Lunar Eclipse from the Chicken Ranch Mangrove Mountain 10 dec 2011

[h0ughy]

Well i drove down the freeway to visit RB for the evening as this has been the first time we have caught up with each other for quite some time. I arrived at the ranch late yesterday afternoon, and after a short setup ;) with the travel setup on his slab (where his observatory will eventually be built). It was good to be able to relax and enjoy the view - as the clouds parted and revealed a clear moisture laiden sky with a beautiful moon. Andrew set up on one of the astrotrac's with his small 300mm L lens and the 5d2, i was dwarfed in comparison with a meagre 200mm and a 40D on the other astrotrac. The little alt az orion had my 30D on it. I did take throughout the evening some little shots with the g12 point and shoot (only goes to 15 sec max) as during totality the view was brilliant - no where near as dark as when i was in obi obi in July ;) . there were some equipment malfunctions - several resulting in RB's 5d2 and the g12 being the only cameras going - i am sure Andrew will fill in the gaps ;):help:

never hand me a laser - i play all to well with them - eh andrew:rofl:

I had a ball :thumbsup: :thumbsup: dispitethe camera failures, dead batteries, mount problems and quick rejigs , and by the time i packed up with the aid of RB i was on the way home by 4am - getting home just on 5am with the early morning dawn sky rising. Thanks for getting me out of there RB:thumbsup: Mate your biggest asset is your family - they are a treat to meet:)

the good shots are RB's, the others are mine LOL.

[multiweb]

That widefield with M45 and Orion in the same frame is superb. :thumbsup:

[iceman]

Nice work Dave! I wish I could've been there with you guys.

Looks like you had a great time.

[kinetic]

Awesome Hoff...just awesome

Steve

[Ross G]

Great shots David.

I also loke the Orion wide field best.


Ross.

[h0ughy]

thanks Marc



had a ball, more would have made it a better time -- more stuff to go wrong and laugh at ;)

[h0ughy]

yes RB and his 300mm L and the 5d2 made the best impact for me :D



Thanks Ross - taken on a gorrilla pod on a very wet and dewy roof of the subaru - thought that after everything else had failed that i would try it - nothing to loose;)

[erick]

Agreed, I like the widefield!

[venus]

I like the laser pics they are awesome with the eclipse heyheyhey...
good to see that you had a great time David:)

[Jen]

Nice shots i love the one with the laser pointing at it :lol: very cool :thumbsup:

[h0ughy]

thanks erick. surely someone may have a far better one somewhere

glad you like them lydia

thanks Jen

[zardos123]

looks like you had a great time and lots of fun even with the equipment drama........but i gotta ask, what did the chickens think!:rofl:

brad

[h0ughy]

they crossed the road:P

[Jen]

:rofl::rofl::rofl: haha

[gregbradley]

They turned out really well.

Greg.

[ZeroID]

Nice pics Dave. That third shot is 'This Worlds on Fire' :eyepop:
You are just going to be so banned with green lasers from now on....:rofl:
New Avatar coming up for you I reckon .... Green Lantern maybe ?

[jjjnettie]

you and your laser tsk tsk
I'm sure that despite all the glitches you both had a great time. :)

[RB]

LOL, you know it's going to be a great night when you see "The Houghy Express" roll into town !!!
He said "I'll be there at 6PM".....I said "great I'll take you out to dinner before we get started"......."Oh nah thanks mate, it'll take me all night to setup"......and it did, we just got organised as the eclipse started :lol:

What a great time it was, Houghy got to meet my family and they all loved him especially after hearing so much about him.
My wife said "he's like a big cuddly teddy bear" !! :lol:

And talk about "a kid in a lolly shop", just give Houghy a green laser and he's in wonderland......:rofl:

At mid eclipse I woke my family up and they came out to have a look and they couldn't believe how clear it was and how spectacular the moon looked.
They all commented on how many stars they could see too.

It was a great night, thanks for coming up David it made the evening sooo much more enjoyable.

Here's a single shot using the 5DII and the 300mm L and 2x tele extender yielding 600mm, on David's tripod and Astrotrac mount.

If I knew the weather was going to be so clear I would've set up the big scope, oh well it was a great night anyway.

RB

[iceman]

Beautiful shot RB, wish I could've been there!

[RB]

Thanks Mike, we really missed you !

:(

[h0ughy]

Thanks Greg - i was lucky that andrew was there with a real camera ;)



mmmm dont think so - more like the adventures of the dark closet...... ;)



had a wow of a time Jeanette - it was a awesome occasion - just like the one earlier this year ;) :D

[h0ughy]

:help: a cuddly teady bear? OMG:eyepop:

Andrew as i said i thouroughly enjoyed the time - and it tends to go quickly when you get tinkering :rofl:

I did really want RB to have set up the big scope but the weather was indeed dodgy:rolleyes: - we were so lucky it cleared the way it did. but man -the dew was running in torrents.

so did you like the astrotrac RB?:P

[h0ughy]

yes we did - needed another laser up there for sure......;):D

[spacezebra]

Awesome David and RB

Who is the naughty boy with the Laser ;-)

Cheers Petra d.

[h0ughy]

dobba dobba dobba - it was Andrew - honest Miss:rofl:;)