Quote:
Originally Posted by hector
Im at the gate and no one is here, looks like a good night. you guys miss out
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Good morning all,
A small group of us started this Central Coast observing group off almost 8 years ago. We had a close knit regular group which was:
Mike Salway (Iceman)
Rod Berry (Rodstar)
Louis Atalisidis (Atalas)
Andrew Murrell (Hector)
Gary Kopff (Gary)
Andrew (Froggy)
Wayne (Trufflehunter)
John Bambury (Ausastronomer)
Andrew Catsaitis (Rocket Boy)
On occasions we would be joined by
Ed Roca and George Livanos (Orion)
Mark Suchting (Satchmo)
Joe (cant remember his handle)
Daniel Beringer from Frontier Optics also joined us a few times.
We observed at the Paintball Place at Kulnurra at least once a month and usually twice a month. We were given Carte Blanche access to the bottom field by the owner Brian.
WE DID NOT NEED A KEY. There were no gates on the access drive to the bottom field, so we just drove in. We could use it any night of the week if we wished, although generally we would only go on a Saturday night and sometimes on a Friday. We just had to phone and tell them someone was coming out to observe. The site was excellent considering it was less than 15 minutes from the Somersby exit on the Freeway. The skies were pretty dark (400 times darker than PC), there were no surrounding lights and there was a nice ring of trees to keep out any stray light from Gosford and passing cars.
A few newcomers joined the group and for whatever reason decided the Pony Club would be a better site. How they figured that is beyond me, because to be honest IMO it has zero going for it. Annoying lights in several directions, very ordinary skies due to its closer proximity to Gosford and the surrounding housing, and sometimes horseshyt all over the place. More importantly, you need a key to get in and only selected people have one. It has a warm cosy shed, but to be honest if you're not serious about observing and just want the comforts of home, it would be easier to wheel your scope out of the garage and invite your friends around to your house for astronomy, beer and coffee. They will see almost as much as you can at the PC.
What I find to be ironic is that Andrew Murrell is one the most skilled visual observers on the planet. He has had published a number of magazine articles, over many years. Notably on the Magellanic Clouds and Wolf-Rayet Stars. He has made significant contributions to several notable well read Astronomy books including The Caldwell Objects by Steve O'Meara, The Night Sky Observers' Guide by Keppell and Sanner and several others. He has also made significant contributions to several star Atlases. Most notably he discovered a planetary nebula in Norma, which is now named after him (Murrell 1).
Andrew turns up to observe and can't get in, so he turns around and drives home again. Rod Berry and Phil Townsend were also going to go out there, but decided not to, as they knew at the last minute no one was going to be there to open the gate. How cool is it when 2 of the original Central Coast group (one of them probably the best observer in the Southern Hemisphere) can't get in to the site to observe.
I can only say what started off almost 8 years ago as a really good thing, has gone notably down hill.
I think a few more keys need to be handed out or a few people at least need to be prepared to get off their butts and go and open the gate.
Dummy Spit now turned off again.
Cheers,
John B