March Pony Club

[Rick Petrie]

Any interested participants in a night this Saturday.
Moon will be rising around 2:30 Sunday morning.
Weather may be OK????

[GTB_an_Owl]

Geeeez

i hate to disappoint you Rick - but it is gunna PISK down on the mountain on the weekend :rain: honest!

geoff

[Rick Petrie]

Wasn't it you who quoted once 'anything outside three days was only a best guess'. and also 'it will clear'. Where's the faith gone mate???.:P

[GTB_an_Owl]

the phrase 'anything outside three days was only a best guess' is down to Rod - not me

and well you know just how i have become to trust 7Timer

geoff

[Rick Petrie]

Thanks mate. You're right, stand corrected.:P
But you will be there if it clears, OK.

[Deeno]

Count me in..........weather permitting

[Arthur Alchin]

Sorry but will be working till 1930 hrs then front u[ sunday morning at 0700 for work again.

[Zincberg]

Ill be there if the weather is fine.

[Inmykombi]

Maybe I will be in Sydney....Dont know yet.
But I will try my darndest to get there.:D

[Deeno]

Nice hair cut :wink2:

[gmbfilter]

Standing around getting pisk'd sounds OK

[Deeno]

Dunno 'bout getting pisk'd on but, it aint lookin' promising at moment....................:cloudy:

[Deeno]

Saturday Night
http://icons-ak.wxug.com/i/c/k/nt_fog.gifOvercast with a chance of rain after midnight. Fog overnight. Low of 17C. Winds from the South at 15 to 20 km/h. Breezy. Chance of rain 20% with rainfall amounts near 1.3 mm possible.

[Inmykombi]

Thanks Deeno.

I liked it, but the Mrs. didnt.:eyepop:
Needless to say I have hair again....

Sorry, I now know for sure I cant make Saturday night.
I have been whipped into submission....( I wish )

[Deeno]

Haven't invested a Harley and a few tats have you.....

[Rick Petrie]

Yeah...you're just a big 'cream puff'.:P

[mozzie]

jesus geoff your head looks like mine and that ain't good :lol::lol:

long time no speak !!!!!!!!!! how you been?????

[Irish stargazer]

It's my wife's birthday and yes it is also St Patricks day. Might be a bit pisk'd alright:drink::drink:

[Rick Petrie]

Well...all thoughts of a night at the PC washed out the window again.:shrug:
Maybe next week for some or next month for me??????????:rolleyes:

[Deeno]

Bugger.......again!

[mozzie]

same up here rick and deeno.had a few hours last night not looking good tonight !!!!!!!!

[Inmykombi]

:lol::lol::lol::lol:

[GTB_an_Owl]

clear your calendar and charge your batteries for saturday nite people


geoff

[Deeno]

Yes!
The Owl is enthusiastic.......

[Allan_L]

Hoot! Hoot! :thumbsup:

[gb_astro]

Count me in for Saturday.
Both Friday night and Sunday are looking clear too so that
should shorten the odds for a good Saturday.

Greg.

[erick]

Guess who is in meetings all weekend. :sadeyes:

ps. Allan, see attached. It has cleaned up just fine. I just need to fit some non-slip aluminium sheeting to the bottom of the tray and it's done.

[Allan_L]

Very Nice work, Eric. :thumbsup:
Hope she continues to serve you well!

Al

[Zincberg]

Count me in for this weekend... keen as mustard!

[Shano592]

I'm in. Looks the goods so far. It's been too long in coming.

[Irish stargazer]

Whohoo:D. Count me in

[Rick Petrie]

I'll be away for a couple of weeks but I sure wish you guys have a great night on Sat. Wish I could be there as it's looking like a cracker. Oh well, ..it happens. Maybe April NM. :thumbsup:

[Deeno]

Will certainly miss the 14 incher.........

Oh.......and you too.......'spose:poke:

Have a great trip!

[Allan_L]

Rick, Rick, Buddy!
you've got the timing all wrong!
Holiday during FULL Moon; Telescoping during NEW Moon!
What were you thinking?

Jo and I are just back from two weeks touring western Victoria and Central NSW. Where are you heading?
Be careful! The flow on effect of the recent rain is still causing trouble with roads cut and communities still recovering. Amazing how slow those Flood waters move, yet how devastating they can be.

Have a nice trip, and Be safe
al

[Rick Petrie]

Thanks Al, yeah bad timing...we are taking the van and going up to the Gold Coast to catch up to some relo's. Just generally taking it easy.
Geoff(inmykombi) and I had a great night earlier in the week and got some good sky and fantastic seeing here at home so I guess I had a bit of a fix that will ease some pain. Catch ya.:)

[Inmykombi]

Looks like I can sneak up for a short evening.
I will be in Sydney most of Saturday, and have visitors ealry Sunday for all day.

May bring my trusty 4.5 inch Meade....

I will have to leave early around 11 ish....

Here's hoping the weather is great.

[GTB_an_Owl]

am i brave enough to predict that we will get an "ALL NITER" on sat ?


Yesssssssss i am - here's hoping to see a sunrise on the way home :sunny:

have an afternoon nap kiddies :)

geoff

[Allan_L]

Yes Virginia, ....

This is about the best I have seen it for some time

[Deeno]

GOOD!!

'Bout bloody time

[Allan_L]

So how many starters do we have for tonight? :hi:

I plan on getting there around 7:30 plus or minus half an hour (we have the kids visiting so I can't rush out too early :) )

But I am not planning an all nighter.
12 midnight should be about enough for me (as I am basically scopeless nowadays).
[anyone coming with a 12 DOB for sale, may have a buyer]

Greg, are you coming tonight? I'll bring your book.

[RB]

I'll probably make a surprise visit tonight guys...... LOL

See you all there, got lots to catch up on.

:)

[Allan_L]

Hi RB.
Hope to see you tonight.
Wish "astro girl" a happy birthday from us all! :thumbsup:
At 14 I suppose she has other things than stars on her plans for toniight :)

[Deeno]

G'day stranger

I'll try to remember to be surprised

Nearly packed...........

[Irish stargazer]

I'll be there around 7pm. Is there a key holder going?

[GTB_an_Owl]

i aim to be there about 6-30

geoff

[Inmykombi]

On my way........

[Allan_L]

WOW!
What a turn out!
Great to "see" so many friends again. (Too many to list :thumbsup: )
Great to meet the neighbours, :welcome: Bryce (?) and his mum. Hope you enjoyed the night, and you are welcome to come again any time.
Why not join this forum and ask as many questions as you like.
Special thanks to David (racecar) and Jakob for sharing their nice views. :thanx:
See you next time Mother Nature smiles. :)

[RB]

So sorry everyone, last night I ended up crashing out on the couch, too tired from work.
I was so looking forward to catching up with all of you. :sadeyes:

Glad you had a great turnout.

[GTB_an_Owl]

yes a great turn out that was supposed to be a great nites seeing but
turned out to be a frustrating evening of clouds and other problems for some (like me)

i think Victor was the only one to capture a few frames from those on the dark side.
John and Jacob were kind enough to let our young visitor look through their scopes and Allan provided some bait to get him back over for future visits.

there was some talk of the planets looking good before the clouds spoilt things.

Deeno and i were the last to leave just before 3am

geoff

[Rodstar]

Great to hear you guys had a great night.

I have just returned from 6 days (5 nights) in the Coonabarabran region with my family, Phil Townsend and his family, John Gurkin and Anna Novak, and jjjnettie. We enjoyed 4 clear nights out of 5, just one night of cloud. So dark, so pristine. Seeing was a bit underwhelming, but still, we saw some awesome sights, especially many many beautiful galaxies.

[Shano592]

A good night out. The clouds weren't really so bad - there was a lot more clear than cloud!

I managed to get a bunch of short frames of 47 Tuc, and did a quick stack this afternoon. I think my scoope needs collimating, Andrew ...

[vic4loc]

It was a great turn out, was looking really promising at the start, but clouds started rolling over about 10pm or so, waited and it cleared after midnight, only to roll over again 1 hr after that. Managed to capture a single luminance shot of M83. The high clouds was playing havoc with the guiding as well, so stars are not perfectly round.

Also is a view from my corner of the field :)

Sorry I was quiet in my little corner, had some frustrating issues polar aligning with Alignmaster.

Info on the single Lum shot

Scope: LX90 8" with CCDT0.67
Mount: HEQ5
Camera: QSI 583WSG
Guiding: Orion SSAG
Exposure: 1 x 5 mins
Processing: Calibrate with darks/bias with MaximDL, minor processing in PS

Cropped about 70% and size reduce for upload to IIS.

Victor.

[Allan_L]

That is a VERY nice image Victor. :thumbsup:
(under difficult circumstances)
I like it a lot!

[Inmykombi]

Yes indeed Victor, I second Alan's comments about the galaxy being a very nice image.
Lots of detail and structure to be seen there for a single image...Good work.

Thanks to all who turned up to make it a great night.

Special thanks to Deeno for allowing me to operate ( caress ) his " rent-a-scope Dob and use his nice Panoptic eyepiece.

[Rick Petrie]

Glad you all had a good one. Nice views up here at Byron Bay of the Moon, Jupiter and Venus through binos. See yaz soon.:thumbsup:
Should be some good shots of it around soon.

[vic4loc]

Thanks Allan and Geoff, hopefully will get more chance to capture further subs and RGB components as well.

Again thanks for everybody that came up, it's nice to sit under the stars and listnen to the background chatters while waiting for the imaging :)

Victor.

[Deeno]

Great to see so many turn up!

All these months of ordinary weather seems to have people craving for a photon fix.
I must apologize for the unforcasted clouds. They tend to show up just after I polar align these days.....

Impressed to see Geoff competently operate a telescope that doesn't sound like a coffee grinder.

Hope you get those gremlins sorted for next time Mr Owl.

[Shano592]

So, is something happening this weekend, before the moon goes above 50%? I heard it being spoken of, in the bottom half of the paddock on Saturday.

[Deeno]

Mmmm...
I'm a gluton for punishment....if the weather is OK

[Shano592]

7-timer suggests fine, but very humid. Might need a few dew zappers.

[Allan_L]

LOL :rofl: Isn't that ... the very model of a modern amateur astronomer .... ;)

[Deeno]

Good grief!

I'm a contradiction :question: