Blue Mountains -Katoomba Airfield, 16th or 23rd of June?

[mental4astro]

Hi all,

The June New Moon gives us two possible dates for a session at the Airfield. Thing is, which one, the 16th or the 23rd?

Should we aim for the 16th and keep the 23rd as a back-up?

Do both?

Or just the 23rd?

Any ideas?

I for one cannot do both, and if we do both someone will need to look after Rod on one of the dates.

[GeoffW1]

Hi,

I could not manage both. I'd set it for the 16th and then look hard at the weather with the 23rd as a backup for that.

Cheers

[erick]

I can maybe come 16th, not on 23rd.

[Steffen]

I should try to manage either. Let's plan for the 16th and leave the 23rd as backup (or bonus). I can barely remember how to set up my scope… :shrug:

[AG Hybrid]

16th it is.

[mental4astro]

Ok, I'll call Rod for the 16th with the 23rd as a backup.

[mental4astro]

I've spoken with Rod & we have the ok for the 16th with the 23rd as a backup night.

I asked him how things were with this nasty weather, and in his understated way laughed & said "oh, there are a few things rattling.". He's gonna be busy with the chainsaw though when it clears.

[Wavytone]

LOL... Saturday 9th was absolutely superb - very clear with a light westerly under 5 knots all day (I was paragliding, climbed out to 2000 metres) followed by a clear cold night.

A week ago it was a howling westerly for 3 days - Mt Boyce readings were 50-60 knots Friday - Sunday so yes I am sure there were a few rattles !!!

So... fingers crossed for a rerun.

[Steffen]

I have all possible appendages crossed that at least one of the two weekends will give us some decent weather. I got the old Mak collimated as never before, down to the perfect Airy disk, and I'm burning to try out the new polar alignment correction feature that came with the latest SynScan firmware update.

The Venus transit has been nice to me, but now I need some starrrrrs :astron:

Cheers
Steffen.

[mental4astro]

Any chance someone could bring some firewood? The stuff there would be very wet after the dumping we've had.

[dulwich.hill]

I am keen to come to either night, the weather doesn't look promising this weekend. If cloudy, then I'll see you on the 23rd.

James

[erick]

I'm now a no-show for both Saturdays, sadly. Family stuff has arisen for this weekend. I feel a bit better now I've checked the weather forecast :sadeyes:

[mental4astro]

Hopefully next weekend is better.

[dulwich.hill]

Hi Alex,

Are we still on for Saturday 23 June if the weather is good?

James

[Steffen]

So far the forecasts look splendid, although there could be a sliver of cloud encroaching from the east. If the only cloud far and wide turns out to hang over the air field (we've had that before) we can seek refuge at Linden or some other place.

[mental4astro]

Like you Steffen, looking very good!

Everything is go with the Airfield for this Saturday.

If you haven't been to the Airfield before and would like to come along, access to the Airfield is via Medlow Bath, turning into Railway Parade at the Villiage's only set of lights, and then left into Rutland (also known as Grand Canyon Dr). The Airfield is some 4km from this intersection, with the last 3km being an unsealed road that can have some damage from erosion.

We are welcome to stay overnight in the office building - just take your own blankets or sleeping bag. With the cooling weather, the combustion heater may well get a work out this weekend. It WILL be cold!

The Airfield is purely a BYO situation - your own power, food. Tank water is available. There's loos for the kids and ladies.

Once at the Airfield, take the LEFT hand track and follow it past the "No Entry" sign. Turn right up the hill past the various buildings to the main runway. We set up on the concrete slab just to the left of the access track. The picture below may help out.

The Airfield sits at 1000m above sea level. The sky glow of Sydney while present, is surprisingly reduced at this elevation! Something to consider.

117859

[GeoffW1]

Apologies,

I have just been knocked out of the program due to grandchild duties. They are lovable little vegemites so it is not all bad.

Cheers

[vic4loc]

So far looking good for me to make it as well on Sat.

Victor.

[Steffen]

I can bring some wood, what do we need for that heater - kindling, logs, hotrox?

Cheers
Steffen.

[eclipse]

At this stage we are planning to go to Wiruna, so will not be able to see you on saturday, hope we all get some good weather without being too cold.
Les and Deb

[erick]

meeting all weekend :sadeyes:

Enjoy yourselves. :)

[mental4astro]

Just the fire wood is fine. I called Rod and there is plenty of kindling up there.

[lacad01]

Have a great night chaps, won't be able to make it.

[mental4astro]

:sad::sad::sad::sad:

I can't make it!

:sad::sad::sad::sad:

[AG Hybrid]

Sad. I'm working :(

[vic4loc]

Steffen & his son, James and myself turned up. It was a beautiful clear night, but wind was howling which made viewing pretty bad, imaging was out of the question.

It was cold! the wind chilled me to the bone. I came with my ski outfit, but only a track pants with thermo, but was still so cold. At around 10pm, we decided to pack up & go home.

Thank you to James who let me view through his C11 and those magnificent Televue eye pieces :)

Victor.

[Steffen]

I enjoyed the night as well. The wind didn't seem to bother my 6" Mak (or myself) much at all, but I would have wished for somewhat better transparency and seeing. However, with so few clear moonless Saturday nights lately (and I really mean in the last year or so) I was grateful for what I got.

None of us were prepared to fix up Rod for the privilege of using the site, we'll have to make that up next time somehow.

Cheers
Steffen.

[Rat]

Hi Guy's
I hope to make it out there with you all one of these nights maybe when the weather gets warmer.


I am only new to all this so trying to lean as much as I can.
Can you tell me what you mean by “better transparency”
I would just like to lean what other elements can affect the viewing.
So even though the night was clear of clouds there was some other element effecting the transparency? or was it the wind ?

If it was the wind does it affect us by only shaking the tele or by affecting the air in some way?

I got some time off on Saturday night and went out for a look up as well and froze solid and gave up around 1:30am


Hope I am not being a pain. Thanks for any help
William

[Steffen]

Transparency basically means the blackness of the sky and limits the extent to which fainter objects are still visible. It is made worse by particles in the air (dust, mist) and light pollution.

Wind at ground level can be an issue for large or under-supported scopes if it is strong enough to shake the scope.

Turbulence in higher atmospheric layers leads to an unsteady view and makes fine details move around and go in and out of focus. That's what is referred to as seeing.

I hope this helps, I'm sure others can provide a more accurate description of the phenomena involved.

Cheers
Steffen.

[gregbradley]

Not quite:

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O80-transparencyatmospheric.html

It refers to the amount of light from celestial objects that arrives at your viewing location through pollutants, dust etc.

Blackness of sky would be a function of lack of light pollution.

Greg.

[Steffen]

Yes, I suppose that's true in a strict sense. I believe both phenomena go back to the same cause – pollutants in the air. Without those light pollution wouldn't matter, the street lights would just shine out into space without scattering and lighting up the whole sky.

Cheers
Steffen.