G'Day from Up Over :)

[FJA]

G'day :D

I guess I should introduce myself. I've already made a few posts without properly introducing myself, where are my manners? ;)

I'm 41 years old, and have been doing astronomy since 1992. I live in the UK (it's alright, you don't need to pity me, it's a nice country if a bit pricey :rofl: ) and am an avid deep sky observer. I've made a couple of trips to Oz over the years and I'm planning another - finances permitting - in 2013, which is one reason I joined the forum.

I use a 12" scope for observing but I've got an 18" Dob on order, that should be finished within a few weeks. My observing's a bit curtailed at the moment, thanks to a broken ankle! :sadeyes:

Cheers
Faith

[Jen]

:hi::hi: :gday::welcome: to IIS, a 12 inch to an 18 inch hey nice jump :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[jjjnettie]

Hi Faith, Welcome to IIS.
Glad to see you've stopped lurking and decided to dive in. :)
I hope your ankle is healed by the time your new scope is delivered.
:D It's great to have another astro chick come on board. There isn't enough of us. :D

[FJA]

Thanks Jen and Jeanette. :)

Are there other Poms on here or just me?

[Octane]

Welcome aboard, Faith. :)

H

[jjjnettie]

Sonia is in the UK.
I'll introduce you to her on FB.
Here's a link to the Members map. It's mostly accurate. :D
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/plot/world.php

[FJA]

Thanks Humayun. :)



Wow, quite a spread of members. Quite a few here in the UK, too, by the looks of it. :)

[Liz]

:hi: welcome Faith. Wow, you like the big scopes, and an 18" on the way. :eyepop: blimey.

[FJA]

Hi Liz, thanks and yes, I love the big scopes, the bigger the better. :D

[PCH]

Hi Faith,

and :welcome:

Yes, there's at least one more pom on here :D, although I've lived here in l'il old Perth these past 20 years - and loving it :thumbsup:

[FJA]

Thanks Paul. Liverpool supporter eh? Good start to the season for you, top of the PL.
I am a Southampton fan (for my sins), finally on their way back up after a few years of utter rubbish. :)

[Suzy]

Hi Faith :hi: and a warm welcome to our forum.

I've just been reading your bio from your website via facebook (because I'm nosey :question: :P) and your visual observing background is impressive! I am not at all surprised you are getting an 18" scope! :eyepop::prey2:. Crikey! :scared2: (Liz already used Blimey so I had to come up with something else :rolleyes::lol: ). Why... you could nearly use my scope (which I thought was a 10" monster of a scope in its own right), as a cute little finder on your new scope now couldn't you..?!. :ashamed: :lol:

And I also saw on your bio, a photo of you and Stephen James O'Meara :eyepop:, I am such a big fan of his, oh how I dream to meet him one day. :prey: I"m guessing you met him at the Texas Star Party? Lucky gal!

And I second what Jeanette said- it's great to have another female astro chick on here, there are indeed too few of us. :)
Hmmm there is an unusually high usage of emoticons on my post here (yes, I do admit it for once :P ) so I hope I haven't given you emoticon eye strain.:question: I couldn't help it, that last one just belonged, just like this one :shrug:.

[FJA]

Thanks Suzy. :hi:

I was lucky to meet Steve at TSP 2006 and also in London a couple of months before, at the London Astrofest.

LOL, I think the 10" would still tip an 18" over but on a 48" would be something else...I got to use a 48" last year, in the US.

I agree, we need more women observers! :thumbsup:

[astroron]

G-day faith,I am an ex pom who has followed your observing exploits over the years:)
I also am a Liverpool supporter :D
:welcome: to iis and hope we may see you in Queensland in 2013
Cheers:thumbsup:

[FJA]

Thanks Ron. :)

[Ric]

Hi Faith and welcome to IIS, I hope you have a great time here with us.

Hope that ankle gets better soon, they can be tricky breaks at times.

How are your skies in the Isle of Wight? Is it a dark sky area that you live in?

Cheers

[FJA]

Hi Ric, thanks for the welcome and the good wishes about the ankle.

The skies here aren't bad at all. I live in an area with reasonably dark skies and a naked eye limiting mag of 6.1 on an average to good night. My little corner of the UK also has a higher percentage of clear skies than most of the rest of the country (we get around 47% clear nights each year), which is a big plus, given the country's reputation!

[renormalised]

Hi Faith, welcome to IIS:):)

Hope the ankle heals soon:)

[FJA]

Thanks Carl :)

[Allan_L]

Hi Faith,
:welcome:

From an "Aussie son-of-a-Pom" ;)

What part of Aus' are you planning on visiting?
you are welcome to join us at our local observing site.
Let us know some details as the time draws nearer.

We have some nice skies and happy to share with fellow enthusiasts.

Cheerio !

[FJA]

Hi Allan

I'm not sure yet, probably the eastern side of the country again, NSW and Qld.
Thanks for the invite! :)

I'll post more about my visit nearer the time. It's all vague at the moment, beyond hoping/planning to be there in 2013.

[Gem]

As a Leeds fan I can sympathise!! :)

[M54]

Welcome Faith.
Your astronomical CV is amazing!

Molly.:thumbsup:

[FJA]

Thanks Molly. :)

Grant - yes, both our clubs fell on hard times. Thanks mostly to mismanagement. :mad2:

[AstralTraveller]

:welcome::welcome::welcome:

Yes we are very tolerant, we allow poms. :P (Just watch out during international sporting events.) I agree there are too few women astronomers, so a double welcome. I can say for sure however that the number of women astronomers has increased over the years so the trend is healthy. My better half is the secretary of the local astro club but she isn't active on IIS.

If you thinking of coming down in 2013 why not come a bit earlier, Nov 2012 to be precise. It's a long way to come for 2 minutes of shade and the climate of FNQ at that time of year is near leathal but once you see a total solar eclipse you will be hooked

BTW I'm also a Liverpool supporter. You can blame Pink Floyd for that.

[FlashDrive]

Welcome Faith....:thumbsup:
My daughter is a high school teacher in Putney just outside London.

Nice to have you on board ... bring the 18 incher with you so we can all " drool " :D

Flash.

[FJA]

What, like during the Ashes? ;) It's all good banter, tho. . :lol:

I don't think I can come in 2012, I'm planning to go to the Texas Star Party and can't afford both trips in one year.

[Suzy]

Faith, I was wondering if you would consider contributing two articles you have on your Deep Sky Observing web page; (1) Binocular Messier Project in which you observed with your 8x42's, and (2) So You Want To Do Deep Sky Observing.
These articles are really well written and would be a fabulous resource for members of this forum to draw from. There doesn't seem to be anything in our "Projects & Articles" section for the subjects you have written for. :shrug:
Please PM Mike (IceMan) if you're interested. :prey:
No pressure, just a thought. ;)
Otherwise, if you don't mind I would like to refer to those links on your page when offering assistance to people on this forum. They are sooo good! :D

[FJA]

I would be happy to, Suzy. I'll drop Mike a PM. Thanks for the comments. :)

[AdrianF]

I am an ex-pom does that count?

Adrian

[FJA]

Depends on how Aussie-fied you have become, Adrian. :ship2: :D



Suzy - I have sent an email to Mike with the articles attached.

[Rodstar]

Welcome Faith.

I am very impressed by your consistent and persistent observing efforts over many years. I have waxed and waned (pardon the astronomical reference) in my observing diligence...at the moment things are quiet, but I am slowing picking up steam for another run of observing nights over the warmer months. Well done, for faithfully keeping an eye on the heavens while some of us snooze...

I recently saw the northern skies for the first time ever, during a 22 day holiday in France. It was a thrill, while in Provence, to see some of the northern constellations, and especially to see Polaris. It seems a bit of a cheat, for you northerners to get a star so close to the celestial pole!

Anyhoo, welcome, hope you find the community here to your liking. I like it having another visual observing on board....sometimes we are somewhat outnumbered by the imagers!

[FJA]

Thanks Rod. Yes, us visual people often get outnumbered but there's a lot of us out there.
I'd swap the North Star for some of the southern Milky Way and a Magellanic Cloud! :D

[AstralTraveller]

Look, just because we're nice, you can have the SMC for free - but you need to arrange your own transport. :D

[FJA]

:rofl:

[stephenb]

It's on loan only, we want it back when you've finished with it. :lol:

Welcome Faith. Love your website and blog.


Regards,
Stephen

[FJA]

I'll take good care of it, I promise. :)

I'll arrange transport - a Qantas Airbus A380 Down Under in 2013. :D

Thanks for the comment about my website. :)

[Rodstar]

Yeah, well you can't have them!

Although there was a lot of moisture in the air last night, catching a lot of the ambient light from around our area, I enjoyed a nice session last night exploring the southern constellations of Tucana, Phoenix and Grus. 47 Tuc is always a treat, but its smaller globular neighbour NGC 362 took my particular fancy last night. I also enjoyed lots of little doubles in the aforementioned constellations, and a few wisps of galaxies, culminating with the Grus quartet. NCG 253 was a little low, but I stopped by to welcome it. Finished up with a few doubles favourites on the northern horizon: Albireo and Gamma Delphini.

All in all, a pleasant session of about 90 mins, and in bed by a decent hour.

[FJA]

:P :lol:



Sounds like a lovely session. What were the little galaxies you saw?

NGC 253 is one of my favourite binocular targets. It's quite low in the south from here, just clearing the trees on a nearby hill, so it's easier to look at with binoculars than the scope.

47 Tuc is one of my favourites from my visits to Australia, Omega Cen rules the roost in terms of size but I like 47's compact core and symmetrical appearance. I've not seen NGC 362, so that's on my observing list for my next trips.:thumbsup:

[FJA]

Many thanks for the warm welcome, everyone - Aussies are the friendliest and most hospitable people on the planet, along with Americans. :)
Hopefully I can meet some of you when I visit in a couple of years...we'll see. :)

[Rodstar]

Hey Faith,

The galaxies were NGC 7083 on the border of Pavo and Indus, NGC 7090 in Indus, NGC 7205 on the border of Indus and Tucana, and the patch of galaxies in the vicinity of theta Gruis.

We are very lucky in the south to have 253 rise so high in the sky. It is one of those targets which looks like a cosmic city...the spiral arms are able to be discerned notwithstanding the awkward angle of this galaxy vis-a-vis the Earth, and there is nice mottling. It takes up the whole diameter of the visual field in my 20T5, and is too large for my 13E. When am under dark skies, it looks AMAZING in my 31T5.

Yes, we southerners are divided on whether we prefer 47Tuc or Omega Centauri. Omega needs a huge FOV to do it justice. I prefer to use my 31T5 under a dark sky for best results. It is coarse and "out there". 47Tuc is more subtle, more woolly, more concentrated at the core, and more beautiful in my opinion. In smaller instruments I think Omega has more impact, but the larger the aperture, the more wonderous 47Tuc becomes.

Hope you can come to Australia as planned in the next year or two!

[FJA]

Thanks Rod, they're added to my 'deep south' observing list, for if/when I can visit Australia again. :)

I hope I can make it Downunder again. It depends on my work situation over the next 18 months or so (I work seasonally, in the local tourism industry and do office admin work as a temp during winter - if there's any work!).