Snake Valley

[ballaratdragons]

Hi all! Just a quick message in between activities.

Everyone is having a great time. Friday was cloudy and doubtful but as soon as we had all finished eating our evening meal the clouds completely vanished and the heavens were on show. And it was Spectacular!!!!!!
Horizon to Horizon stars, no light pollution at all and great company. It was a terrific night all round! :)

By about 2am the cloud rolled in again. :mad2:

I can't post any pics at ther moment but will shortly.

The weather stayed fairly warm all night and there were LOTS of Oooohs! and Aaaahs!

I will be back with pics and more info later today or early tomorrow. I'm off back to the Camp. See ya then.

[h0ughy]

way to go Ken! has Mike imaged Mars yet????????

[mick pinner]

l'm glad you had a great start Ken, hope it keeps up, see you tomorrow Mick.

[[1ponders]]

:cool: wooooohoooo!!! Our wishes are working!!! Way to go Ken. Glad to hear you got great skies. Some of us were getting a bit worried. :scared:

All the best and have a GREAT time.

[rowena]

Wooo at least you guys did get a nights viewing in!!!!

[beren]

:) Great to hear Ken :drink:

[asimov]

Beaudy Ken. Good to hear you & the rest got some viewing in! Regards to everyone there.

Tell Davo I've been gonna call him on his mobile, but I keep picturing him handling someones precious nagler & then the phone going off.....I'm sure you can guess the rest of this scenerio, lol!

[slice of heaven]

Thats what we want to hear :thumbsup:
Enjoy!!!!!

[h0ughy]

HI Ken what the latest??? Bought any Naglers yet.??? Mike traded his toucam ???? is the weather clear??

[ballaratdragons]

Hi all, We are having a Blast!!!! About 38 of us and more coming today.

Went to the Ballarat Observatory last night. Everyone loved it. Others will post pics of it as I forgot to take my camera.

Last night was rained out but we had a terrific time in the Main Dining Hall. Dave 47Tuc gave a talk on Deep Space, watched pics display on a big screen, DVD's heaps of knowledge shared etc etc.

Weather is good now and we are in for 2 excellent viewing nights. (B.O.M.)

I have quickly put 2 pics in.

1. Geoff and Steve playing with Knockie mounts. Peter (toetoe watching)

2. Tucker time around the BBQ.

Lot's of pics being taken by the others so they will post more when they get back.

See you soon!

[[1ponders]]

Great to hear you're getting some clear skies Ken. If you get the chance ( :lol: ) would you put some labels on the piccies :thumbsup:

Is mike panicing about leaving the site for so long yet :rofl:

[ballaratdragons]

A few more quick pics!

1. Mick Pinners dob buggy and wedge.
2. Part of the display room
3. EP testing time

I will get some viewing area pics today and tonight. Cheers!

[ballaratdragons]

Paul, I labeled the pics 1, 2, 3. :P

Mike is too relaxed to worry about the site. He is having too much touristy fun!

I'm back off to camp again. :drink:

[avandonk]

Great to hear the weather is going to be OK.And everything so far Ok.

Bert

[RB]

Glad you guys are having a great time.

:)

[xrekcor]

They've got no jetstream too!!! wishing I was down there now lol

regards,CS

[ving]

wanny be there now!
gld you're all having fun :)

[Stu]

I just got back as I have to work the next two days unfortunately, especially because one is a public holiday! bummer...

The first night was great. I gots my first (of many) looks through a big dob! I can't belive the bright stars actually have large diffraction spikes, I still thought this only appeared in photo's. Deep sky object were good though, NGC1553, Tarantula neb...
47Tuc was fully resolved and bright. So were the Magellanic clouds but you didn't need a telescope to see them! Far-out they were so big and bright!

So many things I will remember, steve's ED80 was impressive and the WO ZenithStar 80 was awesome, much better than I expected (probably helps with having a 32mm teleview in it. Thanks Neil!)

Wish I was there tonight and tomorrow as the sky looked OK when I left and there will be more scopes out.

I reveiwed all my eyepieces, most people were really impressed with the Meade 5000 series plossls which was reassuring cause I'd spent a lot of money on them...

Can't wait for the pic's and updates of the last two nights!