Sneaky Pete
18-08-2010, 07:11 PM
How to hump a Hilux
{lurk mode off}
Hello Skygazers!!
My name is Peter and I have been lurking about the forum for some time now, maybe years. This stand-off-ish-ness has not been a function of shyness or a fear of not receiving a positive response. Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is, it is a reflection of not being able to come to grips with the subject matter to any useful level of competence on my part. Saying "I went outside last night and looked up at a bunch of stars and it was really neat" lasts only about 6 seconds.
To explain further, living in inner city Melbourne and working all {insert appropriate diety here}'s given hours did not lend itself to good and consistent viewing. Although I have purchased "Astronomy 2008, 2009 and 2010" AND made some small use of them over the years, which was all well and good but it was not really "coming together" for me and it was a source of some frustration.
This state of affairs changed early this year when my beautiful wife and I found ourselves unexpectedly, blissfully, and gainfully UNEMPLOYED. This prompted us to pull the 'van out from storage and set off around Australia. I will not bore you with the details of our travels but suffice to say, we are well into our 13,000th km and still going. Actually, I write to you from the edge of the Gregory River near Gregory Downs in Outback Queensland. No light pollution here thank you very much, but also no power for that matter, thank {insert appropriate diety here} for solar cells.
An unexpected by-product of this travelling was consistently clear dark skys and time to look up. At some stage along the trip the sky started to make sense (a night visit to the Charleville Cosmos Centre in Qld helped!) and now each clear night has me wandering about the campsite/caravan park with my hand held 8x40 sporting binocculars searching with wonder and growing knowledge.
This was the critical mass of observations I needed to really be able to find my way around the sky. Mind you this odyssey of the sky has had its moments. While in a caravan park in Cairns with 4 storey flats on 2 sides, I found myself looking between two buildings getting my first clear look at Mercury (a planet I had never seen before) only to be challenged by the occupants of the flats as to why I was looking through their windows with binocculars? A common problem with you astronomers, I dare say.
Then there was the time in Mareeba, Qld when I was trying to sort out the location of Southern Pleiades (my current favourite) and Eta Carina, and was steadying my hand held "Bins" by putting my elbows on the hard tonneau cover of my ute. This caused an energetic inquiry as to why I was "humping" my car. An inspection the next day revealed a dent in the rear bumper bar and it was taken as proof positive of my amorous intentions towards the Hilux. I'm sure you all have similar stories to tell. I have attached a photo for your review.
But it is all about the night sky isn't it? The dancing planets at dusk, the eager wait for Jupiter to rise with Pisces. However, I must say it is disappointing that my star sign looks like a galactic sperm. I think I'd much rathered it look like a tea pot. My mother has all the good luck.
The big breakthough has been the identifying and naming of the first magnitude stars. It was just a short step to using them to navigate to other points of interest (like using Vega and Altair to find the double stars, alpha and beta, in Capricornus) and then to the consolations. As I sit here in my chair by the open fire in a deep river bed I have trees on 2 sides and Jupiter will not rise over them until 11.00pm est. So I started to identify what I could see. Vega was known to me and there it was down stream. Lyra was found, and then Deneb and Cygnus, which is a beautiful swan that had my wife fighting me for the Bins. But it didn't stop there. Altair gave us an eagle, Aquila. The highlight for me tonight was Delphinus, which just explodes in the eye pieces. It looks like nothing with the naked eye even with dark skys, but apply 8x40's to it and it is alive with colour and beauty.
At this point, between two trees, I saw Piscis Austrinus (now that is a fish) and then Grus not far off. Sod Jupiter! This was a terrific momentI just had to get the PC and tell you guys about my breakthrough, eventhough the post may not be sent until we hit Mount Isa.
Another thing that has struck me was the seasonal nature of the consolations. If I had of thought about it I would have realised that each season has its consolations but I didn't realise that they would
become so important to me. I miss Leo and Cancer and I cannot wait to view Orion with my new found appreciation of the sky. The Hunter will be like a new friend.
So as I say, I feel I have reached a crticial mass of knowledge and I am hopeful the Santa 'constellation' will bring me a telescope. I am happy with the "unstructured" search of the sky the Bins provides but I would like a closer AND STEADIER look afforded by a Dobsonian. I am with child to have a close look at Eta Carina and those clusters around Scorpius. I should point out at this point that I have looked through a few 'scopes so I have reasonable expectations on the view I will get. It is not the view it is the exploration and the understanding of the universe.
One good thing on the telescope-front, I live about 15 minutes from the Melbourne Bintel store, so I will give them a visit when we get home in December. Your advice on how I should package up a Dobsonian would be appreciated. It will be an 8 or 10 inch Dob depending on how big they are so leave that up to me, but what should I consider getting with it. I assume they package up a few lenses with it but what else should I consider? I know you are all shy of pushing things forward, quite right too, but some thoughts on (I don't know?) "dew covers", "bobs nuts", "suzy screws", "Hilux hotties" - that sort of thing.
I have enjoyed your company for years now and I hope to enjoy it even more now that I know a globular from an open cluster.
Peter
{lurk mode reengaged}
ps. btw a word to the wise. Coming to bed freezing cold after waiting for Jupiter to rise and saying to the child bride "I just saw Uranus" never gets old.........."I wonder if we will see Uranus tonight" ...
...ah never gets old.........
{lurk mode off}
Hello Skygazers!!
My name is Peter and I have been lurking about the forum for some time now, maybe years. This stand-off-ish-ness has not been a function of shyness or a fear of not receiving a positive response. Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is, it is a reflection of not being able to come to grips with the subject matter to any useful level of competence on my part. Saying "I went outside last night and looked up at a bunch of stars and it was really neat" lasts only about 6 seconds.
To explain further, living in inner city Melbourne and working all {insert appropriate diety here}'s given hours did not lend itself to good and consistent viewing. Although I have purchased "Astronomy 2008, 2009 and 2010" AND made some small use of them over the years, which was all well and good but it was not really "coming together" for me and it was a source of some frustration.
This state of affairs changed early this year when my beautiful wife and I found ourselves unexpectedly, blissfully, and gainfully UNEMPLOYED. This prompted us to pull the 'van out from storage and set off around Australia. I will not bore you with the details of our travels but suffice to say, we are well into our 13,000th km and still going. Actually, I write to you from the edge of the Gregory River near Gregory Downs in Outback Queensland. No light pollution here thank you very much, but also no power for that matter, thank {insert appropriate diety here} for solar cells.
An unexpected by-product of this travelling was consistently clear dark skys and time to look up. At some stage along the trip the sky started to make sense (a night visit to the Charleville Cosmos Centre in Qld helped!) and now each clear night has me wandering about the campsite/caravan park with my hand held 8x40 sporting binocculars searching with wonder and growing knowledge.
This was the critical mass of observations I needed to really be able to find my way around the sky. Mind you this odyssey of the sky has had its moments. While in a caravan park in Cairns with 4 storey flats on 2 sides, I found myself looking between two buildings getting my first clear look at Mercury (a planet I had never seen before) only to be challenged by the occupants of the flats as to why I was looking through their windows with binocculars? A common problem with you astronomers, I dare say.
Then there was the time in Mareeba, Qld when I was trying to sort out the location of Southern Pleiades (my current favourite) and Eta Carina, and was steadying my hand held "Bins" by putting my elbows on the hard tonneau cover of my ute. This caused an energetic inquiry as to why I was "humping" my car. An inspection the next day revealed a dent in the rear bumper bar and it was taken as proof positive of my amorous intentions towards the Hilux. I'm sure you all have similar stories to tell. I have attached a photo for your review.
But it is all about the night sky isn't it? The dancing planets at dusk, the eager wait for Jupiter to rise with Pisces. However, I must say it is disappointing that my star sign looks like a galactic sperm. I think I'd much rathered it look like a tea pot. My mother has all the good luck.
The big breakthough has been the identifying and naming of the first magnitude stars. It was just a short step to using them to navigate to other points of interest (like using Vega and Altair to find the double stars, alpha and beta, in Capricornus) and then to the consolations. As I sit here in my chair by the open fire in a deep river bed I have trees on 2 sides and Jupiter will not rise over them until 11.00pm est. So I started to identify what I could see. Vega was known to me and there it was down stream. Lyra was found, and then Deneb and Cygnus, which is a beautiful swan that had my wife fighting me for the Bins. But it didn't stop there. Altair gave us an eagle, Aquila. The highlight for me tonight was Delphinus, which just explodes in the eye pieces. It looks like nothing with the naked eye even with dark skys, but apply 8x40's to it and it is alive with colour and beauty.
At this point, between two trees, I saw Piscis Austrinus (now that is a fish) and then Grus not far off. Sod Jupiter! This was a terrific momentI just had to get the PC and tell you guys about my breakthrough, eventhough the post may not be sent until we hit Mount Isa.
Another thing that has struck me was the seasonal nature of the consolations. If I had of thought about it I would have realised that each season has its consolations but I didn't realise that they would
become so important to me. I miss Leo and Cancer and I cannot wait to view Orion with my new found appreciation of the sky. The Hunter will be like a new friend.
So as I say, I feel I have reached a crticial mass of knowledge and I am hopeful the Santa 'constellation' will bring me a telescope. I am happy with the "unstructured" search of the sky the Bins provides but I would like a closer AND STEADIER look afforded by a Dobsonian. I am with child to have a close look at Eta Carina and those clusters around Scorpius. I should point out at this point that I have looked through a few 'scopes so I have reasonable expectations on the view I will get. It is not the view it is the exploration and the understanding of the universe.
One good thing on the telescope-front, I live about 15 minutes from the Melbourne Bintel store, so I will give them a visit when we get home in December. Your advice on how I should package up a Dobsonian would be appreciated. It will be an 8 or 10 inch Dob depending on how big they are so leave that up to me, but what should I consider getting with it. I assume they package up a few lenses with it but what else should I consider? I know you are all shy of pushing things forward, quite right too, but some thoughts on (I don't know?) "dew covers", "bobs nuts", "suzy screws", "Hilux hotties" - that sort of thing.
I have enjoyed your company for years now and I hope to enjoy it even more now that I know a globular from an open cluster.
Peter
{lurk mode reengaged}
ps. btw a word to the wise. Coming to bed freezing cold after waiting for Jupiter to rise and saying to the child bride "I just saw Uranus" never gets old.........."I wonder if we will see Uranus tonight" ...
...ah never gets old.........