NSW Northern Rivers 2008

[CoombellKid]

Originally Posted by nightstalker

Cant find a home for a glass disk yet ? ..got a pic ... as you have me worried still !!

ummmm errr yes I will once I find it again. It was sitting on my printer
before I was to safely put it in my EP box. I think little fingers might
of liked it, unfortunately 2yr olds aren't great for telling what they might
of done with it. I'll keep looking and post a picture of it when I find it.
It was a flat piece of round glass about 2mm thick. I know it wasn't there
before you got there as I had run the mower over the area the previous
day and it would of been smashed for sure.

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Glen,

Did you get out this morning, looked awesome out there about 4am

regards,CS

[glenc (Glen)]

Used the 20x80s for an hour or so.
Cut my thumb last Tue so have to take care.

[CoombellKid]

ouch! I hope it wasn't too bad.

I'm definitely setting up for tonight. I'm remaking the stalk for the AN
today, dont know if you notice it is a lil springy.

I'll be keenly watching the performance of Palin in todays VP debate too.
I think we're all going to need help if she ends up VP.

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Well I have to say it's look the best for a long while out here. Zero jet-stream
no fires means no smoke (ban must be in place)

At sunset today 5:50pm Comet C2008 A1 McNaught will be 20 armins off
the Moons northern pole. With the moon still a slim cresent this could be
an interesting observation. But also with more of the southern pole covered
in darkness than the north and also the southern pole being mostly cratered
it is a good opertunity to observe stars grazing the southern polar limb, you
can watch them flicker on and off as they caress the mountain tops, quite a
view if you haven't already obseved occultations. There is no dimming of stars
like planetary luna occultations it's On then Off. So on mountain ranges that
are in darkness on the moon they appear to flicker as they travel the peaks
and valley's.

I'll be interested to hear your results and if you nabbed C2008 A1 McNaught

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Had a big night last night. I wasn't able to nab Comet C2008 A1 McNaught
with the moon being just a lil to bright in either the 16" or the 20x80's.
Obsevered one occultation but it wasn't a grazing. I decided to have a
nap at 8pm and set the alarm clock for 9:45pm. I then went right through
till dawn finishing around 5am. The seeing started out not very nice 6/10 but
got better through the night. There was a bit of wind around which settled
around midnight. I didn't need to turn the dew heaters on until about 1:30am
this morning.

I must of observed well over 100 objects doing various tours on the AN.
One tour in particular that went forever and I didn't finish was a tour
of nebula in LMC. Quite surprising how many lil nebs around the
Tarantula, some of which you would of thought were apart of it. But the
stand outs for the night were the Rossetta neb although quite faint
unfiltered but came alive with an OIII. The other was Thor's Helmet looking
rather spectacular with an OIII. Orion neb was another Wow! no filter
needed there and I did try for the Horsehead but the seeing made that
too hard and I was undecided whether I could see it or not.

Hopefully we'll have another shot tonight I'm off back to bed these
over nighters really take it out of you once you hit 40

regards,CS

[glenc (Glen)]

You had a great night. I used the 12" from about 1 to 3am.

[CoombellKid]

Another good session out til dawn this morning. Got a half decent look at
Eta Carina neb with the OIII still fairly low in the sky, but I'm sure I was
detecting 2 Bok Globs in the area on the south side of Tr14 and towards
Tr16.

Btw, I'm looking for good references or catalogues for Bok Glob's anyone
know of a source? preferably online.

regards,CS

[glenc (Glen)]

Google
Clemens & Barvainis 1988 ApJS 68, 257
http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/si...pJS...68..257C

[glenc (Glen)]

Nice and clear here this morning, no dew, stars down to the horizon, I used the 12" from 1am to 5am. Looked at everything I could think of then got a map out and found some more DSO.

[glenc (Glen)]

Is this what you saw Rob?
Dust Mountains in the Carina Nebula
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/

[glenc (Glen)]

Have you seen: http://7timer.y234.cn/V3/product.php...=AS02&site=551

[CoombellKid]

Originally Posted by glenc

Have you seen: http://7timer.y234.cn/V3/product.php...=AS02&site=551

Yes, I have someone else posted it somewhere. I've tried it 3 or 4 times.
And couldn't access it on two occasions, is it any good?

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Originally Posted by glenc

Is this what you saw Rob?
Dust Mountains in the Carina Nebula
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/

Not quite like that thats an awesome image

regards,CS

[Lismore Bloke (Paul)]

Hi guys, haven't done much lately. Family duties. Visited Sydney (don't know how people live there), Mudgee (great fruity powerful red varietals and good value too) and Melbourne. Just had a good session with the 12". Saw 7099, 6723, 6569, 6681, 6541, 362 (104's sometimes overlooked neighbour).
Best view was the complex region near corona australis:globular 6723, which seemed to form a neat triangle with what seemed to be 2 double stars, one appeared to be wreathed in nebulosity (turned out to be 6726). Wasn't sure whether it was the 3 glasses of red I had earlier or my eyesight, but the books showed that it was real enough. Very nice area and would be great in a dark sky.

Tried out the el-cheapo 32mm EP supplied with the 12". Quite a few on the forum have panned it, but it isn't bad at all. Yes, the 20% or so of the FOV near the edge is rubbish, but the rest of the field reveals very nice neat star images. Bit of a bargain. Cheers, Paul.

[glenc (Glen)]

That was a good report Paul. Nice to hear from you.
Are you interested in coming to Tenterfield on 28/11?
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...ad.php?t=36326
I have just been out observing with my 20x80s, it is a good night.

[Lismore Bloke (Paul)]

Yes it was a good night. Nice clean transparent air, hardly any dew.
Scope dry as a bone after 3 hours.

Movement is getting a bit jittery as I move scope in azimuth. The base might need a spray with Mr Sheen or something similar. The main mirror might need some attention and collimating. Focus varies a bit as I move the thing around which might indicate that the mirror is not tight enough.

Will have to check with the wife about what's coming up.
Quite a bit happening for us between now and Christmas.

Cheers. Paul.

[CoombellKid]

Was out myself last night until about 12:30am this morning. It was a lovely
night out here. Great seeing... pitty I had work today or I would of been
out all night : ) had a shot at 2008ge in N1527 but no luck going to try
again over the weekend.

Paul,

I have a spare washer made of virgin teflon plus some spacers for an azi
pivot bolt. It might help with your azi action.

Regarding your mirror, what do you mean your mirror isn't tight enough?
If you hace clips that can be tightened down onto the mirror, you probably
should loosen them as this can cause problems.

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

Looking darn nice out here tonightsetup ready to go, just got
to wait for the boys to go to sleep la la by la la by ...etc...etc...

Could be a very nice weekend indeed. Hope you all get chance to get out
amoungst it. We have a lovely -7 iridium flare predicted for tonight @ 19:54ESDT

regards,CS

[Lismore Bloke (Paul)]

Had a list of objects to observe on Friday night, and saw the Dumbell Neb. again before it disappeared. My northern horizon is very restricted. Shape was very plain, better with averted vision. I am very lucky that there are no bright lights near the house,just Lismore's skyglow. Then the clouds came rolling in. I now hate clouds. Have a theory on why I have to keep readjusting focus. When I bought the 12" I read all the posts and reviews and one (by iceman I think) said he removed the mirror locking screws. I did the same but I have now put them back in. Could be that they help to counter the rather weak springs these things have. Will test again when this pesky high cloud blows over.