Central Coast Pony Club Sat 20th ?

[Inmykombi]

How about we try for the PC next weekend . Saturday the 20th ?

I am in.

Who will have a key ?

[sasup]

installing my new argo navis in the morn so Im keen ; hope for no rain. I think the moon sets around 10:00 ish so whats the best time to meet up?:thumbsup:

[GTB_an_Owl]

i'm in


geoff

[gb_astro]

Me too.
Haven't looked at the moon for awhile.
Weather looks promising.

sasup, should be someone there by at least 7pm.

Greg.

[Redshift]

I will be there if I can.

[norm]

I'm in too.:thumbsup:

Norm

[iceman]

Forecast looks ok so far, i'm in!

[gmbfilter]

Me to :thumbsup:

[Allan_L]

This will be high on my priority list.
But I think my wife is getting suspicious of two New Moons in the same month :)

[Inmykombi]

Just tell your Wife its possible to have 2 moon phases like that in one month . Also mention the two full Moons next month to confirm this kind of event.;)
I dunno how to explain the fact that the 2 new Moons you mentioned are only a week apart though....:question:

[Neb Boy]

I'll be up there too. Only new to the hobby, but I'm keen to learn.
Looking forward to meeting you all up there.

[sasup]

OK, thanks to gery at argo navis I'm up and running and cant wait to point at stuff. Im so in!!

[Inmykombi]

You'll be welcome Adam.
We are a pretty casual bunch.

[Arthur Alchin]

im in but u might have to shake me a few times as i knock off work at 0730 sat morning.

Allan tell your wife it is a rare lunar binary aberration, she will probably understand

[Arthur Alchin]

anybody heard from Phil (Sally_Jack)??

[sally1jack]

I'm still alive , have been renovating , hope to be there late sat . I am pouring concrete on sat so i'll have to see how i go.
Phil :thumbsup:

[Allan_L]

:rofl::rofl::rofl: I love the way you phrased that :rofl::rofl::rofl:

I think we have all had that feeling of excitement.

[Allan_L]

Welcome Adam !!! :welcome:

Hope to see you up there Saturday.

[Satchmo]

Some of the members of the Gliding club are having a camping night for their kids / grandkids at the south end of the gliding airstrip on Saturday night . They are very keen to see a bit of the sky and see the Moon up close. I only have a pair of 25 X 100 binos on a tripod at the moment ( I was hoping to have my 14" together again but haven't got the time to finish it)

Would anyone heading to the Pony Club be willing to stop at the Airstrip on the way and show a few sights to the campers ? I'm thinkng the Moon, Mars and a few bright star clusters etc. They are having a BBQ too so if you brought some meat you would be welcome to eat there too.

If you are after Deep Sky observing I think the Moon sets at 11 13 PM ,

If anybody can help I , and the campers would be very grateful. If no one could make it but have a spare 10" dob I would be happy to deliver it back to the Pony Club.

Mark

[Rodstar]

It is looking good for the Rodstar for Saturday night at the Pony Club! I am likely to have a newbie in tow....Ron from Umina. Give him the usual welcome lads.....

[gb_astro]

Hi Satchmo.
If you do not get any takers I guess you are welcome to bring a group down to the Pony Club.
Things should be pretty relaxed until the moon sets.
Greg.

[Satchmo]

Thanks Greg. I'll pass that on to the parents, you never know. These kids are on a camping trip which means tents , a fire, roasted marsh mellows all that kind of thing, and the ambience that goes with it, so I suspect they won't want to leave the site . They will get a terrific view of the sky from the Southern end with no streetlights, except for that big one in the sky .

If someone could stop by for half an hour and show them the Moon etc it would be great. They are not out to make the astronomy thing the feature of the night: its about their ( probably ) first camping experience. If the sky looks good and anyone can drop in on the night call me on 0419 147 783 and I'll be glad to welcome you.

[Arthur Alchin]

Due to lack of telephone reception will anybody be on UHF Ch 8 in transit other than me? I will prob arrive 1600-1700 hrs

Also i believe mangrove mtn has a Ch 5 "emergency" repeater, handy to know

[Inmykombi]

I'll keep my radio on CH 8 on the way Arthur.

I should be there about 1700 - 1800 too if someone has a key to get in.

[GTB_an_Owl]

you might be lucky Geoff

pony clubbers might still be there at that time

sunset not till about 19:40
don't know what time i will be there at this point

geoff

[Allan_L]

Yous lot might as well stop planning anything for tomorrow night.

Because, I am seriously thinkin of going down to Sydney town, to buy a new telescope and stuff.

Sorry !!! :shrug:


Edit-
thinking...thinking...thinking...
Perhaps I can defeat the spell!!!
How about....
If I do buy, I think I will take it up to the soaring club to share with sachmo's little campers.
Before coming to the PC after moonset!
What do you reckon?

[Inmykombi]

Hope to see ya there Geoff.


And Alan, whats this about more gear ?

You have stacks of telescopes and accessories.....geeeeez, how much more does a bloke need ?



I cant talk with 3 x scopes myself now can I..;)

[gb_astro]

That's very generous of you Allan.
You sure you know how to use a dob (?) ? :)

Greg.

[sasup]

Hello all is there someone that can help set up this argo? I had it going but something has gone wrong. Maybe on sat at pony club????

[Allan_L]

.....:sadeyes:

[gmbfilter]

Absolutely
What's it doing?

[sasup]

Ah thanks I cant get it to do its star alignment. Im sure its something easy. :shrug:

[Inmykombi]

I'm almost finished work ( I'd be quicker if I got off IIS )

The I can pack the car and make a move about 5'ish

The weather looks promising too.

[Rick Petrie]

I'm back from Taswegia earlier than I thought, I'm also so in.
Better not be any grey stuff or I'm going back to Tas!!!!.:P

[sasup]

Sorry guys I got a flat tire out off of mona vale road so cant make it, on the good side the spare held till I got home. Do you think the turramurra council will pay for my tire. why cant fix the holes in thier roads??? I know I paid my tax last year.:mad2::mad2::mad2::mad2::mad2:

[Rodstar]

I would appear to be the first to emerge from a sleepy haze.....well, what a great night!

It was a good roll up, with a few enthusiastic new faces...thanks everyone for making my friend Ron feel so welcome. He made a point of commenting on how friendly everyone is.

The highlights for me last night through the Mary Rose:
*Spindle Galaxy NGC 2997
*M104 The Sombrero
*Centaurus Galaxy Cluster (with just a twist of averted imagination)
*Wide field Eta Carinae through the 31 Terminagler
*The Eskimo PN
*The Ghost of Jupiter PN
*Saturn

It was great fun taking some of those present on a bit of a tour. Plenty of oohs and aahs, which warms the cockles of one's heart.

We missed a few faithfuls....Iceman, RB, Deeno etc. You blokes MISSED OUT!!

I am down in Wee Jasper in March for New Moon, catching up with John Gurkin and Anna Novak. I may also be camping and dark sky observing in April elsewhere. So, see you all in a while!

[Arthur Alchin]

again welcome to Ron and Adam and your wife ( apologies bad with remembering names. Great night. Loved the views through the Binoviewers.

Great views through Geoffros 200. Great to catch up with Rod and Greg.
and everyone for that matter

[gb_astro]

Good to catch up with everyone again.
A bit of light cloud put things on hold now and again.
Highlight for me was the ISS and undocked Space Shuttle pass, with about a 15 degree separation between them. High and bright, looked great.
Greg.

[sasup]

Realy the iss,:sadeyes: your killing me.

[Allan_L]

Well I had two great nights last night.

Firstly as promised I went to the soaring club and spent about three hours there showing very eager campers some of the night sky delights.

The crescent moon was spectacular and all the wows! oohs! and Ahs! certainly made the diversion worth it. This is a hobby that is most rewarding when you are sharing it with enthusuastic friends!

I am sure I have made a few converts too and we look forward to welcoming them all to the Pony Club for some even more spectacular views.

It seemed extra special to be sharing first light of my new little scope with so many first timer observers. Thanks Mark for the invitation, I hope you were pleased with the result.

***

Then later after 11, I carefully negotiated my way into the Pony Club grounds with only parking lights (or so I thought) sorry about those clearance lights down the side of the van! Luckily it was during one of the "cloud breaks".

It was so good to catch up with all my friends there. And although my CPC1100 stayed comfortably in the passenger seat, the new scope and the Bino-telescope had a good workout.

Sorry to disappoint so many by failing to present a DOB as my new addition. I thought Geoff Owl was going to do me physical harm at one stage. I thought about it guys, but I am not quite ready to cross to the dark side yet. Anyway, Geoffro needs my moral support from another coffee grinder owner. Andproud of it. Now there is Big coffee grinder and mini-me coffee grinder! :)

Dew defeated me in the end, but not before some nice sights.

But it was especially nice to wander around casually chatting to others and sharing their scopes. I am usually glued to my eyepiece when I bring out the 11 incher!

As always Greg's SDR was magnificent.

And Geooffro, the view of Saturn towards the end of the night was the best I have ever seen.

Thanks to all for another perfect night of observing and social activity.
Love you guys!

[GTB_an_Owl]

so thats what that was Greg

it was impressive, wasn't it

geoff

[Inmykombi]

Darn good night again. Scopes a plenty to look through.
But I always came back to my beloved LX200 coffee grinder.

LOL.

See you all next time, and we better get a trip to Lostock happnin' soon hey ?

Geoffro

[gmbfilter]

Sometimes it used to make coffee :thumbsup:
Another fabulous night.
It's the company as much as anything else
and that was great

[Rick Petrie]

Enjoyed another great night with everyone and meeting the new folk.
Periods of good seeing toward the end of the night made it.
The ISS pass with the space shuttle was awesome.
Missed Deeno...where is that guy...is he ruined by looking through a giant dob in USA? We were all looking forward to hearing the tall tales and true from the trip.
Cheers lookin' forward to our next sojourn. :thumbsup:

[Satchmo]

My binos on the paralelogram and your long focal length scope really complemented each other . Hearing peoples delight at seeing these things for the first time is priceless. Thanks very much for giving your time to show all those interested through your scope , it was very much appreciated by everyone.

Mark