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Hi All,
I spent much of the day on the road heading back home. Wow, I didn't expect such a great response :-) I hope I can manage to respond to everyone ...
@xstream: Yes, the lights are a little bit annoying but there are still some good dark sections around the site. The biggest source of light pollution is from Narrabri itself (it's either the town or one of the refineries that's close to town and is lit up like a stadium) - these would effectively switch off close to midnight ... just as my camera would start to dew up :-(
@bartman: Thanks for your kind feedback. The bird (Apostlebird) playing with the twig was one of my favourites too ... unfortunately it fell out of focus in the latter parts but it was still hysterical watching it do its thing. They're not the prettiest bird out but they are fun to watch :-) The unison dish sequence is also one I like but it suffered from my tripod failure and so was quite shakey - I've tried all sorts of software to try and improve this in post-processing but none of it really helped as much as I would've liked. Interesting that you used the term "nodding" because this is actually the technical term we use for this kind of observing :-) The telescope goes between observing a nearby bright point-like source and the source of interest (the bright source is used to calibrate against instrumental and atmospheric effects).
@gary: Oh man, how do I respond to great feedback like that? I'm all red faced now ... or is that the red wine I just picked up from the Hunter Valley on the way home? I am amazed that you got my intentions spot on ... right down to the choice of music :-)
@bartman,@gary: Crikey - I'm not sure I'd ever be up there with such greats of the movie scene ... but I am having fun as an Editor ... famous or not :-)
@alexch: Thanks for the hint - I will definitely have to consider getting some of these next time I'm up there.
@h0ughy: The frogs are awesome - many live in the pot-plant pots on the second level of the control building (there are also a few scattered around between computers and cabling as well). I have absolutely no idea how they got there but each night they just half hang out of the pots waiting for insects to walk buy. They (along with the geckos) have been great companions over many a long nights at the observatory :-) There have also been snakes in the control room - they were not quite so welcome ... particularly the one they found under the toilet seat ... presumably looking for frogs ;-)
Cheers,
Emil.
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