I suspect those that said they were going are on the road. I'm at Woodford and it doesn't look any good does it. The guy up there said it would be good and he has been right before when it looked crook around this time, but I would hope for much before midnight.
Oh and by the way its a total fire ban day tomorrow
Kat T = 25 deg RH = 11% Wind = WSW 50 - 80kph Fire danger rating = Severe
Well, the clouds parted FINALLY at midnight. We were treated to very good conditions for galaxy hunting & early season Orion. A measure I have of good conditions is if the Tarantula Neb is easily visible to the naked eye - it was.
I manged two sketches, my first lot in many months. I'll post them later today in the Obs Forum's sketching sticky.
The Ericson Sky Crane certainly provided a heap of interest and photo opportunities.
We had a few firies attend. Sadly for them viewing was very limited. Obe couple had to leave early as they had a 4am start at the fire front.
All up some 11scopes & twenty people showed up. Despite the earlier cloud cover, the company was great, & it was grest to shoot the breeze and talk shop. Just a shame so few were able to enjoy the clear morning sky.
I'm buggered. Got home half hour ago. I'm now goin to lapse into a coma for a few hours.
Another great night once we'd danced the clouds away
Orion Nebula was as I'd never seen it before, simply superb! Thanks to everyone for all the great views, lots of memorable highlights not least including the Horsehead!
Was a fantastic night. Get there to see the Sky Crane do its thing. Even though we had to wait until midnight for clear skies it really didn't feel that long because of the great company as usual. Was a shame the skies didn't clear for the firies that attended. Object of the night has to go to seeing the Horsehead Nebula in Alex's 17.5" dob. A VERY close second goes to the Fornax galaxy cluster in Alex's scope again. Lost count of the galaxies in that field! To top off the night we also saw 2 ISS passes and then watched dawn creep its way across the sky. On the way home, I don't know how I had any more energy but I took a detour to the Three Sisters for some sunrise shots. Lots of image processing to get through, will post them soon. But my first priority is to catch up on much needed sleep after getting home at approx 8am! Fantastic night and can't wait to do it all over again.
Oh yes, how did I forget ISON. I put that to no sleep for over 24 hours! Took a while to see in the approaching dawn but Steffen's persistence paid off. Great shots Ed. That first one is perfect. Great lighting on it but we did spend some time getting it right! I still haven't had a chance to look at mine yet.
Thanks guys, me and Jason did a lot of trial and error in the dark. Keen to see Jasons results. He also did a time lapse and got a video of the sky crane in action.
