Well last night several iceinspacers got together for a mini star party at Cherry Gardens care of a friend Deane who owns a property which has reasonable dark skies. On board was Peter (Exfso), Bob (Gadget), Paul (Rumples Riot) a friend Nick, and one of Deanes friends.
We arrived at the site around 5:30 pm to allow time for setup. We setup our scopes with gusto as all were looking forward to a great night. Several comments were made about this being the first star party from Ice in Space members from South Australia. Of greater concern was the looming clouds on the western horizon. I assured all that the weather report was very favourable and that clear skies had been predicted. Mind you I did wonder looking at the clouds.
As dark approached several of us took to eating our evening meals or "nose bags" and this gave an opportunity to meet up with Deanes friend (whose name escapes me at present) who was so impressed with the equipment, so we invited him to stay and have a look.
On dark everyone started aligning their individual scopes Peter had his 10" with an German EQ mount, Bob with his Lx90 8" and myself with the Lx200 10". I discovered that the power coupling that I borrowed from Bob had some sort of defect and so had to move my car closer so that I could run the scope. Peter had his own problems with setting up on the pole. However once this was done we got to the business of observing.
First target of the night was Saturn, it was interesting to compare images between Peters Schmidt Newtonian and the Lx200. I noted that the Newtonian was much crisper and had a brighter image, however the Lx200 had greater image scale. All the new comers were uttering the well heard "Wow" over Saturn. We also later watched a shadow transit of Io on Jupiter which was well received. The seeing was very good in general and we lamented not bringing a laptop tp image with. Murphys law!
As for targets observed during the course of the night they were as follows. Jupiter, Omega Centauri, Centaurus A, M104, M83 , Eta Carina, jewel Box, Tarantula, Ngc 4945, Great orion nebula, Acrux, Alpha Centauri, and many others in the constellations of Scorpio and Centaurus.
Early into the evening the dreaded dew struck, Bob and Peter had applied their dew sheilds from the start and I had gone for the dew heater, I discovered that the connection to my dew heater was not passing electricity to the heater and I had dew all over the corrector plate. So I changed batteries and hoped that it would stop the dew from completely covering the scope. I had effectively gained a 5" scope and the images reflected this. That being said, within two hours I noted that I only had a little dew left on the corrector and breathed a sign of relief. Bob's scope on the other hand had dew all over the corrector plate and strangely Peter's scope had dew on the inside of the corrector. Not enough to affect performance though.
While out there, we used a variety of eyepieces to observe with. Peter brought his 24mm panoptic Televue, which I used for quite some time. I have one of those on my list of EP's to buy and this opportunity confirmed my want. Peter also brought his Coke can EP (the Meade 14mm UWA series 4000). This is a very good EP, I noted that star images were sharp all the way to edge of field and the brightness of the image was good. It is a very heavy EP and some consideration to its weight should be made. I brought my usual complement of EP's including my Nagler 9mm. I really enjoyed using this EP for planetary viewing because I did not need to put in a powermate.
At around 1:30 am we decide to pack it in, several of us were getting tired and we began the task of packing and leaving.
As a final word, I have to say that the night was most enjoyable, once the moon slipped away the sky opened up to show the milky way in all its glory. Thanks for all who came and to Deane who owns this great property. I am sure that Peter will add his own comments to the thread and look forward to his views. I am sure that I have missed heaps and ask him to fill in the gaps,
Below are some shots of the area and members attending. The first is all three scopes and Peter at work. The second is of Bob and the third is of Peter and his scope.
Nice report Paul. Nice to see other IceInSpacers linking up around the major cities. Some of us in Brisvegas have been getting together quite regularly and I can see it continuing on in the future....we even manage to enjoy having Striker around
I also love that part of the setup where things are just about done, the sun is just starting to disappear and the anticipation of the night ahead starts to build, and I think your photos capture it nicely......or is that just me.
Andrew D The trees were not an issue really, except getting an early view of Jupiter.
Andrew W will let you know next time we do this. I have to ring Deane today and thank him for the loan of his property. maybe T up another night at the same time.
Yeah it was a great night, plenty of dew, lots of laughs and some magnificent views. Paul you dont escape mate.
As far as the report goes, I reckon Paul has summed it up adequately, very nice dark site, must admit it is the first time I have viewed the heavens from such a dark site and I found it to be magnificent. The LX200 10" gave some breathtaking views, as did Bobs, next time it would be great to have some more scopes there. Hopefully I will have my pier constructed and will be able to bring my Losmandy, G11 and Tak. The optics on my SN10 I believe are very good, it is just the mount and tripod which let it down. I gather the LXD75 is an improvement and it would want to be. I would also personally like to thank the owner of the property for allowing us to use his area. A great night, cant wait for the next. And thanks Paul for the invite and help.
Yeah Tony I have a dew shield but expected that the dew heater would negate the need for that. But like I said I was pleasantly supprised to find that the heater will not only keep the dew at bay, but it will also remove dew that has collected on the plate.
Thanks for the shots Peter, I look a real treat. Not any of my best. LOL
Great reading, great pictures Paul, get togethers are the way to go for meeting up with people and having lots of fun as you guys did.
I agree with Starkler that Victoria should have a get together, where abouts would be good tho, around Benalla, Mansfield? is there some one in a central part of Vic who can help..??
Great report and great pictures guys! Nice reading. Excellent to see another iceinspace gathering, the first for SA!
You'll have to plan a bigger one next time and get Sounder and some of the other SA'ers to make a trek!
And yeh you victorians are really dragging the chain.. the Brisbanites have had many already, and us NSW boys are up to our 2nd. Just meet up at Ken's house!
Sounds like you fellas had a great night! Thanks for telling us all about it. May there be many more!
Our April Star Party on the Central Coast also finished about 1.30am. I reckon if you have been viewing since sun down it is very hard to push past that time. My concentration tends to wane about 1ish. I find that if my concentration has gone, the enjoyment in what I am doing also dissipates. Also, there is always the reality of the family of wife and three kids, who will expect me to spring out of bed at 6.00am the next morning !!! Another good reason to pack up and head home!
Shucks, you guys are a handsome lot! (Compulsory good looks to be on this forum!)
A good looking lot, that is very debatable..(LOL), Grey haired "oscar foxtrot"s". Paul is the puppy in our little photoshoot, pity he was blinking at the time, but thats what he gets for taking a shot of my butt.
