Another stunning Cambroon night. Thanks Ron

For those that didnt make it to Ron's last night, it was yet another perfect night, warm and balmy, not normal for this time of year but most of us wore shorts and T shirts until around 10.00. I didnt do a head count but there seems to be more and more people there each month. The dew stayed away until late and didnt really cause much grief anyway. Almost no cloud too.

73P SW3 made an appearance which was easily observed even in 10X50 Binoculars, although, I have to say for something that close to us it did look a long way away. Milky way was beaming and the Emu was obvious, Scorpio offered it's usual delights and let's not forget Jupiter, GRS transit around 11:00pm but wasnt quite as good seeing as a few nights last week, maybe a little jetstream. Lots of Northern DSO's were on offer, messiers a'plenty, whirlpool, blue planetary (proved to be a challenge finding with the Dob but I eventually got it). Orion went to bed early but not without showing off it's jewels. LMC was brilliant along with all it has to offer, Eta Carinae and it's mates were there too.

Ron's BBQ was a favourite with most again and he cut the lawns prior to our arrival as usual, he really is a good bloke. Three cheers for Ron. Thanks.

[h0ughy (David)]

sounds like you guys had a fantastic night. thanks for sharing.

[astroron (Ron)]

Thanks for the report Dennis , saves me doing a long one there were eight telescopes in attendance with the largest Bills 50cm dob and the smallest Pauls 80 mm refractor, twenty one people in all had a great time with sky tours of all the great objects,Saturn,Jupiter, Cent A Omega Cent, Ect, and even some obscure ones such as Ngc4976, which is more visible in photo's than in telescopes.
New IIS member Dr morbius and his family and friend enjoyed themselves with views through Bills 50Cm and My 40cm plus the 25cm of Steve's, which he hopes to purchase a simular scope in the near future
Most observers had left or gone to bed by 02:00 but Steve (Gargoyle Steve) and I stayed up for about another hour doing a binocular tour of the Milky Way, eventualy calling it a night when the high thin cloud made any further observing not worth while

[Gargoyle_Steve (Steve)]

It was indeed a great night, and I'll echo Dennis's "Three cheers for Ron" before anything else!
(I enjoyed our little joint projects Dennis on the collimation and camera bracket, look forward to next time!)

With a little suggestion and guidance from Ron and Paul [1 ponders] I was able to view some new objects ... in no particular order (and I hope I have the designations correct) the M51 galaxy pair, M13 cluster, the Leo Triple galaxy spectacle (M65, M66, and NGC 3???), etc, etc, etc. All great items, some I have seen before but it's different seeing them through your own scope, even better when you hunt & find them for yourself!!

Also saw comet Washerboy Watersports 73P - C frag viewed through my 10" dob and 10x30 bino's (so sue me, I can't remember how to spell the damn thing - all comet finders should be forced by law to change their names to Smith, Jones, Davis, Jackson, etc) .

As Ron said previously he then led me around a number of items across the galactic core by bino, wish I could remember them all by name right now but I'm at work and my notebook is at home. I'll look them up again tomorrow to put them in my log properly.

I also did the tour of my usual favourites: all points of the Souther Cross and the Jewel Box (love that!); Orion and especially the Nebula, in which I seemed to see more nebulousity than I ever had before; also I split Rigel to see the B companion for the first time; Saturn, my old favourite, as always stunning at any magnification; Jupiter which was showing a lovely arrangement of moons, and using a couple of filters borrowed from Paul saw the GRS in greater detail than I had previously - the 82A in fact letting my (somewhat) older brother Don see the spot where he has never really been able to pick it out before. (add 82A filter to Tuesdays shopping order)

Bill was kind enough to let me try his 30mm wide angle 80 degree 2" barrel eyepiece, as I had mentioned I was fairly keen to buy the very affordable Andrew's unit of same basic specs, (IIS review here) and I have to say I was blown away by the wonderful field of view on numerous star clusters, etc! Bill's eyepiece is of course a much more expensive unit, but with the Andrews one now showing at $99 I can't afford NOT to buy it! (it's now confirmed on Tuesdays order). I always like to keep in mind the grandeur and spectacle of the heavens without geting all caught up by magnification, etc, and this eyepiece really helps maintain that feeling. Thanks heaps Bill!!

When I eventually went to bed it was still around 16 degrees inside my new tent/bed (will have to post a pic to show you how cool these things are) and my mind wouldn't slow down, I nearly got the scope out and started all over again!

I will mention this strange moment ... I had to visit the toilet just around 5am, as I was walking off Ron's verandah again I looked over to the tree lined ridge and clouded sky where I had watched Venus, then the thin crescent moon, rise vertically in line and fairly close together just last Monday night ... a tiny gap parted in the clouds, Venus kind of slowly "winked" at me then faded again like it was personally saying "Hi" all within a bare few seconds when I happened to look that direction. I felt kind of humbled.

All in all a great night, great company, and great viewing!

[Adelain]

Great night Ron, We all had a great time as usual,
It was Lainie's first time out there & she was amazed by some of the telescopes.
Nice too meet all you people.
Cheers Adrian Lainie & Sonia.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Great to see you making a post Adrian. Glad you guys had a good time.

[astro_south (Andrew)]

Great reports guys. Making me look forward to getting up there again in the near future.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

It will be good to see you again Andrew. See if you can drag that dhumpie fellow up with you as well.

[Argonavis (William)]

Originally Posted by Gargoyle_Steve

Bill was kind enough to let me try his 30mm wide angle 80 degree 2" barrel eyepiece, and I have to say I was blown away by the wonderful field of view on numerous star clusters

Absolute pleasure Steve. Next time you will have to borrow some Televue Plossls and find true nirvana. Many thanks for sharing your 35mm binoculars. The views of the southern milky way is a memory not easily forgotten. I am amazed that something so small and optically simple showed the incredible amount of detail that I saw, especially around crux. Really awesome. I need a pair of those. There is something addictive about wide field views of a really dark sky through binoculars. A vote of thanks to astroron for playing host and being an excellent mentor to the many visitors who come along. An evening under the stars with astroron is probably the best education in astronomy you could obtain.

[drmorbius (Randall)]

Wow, what an evening! The kids thought it was really sick (I think that's good)... unfortunately that country air must've tired 'em out and we had to head home early. I could've gone all night...

Everyone was fantastic and made us feel really welcome. A special thanks to Ron for his hospitality and wealth of information. The kids thought you were cool.

I appreciate the time all of you spent sharing with us and being patient with the kids. I would like to have spent a couple of hours with each and every one of you... the amount of knowledge gathered together in that one spot was very impressive.

And a big "thumbs up" to Gargoyle_Steve for showing us the way to Ron's hideout.

Thanks again! Can't wait for the next new moon.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

I wish I could have been there. Glad you all had a great night.

[dhumpie]

Guys,

I actually drove past the Kilcoy exit on my way up to Caloundra during the last long weekend. Problem was I was with the wife and she has no interest in anything astro I kept on thinking of just veering off and driving towards Ron's

Darren

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Next time you could get lost on the way to Caloundra. That excuse could work

Cmon moderators, back off, this was posted in General Chat coz that's where I wanted to thank Ron, I didnt intend it as an observing session post, if it was an observing session post it would have been two pages long, I know what I wanted, we aren't children, I'm feeling stifled.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

I think it's a case of reverse spam Nightshift! LOL