place this Fri or Sat night?

[CoombellKid]

Glen,

I've got both my boys this weekend, but might possibly pop in on Sunday
night (early) on the way back from Lismore after dropping Hayden at his
other home. I'll have Jake with me.

On another note, here's an update on the 16". On Thursday night last week
I installed the SC wall, using super strength slow drying Araldite and over
the weekend I started to install the rest of the bits and wiring, except
the secondary mirror and DG2 I'll wait until I'm ready to star test.

Also pretty much finished the mirror cell, here's a front and back view.

My attention has turned to the rocker box. And during the process of
working out measurements, I've found the bearings I've ordered were too
small as the photo shows. They will interfere with the position of the front
side, split blocks. So the supplier has offered to get a set rolled in solid
ali and do a straight swap... how good is that :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: the bearing
you see here on the mirror box has an OD of 20 1/2" the new one will have
that as an ID and OD of about 23 5/8" which will make the rocker box sides
about 40mm shorter.

I plan to make a special mention to all that have help with this scope once
it is completed.

Regards,CS

[glenc]

OK cu Sunday night. The forecast looks good.

[Lismore Bloke]

We are still helping stepdaughter renovate house in Casino this weekend, so Saturday night i will probably just feel like downing a scotch or 2.

I could pop over Friday night if you will be home and it is OK.
Had a couple of sessions with the new 12. First look wasn't too good. Thought I had a lemon, till I looked through my collimator (an old .965 eyepiece minus glass). could only see about half the primary in the secondary. Yikes.

A bit of a tweak and things are much better. Still some comet tailing evident but OK for now. Had a couple of hours out last night, just scanning around. Very happy. The Televue 32 wide angle makes the GSO giveaway eyepieces look a bit ordinary.

Will probably pick everyone's brains about a better collimator. Cheshire maybe. I thought that Cheshire was a county in England, hadn't heard of Cheshire collimators until I joined IIS!!!

Cheers, Paul.

[CoombellKid]

Paul,

Go for a Cheshire :thumbsup: make sure you get the long nose variety. I use
to used a simple cap like you which worked quite well, and that was
after using a laser collimators which I ended up selling. The Cheshire's
are an excellent little tool.

regards,CS

[glenc]

Paul, Friday night is fine, any night is fine.
You can bring your scope or use mine.
It gets dark about 6:40, but you can come anytime.

[Lismore Bloke]

Thanks Glen. Haven't worked out carrying the beastie yet. On the Patrol's roof maybe, but I will have to wrap it up securely. If not I may have to share yours until I work out something that will not knock the tube around. Cheers.

[GrahamL]

I have one of the cheshire /sight combo varietys you can try if you like paul .Its made by synta and Its no better than my $29 andrews one I originally bought:lol:..so your welcome to give it a whirl.


I may not be able to go to astrofest this year .one of the ratbag kids round here decided to have a look through my console the other night ..
via the back window.. though my new employer has just bought a fuel tanker off e bay..which just happens to be located at avoca a couple of clicks from duckadang so I'm trying to be the company minded new employee:whistle: by volunteering to take the truck up there and pick it up
on saturday:whistle:..so we will see .


Might be up for friday if thats ok glen .. I'll let you know

[glenc]

Paul and Graham, I hope you can both make it on Friday night. Tonight is great out here.

[CoombellKid]

Got up about 3am this morning looked pretty nice outside, was almost going
to setup the bino's... but it's still a bit slushy on the ground....and it was
pretty chilly... so went back to bed with a hotwater bottle :lol::whistle:

Haven't done much observing lately :(

regards,CS

[Lismore Bloke]

Would like to have a go with one, even though I don't
know anything about them.

Rob advises using the "long nose" variety. What's the difference?

[CoombellKid]

Some people, me included. But I guess in the end it's personal choice. With
the long nose variety, it throws the FOV further down the tube, hence a
tighter target around the secondary. Which helps in getting the secondary
right as you dont have so much realestate between the outside edge of the
secondary and the inside edge of the end of the sight tube. I've tried both
and I like my long nose celestron. I think it cost me $60 at Astrofest QLD
a few years ago.

regards,CS

[glenc]

Please bring a Cheshire if you have one, my scope needs a tune.
Thanks.

[CoombellKid]

I'll try and make it over tonight, just have to see how the little ones go and
how chilly it gets this evening.

regards,CS

[glenc]

ok

[Lismore Bloke]

Bring your hot water bottle!!!

Hope this rotten cloudy stuff blows over.

Had another random scan around last night for a couple of hours.
Saw 5128's dust lane with direct vision, something I was only seeing with averted vision in the 10 from here. The milky way was pretty impressive. the nebulosity more evident with the bigger optic. I love how these GSO's handle different weight EP's. If I had changed a 1 1/4 to the TV 32 2 inch the tube on the 10 would have swung around all over the place.

[glenc]

It's 90% clear and will probably stay clear. It's also warm and windy, the temp is 27C and the wind is 25 to 35 kph from the NW.
There is some cloud coming in from the west. Check this before you leave home.
http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDE00902.loop.shtml

[GrahamL]

Can't make it guys I'm off up north early :).. hope you have a good night .

[CoombellKid]

I'll/we'll be staying home myself too, nice iridium flare here at 18:34.

Actually staining the baseboard for the 16" tonight so I can start poly-
glossing tomorrow. I made the feet this afternoon including one drilled and
routed to fit the plug for powering the system.

Have a good night chaps, looks lovely and clear here, pitty about the
jet stream.

regards,CS

[glenc]

Paul was here till we were clouded out at 9pm.

[GrahamL]

thats great guys :) I actually stopped in at astrofest on saturday arvo
caught robs talk , caught up with a few people I camped beside last year ... then came back to brisbane before dark .

The valley was very differant to last year glen it looked alive again
water in the river and green trees on the hills .

When you do get a cheshire paul . .. definately grab one like robs or one of the orion combos they sell ..my synta one seems to have a few issues which others have mentioned occasionally.

[Lismore Bloke]

York Optical in Brisbane have the Celestron long nose collimator listed for $65. Will get one next time we are up there.

[CoombellKid]

Ummmm errrr, if it rains... well... ummm... I couldn't help myself :rolleyes:. Just
ordered an astronomiks 2" OIII... you know:whistle:... it's veil time :D and
ummm... it will work well with the 20mm t5... :whistle: ;)

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Paul,

Having a look at the Orion models they too look to be long nosed. Not
sure if they are cheaper but maybe worth investigating. The other
interesting thing about the Celestrons is you will notice the cross
hairs are made from sewing needles, complete with eyes lol... true
I tell no lie. ; )

regards,CS

[Lismore Bloke]

Jeez Rob, A $329 O111 filter to go on the 2" Nagler 20mm.:eyepop:
I definitely couldn't get that combo past the keeper of the coin!!!
The Onion Collimator from Bintel is $69. Seems pretty good.

[Lismore Bloke]

Just called the Orion an onion....

[CoombellKid]

Firstly :lol: Onion Collimator that's a new one.

The astronomiks 2" OIII's used to be $420.00, but I did managed to nab
one in pristine condition (apparently) second hand for $210 including
postage. While I was on a filter run I also ordered an astronomiks 1.25"
H-Beta from bintel this morning.

I had the lend of Glens 1.25" OIII for a couple of months a while ago.
And it sat perfectly in the eye cup of the 20mm t5 Eta Carina was
quite spectacular even with the limited FOV by using it that way. So
a 2" was always on the cards. Might even be able to tease out a few
of the Bok Globs in Eta Carina with that combo in the 16".

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

FWIW, divorce has it's benifits :whistle:

regards,CS

[Lismore Bloke]

I shouldn't complain. Spending money is what she and most other females are good at. I keep her out of shops at all costs. I have to play the part of Scrooge.

While I'm gathering information, what's your opinion on filters for general deep sky use? The UHC seems to be favoured. I may pick up one and possibly one good eyepiece, when I can ... but not until I have had a chance to look through a couple of the better Televue EP's. Tried a filter at Glen's the other night and it certainly increased contrast in the gaseous nebs. My problem here is general skyglow from typical suburban street lights. The ancient "deep sky filter" I got from Astro Optical years ago reduces starlight too much. Never liked it.

[CoombellKid]

Although I have never used one you can get a light pollution filter which
cuts down sky glow and those mercury vapor street lights. But if your
going for a nebula style filter go with a UHC they work on more objects
than most others. My filters are all astronomiks I've had the 1.25" UHC
for a few years so I'm keeping with the same brand, even works on semi
moon lit nights to some extent and rather well. The OIII's work on a
different set of emission lines and you'll see it effects work on fewer
objects (but work well) some objects will give you a different view when
each is applied seperately Eta Carina & Tarantula for instance. The Veil
on the other hand is quite faint unfiltered a lil better with a UHC... and
who turned the lights on! with an OIII. The H-Beta I ordered today is
really limited to the Horsehead, Glen probably knows of others that it
might work on.

So go for a UHC to start with and it'll work as good as any light pollution
filter. The big problem is they cut/vary stellar light so not helpful on
galaxies since the nebulous looking dust disc are made of stellar stuff.
I also find them good for locating small planetaries in a stellar field where
you wobble the filter between your eye and the EP while looking through
at the stars in FOV the stars will waver and the planetary will stay
constant and/or slightly brighter.

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

I got a 2 " h -beta around x-mass rob but havn't really used it to much
I think its uses are the cocoon ,b33 and the california ,I think there may be some planetaries that don't emit strongly in O111 lines to from memory that it works on ...but I cant find that info for now .

hows the scope shapeing up mate ?

[Lismore Bloke]

I thought that a UHC is the best all rounder and I think that's Glen's opinion too. Filter size is a bit of an issue. Bintel's prices on Astronomik UHC in 1 1/4 are $169 but 2" $329. Ouch. Similar diff. for others eg OIII and H-Beta. Makes me drift towards 1 1/4 eyepieces which leaves out the desirable Nagler 20mm. Am holding off on all this until I can actually get to look through some of these.

Had a bit of a look earlier this evening and compared the Andrews 2" cheapie GSO 32mm EP with my TV 32mm widefield. The Televue kicks butt and I know now why people spend $500 on 1 eyepiece (cause that about what that one cost, years ago). The star images are much sharper off axis that anything else I've got, but as I move the field about I can see that the field is far from flat. Reminds of of the space-time denonstration with a heavy globe sitting on a rubber sheet. I'm not an optics expert so I don't know how much of that is due to the mirror and how much is coming from the EP. Enough of me dribbling on ... sky is dark out there and moon setting. Cheers.

[CoombellKid]

It will be interesting to try your 2" H-Beta out, I got the 1.25" really only
because the Horsehead is rather small and so use my 14mm XW combo
on it. The Cocoon and California are fairly large probably more suited
to the 20mm t5.

Scope is coming along slowly. Just waiting on the Alt bearing which should
be here at the end of next week. Otherwise I'd almost have it to star
testing stage. Cant really make the rocker box until I get the bearings. Just
working on split blocks at present. Hopefully up and running by next new
moon. You guys want to come out here on the 30th or 31st of this month?

Stained and polyed the mirror box, cut the ground board and stained
and polyed. Tomorrow afternoon I'll attach the feet and wire in the bottom
section of the powered ground board kit. Brought a heavy duty jumpstarter
kit yesterday to power the system. It will give me about 24 hours of
supply plus it yellow and should be fairly easy to see in the dark. I did
test that last night but unfortunately I think the couple of bourbons I
had prior interfered with the test, I mistook it for one of Jake tonka trucks
and then couldn't find it (without a torch) doh!:doh::whistle:

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Paul,

Dont forget when you about to order something, place a wanted ad in
the trade forum. I saved myself $120.00 overnight on the OIII. And
that is how I got the 20mm t5 too for $570.00.

On another note by all means come and try out the filters we have and
bring your scope so you know how they're going to work for you. I have
higher power XW's as well as the 20mm t5, the XW's might change your
mind on higher powered Naglers. The only thing missing from my kit now
is either a 31mm t5 or a 30mm XW. But I am thinking along the lines of
31mm t5 and a 40mm XW :whistle: I could also add a 7mm XW for planets
in the 16".

But in all reality I think I could probably live with just a 10mm XW and a
20mm t5. One thing about quality premium glass is it's beautiful to use
and pleasent in view _always_. Yes it is expensive but it's also 50% of
your optical train. I would take either of these two over 5 of anything less
in a snap. But in saying that you dont need premium glass to get enjoyment
out of this hobby and thats the beauty of it.




regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Graham,

Did you end up getting those Super Nova search charts I saw you
tendering for in the trade forum? The ones I were after went : (
I'd like to get a SN program going.

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

Mate I sent the seller my details as requested and offered payment
and never heard back ?


hey guys what the large mottled nebula maybe 10 degrees or so north of grus ?

[glenc]

Which part of Grus? NGC 7293 is 20 deg north.

[GrahamL]

yeah thats it ,the wife came home and turned the kitchen light on right after I spotted it ending my nights viewing. knew I'd been there before (more than once:whistle: ) .. thanks glen

[CoombellKid]

Bummer, they would of been good to have.

regards,CS

[glenc]

I was sitting in my observatory looking at my star atlas yesterday afternoon when a lorikeet put his head in at the top corner where the wheels roll the roof out along the C section. A bit later the same bird came in on the opposite top corner. I waited awhile then he took off when I moved.

[GrahamL]

yeah they are pretty curious birds glen :)

10 mm xw like rob says paul (and no I don't have one :mad2: )is about as good as you can get in that fl ..You might be able to live with the widefield for a while until the dustsettles then slip in a new low power eyepiece in time ;)

[Lismore Bloke]

Yes, that's basically what I plan to do, hold fire for a while and maybe get one good EP of about 20-22mm later on - whether 2" or smaller barrel is the question. I haven't seen a bad comment about the Pentax range, so it would be between it and the TV Panoptic or Nagler.I know Glen isn't completely sold on the 82 degree field but I haven't looked through either yet.

[GrahamL]

I guess when you have a look through a few paul you'll get a good idea what you like ..between us all you should get a decent look through a few differant makes.

I like my 13 mm naglers wide fov ,but at lower power I'm not so fussy
my 27 panoptic I find is plenty wide enough and my 28 mm pretoria
with its even narrower 55 degree fov gets just as much use .. very handy if you want to get a bright star out of view .

to many choices i reckon ;):lol:

[CoombellKid]

I prefer wide FOV ep's in the longer FL's 20mm and longer as well as in
the 2" format, I usually find wider FOV more useful at lower powers. My
higher power eps are XW's @ 70 AFOv and U/O HD's @ 45 AFOV.

Did a bit more on the scope today, I'm pretty much just waiting on the
new Alt bearings to get here, they're being shipped monday. Anways
wired up the ground board, and drilled the pivot hole in the rocker box
floor. Here's a couple of pix... The difficult thing about the center pivot
hole in the rocker box floor was getting it plumb, so I came up with this
simple jig, which worked a treat.

Btw, wasn't the opening to the Olympics fantastic :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

:lol: ye old x-u1 quality i see rob ..my drill cost $13 and my drop saw $39
but hey they still work.

[CoombellKid]

:D the drill cost me $15.99 from memory, one of those Bunnings fathers day
specials from a few years ago. I think the Irwin 1 1/4" spade bit thats in it
wasn't much cheaper:lol:

Yup! good old Bunnings quality. I brought one of those Ryobi 150mm band
saws a couple of weeks ago, only to find my split blocks are about 1-2mm
too thick to use it :rolleyes: :mad2:

regards,CS

[Lismore Bloke]

You've done a great job on the 16 Rob if the progress pics are anything to go by. I have done some woodwork but not to that standard. The high gloss finish you have achieved is something that even professional painters usually won't touch. Hard to avoid runs. I would not like to lift that sucker too much when it is finally assembled.

Haven't done much observing last few days. Moon interfering. Downloaded Cartes du Ciel. Pretty impressive package for a freebie. I've already printed off a couple of maps that should be useful for finder charts although obviously there are better packages around (The Sky etc).

[CoombellKid]

Thank you for your kind words, although I'm still a little un-impressed with
the results. The Sec' cage came out well, the base board had a few drama's
but I think I know what I did wrong. As for wood work I haven't really
ever done any except for the lil 8" truss dob I made for my sons over
last Xmas. I sure do get a kick out of making them. The high gloss
finnish is also a first attempt, boy it is something I think you really
have to know what your doing, but I have learnt a couple of things
that seem to help. Firstly let the poly, job and day heat up. I stick
the tin of poly in the sun for an hour. And secondly I've used a brush
and a spounge and fibre roller. The brush although more difficult will
give you a better finish, but dribbles are uncontrollable. When I build
the next one I'm going to invest in a spray pack. As for carting it
about the place once it's complete, I'm installing removable wheel
burrow handles on it and I'll have to build a ramp to get it inside.

The Alt bearing aren't being shipped until later this week now. So I've
started on the split blocks and truss poles.




Well.... ummmm errr I have two new filters and I've tried the 2-3am rise
but it's a lil too frosty... even just getting out of bed :help: must be
getting old or something but it's just killing me this year. Besides I think
if I left the lil 8" sitting out there all night, it'll be covered in ice by the
time I got out there... given there is first half of the night moonage
happening at present. I'm pretty sure the 16" will be ready for this
coming new moon :D

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Paul,

Sorry I should rephrase that, I was un-impressed with my attempts at poly
coating, it is a difficult thing to do properly. It appeared to me that I wasn't
being to greatful about your comments when it wasn't what I was trying
to relay.

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Quick update on the 16"

The Alt bearings arrive today Waaaaahooooo!!! so I starting cutting
the rocker box sides, over the next few night hopefully by the weekend
I'll have the rocker box done. Maybe even able to start star testing on
the weekend, but I think I'm dreaming there is still a way to go yet. Also
stained and polyed the upper connectors, I'm going to start putting the A
frames together tonight. Here's a couple more pics, the Alt bearing are
made from solid 40mm x 25mm Ali.

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

thats looking great :)... no preasure mate ..but were good to go on the new moon..yeah ?....:):D

[CoombellKid]

I've been thinking it couldn't be more perfect timing, weather permitting.
But as you know the o'l girls are usually a work in progress during the initial
weeks of life. May not have the Argo Navis hooked up and bug tested by
then, but I'm hoping : ). I'm kidless again this weekend so I'll have time
to focus on it. Btw, the two holes you see in the rocker sides are where
the threaded inserts for the wheel burrow handles will go.

Unfortunately (astro-wise) I'll have my youngest with me on new moon
weekend, and I mean that only because the youngest just going on two
is a bit hands on, where as Jake has been going to star parties with me
since he was about 3, he's cool he just tags along, Hayden is more like
a ricocheting bullet. But your more than welcome as always to come out.
I just wont be able to join you fulltime until the young one crashes.

Personally I'm getting a little excited, I'm looking forward to my first view
of the Veil & Carina nebs in the 20mm t5 + OIII.... but then again there
is a whole list of things.

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

I haven't been observing much at all lately... prolly 3-4 months. Only
because my neck is so bad I cant get down low enough with the 8"
to look through the finder without screwing up my neck. I get a few
hours observing to several days of agony : ( plus the 8" is setup in the
direction which upsets my neck the worst, on the 16" I'll be looking
the other way and wont have to get down near as low : ) plus adding
an AN I wont have to star hop as much, if at all. I'll be able to load
my lists into it and go for it.

regards,CS

[astro_south]

She is looking great Rob

Let me know when you get her finished - worth the trip down from Brisvegas to take a gander I reckon - especially if it is first light :thumbsup:

[CoombellKid]

Hey Andrew,

Thanks man... long time no see, how ya been?

No prob's, should been finished by the end of the month hopefully.
Hoping to aleast start star testing around the end of this weekend.

In anycase it would be great to catch up for a session.

Cheers

Rob

[CoombellKid]

btw, Andrew,

Not sure if you know, entry is the supply of one handgrenade :D but I can
get you in anyways :)

regards,CS

[astro_south]

That's all I need to bring ... isn't it?

[CoombellKid]

Well you could post it... :lol: nah just kidding....

along with you and if you want to bring your young bloke, np's I have beds
available for both of you. And that lovely 12.5" :thumbsup: we have nice dark skies.

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

yeah come on down sometime andrew it would be good to catch up again...all those roadworks around brunswick and tugan are done now so its a fairly quick drive these days .

[CoombellKid]

Plodding along....

Almost have the rocker box to staining stage. The sides are attached but
the end boards at present are being held in with dels 6 for each. The side
boards are attached to the rocker floor with three dels. So the whole
box is held together with weldbond and 18 dels, even with the ends
attached but not glued I think the scope could easily ride on it, it's pretty
solid. I'm going to wait now until I have the Alt bearings attached to
the mirror box, along with the split blocks and such so I can set it up with
the poles and SC in place and check that the front end board on the rocker
box is the right size to stop the scope traveling past horizontal or worst
the front teflon pads.

Anways here a couple of pix... I've start to installed to rocker box section
or the powered ground board. Just got to route a channel to attach the
positive leg. Also cut the slits in the version2 split blocks. tonight I'll be
in front of the TV cleaning them up with a bit of sandpaper watching
the olympics lol. I'll drillthe mounting holes and give them a stain tomorrow.

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Here's pic with the poles in place and the SC on top and with me and Jake
standing beside. I just want to check I've got the front end board of the
rocker box at the right height, and took a quick pic to post.

I can go ahead and finish the rocker box now, which will take a few days
mostly in poly glossing. There a bit of shimming/sanding and whatever else
to get the truss poles nicely aligned so I can just plop the SC on top. But
they dont appear to be too far out. Still it's going to take a bit of time to
get right I think. Still looking to star test this weekend and probably have
the electronics side of thing complete next weekend... well thats the plan.

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

Its big alright mate :)..nearly two jakes tall:P

hey I'm a pentaxite now my 8.5 xf arrived yesterday..along with another nagler so my other one won't feel to jaded..going to give them a whirl shortly :)

[CoombellKid]

Yeah lol, I'm going to have to make a step stool with an extra step for you
and Glen :D:P

Good to see you coming over to Pentaxville, she's a great town. And to
boot I've heard a lot about the XF's I eagerly look forward to trying yours.
What nagler did you get?

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

I got a type 5 16 mm mate er relief is tight but very crisp views right to the edge..my pentax dosn't quite come to focus with my longer adapter so i got a couple of standard ones and hopwe to give it another go today.

[CoombellKid]

Nice one :thumbsup: I've heard a bit about the 16mm t5, was thinking of buying
one around the time I brought my 14mm XW. Look forward to giving it
a whirl.

I started poly glossing the rocker box, mirror box lid, split blocks and Alt
bearings today. And what do you know, had everything sitting outside
and it started to rain, not long after I finished the first coat... oh well no
real damage done and it's all under cover now.

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

I got out Jake's 8" this evening, since it will about about the last time I use
it. Got a few objects in before the cloud rolled in :rolleyes: had a chance to try
out the 20mm t5 + OIII filter combo. The Veil about 25 degrees
off the NE horizon looked awesome. I also spotted Carina about 10 degrees
off the SSW horizon poking through clear patch, that was another Wow!
cant wait until that is high in the sky again. Anyways had a quick look
at the Dumbbell and the Ring nebs with the OIII filter screwed onto the
1.25" adaptor and used my 14mm XW, the Ring stuck out beautifully but
the Dumbell was more wash with misty cloud. Then it pretty much clouded
out putting and end to the session. I've left the scope out covered just
in case I wake early and it's clear. Orion will be starting to get up there
early. Might try for a shot at the Horsehead with the HB filter.

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

I tried my pentax out last night :).. very nice eyepiece for the price
yeah I've been thinking of leving the scope out of late as its been clearing up in the early morning.

Tried the new scope yet mate ?

[CoombellKid]

Lovely this morning... better than last night. I got out there about 4am but
even with the scope covered up the secondary was all dewed up. Couldn't
find the hairdryer I use for dew and the view was pretty mushy.



Almost there... just been doing the zillion little things that you forget
about but take time. The big thing now is the poly glossing is all finished.
The laminate is presently being glued to the bottom of the rocker box, later
tonight I'll install the teflon pads and drill the pivot and brushes holes
through the laminate on the rocker box. I'll also install the teflon pads on
the ground board. The Alt bearings are ready to be installed. Last night I
siliconed the DG2 onto the secondary and completed the top end wiring
on the SC and also wired up the power connectors for the split blocks.
Tomorrow night at the earliest it should be ready to star test. Then it
will be a matter of set the drop saw up to trim the poles. I'm not going
to bother looking around too much. But once I have the poles to the
correct length I can then go on setup the splitblocks (daytime job)
and also install the upper power connectors on the truss poles. I'll also
polish the truss poles. I'm trying to source some armaflex or similar for
the poles but it has been difficult up here. My Calculations so far tell
me I'm 13,039gm/cm top heavy which equates to about a 362gms @
36cm from the pivot point down the mirror box. So I'm close :).

Anyways here'sa couple of update pix, I've trimmed the mirror retaining
pins you see poking out of the bottom of the mirror cell. And I've cut the
battery connector off the DG2 as it's being hard wried into the system via
blade connectors.

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Mmmmm... might have to down tools tonight. Seems to be fairly clear
but the lil bit of crap that headed west an hour or two ago seems to be
heading back east. I've managed to find the hairdryer and have that setup
in case of an early morning session. Pitty that the jet stream has elevated
itself to 90-100 knots over head from about 70 knots last night. But I guess
the compromise is there are a lot less clouds.... hold on I'll just have
another look... lol... yup well what do you know... might as well pack up :mad2:

But what was just lovely tonight was the conjunction of the Moon, Mars,
Mercury and Venus in the west early this evening. Here's photo... not
great camera gear but you should get the point lol.

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Got first light with the 16" tonight. Spent an hour or two trimming the poles
down until my ep's came into focus. Luckily it stayed clear long enough to
do that. I haven't screwed in the split blocks yet and it was only roughly
collimated. Still I did get a quick look at Jup's, M4, Antares, Alpha Centuri
but then it became too mushy for anything I waited about an hour or so
but it got worst so I pack it up. Luckily as it raining now. Still even though
it was 2/10 trans I was impressed with how many more stars I could see
in M4 compared to the 8". But the main thing is I got the poles trimmed to
the right length, all there is to do now is finish the wiring and install the
dew heaters, setup the split blocks and then start thinking about installing
the Argo Narvis and making a light shroud. It seems to have come out a
touch bottom heavy, especially towards the horizon.

regards,CS

[astro_south]

Looks great mate

2 options for the bottom heavy issue:

- get heavier eyepieces - ie 31mm Terminagler and use various 2" powermates to vary magnification :)

or

- swap out the 16" for say.....a 12.5" ;) I might know a source that could be convinced to do a clean swap :D

[GrahamL]

looks great rob .. I'm finding it impossible to find any sort of clear nights of late .. 3 am through the week no problems .

Your scope must be nearlly done check the weather radars :)

[CoombellKid]

Thanks Andrew, it taken a while to build, but we're finally geting there...
I think :whistle:

I'm not too sure about option 2... but I can swap my 12, 9 & 7mm U/O
HD's. They come to 28mm if you tape them together end on end. The
bonus is you get 1 degree AFOV not that wasteful 82 degrees AFOV :thumbsup::whistle:

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Yes after about 2-3 months of reasonable weather. Except for the times
I wanted to get out in the shed and carry on building, but coudln't due to
the weather. I was kinda expecting crap weather to come. But at least
I was able to give it a quick whirl and get the poles trimmed. I was about
2 minites away from haveing a clear shot at the ring neb :(

Still a bit of work to do on it yet and I'm hoping to have a good crack at
installing the AN on the weekend.

Cheers

[GrahamL]

Did you get out last night mate ?..I had the old yes/no happening in the arvo ..decided it wasn't going to happen ..walked out on dark to a clear sky
took my scope out back to cool .. went inside ..an hour later the wife says you know its pouring rain ?:rolleyes:..rushed out packed up .. another hour cyrstal
clear again and for the rest of the night :).. I went for the beer option instead in the end .

[CoombellKid]

Nah I didn't with all the rain, we're flooded in yesterday Jake couldn't even
get to school. Yes it was a nice night but I decided against as the ground
is a swamp again. So I started installing the Argo Navis. If it stays clear
I will definitely be out tonight. I spent a few hours setting up the truss
so the SC was nicely centered and just drops into place. Checked the
power was getting to SC ok. It's pretty much complete. I'm just making
a pair of wheelburrow handles for it today so I can move it around the
place.

regards,CS

[glenc]

Sounds like the 16" is nearly finished. Well done Rob.
Shall we meet at your place on 26/9?
We arrived home today.

[CoombellKid]

Glen,

Welcome back home to the northern rivers... I hope your trip north was
worth it:thumbsup: I know we would love a report:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup :

And Yup! the 16" is finished. Started star teasing (kinda like star testing,
but with clouds) last Wednesday. But it's been clouded much since so
I'm waiting... but now the moon is coming into play, so I'm finishing the little
jobs.... still. I've been making a pedistal for the AN over the last few nights.
I tested the Argo Navis last night, I managed a 4 star alignment as the
clouds rolled back in... got a quick chance to ask it to point to Vega
which it did. 20 minites later it was raining. I must say I'm a little bewildered
with Wildcard. I'm having a small prob with a component of there Obsession
kit, I emailed them and they happily responded... but several emails since
about other quiries have gone unanswered. It's a little un-nerving since
I'm in the initial stages of setup

Tonight I'm trying to wire up the pedistal, but the $40 soldering iron I
brought from Mitre 10 is a piece of crap. I cant believe the amount
of money one spends on products these days only to find once you get
it home and use it, it's crap... does even do what it says it's meant to,
it 's 40 watt iron... the only thing that get to 40 watts of heat is the
handle..... cant even tin the nib... oh well 2 hous two solder joins and
in the fire it went :thumbsup:

Anyways, I've managed a couple of great observations of o'l Jup's with
the 16" but nothing else yet. Haven't had a clear rainless night :rolleyes:


regards,CS

[glenc]

Observed from Mt Surprise airstrip one night and Undara airstrip for 3 nights. The first two nights were perfect, the last two we had a little bit of cloud. Saw most of the objects on my list.

[CoombellKid]

Unfortunately I'll have both my boys for the first week of school holidays.
Although Jake is cool, Hayden will demand a lot of my attention. Maybe be
better the following Friday. But there will be a 4 day old moon that wont
be setting until 21:28.

regards,CS

[glenc]

What about 19/9 or 20/9? The Moon rises are 10pm and 11pm respectively.

[GrahamL]

sounds like a great trip glen :)... last night was 5 times I have sucked in the clouds as soon as I set my scope up:D..sunsets have been clear as a bell .

[Lismore Bloke]

Did the same thing twice this week. Clear sunset, set up scope, come out to check - damn cloud and that small storm cell one night.

Had a quick look last night. Tried to track around with a 12mm EP and the images were dancing about like crazy. Very jittery. Might have to loosen off the bottom bolt a bit and maybe follow Glen and replace the teflon pads with bigger ones.

[CoombellKid]

Unfortunately not a good weekend for me. Perhaps next month around the
24th Oct would be better.

regards,CS

[glenc]

You are all welcome here next Fri and/or Sat night.

[CoombellKid]

I have some mates coming up from Sydney this weekend, and another
mates 40th on Saturday. I might give the boys a look through the 16"
on Friday but I dont think the mirror will of cooled enough before o'l Luna
rises.

Still on for the 2nd or 3rd of October if anyone is keen.

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

On another note, over the weekend I pretty much completed the 16"
wiring up the Argo Navis stalk and making a light shroud. The only thing
left to do... apart from wait for the moon to go away. I'm going to have Gary
make up some custom encoder leads that will be built into the stalk and will
have a junction box at the bottom of it. So I can leave the Azi encoder
lead permanently installed. Alt encoder lead will be tied to the Alt tangent
arm so both can be removed for travel.

The scope itself is bottom heavy even with the AN hanging off the SC. So
I'm thinking of either adding an optical finder or move the mirror further
up the mirror box.

I gave the bearings a bit of car wax test and was impressed with the
results.

I'll put together a bit of a final photo pictorial post it in a few days. I'm
already thinking about the next one : )

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Ooooop's I actually meant 24th or 25th of October. But hey if you would
like to come out on the 2nd or 3rd, as mentioned before I'll have the boy's
and the youngest will be keeping me entertained. But Glen knows how to
use the Argo Navis, and by the time you boys will want to disappear I'll
be ready to sit in for the night. So your welcome out here next weekend.

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Dang! not wanting to speak toooooooo sooooon! but it looks to be clearing
a lil out this way. Might have to give the new girl it's first whirl tonight : )))))))))) me hopes!!!!!!

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Well I have too say I'm STOKED!!!! it has cleared so/so well a bit of
atmospherics going on. My friends from Sydney wont be here until tomorrow
morning now, so it's me and the girl having our first real play. And NO kids
Waaaahoooo!!!! sorry for that but the girl has been ready for a week or
two and this is basically first light. Everthing seems to be working ok power-
wise. I was quite surprised that collinmation just needed a slight tweak
after setting up the other night when I was testing the AN.

I'll post some pictures soon of tonights setup, boy am I excited!!!!! as big
Kev would say. The scope itself has turned out better than I expected
build-wise apart from the bottom heavyness but that can be easily fixed
and I will attend to the options over the weekend.

Anyways here a first pic of everything setup, the cabling for the AN looks
a lil messy but we're having that fixed shortly.

Oh yeah! the two bolt your see sitting in the SC are to help counter weight
the bottom end lol... well it works

regards,CS

[glenc]

Congratulations Rob, very impressive, well done.

[GrahamL]

looks great rob:)

[CoombellKid]

Thank Glen,

Boy what a frst light :thumbsup:, I was like a kid with a new toy... still trying to of
observe well after moon rise. Still trying to suss out the Argo Navis, which
seems quite intuitive. They was quite a list of objects covered and the
seeing around 6-7/10 and a 70 knot jetstream over head. The stand outs
were 47 Tuc:eyepop:, the Veil :eyepop: and it's stringy filaments, Grus tripplet
looking a lot more the just whisps or smudges:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsu p:, The Saturn neb
with appendage sneaking in, the Dumbbell how bright are those ears, the
Ring, and a myrid of NGC numbers I cant recall. Planets Neptune, Uranus
and Jupiter were also observed. The extra aperture really brings out the
colours in o'l Jup's equatorial belts but no GBS (Great Beige Spot).

Here is a few setup pics

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Thanks Graham

It sure is nice to have it completed, the o'l car wax makes a lot of
difference, the action is like your 12" now... smooth as butter and
will prolly get better once the balance has been sorted.

Here's a couple more. And interesting fact about my scope. The SC fully
loaded with my 20mm t5 in the focuser weighs 4.244kg the same birth
weight of my son Jake, ok maybe only interesting to me.

Just got an email... seems my friends from Sydney wont be making it this
weekend (pikers), but I guess running a business can do that to you. So
I'm seriously thinking of pulling a sicky tonight to get out of my other mates
40th, you know there is that nasty flu going around up here :whistle: especially
if the sky stays clear!

Did you guys get out last night?

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

:whistle:I don't know if I ever told you mate my action is largely due to a little help from mr sheen.. your scope sure looks nice rob.

yeah I got out for a little while it only cleared at dusk down on the
coast so I never got my scope outside and anywhere near cool until nearmoonrise .. Plus I have yet again torn off the wires to my fan by forgetting about it when I carry the mirror box in:rofl: which dosn't help.
nabbed a few galaxies though around grus and sculpter.. the triplet ..
that other spiral close by ... silver coin ..ngc 55 ..etc ..I must admit I was watching the warriors dispose of easts in the NRL a bit to..I hope they do well as they are playing very watchable football atm .

I have to work this evening otherwise I wouldn't of minded catching up this weekend .. you get out last night glen ?

[CoombellKid]

I'm using Kitten polishing wax, you could almost say it's puuuurfect :rofl:

Well after downing a huge breaky of bacon, eggs, sassauges, mushrooms
and chips I'm knackered :lol: I also quickly dicided I'm staying in tonight. I've
got to get more of last night :D.

I think about as east as I got was the Grus tripplet... cant remember as
there was a touch of bourbon in my glass :whistle: and prolly was helping
with the odd alignment prob with the AN at times :doh::D tonight I'll give
it a shot with a clear head :lol:

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Yeah, I have to remember to unplug the SC power connectors, nearly
pulled one off the other night.



Aaargh! forgot about that, what was the final score?

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Glen,

weather permitting....

If you haven't already organised anything, your more than welcome to come out
here tonight, and anybody else that wants to come. I'd bring the 16" over
to your place but I have no way of transporting it at present. Bummer your
working Graham... but can you drop the 16mm t5 off on your way to work :whistle:

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

think it was about 30 -13 or something..spent a bit of time with the 16mm last night ..very crisp right out to the edge .. only 10 mm ER though so
you do have to get up close and personal with it .

[glenc]

The weather is a bit uncertain, I think I will give it a miss this time.

[CoombellKid]

Np's Glen,

That storm missed us, although I thought the scope might of got wet. But
it went around us and headed for you lol, pretty much cleared up here
except for a cloud band that starts in the W and heads NE and appears
to be heading north-ish.

I tried loading some comet data into the AN today just the brightest from
Heavens above to start tonight session off... if they're above the horizon

C/2008 A1 (McNaught)
19P/Borrelly
85P/Boethin
C/2006 OF2 (Broughton)
C/2007 N3 (Lulin)
C/2007 W1 (Boattini)
C/2007 G1 (LINEAR)
6P/d'Arrest

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Well it didn't turn out too bad last night, I was out until 11:30pm...
the seeing wasn't the best especially towards the north, but definiely good
enough to see some spectacular sights. I'm loving the extra detail the 16" is
delivering, observed a heap of objects including N55, N104, N121, N246,
N247, N253, N288, N346, N362, N371, N6934, N7006, N7076, N7089, N1365,
N2070, N6302, N6822, N6818 N6960, N6992, N6995, N7009, M8, M20, M17,
M22, M28, M27, M30, M57, M72, M73, V Aql, saw a bunch more galaxies
scanning the area around N1365, can see both arms of N1365 which was
really nice in the 14mm XW, so was N253!!!

Only nabbed comet 6P/d'Arrest out of the comets I loaded into the AN,
mostly because I forgot to chase them lol. Too busy chasing other things

Anyways hopefully we'll get another shot tonight!

regards,CS

[glenc]

That is a good list, must come and have a look.

[CoombellKid]

Well I braved it and setup last night, was kinda hoping the two storms
one to the west and another to the south west would keep parting and go
around me. but no! they joined forces and came straight at me. So I had
to pull the shower curtain off the shower to help cover the scope, must buy
a tarp :whistle: still I could see it was clear behind and I managed to keep the
scope dry. I also managed to fix my pointing errors on the AN. Almost every
object I observed landed in the FOV of my 14mm XW. So to test it I put
it in tour mode and toured globular clusters in Sagittarius brighter than mag
12

Palomar 8, N6642, M22, N6717, N6638, M28, N6544, N6553, N6624, M54,
D Jorgovski 2, N6440, M70, M69, N6528, N6522, N6652, N6569, Terzan 7,
N6723, M55, M75. I didn't realise there were that many globs in Sagittarius.

Also dialed up some numbers from Starry night... N1261, N1566, N6744,
N7582

I then started a tour of galaxies in Fornax N1398, N1399, N1365, Fornax A,
N1097, ESO 356-64. The last one was the only object I couldn't detect in
the 14mm XW but the AN was saying it is 1.12 x 1 degrees, so I probably
was looking at it but just a small section.

It sure was a heap of fun albeit pretty crappy seeing really 6-7/10 in trans
and we had intermitant cloud. The jetstream had cleared off too. I came in
at 10pm mostly because another big bank of cloud was heading in from the
SW + plus work this morning.

I'll be out again tonight as there is no work tomorrow, so Glen your welcome
to come out... weather permitting

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

So rob do I need an argo ? :)
you seem to be enjoying it.. best to ask now so I can start puttin some pennys aside:thumbsup:

[CoombellKid]

Most definitely :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: I think I must of hit at least 100+ objects last
night over a 7 hour period. I didn't finish until around 1:30am this morning.
It is so much easier than star hopping. And my neck has not has not given
me problems which has seen me out 4 nights in a row to date. I dont think I
have managed that sort of run for maybe a couple of years.

Seeing was alot better last night 7-8/10 but there was alot of wind that
didn't really subside until around 12:30am.

regards,CS

[Shnoz]

Hi, I'm a Lismorian astronomer who really needs to escape Lismore's light pollution to get any real use from my telescope:D. Perhaps I could join some of you during the school holidays? (P.S, haven't seen a real night sky in a while and may confuse the Moon with Sirius):lol:

[glenc]

Thanks Rob for sharing your 16" with us last night.
It's a great scope and the views were amazing.

[CoombellKid]

Np's Glen,

Thank you for your comments on the scope.

Actually I nearly was tempted to wake you about an hour and a half after
you went and crashed. d'Arrest (6P) was 12' 07" NNW of N5148, quite a
sight it was too.

regards,CS

[glenc]

Saw d'Arrest & IC5148 with my 12" tonight.

[CoombellKid]

Another nice night out there too eh', although it got a bit hazy again
around 1am this morning. And surprised the d'Arrest & IC5148 pairing
was still close enough and well within the FOV of my 20mm t5.

What was the NGC # for the galaxy we observed the other night that had
a smaller galaxy at right angles to it. As though it was sticking out the
side of the bigger one.

regards,CS

[glenc]

NGC 1531 & 1532.
http://www.ngcic.org/dss/n/1/n1531.jpg

[CoombellKid]

Cool thanks for that, I'll add it to nights list.

regards,CS