A pity as our little boy has noticed the stars in the night sky from home, he's fascinated - and he's not even 2. Wants to go outside every night to look up as it gets dark.
Figures, I have company tomorrow evening. Will have to settle for LP'd backyard if I get a chance. Will be spending some quality time with the stars tonight though.
Disappointing. Haven't had a dark sky fix for about 5 months. On top of that we finally have decent weather.
Maybe a visit to MT Blackheath is still open to us? Not sure if anyone wants to go though.
Disappointing. Haven't had a dark sky fix for about 5 months. On top of that we finally have decent weather.
Maybe a visit to MT Blackheath is still open to us? Not sure if anyone wants to go though.
Hi Adrian
Welcome to come along to a semi dark sky fix at Linden tonight.
It was good. A lot's changed since I was last there. Lots of tree's removed. Also the 30 inch is up and running and working like a charm. Had some decent seeing for a while. Got some great views of Jupiter through the 30 and our scopes. A shadow transit followed by the GRS - top stuff. Met a lot of new people as well. Club house is now opened and stocked with tea and coffee. Relatively speaking quite a lot of observing space too.
Is the sky as good as the airfield? Not even close. But, its still semi dark and the Magellanic clouds are easily naked eye. Only a 45 min drive for me from Toongabbie. East to about 40-45 degrees above the horizon is washed out but the rest of the sky is good. The view north is completely unobstructed. Made cruising through Leo easy. That being said had trouble seeing the mag 13-14 galaxies. Darker sky's needed for that. Sombrero galaxy looked surprisingly detailed as it rose over the Sydney light dome.
All-in-all a decent site to head to when the airfield is unavailable. I'll be joining the club. Access to a 30" scope is worth the price of admission.
Also met Arief and enjoyed the views in his Tak CN-212. Also spent some time using someones (can't remember his name) Tak TSA102 - what a scope! I under stand why people are willing to pay the premium.
