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Hi all,
What a great night! Wonderful to see so many people. Looking forward to seeing Jakob's group photo. A few arrived later after the group photo was taken, but most people are in it.
Conditions were pretty much ideal until the dew kicked in at about 11. The transparency was excellent, and seeing very still (which of course contributed to the dew). By midnight my shroud was absolutely drenched, and, uncommonly for the Mary Rose, the primary mirror was all fogged up as well.
It was great to have Bambo and Phil sharing the Mary Rose with me. I convinced John that TPAS run was not required. John had an appetite for galaxies, so we chewed through quite a few, including my favourite NGC1365 in Fornax and one of John's favourite's NGC1566, a lovely spiral. The Humunculous was spectacular - lots of details in the lobes were visible without any effort or averted imagination required. We also chewed through quite a few crisps, and some of us enjoyed a drop of Makers 46 (yum).
Also good to see Ron this time with his 8 inch dob - he was able to locate a few object such as NGC253 and Eta Carinae for the first time which was a buzz for him.
Jupiter yielded some lovely tight views through the evening. M42 was spectacular - E and F were visible in twilight, and the pallet of colours came in to full force by mid-evening.
I will be in Coonabaraban next new moon for a week's concentrated observing with John (XStream) and Anna. Looking forward to it!
Hope to see you all in late April!
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