Broken Hill Robinson College Astronomy Group

Quark (Trevor) · #1 28-02-2009, 12:36 PM

Broken Hill Robinson College Astro Group Observing Report.
Last night 27th Feb we had our first observing night for semester 1.
We observed at a remote site about 7 km out of town on the Menindee road and about 1 km in on a dirt track to a clearing nestled behind the brow of a hill. This is a nice spot that is shielded from any traffic on the Menindee road. Fellow IIS’er Kevnool set up his most excellent 16” Dob and I took my 12” Lightbridge. A reporter from our local ABC radio attended and interviewed members of the group through the night as they observed various objects. Along for the first time were a couple of old dears, I think in their eighties. Kev and I ran a tour, each of us on different targets. It is just so satisfying when someone, regardless of their age, look through your scope for the first time at a showpiece object and lets out an almost involuntary whoop of delight for what they see.
The night started with some high cloud but as it cleared; even though the temperature was still around 30 C the stars were incredible steady almost to the horizon. The Tarantula looked stunning and even these dear old ladies could see the structure of it, it blew them away that a little patch of fuzz could resolve into such an intricate and detailed structure. As they observed I explained to them just what this object was, how large and how far away, they loved it and Emma from the ABC recorded their comments and exclamations of delight at the eyepiece.
Over the night our group observed Lulin, Saturn, M42, M46, M45, esb 365 they couldn’t believe how red this was, The Tarantula, The Key Hole with and without an OIII filter, The Jewel Box, Tuc 47, Omega Cent, Cent A, The Eight Burst Neb, The Ghost of Jupiter and more.
They headed of about 11pm but Kev and I continued through to 1.30am. The seeing was stunning, I have had the pleasure of observing through some very nice scopes at the SPSP with the ASNSW scope, a 17” in think, Andrew Murells famous Hector and Peter Bobroffs, I think 20”. However the view through Kevs 16” with a 7mm Orthoscopic, on this night, was the best view I have ever seen of The Homunculus. The detail and contrast with the adjacent dust lane was incredible and the fine dark veins in the Homunculus were just so well resolved that it looked like an image from a high end CCD, it was astonishing.
I slipped in my 31mm Nagler and looked at the galaxies in the field around M86. Everyone with a copy of The Herald Bobroff Astro Atlas would be familiar with this region as there is an inset photo of this field on the cover showing 9 galaxies in the field. The 31mm Nagler in my 12” Dob is a larger field than that image and easily picks up those 9 plus a few more. Slipped in a Meade series 4000 14mm UW, love this eyepiece and do most of my observing with it. Scanned around the M86 region having a more detailed look at the assortment of galaxies in the area.
We took the time to sit down and crack a can and just look up and admire the sky, then slowly packed up and headed back into Broken Hill after a most satisfying observing night.
Regards
Trevor

Kevnool (Kev) · #2 28-02-2009, 01:50 PM

Great report Trevor.
I only wish that i could write as long as you.
I say it all the time as you all agree, It gives great satisfaction when a newbie arrives to the eyepiece only to be greeted with OH WOW when there first view is a showcase object.
It was a grand night.

The Homonculas as Trevor said with the 7mm orthoscopic was simply stunning , the left and right lobes with the dust lanes, Never tried that magnification on that object before .......Pristine.....I,m stoked.

Great night.....Cheers Kev.

Liz · #3 28-02-2009, 06:55 PM

Sounded like a fabulous night, well done guys .... and well done for looking after the DOLs

Rodstar (Rod) · #4 01-03-2009, 01:08 PM

Sounds like one of those rare nights where the seeing is top notch, and everything falls into place. I wish I could have been there guys....

It is great that your first session together was such a great success. Nothing like a positive experience like that to keep people coming back.

Please post any media coverage arising from the attendance by the reporter. It will be interesting to see how the experience is portrayed by the ABC journo.

My family still has plans to come to BH. The airfares are just so absurdly expensive that we have had to ditch the idea of flying, and we are planning a driving holiday there instead, sometime in early 2010. Hopefully it will co-incide with one your observing nights.

Kevnool (Kev) · #5 01-03-2009, 01:19 PM

Hey Rod we have been observing for a few years Trevor and I ,But its when our astronomy group get together is when all the wow factors come into play.

I did mention you on that night Rod and i told Trev that one day you would be coming through Broken Hill and would like to go observing with us.

IIS seems to be a regular topic when we get together as well as most other topics relating to astronomy.

Thanks Rod and give us a hoy when you pass bye.
Cheers Kev.

gary · #6 02-03-2009, 12:29 PM

Hi Trevor,

Thanks for the first-class observing report and fabulous to hear that the
seeing absolutely was "switched on" for you during the night.

Sounds like one of those rare magical nights where you can just keep throwing
magnification at an object and it just keeps delivering.

Well done on the public outreach component of the night including the
reporting by ABC Radio.

How about Saturn? Did you get to show anyone their first ever view of Saturn
on the evening?

Thanks again for letting us re-live the night through your words and all the
best to you and Kev for many great nights ahead!

Best Regards

Gary
Mt. Kuring-Gai

Dennis · #7 02-03-2009, 12:41 PM

Great report Trevor - thanks; very enjoyable reading tinged with some dark sky and equipment envy!

Cheers

Dennis

gary · #8 02-03-2009, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rodstar

My family still has plans to come to BH. The airfares are just so absurdly expensive that we have had to ditch the idea of flying, and we are planning a driving holiday there instead, sometime in early 2010. Hopefully it will co-incide with one your observing nights.

Hi Rod,

Wholeheartedly recommend the road trip to BH and there is plenty of nice
scenery along the way. In fact, I find that transition of the darker soils
here on the coast to the red soil, dust and sand of inland Australia one of the
more satisfying experiences of the road journey. There is even something relaxing
about how the quality of the sunlight changes along the way.

A trip to BH and its surrounds is well worth it in its own rights and undoubtedly
Trevor & Kev could make some suggestions of attractions in the greater area.
Perhaps a side-trip to Lake Menindee.

Another suggestion is after Broken Hill, push further west into South Australia
and go exploring around the fabulous Flinders Ranges and Wilpena Pound.
The scenery is some of the best that the country has to offer and both
camping and motel accommodation is available. Further north still another
possibility would be to go to the Arkaroola Resort which has its own
observatory. All these locations are accessible in your people-mover van.

One possibility would be to talk to Doug Sprigg at Arkaroola Resort who might
be able to arrange to fly to Broken Hill and pick you and the family up and
fly you to the resort. Scenic overflights of Lake Eyre, the Flinders and
other scenic attractions could then be made from Arkaroola plus you
can do some observing at night!

Best Regards

Gary

Quark (Trevor) · #9 02-03-2009, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rodstar

Sounds like one of those rare nights where the seeing is top notch, and everything falls into place. I wish I could have been there guys....

It is great that your first session together was such a great success. Nothing like a positive experience like that to keep people coming back.

Please post any media coverage arising from the attendance by the reporter. It will be interesting to see how the experience is portrayed by the ABC journo.

My family still has plans to come to BH. The airfares are just so absurdly expensive that we have had to ditch the idea of flying, and we are planning a driving holiday there instead, sometime in early 2010. Hopefully it will co-incide with one your observing nights.

Hi Rod,

Emma Sleath, the reporter from the ABC who attended our observing night has just sent me the link to her story.

This link is to our local ABC radio home page. In the top left a slide show runs of images from various current stories that they have covered. Click on the image of Kev & Trev will take you to the audio. Make sure the sound slider on the bottom right of the story is over to the left.

There is also another audio story from last week when they interviewed me after my all night imaging session for the transits of Saturn by Titan etc. There is one of my images of the Titan transit in the slide show on the main page, click on it to go to the audio of the interview.

Made sure to give IIS a plug in that interview.

http://abc.net.au/brokenhill/

Regards
Trevor

eaglezero · #10 13-03-2009, 09:17 PM

Trevor, I am so pleased to see the Astronomy Group in the Hill is active. Amazing out there. I grew up there, and go back every year. I have visited your old observatory I think, mid 90s with Randall. The sky is wonderfull there. We Had in the mid fifties, the Broken Hill Astronomical Society...which really helped us a lot. Fantastic to see you still at the eyepiece. You are getting some good publicity. Will be in the Hill again in September. Take care and regards to all the rest of the group.

Jeff

wsaag member.