Bugger, can't image Saturn tonight!!!!!

[Quark]

Hi All,
Bit of a problem with the seeing in Broken Hill and it is only 3pm in the afternoon.

These are some images in and around my back yard that highlight the problem with the seeing.

I think I just saw some topsoil from down Lester's way come over my observatory.

Cheers
Trevor

[erick]

??? Which filter required for those conditions? :shrug:

We are being hit with robust northwesters - it'll probably arrive here by later today?

[BerrieK]

It looks very gritty Trevor :(. I wonder where all the soil will end up this time? Maybe continue all the way to the coast and dump in the ocean? Which way is the wind blowing? It feels very eerie, like a holocaust movie, in that weird red light doesnt it.

Kerrie

[Lester]

YUK Trevor.

No its not my top soil, things are nice and damp down here, we are having our wettest June in 17 years. Its just what we needed to get some sub soil moisture to help the crops through if we get a dry spring.

All the best.

[Glenhuon]

Just hope it does'nt rain right after. Did that in Coota few months back, everything looked like it had been driven down a muddy road. Car wash did a roaring trade.

Bill

[torana68]

I lived there when I was little and quite liked the place, the dust storms were memorable, as were the bindi's :(
Roger

[BerrieK]

Hehehe, just having another look at your dust pics Trevor. You must have taken the 4th pic. at about 4.30 - you have a lovely horsie in the frame near the horizon...

Kerrie

[DavidU]

.........mmmmmmmmm,some one bought some new equipment !

[Quark]

I think a dust filter would work better than my RGB filters in these conditions.:rofl:

You might end up with more than the dust, thought I saw a cow fly by a while ago.;)

[Jen]

G'day Trev yeah Swan Hill copped that too today just after 3pm but the skies are beautiful and clear now but the breeze is quite chilly
:cold::cold:

[Quark]

Looks to be heading your way Kerrie and another front is suppose to be coming through in the early hours of tomorrow morning.



Good to here it's turning out to be a good season down your way Lester.



Nope, has not rained at all, just lots of wind and dust, that said we do specialize in raining mud out our way, at least occasionally.



Nothing like a good dust storm occasionally, to make you appreciate all of the great observing nights we get out here in the bush.



Hi Kerrie, both my wife and I, many many years ago were heavily into Show Jumping and 3 Day Eventing. We have 5 very nice horse heads in the garden, sort of a bit of reminiscing there.



You hit the nail on the head David, I have just updated with some new kit that will allow me to increase the image scale of my Saturn images by better than 100%, it turned up yesterday and it doesn't look like I will get to try it out until next weekend.

[Quark]

Just looked outside here Jen and I can see some stars, Jupiter has just risen but I thinks there would still be to much dust in the air to risk opening up my observatory.

[Jen]

:) oh if only i had an observatory i would never get out of it :lol:
Im green with envy lol :thumbsup:

[Glenhuon]

Just watch out for flying houses containing a young girl and a dog, they got a bad habit of landing on people :lol:

Bill

[BerrieK]

Trevor we have stated down the slippery (financial) equestrian side....my 10 year old daughter has started competing in shows, Frank (hubby) has been having riding lessons along with her. And thus we now have 2 horses of our own.

Consequently a lovely arena has been constructed in our front paddock, including about 90tonne of crushed limestone base and 75 tonne of sand and a lovely rock wall along the built up side....oh the gear I COULD have bought instead. Oh well, all is fair in love and love!

Ariel (my daughter) really wants to see the horse head nebula with her own eyes - but my little 8" scope just cant do it.

Kerrie

[pgc hunter]

After some violent rain and windstorms today in Melbourne.....it's completely clear at 1am. Who wouldda thought.....!!1

[Quark]

I can sympathize with you Kerrie, Equestrian pursuits can be very expensive to follow and require great commitment.

The only people that think astronomy is a very expensive hobby are those that have not been mixed up with horses.

Obviously living in Broken Hill, it is a long haul to get away and compete at the highest level. We used to do show runs down through the Riverland and county S.A.

My wife learned to ride at a very young age and developed into the most successful showjumping rider in our region. I never got involved with horses until my early teens. I was extremely fortunate to be able to buy my horse. A friend of mine who was a good rider had been given the choice of two horses, I was able to purchase the one he didn't want, one was a flashy thoroughbred a chestnut with a white blaze and four white socks, the other was a plane looking chestnut with a thin white blaze. My friend chose the thoroughbred.

I named my new horse Davey Crockett and over the next 10 years we developed into a very good team. He trusted me and I trusted him.
I really enjoyed cross county jumping and started competing in One Day Events locally and interstate. We were successful at the Balhanna ODE where the competition was of a very high standard.

We advanced to 3 Day Eventing, our first outing being the Gawler 3 Day Event of 1972. This was recognized as the most prestigious 3DE in the Southern Hemisphere, members of the Australian Olympic team competed there and our Olympic selectors were present. Princess Ann had previously ridden in it.

It was a whole new ball game for us and although Crockett went very well we were eliminated due to a mistake made by me, I passed the wrong side of a flag in the second roads & tracks stage on day 2. I was not aware of this at the time and continued on through the entire cross county, only to be made aware of my mistake at the end of day 2.

Later in 1972 we went on the long haul to Melbourne for the Royal Melbourne 3 Day Event. This time I made no mistakes and we finished a creditable 14th overall, not bad for a combination from the bush.

The highlight of our equestrienne performances was the 1973 Gawler 3 Day Event, this really was used as the Olympic selection trials for Montreal. Crockett was at the absolute peak of his career. Before we went I promised him that this would be the last big effort I would ever ask of him and that I would retire him from competition following it.

We had never had any professional coaching and were a bit rough around the edges but Crockett had spirit and trust in me that I would never ask of him more than he could deliver.

There were 47 other competitor in the field from all over Australia.
Day1 was the Dressage test, our weakest discipline, not many dressage coaching clinics in Broken Hill. We received -84 penalties and at the end of Day1 we were in 18th place.

Day2 is the cross county speed and endurance stage, our strength.
Following the first Roads & Tracks section, we arrived at the start of the Steeplechase, we were clear around the Steeplechase and earned +30.4 bonus points for our good time. We then started on the second Roads & Tracks section that took us to the start of the Cross Country, made sure I made no mistakes with the flags along the way.

At the start of the Cross Country was a 5 minute rest while Crockett had a compulsory Vet check to make sure he was fit to start the Cross Country. This 5 minute rest ballooned out to 10 minutes, they would not let us start as there had been a major fall out on the coarse. The horse preceding me had crashed heavily landing on it's rider and the rider was badly injured. I didn't know where this had happened.

When the starter released us Crockett surged away, taking different obstacles we encountered in his stride. About half way round the coarse we crested a hill and there on the down slope was the Fishtail jump, it was both maximum allowable height and spread, there was a very large crowd there, obviously this was where the bad fall had occurred, I collected Crockett, got his hind quarters under him and then as we came to our take off point I sat down pushed, Crockett stood off and rose beautifully over it, a brilliant leap, landing on the down hill side I concentrated on the position of my seat in the saddle and the support of Crockett's head, not to over balance him landing on the down hill side. It felt great I wanted to get off and give Crockett a big hug but we galloped on, it was inspiring stuff.
At the end of the Cross County we had gone clear but also fast enough to earn +56 bonus points. Our total score from the 3DE at the end of Day2 was +2.4 points and we had risen to 8th overall.

Day3 was the Show Jumping, in the morning was a compulsory Vet check to make sure the horses had recovered from the stresses of Day2.
Crockett jumped very well and recorded a clear round with no jumping or time penalties. We finished the Event with an overall score of +2.4 and rose to 5th place after the Show Jumping.

Davey Crockett was full of heart and was my mate, on returning to Broken Hill I retired him and he lived out the rest of his life with a group of other horses on a property not far out of Broken Hill.

Have attached an image of me and Davey Crockett. This is the cover of Australian Equestrian July 1973, Crockett is the plain old chestnut with the narrow white blaze, bottom left, this was taken during the Show jumping stage of the 1973 Gawler 3DE.

Sorry for rabbiting on so much, it was a long time ago, but I remember it very vividly.

Regards
Trevor

[BerrieK]

Trevor thanks for sharing your memories, have enjoyed reading them very much. It looks as though horses have been a large part of your and your wifes' lifes - what amazing experiences you must have had over the years. Although a bit grainy, in the picture of you and Crockett he looks like a fine and spirited horse, I'm sure you miss him very much - it is a great bond that develops between a horse and his / her rider.

And as you say, only astronomers who have not been into horses think that astronomy is an expensive hobby!!

Kerrie