Central Coast Pony Club in March

[Shano592]

Is anything slated for March yet? According to the calendar next to me, New Moon is on Friday 27/3.

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/../vbiis/images/smilies/astronomer.gif
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http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/../vbiis/images/smilies/astronomer.gif

[GTB_an_Owl]

then it will probably be the 28th (sat) shawn

geoff

[Rodstar]

I am away on Fri/Sat 27/28th. I would be interested in a gathering on Saturday 21st, if anyone else would like to come up, then???

[Lyinxz]

28th looks good to me. moon on the 21st will kill too much of the fun for me unfortently.

But il go with whatever the crows agrees on.

Hope its a good turn out :)

[gb_astro]

I am up for the 21st or 28th or both.
Moon does not rise until about 2:20ish am on the 22nd.

Greg.

[Arthur Alchin]

28th march looks sooooooo good to me, got that weekend off

[Octane]

That's when the partying usually starts. ;)

Regards,
Humayun

[sally1jack]

Both dates are good for me , if someone will be there i'll turn up, still scopeless but getting closer
phil :thumbsup:

[Rick Petrie]

I will be in Tasmania for the 28th. But if anyone is going to the 21st, I should be OK.
Cheers:P

[GTB_an_Owl]

what is it with this Tassie thing lately ?

geoff

[Rick Petrie]

Must be the DEVIL in me coming out.:lol:

[wavelandscott]

I can't attend from Connecticut (even for hedgehogs) but I did want to express how jealous I am of you guys/gals that are able to attend.

As I have yet recieve the container that has all of my "worldly possesions" in it (due to arrive next week) I am in great need of a dark sky fix.

Please enjoy yours (even if it is "upside down")!

[Rodstar]

Something has come on the 21st now which will make it difficult for me to be there. Sorry...this month not looking good for me for the Pony Club.

Hope you get some clear weather.

[GTB_an_Owl]

oh well Rod

if you are not going to take the Mary Rose out - one of us will just have to come pick her up :D

we wouldn't like her to miss out on her 'star fix' just because you have to accompany SWMBO - now would we :thumbsup:

no don't thank us - we are only too glad to help :whistle:


geoff

[Deeno]

Wouldn't mind going up on the 21st.
Having a gathering at home on the afternoon of the 28th and might not make it..........:sadeyes:

[Inmykombi]

Looks like the 21st would be better for me as I have Surfcom duties for Surflifesaving on Sunday the 29th which would mean I would have to cut the night of the 28th short a bit.

Whos in for the 21st ?

Geoffro.

[GTB_an_Owl]

21st looks promising weatherwise so far

geoff

[Octane]

Can't make it to this one or the next one (will be in New Zealand).

Hope you guys have an awesome night out.

Regards,
Humayun

[gmbfilter]

21st.

We can do some equinox observing...I'll bring bourbon.

Oh and that scopey thing!

[Inmykombi]

OK Geoff, I'll bring the Coke then:whistle:.

Saturday is a goer for me. I am there as soon as I can be.... say around 6 ish.

Geoffro.

[stevoggo]

hi guys unfortunately i will be working night shifts both the 21st and 28th and therefore unable to make it.
I hope you have a lot of fun

i have a question for wavelandscott
"Please enjoy yours (even if it is "upside down")!"

If i am using a dob does that make it the right way up.?...or do I have to compare it to a northern dob user!!! :shrug:

cheers all
Steve

[telecasterguru]

I would like to make my first trip to the Central Coast on the 28th if there will be any one else there.

[GTB_an_Owl]

SORRY folks

the 28th is a no go
Pony Club have a 2 day event on and there will be overnite campers with their horses

so it looks like the 21st is it

geoff

[Arthur Alchin]

any ideas for an alternate venue for the 28th, it's the only night i have free, working 21st unfortunately.

If not, as a poor alternate i might mossey my way up to the field at the back of ling longa road at yarramolong and have a look at that.

[Inmykombi]

Hi Steve,
I think Scott means that we are in the Southern Hemisphere and he is in the Northern Hemisphere.
An example would be that he will see ORION the right way up, while we see it upside down to the naked eye.:thumbsup:
Sorry to hear you cant make it .
Hope this clears it up.

Geoffro.

[wavelandscott]

Steve,

Just my poor attempt to be funny...

I recently moved from the glorious Southern Hemisphere back to the US (where I came from). I have always enjoyed looking at the night sky growing up and knew the constellations very well (from a Northern perspective). When I moved to Australia (I was there just over 7 years), it took me a while to get used to the constellations being "upside down" compared to how I learned them...

Now when I go outside and see Orion, he looks "right" again to me...but I still miss the dark skies!

Hope you all have a good night!

[Inmykombi]

G'day scott.

Good to hear from you now and again.
Hope you are getting some observing in upo that end of the planet.

Geoffro.

[Allan_L]

Had a great time last time.
Even after the clouds moved in.
Will try to get there again tomorrow.
What time is the key bearer appearing?
one thing I learnt from last time was get there early to avoid being run over by circling vehicles.:lol:

Did we speak to our new light happy neighbour?

cheers
Allan

[Rick Petrie]

Congrats on 600 posts Geoff. Will catch up tomorrow night for some drinks etc. and maybe get some quality viewing in?
I'm looking at getting there around 7.30ish.:thumbsup:
Cheers

[GTB_an_Owl]

roll call please stargazers

who will we see to-nite ?

geoff

[sally1jack]

I'll be there ,what time does the gate keeper arrive?
scope ordered!!! :D
Phil

[GTB_an_Owl]

i should be there around 6-30 / 7-00pm

geoffro might be a bit earlier than that

geoff

[Inmykombi]

Hi Phil, Glad to hear you have bitten the bullet and ordered a scope.:thumbsup:


I will be there around 6 ish to set up in the light for a change.
And to crack an early beer....Oh and I will bring the coke for Geoffs Bourbon if I remember.

Coffee machine may make an appearance as well....

[wavelandscott]

Other than some naked eye stuff from the train station platform I have not done a lick of night time viewing...:sadeyes:

However, my container arrived today at our house and I am anxious to see my stuff again, especially the astro stuff. With luck, I might even get a chance to get a scope or two out next weekend...assuming they were not damaged in transit!

Hope you all enjoy the night!

[Deeno]

Will be there!!!

[Rick Petrie]

As said, I'm in around 7.30. Save my spot!!!
What scope Phil? Dob,dob,dob?:)

[Inmykombi]

I'll save you a spot in the highly sought after "Schmidt Cassegrain Gold Class area" Rick.

It should be better than " Dob Alley ".:P

Geoffro.

[Inmykombi]

I dont have a key though Geoff.

[sally1jack]

SDM 18" f 4.5 :D


Sorry Geoffro its dob alley for me :P

[Kimbo]

Hi guys,

I'm new to IIS (well, I joined approx 6mths ago & I've been 'lurking' ever since). If it's OK I'd like to join you tonight from Sydney. I'm still very much a beginner even though I have three scopes as per my signature. I've just bought the two Zenith Stars & haven't had first light with either of them (that's why the clouds are out!). The ED80 I bought off IIS, the 66SD & HEQ5Pro are brand new from Andrews Comm. I've yet to work out the HEQ5Pro as I've never owned a GEM.

I'm not sure how long it will take me to get there but I hope it will still be light. What do you normally take (apart from astro gear, coke & burbon!)?

Cheers,

Kim

[Rick Petrie]

Great choice mate! You can set up next to me anytime Phil.;)
Dob alley is getting better by the minute.:D
Who needs a GOLD CLASS standard when you've got PLATINUM.:lol:

[gb_astro]

Hi Kim.
It's about one hour from Wahroonga if you don't get lost.
Greg.

[Rick Petrie]

I'm sure you will be made most welcome Kimbo. See you there.

[Inmykombi]

Just starting to pack the car with Coffee, scope etc.

Looks like a Cracka of a night ahead from where I am at present.
Geoffro.

[GTB_an_Owl]

just about to leave now

geoff

[Lyinxz]

Hope you have good skies guys.
I cant make it tonight, but will be joining you all next month.

Cheers,
Ash

[Inmykombi]

Sorry you cant make it Ash.

I am leaving now.

Also got my latest aquisition .;)

Geoffro.

[bones]

I still got a few things to do at home this arvo, and I need to wait for my wife to get back home. I hope to get there some time later - hopefully by 8:00pm ish. Geoff save me a spot with the SCT's.

[sally1jack]

Thankyou to everyone for the views,it was a great night, great little scope geoffro & i was impressed by the views through the bino eyepieces, Thanks Rick for showingme some brillant views of saturn :eyepop:. Do you guys usually have that much problem with dew in the colder months ?
For some reason those sausage rolls taste much better at the P.C.??? :P
Thanks everone it was great :thumbsup:
phil

[Arthur Alchin]

Anybody know of a venue we can use next saturday night (28th)????? hopefully a clear night.

Also for those that are not in the know we have the top house booked at lostock scout camp for the anzac long weekend which coincides with the new moon (Fri to sunday inclusive), at present up to about 8 or 10 of us are going up, Give me a tingle if your interested and i will fillyou in on the details.

It's very cheap and there are about 20 odd beds in the house, just need bedding, food, drinks and of course any astronomy gear you want to bring, house has decked out kitchen etc.

Rent for the 3 days is $70 (shared between all that go) and $3 per person/day.

Arthur (0411438858): Killarney Vale, Central coast

[astropolak]

Thanks for your company everyone.
Can we set some rules for the attendees at the Pony Club? May I propose three items:

1. One is only allowed to visit without any optical aid once a year, should you want to visit more than once without a Telescope you are required to supply refreshments for all attendees.

2. If one possess a large aperture telescope they are not allowed to show up at Pony Club with some pitiful excuse for telescope, hell not even a beautiful SCT.

3 If one possesses a large aperture scope >14" they are required to attend all meetings at the Pony Club, no excuses.

Can anyone think of some more rules that we need to set?

[Octane]

4. Ignore the above three rules. :P

Glad you guys had a good night. Hope the clouds didn't roll in as they usually do.

Regards,
Humayun

[Allan_L]

Great night!
Thanks for the sausagerolls Geoff.
I must remember to bring wet weather gear next time.

Now for a bit of technical assistance please!

What should one do with a very wet telescope and eyepieces?
I suspect the moisture on the lenses with dry leaving splotches.

Any recomendations for the regulars?

thanks
Allan

[gb_astro]

Apologies Joe, hopefully I will not have a choice next time.

As for the dew, even my reading glasses were fogging up.
(Can you get heaters for those?)

Alan, I let them dry out in a warm room then give them a good blow
with a puffer and then use plenty of warm breath and tissue paper.
I roll the tissue paper up like a cigarette then tear two or three centimeters
off the end to get a very soft end that does not force any particles into the glass.
Keep tearing bits off as you go to keep the end clean.
Don't use tissue paper with added oils or perfumes.
If this does not work I might try a very small amount of distilled water on the end of the tissue.
After this I guess you will have to reach for the lens cleaning fluid.

Thanks all,
Greg.

[GTB_an_Owl]

GO FIGURE !
there were only two clouds in the sky last nite - and they were the two that were supposed to be there - and we all got WET!

very dewy nite - glad there was a hairdryer or two to do the rounds - been a long time since i had to put the fan on the back of the dob and the dew heater on the eyepiece

but despite all this, there was some reasonable seeing to be had at times - not before time

argo behaved itself last nite - did a great job landing me on some glob clusters i had never seen before - must have just been a slipping encoder last month

great to see the regulars as always - the new recruits returning - and another new recruit in Kim from Sydney
hope you had a good nite Kim

i really do think you need to visit that old bloke you STOLE that telescope from geoffro and give him another $5 at least

my thanks to phil for doing the ladder work on the red lights

looking forward to our next outing

geoff

[bones]

Great night last night. Shame about the dew. So heavy I reckon there would have been some inflows in the Mangrove Dam last night. Geoff, for a bald man what can I say? Thanks for the lend of the hairdrier (for the scope of course). One on the highlights - the discovery of Comet Canopus with its beeeauutifull crisp clear tail.

[Lyinxz]

I assume this was to fix up the shocking job Ash did last month ey? :P:P:P

[GTB_an_Owl]

not at all Ash

some complained there was TOO much RED light
so we moved some of them over to the back room (well most of them actually)

kept them happy

geoff

[Inmykombi]

Great night.

I havent seen that much Dew for ages. Nice clear skies thiough which was fantastic.
One too many sausage rollsfor me I think. I couldnt say no, as they were too nice with a coffee about 2 am.

Some great Saturn views thru Ricks Dob.
Glad to hear Phil has got a scope now too. Cant wait to check it out.:eyepop:
Hope your images come out OK Deeno.

I hope a few of you folks can make it to Lostock in April.

Geoffro.

[RB]

I had a great time, thanks everyone.
Poor Deeno was agonizing over his drift alignment, we just couldn't get the mount to behave.
Too bad about the dew, very heavy indeed.

Rule #5: People that don't show up for most of the meetings shouldn't be allowed to create rules for those that do. :poke:
Just kidding of course Joe. :lol:

[Inmykombi]

Rule number 6:

There should be no rules....just have fun...;)

And

geoffro.

[Inmykombi]

Rule number 6:

There should be no rules....just have fun...;)


LOL Dont know how I did this double post, but its a good way to get the post count up aint it....:lol:


geoffro.

[Rick Petrie]

Pony Club Rules. (as all us young people would say):thumbsup:
Well it ruled last night, as there was a good roll up and lush skies to boot.
Saw plenty of galaxies,clusters,nebulae and an assortment of planetaries.
The highlight for me was Saturn with plenty of cloud detail and color and also excellent ring clarity, even though almost edge on.
Great company as usual and thanks to all just for turning up and being part of the informal light hearted fun.
Oh, and the midnight snack (breakfast) of snag rolls was awesome.Thanks guys. Hope you had a good time Kim and see ya next one.
With Lostock next month and the SPSP in May, I guess next one for me at the PC will be June.
Cheers all:)

[gmbfilter]

Rule 1. No rules
Rule 2. Do what GTB says

Another great night..................I hope you got a pic to post Deeno!

Seems ages since I had any sort of observing

Absolutly terrific !

[sally1jack]

Rick i know i'm gettin in early . spsp is in may 23rd &24th i think , maybe some guys will be looking to tune up the week before AS I WILL HAVE MY new SCOPE :eyepop:
& i cant go to spsp , someone has gotto want to go up on the 16th.:prey:
phil

[Kimbo]

I had a great time last night guys. Thanks for the views, the coffee, the chats & the answers to ALL my questions.

A special thanks to Geoff (which Geoff??) for spending observing time helping me to set up the new GEM mount. It was very much appreciated.

Hopefully I'll see you all next time.

Kim

[Deeno]

Nice to have a clear night for a change, although you wouldn't have thought so after drying everything out. The dew was incredible! (Thanks for the lend of the hairdryer Geoff)

Great to see a mixture of familiar faces (voices?) and a few new ones.

Personally, I spent too much time arguing with my EQ3 for no result and not enough time observing. Amazing how time flies. Thanks for the help Andrew (and pizza) and the counter weight Geoff.

Many thanks to the wise Owl for opening the gate and keeping things generally organized. Those sausage rolls really hit the spot (just stacking on the kilos)

Cheers
Deeno

[ausastronomer]

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I didn't get to PC on Saturday night. I decided to head a little further west to Bucketty in search of darker skies. Whilst I enjoy the social side of things and the comraderie at PC, I also enjoy some serious observing under genuine dark skies from time to time, which PC just doesn't offer. Consequently, I try to put in appearances at PC on a reasonably regular basis, whilst spending "some" new moon weekends under genuine dark skies.

I read all these comments about the dew problem at PC last Saturday with a little bewilderment. At Bucketty we never had any problems with dew, notwithstanding that Bucketty is probably only 20km to 30km west of PC, as the crow flies. I did stop observing about midnight, so I am not sure what happened after I went home. It was very mild out there (and pretty dark and clear). I observed in jeans and a T-shirt until I went home.

Glad to hear you all enjoyed yourselves last Saturday and I see there are a couple of newcomers that I will have to meet next time at PC. In my case this may not be until the June new moon weekend, as I have commitments with 3RF and some US visitors coming up.

Cheers,
John B

[iceman]

Sorry I couldn't make it - my parents were down from Bellingen for the weekend so I couldn't head out.

I could see it would be a nice clear night. I got up early on Sunday morning for some imaging and the skies were nice and clear, but it was very dewey at home too. The scope was dripping!

[Arthur Alchin]

does anybody know if anything is planned for saturday night as the PC seems to be out of the question??

[GTB_an_Owl]

nothing planned as far as i know Arthur

i haven't had time to ask council about little dubbo yet

geoff

[Inmykombi]

I have to ask Geoff.

Whats this " Little Dubbo" ?

Geoffro.

[GTB_an_Owl]

little dubbo is an area behind the pony club that is accessed by a gate at the end of warratah road.

i first thought it was controlled by national parks, but it turns out it is controlled by council i think.

it is catchment area - so therefore restricted

there is apparently a couple of cleared areas we might be able to use to set scopes up and it goes further down to a weir on a creek

locals used to go swimming and have picnics down there

it is visible on google earth - go down the end of warratah road and it goes off to the left towards sydney (south) - dubbo gully road it is called

never been there - and the locals don't go there now either that i know of

but it might just be a bit darker than we have at pony club


geoff

[Allan_L]

Its a clear Saturday afternoon.
New moon yesterday.
Earth Hour tonight!

And there is no firm arrangements on where we are meeting tonight? :screwy:

Please let me know if anyone has some dark skies they don't mind sharing.
Just back from Bintel, poorer but richer for the experience.
Need to test stuff! :sadeyes:

[Lyinxz]

Yup, very strange :screwy:

I would of made the trip if there was arrangments at PC tonight.

fingers crossed nxt new moon promises the same skies!

[GTB_an_Owl]

Ash

pony club had a two day event on this weekend and we couldn't use the site because there was people camping overnite (sat)

we didn't have time to arrange an alternate site

geoff

[Lyinxz]

All good Geoff.

eager to attened next event!

[Allan_L]

I went to see if Little Dubbo was a goer.
That dirt road is tricky reversing back up that hill in the dark :scared:

Anyway, found a nice quiet site on a dirt road not far from there.
Sky was amazing.
Just got back and unpacked now.
New equipment was very satisfying.
three tele vues. WOW

Well worth the trip, even if it was a bit lonely.

Looking forward to next month.

[gb_astro]

Hi Alan.

How far along Dubbo Gully Rd (?) did you get?
I assume the gate was locked??

greg.

[Allan_L]

yes
locked

it was the next day i decided --> i need a four wheel drive.

Have you ever ventured down forest road (at 3:30 am) :help: