Snake Valley Club Night - FEBRUARY 24

[ballaratdragons]

Hi all,
The next Snake Valley (SVAA) club night is Friday 24th Feb

Visitors are very welcome to come along to our SVAA Club nights at our own Club site.
Don't worry, we don't hold a 'Meeting'. We Observe/Image.

Because it is our own private property (SEE HERE) (http://astronomycamps.bravehost.com/facilities.html) feel free to pitch a tent and stay over for the night (or two).

We have a Clubroom if it gets too cold outside.
Kitchen area has Hot Water, Microwave oven, etc.

The next few Club nights are:

- This Friday 24th Feb
- 4 nights of Snake Valley Astro Camp March 23rd - 27th (SEE HERE) (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=86387)
- Club Night April 20th
- Club Night May 18th

Come along :thumbsup:

If you need any further dates they can be found HERE (http://www.wix.com/ballaratman/svaa#!events)

[ballaratdragons]

The weather is looking great so far for Friday Night :thumbsup:

[John K]

Ken,

Just sent you a PM.

[ballaratdragons]

I Just Replied :thumbsup:

[Jen]

And make our own timelapse movies :lol::lol:

[niko]

I read that as

"Urine Hot Water"

ewwww

:lol:

[scagman]

Me too:)

[ballaratdragons]

:lol: Fixed. Took Urnie out of the post :P

[mill]

Now the URNIE is gone you lot have to drink out of the chemical DUNNIE :rofl::rofl:

[mishku]

eeeeeeeeeeeewwwwww you boys are GROSS.

i hope you all behave better in MARCH :D

[barx1963]

Don't count on it!:P

[Nico13]

Well after all that and Urnie or not it's looking like it could be a good night Friday so you may well find me up there again Ken, might even be inclined to join the club. Bit of a struggle with those expensive fee structure :P you got though. ;)
I've got a leave pass and a new USB hub to run everything.
This time though I'll get there before dark, oh and I've even made myself a new red LED torch from one of little alloy ones you get, works a treat.

Ken.

[rcheshire]

After all that should I ask for directions - from Snake Valley?

[ballaratdragons]

Excellent Ken. See you on Friday late afternoon :thumbsup:



Rowland, FROM Snake Valley?

If you mean how do you find the Club Site from the centre of Snake valley, well that's easy.

From the Snake Valley General Store head south about 500 metres and there is a bridge.
As soon as you cross the bridge it is the first driveway on the right (about 20 metres after the bridge).
There is a sign at the driveway that says:
SNAKE VALLEY
ASTRONOMICAL
OBSERVATORY

:thumbsup:

[rcheshire]

"SNAKE VALLEY ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY"

Will be there :)

[ballaratdragons]

Mind you, the Observatories aren't actually built yet. :P
The Materials to build them are onsite, the slabs laid, etc. But they haven't actually been constructed yet.
We have the Club room and some observing slabs and lots of Observing grassed areas (and power), but no, no actual observatories yet. :thumbsup:

The sign is only so people can find us :)

[danielsun]

Not sure if I can make it yet. If I do, I will be taking auditions for the timelapse.:lol:

[ballaratdragons]

:rofl: :thumbsup:

Hope you make it :)

[barx1963]

Looks like I have a leave pass!:thumbsup:
Hope you make it up there Danielsun, was wanting to pick your brains a little about time lapses.

Malcolm

[ballaratdragons]

Excellent Malcolm, see you Friday night :thumbsup:

[ballaratdragons]

WARNING!!!

If you attend on Friday night you will be sent home with a bag of fresh 'home garden' grown Tomatoes! :rofl:

I grew too many and I am still picking approximately 5 kilo a day :lol:
I have given all the neighbours enough that they don't need any more.

They are grown TOTALLY chemical free :thumbsup:
I refuse to use pesticides or ANY other chemicals. Just water and Sun.

:thumbsup: :lol:

It's a bit like 'Hotel California'.
You can Check out, but you cannot leave, until you take a bag of Tomatoes! :rofl:

[The_bluester]

Bugger!

I would love to come again but with the ASV Messier night I would be in real strife (Two nights in a row!) particularly as it starts my busiest month of the year (Motorsport nut, a car club sprint, Phillip Island historic meet, Grand Prix over three successive weekends! Sort of uses up my leave passes for a bit)

[Nico13]

Mmmmmm Tomatoes, won't say no to those. :D
The little woman ( she hates it :mad2: when I call her that) says yes please.

Thanks Ken, see you tomorrow. :thumbsup:

Ken.

[Jen]

:lol::lol: Ken you could always make some tomato sauce :lol:

[rcheshire]

Looking forward to it tomatoes and all. What's a respectable time to turn up?

[ballaratdragons]

Does she want some giant spring onions too? I've got far too many of them as well :lol:



Jen, I could make several Gallons of Sauce, but nowhere to store it all :P
Then there is tomorrows Tomatoes, then the next day, then the next day . . .



7pm is a good time :thumbsup:

[rcheshire]

Yes to spring onions and Tomatoes - 7pm it is.

[ballaratdragons]

For an ACCURATE map, go to Google Maps. Enter Snake Valley Astronomical Association in the Address bar, and heyyyy Presto! :thumbsup:

[mishku]

Awwwww, so sad I can't make it! Have fun, guys :)

[barx1963]

Well that was good night. Thanks to Ken, the other Ken, Rowland, Darren and Martin for a really enjoyable night. Felt a bit lonely as the only purely visual observer there, but still good to have a bit of a look through Kens 8" SCT. Glad you liked the 34mm EP Ken.
Managed some nice observations, went throgh quite a few galaxies in Dorado and some in Hydra, nabbed Cent A naked eye and lots more.

Malcolm

[ballaratdragons]

Just got up. :P

Yep, it was a great club night again. The sky was fantastic. The best it has been for a very long time.
Angus had to leave early but the rest of us had a great view of the sky in a variety of ways.
Another enthusiastic new visitor (Michael) had to leave really early as he remembered just after he arrived that he was suppose to be at an Engagement party :lol:

Martin and Dazz were CCD imaging, Ken (niko) was using his DSLR and EP's, Rowland was DSLR'ing, Malcolm doing visual and a bit of naked eye, and me floating around between them all.
The images showing up on laptops and the back of cameras were outstanding! I can't wait to see them in here!
Especially Ken's (Niko) Virgo extreme widefield of galaxies :)

My daughter turned up for a while too, and said she is starting to gain a bit of interest.

I got a kick out of showing Malcolm how to spot Centaurus A galaxy naked eye. Most people don't believe you can see it, but once you do, it becomes obvious. It's a great test for seeing conditions, Transparency, dark sky and how good your eyes are :thumbsup:
At 6.8 Mag it is theoretically beyond the limit of the Human eye (unaided), but in a 6.5 sky (what we had last night) it is still visible.
I think I remember reading that it has something to do with Centaurus A's size and how we see all it's light as a near single (but fuzzy) point.

Anyway, Camp next month, then back to Club nights in April :thumbsup:

[rcheshire]

I didn't get to bed but managed a few power naps here and there. I had a good time despite being up since 5am - the the sky was fabulous.

Great seeing other equipment in action and peering through Malcolms 12" Dob. It was a struggle to stay awake at times, but managed to run the DSLR cooling at 7C continuously for 6 or 7 hours without a hitch.

Thanks to everyone for making me feel welcome.

Rowland.

[Nico13]

Just put some images up in the deep sky images area from Friday.
Still cant get DSS to work with my raw images correctly, it keeps wanting to throw out all but one, not a stack.
So I posted a selection of single frames for you to look at, hope you like them.

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=87235


Ken.

[danielsun]

Sounds like it was another great night as usual.:thumbsup: Unfortunately between doing my back and work, I missed out.:( But now really looking forward to next months camp.:)

BTW, Great pics Ken! :thumbsup:

[mill]

Two quick processed images from the clubnight.
Leo duo and NGC4945.

[danielsun]

Rippers Martin! Very smooth and detailed on my IPad here! :thumbsup:

Also missed out on some tomatoes.:( Ken, I love em, (especially home grown) and would have been more than happy to take some off your hands.

[ballaratdragons]

Wow, they turned out excellent Marty :thumbsup:

[Nico13]

Thanks for showing those Martin, seeing those images coming down the other night on your computer I thought you would have some good ones to show us and I was right they are great shots.

Ken.

[mill]

Thank you Daniel and Ken X 2 :)
This scope is great for galaxies.

[Jen]

:thumbsup::thumbsup: woah Martin lovely pics :thumbsup: I love the Leo duo its one of my favs :)

[mill]

Thank you Jen :)
But it is the Leo trio in real live.
I did this one from my home the night after SV club night.

[Jen]

:) awww thats better Martin the three of them arnt they just the cutest objects to see in one eyepiece ;)

[mill]

Hmm now what is that thing you call eye piece??
And how is your Johny going?

[Jen]

:lol: Johnny is going good he sitting in the bedroom waiting patiently to go on a trip to Snake Valley :lol:

[desler]

Your images worked well Marty! Long night and longish drive home!
Can't wait for camp!!!!!!!!!

Darren

[mill]

I refuse even trying to go into that because you left yourself open to too many remarks :rofl::rofl:



Thanks mate :thumbsup:
Yeh the drive home was interesting ;)
Not going to tell :lol:

[traveller]

Sounds like you all had WWWAAAYYYY too much fun.
Just wait until the March camp when I bring the rain :P