Hi DSB and All,
Yeah it was a lovely night and all had a very nice time I think. After mid-might it was the darkest Bargo sky I can remember for quite a long time. The SQM/L readings I took at about midnight showed 21.53 -- A ZLM of +6.4. I think I might have to get down there more often on a Sunday night instead of Saturday!
The football cluster you refer to is NGC 3532 -- which I seem to remember Herschel thought was an exceptionally impressive object -- and it is. It is best seen in 8-10" 'scopes.
It turns out that the MASH PNe (PNG 285.5-03.3 = PHR 1019-6059) we saw in Carina (unbeknownst to us all) was seen for the first time ever by Lynton Hemer in South Australia only the night before using Ian Bedford's 30" 'scope -- so we were beaten there unfortunately. It probably remains to John B & Hector as to whether they saw it even earlier (I think John & Hector are currently observing at "Coona").
DSB's collimation issues and mirror cell problems were all sorted out very early in the evening and the collapsible 10" works wonderfully well -- yes? And "
DarkskyBondi now appreciates that the sky at Bondi isn't really dark at all.
Very nice Iridium flare at mag -8 --
even for me!
There was one other little object detected that you might hear a little more about in due course. It seems member of this forum (not me -- and who has already reported his discovery elsewhere and it is being investigated at the AAO) has serendipitously discovered a "new" small reflection nebula surrounding a naked-eye star in the southern sky via a blue-plate inspection, while he was in the course of researching another project.
Two observers including myself believe we detected a portion of the new nebula at about 2.30am. If it all turns out as we think, this small nebula may turn out to be the
closest illuminated nebula to our solar-system at only 40-odd parsecs (130ly) distance -- so there you go!
No recorded observations made last night -- there was simply too much fun to be had! DSB summed it up pretty well! We all had a ball and that's what it's all about!
Best,
Les D