A blast from the past! including Greg Bryant.

[ballaratdragons]

I was going through some old paperwork today tracking down any old references I have for my job interview.

Whilst looking, I found and old copy of 'The Night Sky' from Bintel dated 'May 1991'.

Here is the Funny story on the front cover: (see if you can remember this Greg)

TELESCOPE SETS AMATEUR ON FIRE!
In a scene reminiscent of a slapstick comedy film, Sydney amateur astronomer Andrew Murrell was recently set on fire by his own telescope!
During a week of observing with his 20" Dobsonian telescope at Mt. Kaputar near the Warrunbungles Mountains of central NSW, Andrew was posing for a photograph beside his telescope when it set fire to his jeans! Apparently the telescope was aiming near enough to the Sun to project a beam of concentrated light out the open side. Andrew, standing proudly beside his twenty inch toy felt the warm glow of pride turn to ashes as Greg Bryant raised the alarm by calmly announcing, "Andrew, you're on fire!" Andrew was then put out by willing on-lookers.
This incident raises a number of questions which must be answered: Why didn't Andrew feel the heat first? Why did he aim the telescope near the Sun? Why did Greg tell him he was on fire? Which nickname will Andrew now use, "Hot Pants" or "Smokey"?

:cool: :doh:

[janoskiss]

:lol: That's a good one, Ken! Thanks for sharing it.

[h0ughy]

That's history for you, it eventually catches up with you in the present

[iceman]

lol Andrew Murrell is a member of the forums too, hector! And he still has the 20" :)

[ballaratdragons]

LOL! Does he use it as a cigarette lighter these days!! :rofl:

Hi Andrew!

Houghy's right, it has caught up with you :D

[Greg Bryant]

Oh dear, I remember that one well. A group of us were up at Kaputar (very dark skies) hosting some visiting American amateurs.

Great fun!

[ballaratdragons]

14 years ago Greg!!!! We are getting old mate!

The Americans must have had a good impression of the Aussies after that! :whistle:
:rofl:

[Greg Bryant]

Ken,

After that gathering at Kaputar in April 1991, the Americans said "we'll come back in May 1993, and bring some friends with us". Thus was born the South Pacific Star Party.

[ballaratdragons]

Excellent! A great thing from a simple start! Just the way I like it.

Was there a sacrificial burning of the Jeans at the 10 year anniversary?

Maybe at the 15th ;)

[seeker372011]

Greg:

Didn't "A Scope called Alice" also have its origin with one of the visiting Americans from that time? Or do I have my visiting Americans mixed up?

[cometcatcher]

I remember that Bintel paper.

They had one for an April fools where a guy supposedly made a mirror out of hundreds of glass bottles and fused them together in a bakery for a mirror blank. Had a lot of people going for a while! Would have been 1991 era I think.

[Greg Bryant]

Seeker,

You're absolutely right. "A Scope called Alice" is Ron Ravneberg's. He and his brother-in-law, Bob Scholtz, were the guests in 1991. They've come back every few years. They were here last September, and have plans for their next trip. Great friends.

Ken,

Fires...well, we haven't burnt jeans, but for much of the 90s, to appease the "weather gods" and get rid of the clouds, mock wooden telescopes were burnt at the stake during SPSP.

[ballaratdragons]

Geez, I remember that one too! We need a life!!

The practical Joke story in the May 1991 issue was this:

PROFESSOR SHATTERINI
Famous Astronomer missed Australia!
World famous Italian Astronomer, Professor His Eminence Dr. Nervo Shatterini, Director of the Dominum Nostrum Observatory near Angelicum in the Italian Alps offers his sincere apologies to his legion of Australian fans. "I was to visit Australia in April to carry out research on the Tinnus Fosterensis Australianis, which can only be seen from the Great Southern Continent. However, my travel agent got it all wrong, and I ended up in Austria!" said the great observer. "So I went skiing in the Alps, but a tree jumped in front of me and knocked me over. I am recovering from the two black eyes and the three broken ribs!" The famous Italian then announced that he would hold off his antipodean visit till April or May next year. We can hardly wait.

[ballaratdragons]

Did it work Greg?

[Greg Bryant]

Ken,

No (scopes must have been out of collimation) - we ended up moving SPSP from May to March back in the late 90s (slightly warmer too). Weather has been a bit kinder to us since.

[ballaratdragons]

Wooden that be annoying! :D

[netwolf]

hmm sounds like hector needed a hector protector that day..

[hector]

You have NO idea how true that last statement was.

I can tell you that the burn mark in my jeans was about 1" from a VERY tender spot. Greg was the one to first notice as he asked if anyone could smell something burning.

By the way the story is not really correct. although Mike at BT shop will tell you NEVER let the truth spoil a good story.

the truth is.

The offending scope that burnt my pride was Steve Paddies from Victoria. A 17.5" dob that by a strange quirk was the insperation for Ron Ravenerbergs own 17.5" dob. Ron had seen an article on steves scope and thought that it was a good design.
when we were at Kaputar with Ron recognised the scope and wanted the picture of everyone around that scope not Hector. And from there a legend was born.

Hector was purchased by me on recommendation from Ron. he advised me to get the mirror from Galaxy optics. This corespondance started as a result of Rons article in S&T on the constructrion of his own 17.5", which in turn was based on Steve's telecsope that burnt me and my pride.
Sounds like the twilight zone but its true.

You could almost say it started and finished with the same telescope.

This is one of my more unusual stories associated with an observing session.

Does anyone else have any strange and funny stories about there own observing experiences?
Andrew

[cometcatcher]

Only about snakes that I seem to find under the mount most of the time in summer... :scared:

I actually like going up the ladder to reach the eyepiece of the 16" dob since most poisonous snakes don't climb.

I think that story was mentioned in an old Southern Astronomy magazine alongside some of my comet shots.

[cometcatcher]

Speaking of blasts from the past, is Steve Quirk still about? I don't get the astro mags much anymore.

His hypered Ektar 1000 shots were always amazing.