Blue Mountains, Katoomba Airfield Oct 13th

[mental4astro]

Hi all,

The Airfield is being made available to us on Saturday October 13. Many thanks Rod.

I am so very photon withdrawn at the moment, :( . My nervous tick is rampant, rashes are appearing, I can't sleep and I start crying every time I walk past my scopes. :sadeyes: One night I found myself setting up a scope in my kids room hallucinating that the glow in the dark stars painted on the ceiling of their room was a clear sky! :screwy: Not good.

The Airfield sits some 1000m above sea level, and it is surprising how reduced the Sydney sky glow is due to this elevation.

Like to come? Please do. Scope or no scope, it doesn't matter, your enthusiasm is enough. There are plenty of scopes present, and plenty of helpful folks. The Airfield though is totally BYO power, food, water, etc. There are loos for ladies and kids, and we are welcome to stay overnight. We can also sleep in the main office building where there also is a combustion heater that is fired up when it is very cold up the during the evening.

If you haven't been to the Airfield before, access is via Medlow Bath. A google search will find it easily. One note, the road leading to the Airfield is 4km, of which the last 3km is unsealed and can have some erosion damage due to rain - take it easy.

On entering the Airfield's gate, turn LEFT and go past the "no entry" sign, and then turn right up past the various buildings to the main runway and the concrete slab we set up on. The picture below will give you some guidance.

Last note, if you are unfamiliar with Star Parties, please make sure that your torch/s are covered with red celophane, as red light causes the least amount to disruption to night vision.

I hope to make it there before sunset. There is no "quitting time", other than when you've had enough!

Hope to see you there.

Mental.

[AG Hybrid]

See you there.

[ourkind]

Tentative ... but I will let you know closer to the date :D

[erick]

Yep, it's in my diary. Thanks Alex.

[lacad01]

Likewise added to diary, here's hoping for a clear night :prey:

[mental4astro]

Weather is looking 50/50 for Saturday night. I guess only closer to the date will be necessary. Even on the day I'll check with Rod at the Airfield for his thoughts as so far the forecast, depending on where you look, tends to a clear Saturday night or overcast, :shrug:

[erick]

:-( again.......

[mental4astro]

I'm keeping my options open to the last minute. If there's a chance it's clearing I may well head up.

If stuffed, I'll be fishing at Coogee Beach that night.

[erick]

Just checked - unless the weather runs later than predicted, should be OK. A bit wet underfoot, that's all. I'm planning to come.

[mental4astro]

Great! Will be good catch up with you Eric.

A couple of years back we arrived at Wentworth Falls for dinner before heading to the Airfield when the grand-daddy of all storms hit! We couldn't see across the street the rainfall has so intense. We finished dinner and the rain was just barely a light drizzle. We stopped at the Katoomba Hotel for a drink as I had a feeling things were changing. Half an hour later, we had one of the clearest nights up at the Mountains! The concrete slab we set up on is a real bonus too for this eventuallity.

For those who would like to come but don't have a telescope, I can bring along a second one with me. Just let me know if you'd like to use it or it'll just stay home.

[AstroJason]

Hey guys, I have been thinking about this all week and I might come along (dependant on the weather). Adam mentioned to me last weekend in my introduction post (in the beginners astrophotography forum) that he was bringing out his Vixen Polarie and I wouldn’t mind checking that out. Also I am just really keen to get under a dark, moonless sky and take a couple shots with my wide angle lens on my 60D. I was hoping the remote shutter I bought off ebay would arrive this week so I could use it but it hasn’t arrived yet :(

So can I be put down as tentative for now and I will confirm on the day? (once we know if the weather will be good).

Cheers,

Jason

[erick]

Forecast is now for "mostly clear" to "clear" 9pm to sunrise! Last rain - showers at 4pm

[AG Hybrid]

Fingers crossed :)

[ourkind]

In-laws have sprung up out nowhere for the weekend :shrug:

Clear skies guys.

[mental4astro]

Sofruta de los suegros, Carlos.

It's gonna be cold I reckon if we go, :cold: The combustion heater is gonna be a popular meeting spot! :campfire:

[lacad01]

Don't mind the cold as long as it's a clear night & no dew ;)

[mental4astro]

Just spoke with Rod, says there's 4" of snow up there & it's still snowing! He's been there for 10 years and has never seen it that deep in all this time.

[AG Hybrid]

OK thats bad!

[Poita]

Yep, Earl is currently stuck at Mt Tomah on his way here to pick up the C8, says the roads are blocked and the snow is deep!

[AstroJason]

Incredible. All this rain and snow must be my fault because all I wanted was to get back into the hobby. It's always the way! Show an interest and in come the clouds! :P Sorry guys my bad! Or maybe its Earl's fault for buying your scope?!

[Poita]

I blame Earl.

[erick]

It'll be right - I gotta broom!

[Wavytone]

I'm a "maybe" depending on a few things during the day... might come for a short look rather than bringing scope.

[AstroJason]

Weather is looking good. Just a bit worried about the roads though. Would they be icey? And what would the condition of that 3km unsealed road be like?

[Wavytone]

Don't fret about the snow - it's just about gone - it's already 7 degrees in Blackheath.
The road is as it always was - bumpy with potholes and corrugations.

Bring thermals - it will be cold tonight.

[AstroJason]

Great if thats the case Im pretty sure ill be coming along.

[AG Hybrid]

Sweet! Can't wait! Hopefully the weather holds.

[mental4astro]

Just spoke with Rod: snow's all gone & looking good for tonight. Some broken cloud tending to clear.

Well, time for me to pack.

I'm giving myself three hours to get there today, :mad2: . Traffic on Saturday arvos is appalling both in town & with the road works in the Mountains. Takes me only an hour and a half to get home when there's no one else on the road.

[Wavytone]

Hi all, I'm at Blackheath (paragliding) west of Medlow and its not looking so good - 7/8 cloud cover and its thick cumulus.

The wind is almost nil.

I'll hang around here till 6 but I'm not hopeful of it clearing.

[mental4astro]

If it does clear it may not be until late.

50/50 now if I go. I don't know now if I'm willing to deal with this ****e now. Three hour drive for a "don't know when it will clear" for then only a few hours in the early morning.

I'll leave my departure til later now & see what Wavy says.

[mental4astro]

Or weather app says clear from 12 midnight.

[AstroJason]

Yeah Im seeing the same thing on AccuWeather Alex. Clear after midnight. I was always planning to leave at about 4pm... Not sure what to do now

[AG Hybrid]

Damn. Thwarted again. Judging by the Satellite map from BoM it's only going to get worst. A bit hard to tell though.

[AG Hybrid]

Weather zone said mostly cloudy till past mid-night too. Perhapes a reschedule for next Saturday?

[mental4astro]

Nah, no good.

Change in wind direction and the saturated air has condensed the moisture to cloud. May clear, but I'm now not prepared to go up.

Adrian, I can't make next weekend. November 17 is the next New Moon weekend. I couldn't make it before then.

Funny thing is it's clear in town, the whole Sydney basin actually. Might set up at home. Happy to host someone if they like. I'm in Maroubra. PM meir you'd like to.

<sigh> :sadeyes:

[AstroJason]

Alright I think Im out, mate just handed me a beer. Good luck guys if you do end up out there. Hope you get some good clear skies! If not, i'll be interested to try again next saturday if the airfield is available.

[AG Hybrid]

Well, if its clear I'll just setup out the back then.

[lacad01]

This must be the third time we've had to bail :( Or to clarify even making the trek up only for the cloud to make a no show of things...

[mental4astro]

News flash: the ever stoic Eric is at the Airfield now!

Spoke with him & says he's staying for the long haul as he feels it's going to clear. I reckon it will, but again not til late. May go now. Bugger. I'll have dinner at home & call him afterwards and see. Traffic will be lighter then too.

[lacad01]

Hmmm...I'll watch this post eagerly - I just had a quick check of the Scenic world webcam and hard to tell whether the cloud is clearing or what :shrug:

[AG Hybrid]

Watching this space eagerly. Will load up my car just in case.

[mental4astro]

Latest update from Eric: Cloud coming and going. Sun peering underneath the western cover.

He's happy to stay. "It's either up here and maybe get lucky, but I know I won't see stars from home."

I'll see in a little while more.

[AG Hybrid]

noted

[AG Hybrid]

Any updates?

Edit: BOM radar shows its been raining there. I tried the camera at 3 Sisters and theres water on it lol. I think thats the deal breaker.

[Wavytone]

Bad news - weather forecast is overnight showers clearing tomorrow morning.

The cloud is spreading east - clouding over here in Killara (7:30). Looks like its clouynights.com for me.

[mental4astro]

No change & rain.

Doubt if it will clear here now too. I'm off to Coogee beach for a fish.

[icytailmark]

the weather should of cleared up by now. Very weird its been warm and sunny in sydney today

[Wavytone]

A few things were evident while I was flying my paraglider:

a) although there is a nice big fat high pressure system right over us, there is a very unstable boundary layer at 3,000 metres which is the cloud base - the aerological diagrams show a massive inversion layer and strong cross-winds at that level. Paragliding today we could get to the cloud base but it was very rough turbulence, and no higher.

b) after the storm the previous night, some snow remained on the ground even at 2pm from Leura to Mt Victoria, and quite a lot of water around on the ground. It was quite wet past Lithgow. Meaning the air over the mountains is saturated with moisture.

c) in the prevailing westerly airflow the blue mountains force the air up, so it cools, and clouds form. As the air passes over the eastern side (the Hawkesbury) it descends and warms up enough that the cloud disperses. This was going on all day, though in the late afternoon things were cooling down and the cloud now extends over Sydney.

BTW the satellite photos show it was/is clear west of about Orange, all day.

Sunday should be a nice clear day in the mountains.

[lacad01]

Well I bit the bullet and decided to go up and arrived at after 8PM - it did manage to clear a bit but was frustrating with the stop/go of cloud however when we did have a clear view it wasn't too bad. I took some wide field shots of milky way & smc/lmc which I'll post up later on but pulled stumps at around 11pm. Eric stayed on for the long haul.

[AstroJason]

Nice Adam, looking forward to seeing the shots. Obviously used your Polarie?

[lacad01]

No just fixed tripod because the weather was dubious. Was looking hopeful for a while so I then set up the Polarie, polar aligned, swung the camera around to...cloud, doh...waiting, waiting, nup, packed up and called it a night :(

[erick]

And it did! :thumbsup:

Set up in about 80% cloud at 5:30pm, but with strong sunny breaks. However it was raining by 7pm. No more rain after that but complete cloud cover coming and going while Adam was there. Until midnight when all cleared to a beautiful sky. Seeing was good. Transparency excellent. I had a lovely few hours observing (M31 still looks boring) until the chill started to set in. I had anticipated 4-5 deg C, but had 0-1 deg C. Needed one more layer on my legs than I had brought. Packed up wet and on the road by about 4:30am.

Very happy. First Orion Nebula viewing of the season. Reconnected with Jupiter. Tracked down NGC 134 as recommended by Les in Oz S&T. I still like NGC 253 more, sorry. Mostly old favourite time - not dark enough for challenging targets. The three globulars in Tucana were spectacularly good last night.

First time I've driven past snow to go observing! Rain, dust, smoke, flood - yes, but not snow! Found a few small patches on the airfield, but didn't have to shovel it of the slab.

Drove home to the lovely sight of the Morning Star and a lovely crescent Moon, until Sydney cloud obscured them. My drive is 1 hr 50 min when there is no traffic.

Feelin' good - it's been a long time between photons. :)

[mental4astro]

As it happened back in April the first time you came up, Eric. I'm glad someone got a fix :)

[AstroJason]

Thats a shame mate, especially considering you set it up and polar aligned it all. But at least you got out there and got some shots, be it from a fixed tripod. Hopefully next time the clouds will be kinder!

Erick sounds like you had a good observing run. How many layers of clothes did you have? Never being out there myself I was thinking 3 layers would be enough?

[lacad01]

Here's a couple from last night not that crash hot :( You can see the light pollution from Katoomba in the SMC/LMC shot...

[AstroJason]

They look great mate, I'd be very happy with those! Surprised at how clear it got, kind of makes me regret not going. The Katoomba light pollution is a worry. Only going to get worse I imagine :(

[erick]

Jason, I had thermal "long johns" plus trakkie dacs on my legs. I could have used a pair of jeans pulled over that. I had five layers on top. I didn't have to go full gloves or fur-lined flying helmet. They are reserved for sub-zero.

[mental4astro]

The light pollution from Katoomba is there, but not impossible. It's 'glow dome' is actually small. Also Adam's pics show that there was a lot of moisture in the air at the time too. More moisture makes the glow brighter and larger. Sydney's glow dome is larger in size, but at the eleveation we are it is not really brighter than that of Katoomba.

When we do get those dry evenings, the glow dome is very much smaller. M33 becomes a naked eye object and you can also make out various objects within the LMC apart from the Tarantula Nebula, and the LMC is always located close to the Katoomba glow dome.

This failed night for me will now make 12months straight of no New Moon Observing, except for the three hours I pinched in April. And wouldn't you know it, Sunday night was an absolute screamer!!! The last full night's observing I managed was at last year's IIS Astro Camp - fantastic event it was too, and I'm eagerly awaiting next year's.

The combustion heater in the office is one of the most precious items at the Airfield too, :lol: . It is the most frequented place on those freezing nights, :D

[erick]

Agreed, for a site so close to Sydney, it is really excellent. Yes, it's the elevation that really helps.

[lacad01]

I should clarify - observing from the airfield is HEAPS better than from where I live, there's no comparison :) Was just an observation and probably exasperated by the photo. What did peeve me off is that stupid beacon which shines right up into the sky from Scenic World :(

[AstroJason]

And without a doubt its better than living at olympic park! Really looking forward to getting out there some time soon! Alex, I can't believe you have been that unlucky and missed 12 months worth, and isn't it always the way... Sunday night was brilliant. I managed to get some stairtrail shots in. Will post them up tonight