Kulnura 25th Feb

[iceman]

Hi guys.

Time for another Kulnura meet! The last one was on new years day when we got smoked out early due to the fires!

Then we had Lostock, and next month there's SPSP - so let's have a big one on the 25th feb.

Apparently Glenn Dawes is going to try and make it up on this date, too.. Who's up for it?

[frogman]

I should be able to turn up to this one mike !
Who is Glenn Dawes ? is it a name that i should know ?

[iceman]

He's one of the authors of the Astronomy 2006 yearbook(s).

Hope to see you there Anthony!

[Orion]

Sounds good.

[ving]

hmm... I think it clashes with another meet. I'll check. :)

[ausastronomer]

I will be there.

CS-John B

[Rodstar]

Me too!

Looking forward to playing under dark skies with my new:
1. ED80
2. WO Crayford focuser
3. Orion Stratus 17mm EP

Apologies in advance if my recent purchases bring rain. :doh:

[GTB_an_Owl]

Mike

I would love to make my first visit.
can you send me details of where and when?

[RB]

I'm looking forward to it.

:drink:

[Octane]

It'll most probably be my final one. :(

H

[h0ughy]

No commitment from me yet but i would like to be there. with a few star parties very close i might be pushing my luck, but you never know! She has told me to go play with the traffic a few times, so another night without me might be a blessing!

[Glenn Dawes]

Hi Mike, are you trying to scare them off!
Seriously, I'm looking forward to meeting you guys.
Regards
Glenn

[h0ughy]

why is that H?

[RB]

H is leaving us :sad:
He's been offered a new job in Canberra and must move within the next 3 weeks.

[iceman]

Geoff,
Follow the directions on this map: Kulnura Map (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/downloads/kulnura_map.jpg) (250k jpeg).

We usually get there before dark, between 7pm and 8pm I guess. Stay until whenever.. but it's a private property, so no camping etc.
There is toilets and 240v power, and an urn on the boil.

[GTB_an_Owl]

Thanks for the info Mike.
Be there for sure if the weather is good.
Looks like I gotta bring my own fridge with a red light in it eh? (just kidding - bit risky for a one niter)
We might have a visitor from Bintel.
Trying to talk Michael into popping up from Blacktown if his girlfriend will let him out for the nite.
Reckons it's a long way to drive for him. (sorry mick - see - i've dobbed you in - so you will have to make an effort now)
Will send him the link to the map

Ta.

[Octane]

David,

Andrew is correct; I've been offered a position with the government and I've decided to accept. I applied and interviewed for the position in November. It took 3 months to get the good news.

It's my dream IT job come true -- finally, a role which will facilitate what I learnt at university over a period of six years.

There's no firm starting date set yet, other than early March, which, to me, means 2-3 weeks.

So, as it stands, this'll be my final Kurnula visit. If, in future, Kurnula lands on a weekend, I'll most definitely try my darned best to make it. It'd be a five hour drive, but so worth it.

Regards,
Humayun

[Octane]

C'mon Mike, you can do it! I drive up from Rooty Hill, and that's *past* Blacktown! :)

Regards,
H

[cahullian]

Sounds good I hope I can make it.

[ving]

and I come from past campbelltown... blacktown is easy :P

[frogman]

HMMMMMM Government job..... does that mean you are becoming a government assassin ? do i have to watch out for a little red laser pointer on my chest ????
SAd to hear dude !

[Orion]

Just remembered that the NAS meeting is on the same night so I won't be able to go, my apologies.

[h0ughy]

Congratulations H and I hope everything goes well for the future. yes the NAS does have a meeting on, might have to carefully consider the options, but I would say I won't be going to kulnura. i like being eaten alive with mozzies???

[astropolak]

We should be there too, weather permitting.

[ausastronomer]

Does anyone thats coming to Kulnurra next Saturday (or anyone else for that matter, thats willing to part with their loved 1 temporarily), own any of the following eyepieces they can bring with them. We wish to undertake a review of Rod's new 17mm Orion Stratus.

17mm Vixen LVW
17mm Nagler T4
18mm TV Radian
15mm GSO Superview.

We already have a 14mm Pentax XW, 16mm Nagler T5 and a 16mm Nagler T2 for comparison purposes.

CS-John B

[ving]

like i said in rods "stratus" thread, my GSO SV is avaliable for the 25th but I am not. if someone wants to pick it up from me at work (rockdale) or home (campbelltown) you can use it.... just bring it bac asap, cause i'll miss it :)

[ausastronomer]

David,

I very much appreciate the offer. I was hoping to find another offerer slightly closer to me than Rockdale or Campbelltown. They are both a long way from home at Bateau Bay and work at Chatswood. If I can't find any takers I will come back to you and try to arrange to pick it up somehow.

CS-John B

[RB]

Hey John,

I'll bring a 17mm Nag.

[iceman]

So, Andrew Murrell is coming on Saturday too. Should be a good turnout.

Hope the weather turns out ok. Anyone seen a forecast?

[ausastronomer]

Foxtel weather channel tells me fine from Saturday to next Tuesday after partly cloudy on Friday.

Andrew told me on Monday that he was coming, I think Gary and Mai are coming, Daniel Beringer from Frontier Optics is hoping to get there also.

CS-John B

[iceman]

I saw Gary and Mai yesterday (picked up my cables) - they didn't mention it but I hope they can make it.

[Octane]

John,

I have a GSO (Bintel) 15mm SuperView. I'll be in attendance.

Regards,
H

[ausastronomer]

Thanks H,

I appreciate the offer, I only wish you had made it yesterday :) I can also appreciate you have probably been very busy and not been on line, pending your move to Canberra :)

I contacted Don Whiteman at Bintel yesterday, having only received on offer from David [ving] who is miles away from me and not coming to Kulnurra this new moon. I advised Don I was in a bind finding a 15mm GSO Superview for the review. Bintel generously offered to send one out to me at work at Chatswood. It should arrive either this afternoon or tomorrow morning.

Certainly bring your sample with you H in case something goes wrong with the post.

CS-John B

[cahullian]

I also have the 15mmSV from Bintel John you can use that one too lol
see if there is a difference in the same ep from the same company.

Gazz

[Rodstar]

Weather is looking very promising.........(not wanting to bring on the astronomer's curse).......:whistle:

[Greg Bryant]

Just got home after being stuck in traffic from Sydney airport, resetting the watch. Clear skies. Hmmm.... Kulnura may be very tempting tomorrow. Might ring Glenn as he'd have to drive past my suburb... :)

[iceman]

Come on up Greg, about time you made an appearance!

The weather is looking good! Fingers crossed!

[Rodstar]

I hope the seeing is a little more steady at Kulnura than it has been tonight. Lots of eddys in the atmosphere here at Point Clare.....Still, through all the muck, I managed to get a nice clear view of Saturn at 300x at one stage!

Hope to see you there, Greg! C'mon, you gotta do it!

[iceman]

The seeing was absolutely magic this morning at 4:30am! The best I've seen it! Got some very nice avi's of Jupiter to get through.

[jakob]

I hope to be there too.
Hoping for clear Skies!:prey:

[RB]

I'll be bringing my latest creation, "The Hot Seat".
A 240v electric "seat" for you guys to check out.......:scared:

[Rodstar]

Weekends are for sleeping in, Mike, hasn't anyone told you? :whistle:

I am yet to sight Jupiter this season. Hopefully tonight the conditions will favour a long night of observing. Does anyone know what time Jupiter is likely to clear the trees at Kulnura? I would have thought about midnight??

[ausastronomer]

Rod,

I am guessing well after midnight. I think probably 2am.

CS-John B

[Rodstar]

I had better get some shut-eye this afternoon, then! Thanks John. I'll see you with my 17 mm Orion Stratus tonight. I should be there at 7.30pm tonight. :)

[Daniel Beringer]

I should be there about 8:30

[iceman]

I'll be trying for between 7:30 and 8:00pm

[iceman]

Weather looks clear, albeit a little windy. At least it'll keep the dew away.

[ausastronomer]

Mike,

My telescope is comfortably able to see through the wind, I have not yet been able to penetrate cloud with it :)

CS-John B

PS: The wind should drop away later in the night and the seeing will improve :)

[Rodstar]

I look forward to seeing you Daniel. I will show you just how sensational the Williams Optics Crayford for SCT is that you sold me! Marvellous!:drink:

[cahullian]

The wee woman is out buying hedgehogs for tonight so it had better be clear skies or I will have to eat them all on my own.;) :whistle:

I should get there about 7 pm or so.

Gazz

[Daniel Beringer]

hmmm Looks to be thick high cloud coming in from the south west!!:scared2:

[frogman]

But its Kulnura !!!!
Thoes that have been out here will know what im talking about

[frogman]

hey has anyone heard from Louie

[Octane]

I sent him an SMS about half-an-hour ago, but no reply yet.

I'll give him a buzz in a few minutes.

Regards,
H

[Octane]

I just rang Louie; he's piking. :(

I even tried laying a guilt trip on him that it'd be my last visit but he was steadfast.

Oh well.

See you lot tonight!

Regards,
Humayun

[iceman]

:( I'll miss him!

[seeker372011]

any weather update guys

[frogman]

hey guys can anyone please pick me up a packet of captain black sweet filtered cigars on the way up ! should be able to buy them from a servo and ill give whoever money when they get here ~!? ? ?? ??

[Octane]

Hi all,

Tonight (last night/this morning) was freaking awesome.

You guys that left early missed out on some absolutely spectacular seeing (once the cloud dissipated).

I spent a lot of time tonight (last night/this morning) observing Eta Carinae, Omega Centauri, The Jewel Box and Antares. I photographed the tail end of Scorpius and will hopefully get to work on that today some time. Just before we left, I took some nice shots of the Moon as it rose above the trees.

Andrew (Rocket Boy) and I were the last two to leave.

The highlight of the night was the banter exchanged whilst devouring olive and cheese pizza and sipping Coke (thanks Andrew). Mike, are you an olive and cheese pizza convert now?

It was great catching up with you folks and indeed meeting new people. It was also great to see such a good turn out.

Cheers Andrew and Gazz.

All that was missing tonight was Louie. Miss you, bud.

Regards,
Humayun

[Rodstar]

Thanks everyone for making last night another memorable Kulnura experience.

It was great to make some new acquaintances, and I thoroughly enjoyed our chat around Rocket Boy's new "hot box". Great pizza, and beer, man! It is always a pleasure chatting, and sharing family stories and experiences.

Nice to see Joe and his family/friends, Jacob, Geoff (Owl) and Glenn Dawes for the first time. Also good to catch up with Daniel Berringer and talk about the WO crayford for SCT (which is an outstanding peice of equipment BTW).

As for observing, that was a bit of a downer for me last night. My LX200 make some disturbing hissing and gurgling sounds early on.....maybe it should not have had so much pizza.......Off to the workshop at Bintel, hopefully under warranty, and hopefully to be ready for SPSP14.

Still, I was able to use my scope as a push-to, and show Froggy that we Buzz-Clickers can manually find some objects too! I particularly enjoyed the views of Jupiter last night...first for the year for me. Also, Saturn held up to 295x for the second night in a row. Omega Centauri improved as it rose in the sky, and the view of M46 in John Bambury (Ausastronomer)'s scope was very sharp. H114 is becoming a real favourite of mine, so easy to find in the Milky Way glow halfway between Crux and the false cross. The Jewel Box is always a pleasing view.

John and I had a look at a few objects in the Orion Stratus 17mm. It was very sharp and contrasty on axis, only losing some sharpness in the peripheral 25% of the FOV. I was pleased with how it performed. Clouds drifting and variable seeing made the job of a detailed comparison with other similar focal length Ep's too difficult.

Our thoughts go with you H, as you head to the ACT. Best wishes, mate. There is a chance my family may be heading down that way in the next 6-9 months for a family break....if so I'll PM you, as we might be able to enjoy those dark Canberra skies one night?!

Louie, we all commented on how we missed you. Hope you are OK, and that we see soon.

I hope to see as many of you as possible at SPSP14. If not, maybe a session at 3rd quarter before, or 1st quarter after could happen? Let's see what the weather does, and whether a leave pass is at all obtainable....

[iceman]

What a great nice, such a huge turnout.. There must've been about 20 people there.. where were you Scott and Ving? :)

Great to see so many "first timers" there, Jakob, Glenn Dawes, astropolak + family, (Paul) NoIdea + Gina, Geoff (GTB) and of course the regulars..

hector, froggy, RB, Octane, iceman, Rod, ausastronomer, seeker, cahullian, Daniel (frontieroptics), hmm sure i've missed a few.

The clouds were a bit of a problem earlier on, but only towards the south/east. The north/west was good for the majority of the night. I left at 11:30pm after being up at 4:30am that morning imaging Jupiter. Sounds like it was good after I left - I thought it would be after it was clear when I got home, but I was too tired.

Another great night of great friends, good company.. lots of stories, banter and good will. I didn't do too much observing, but got a chance to give my 22pan it's first light. It's a nice EP, very comfortable to use, just not quite as sharp at the edges as I'd hoped. Eta Carinae was my favourite for the night, very closely followed by the Tarantula. The nice wide view in the 22pan was a great fit for those objects with so much happening around them.

Anywya look forward to another one, maybe April? SPSP next month and I don't think i'll get a leave pass before that. :)

[wavelandscott]

Sounds like I missed a good one...could not be helped, I'm off on a business trip today and not spending time with the family was a no go...

Very curious to hear the results of some of the eyepiece comparisons...

Glad everyone had fun and pizza!...and hope to see people at SPSP and another Kulnura visit in the not too distant future!

[ausastronomer]

Great night all.

For those that left early commiserations. I can appreciate there is no point hangiing around waiting for cloud to clear, particularly when you have a long drive home. Those that stuck it out were rewarded.

The cloud cleared a little after midnight and the seeing was superb. By this time there were only 5 of us left. Andrew (Rocket Boy), H (Octane) , Gaz (Cahulian), Daniel (Frontier Optics) and myself.

The 5 of us enjoyed some memorable high power views of Jupiter and Saturn. The GRS was clearly visible. About 2:30am the seeing got even better, I was able to hold a lovely rock steady image of Jupiter at 454X and the same power on Saturn with an equally clean sharp view. By that stage Daniel, had left us but the four diehards had some memorable views. We were also able to get a lovely clean split on Antares as it climbed higher in the sky. Some really lovely conditions with sub arc sec seeing. I left just before 3:30am as tiredness took over.

CS-John B

[Rodstar]

Wish I had stayed, John. You never can tell, that's the luck of this hobby, it can work either way. Man, I would have loved to see Jupiter at x450. You would have been continuously moving the scope to keep up with the big critter!

[RB]

Thanks to everyone for making the night a really great night.
I had the best time just catching up with everyone.
Anthony, Mike, John B, Rod, Gazz, (H - sorry to see he's leaving us) - The usual suspects.

I got to meet Daniel from Frontier optics, Glenn Dawes and some new comers to Kulnura.
Also had a quick chat to Naryan, good to see you again. Also chatted with Andrew.

If I've missed anyone, my appologies.

The evening cleared up as mentioned and H (Octane) was kind enough to let me use his equipment to do some imaging of Jupiter, and some DSO work.
We left as the moon was rising and H got some final shots of the Lunar disk around 5.30am I think.

I was very please with my "Hot Seat" - a 240v power supply inverter run by a truck battery. The box also doubles as a seat. I'll post some images of the box soon.

Once again a great time with great friends.
:)

[GTB_an_Owl]

who was it that said " it's gunna clear, it's gunna clear" ?
so we all left toooo early eh!
got home here to terrigal and looked up at jupiter - and you can image the expletive
great to see so many turn up to great me on my first nite up there
was great while it lasted - better next time i hope

[Noidea]

Thank you to Anthony & Mike for Kulnura on Sat night. Gina & I got to experience the darkest skies since Lostock. We got to do some interesting viewing before the clouds rolled in.

Thank you to Glen, Andrew & Daniel for helping a couple of lost newbies locate some interesting items. :shrug:

By the way Mike, I had a peak in your scope (Daniel said it was OK). I was told that you had some kind of filter and were pointing at ETA Carina. What sort of filter was that? It made a big difference.

Nice to meet some new faces. Will see you again in the future.

Paul

[Rodstar]

Hi Paul (and Gina), I forgot your names or would have noted meeting you also. Good to see you there.....all these new faces....great to see. Hope to catch up with you at SPSP or next visit to Kulnura.

[RB]

Which reminds me I'll never look at Eta Carina the same way again thanks to the description Rod gave us that night......
Very impressive Rod.

:)