New Forum Member

DobDobDob (Ron) · #1 30-01-2007, 04:42 PM

Hello All,

Just a quick intro for a new member, I live at Prospect (near Blacktown) in NSW and am interested in all forms of astronomy. 8 years ago I was a member of a couple of amateur astronomy clubs, because I was doing a Uni course on Astrophysics.

After the course I moved to other interests and let everything go. Then comet McNaught rekindled my interests all over again and I ended up reading posts in this forum. I eventually went to Andrews Communications (just down the road from me) and purchased a nice set of binoculars and so far have had one decent night (last Sunday) where I could use them.

My plan is to relearn all the main star constellations and use the binoculars, then in several months I'll purchase a telescope. In the meantime I’ll join up another amateur astronomy club and use their telescopes until I figure out exactly which one I like.

My first task will be to resolve as many Messier objects as I can from my position and with binoculars, that should keep me out of trouble for awhile. I hope to be an active member of the forum and what I can tell from my first brief look is that there is a good vibe going on here.

I am a computer programmer, and an old bloke (50 odd), but young at heart, I hope to become a valued member of this forum. I am willing to participate in any science that is considered worthwhile, and used to have pretty good staying power, when it came to dark site observing.

Regards
Tailwag

ving (David) · #2 30-01-2007, 04:49 PM

hey hey tailwag!

welcome aboard

messier hunting is a good way to start. looking forward to your contributions.

okiscopey (Mike) · #3 30-01-2007, 05:08 PM

Welcome tailwag!

Comets used to be a sign of bad things, but this one's been very good for IIS.

I 'm also afflicted by the odd number after 50 , but I'm not saying what it is either!

P.S. I think officially you can only be welcomed by those with 9,150 or more posts, so don't tell anyone about this one.

DobDobDob (Ron) · #4 30-01-2007, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ving

hey hey tailwag!

welcome aboard

messier hunting is a good way to start. looking forward to your contributions.

Thanks for the welcome, M42 has always been my favorite.

DobDobDob (Ron) · #5 30-01-2007, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by okiscopey

I 'm also afflicted by the odd number after 50 , but I'm not saying what it is either!

P.S. I think officially you can only be welcomed by those with 9,150 or more posts, so don't tell anyone about this one.

Hi okiscopey (interesting name)... thank you for your welcome also. I see you are relatively close to me in location, I assume that we would probably look at a similar sky

I also note you have 50 odd posts more than me, not quite veteran, far from newbie. I'm sure we will be great friends.

acropolite (Phil) · #6 30-01-2007, 05:44 PM

Welcome to IIS Tailwag, I don't know where you get this old bloke bit, there are quite a few of us around here on the wrong side of 50. Good luck with the hunting.

DobDobDob (Ron) · #7 30-01-2007, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by acropolite

Welcome to IIS Tailwag, I don't know where you get this old bloke bit, there are quite a few of us around here on the wrong side of 50. Good luck with the hunting.

Hehehe okay, so the average age on this forum, based on 3 responses is 66% in favor of the over 50's

I'm sure there are many younger and older members also.

I see you are from down there

your sky would be really different to mine, plus I assume it's always freezing down there, so the seeing would be fantastic when there are no clouds of course.

I also note you have some fine equipment as well as a 'real' telescope, it sounds like you are the real McCoy

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #8 30-01-2007, 09:00 PM

Hi tailwag!

I'm one of the ones under 50 (only by a few months though

)

Prospect huh! I grew up in Seven Hills!!!
I hope you enjoy your stay here. You are certainly going about this the right way: Binocs, checking out other scopes at a club etc.

iceman (Mike) · #9 30-01-2007, 10:10 PM

Welcome to IIS! I look forward to your many and valued contributions!

I think I qualify to be able to welcome you, even though i'm one of the young ones

bloodhound31 · #10 30-01-2007, 10:38 PM

Hi there Tailwag!

from Canberra mate. I too used to live up your way, sunny Penrith.
Look forward to your say dude.

Cheers,

Baz

http://members.iinet.net.au/~armstead

Ric · #11 30-01-2007, 11:13 PM

Hi Tailwag and welcome to the group

.
I don't know about tail wagging but this a great place for chin wagging

Cheers

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #12 30-01-2007, 11:18 PM

Hi Tailwag,
Welcome aboard.

If you are keen to do a binocular messier search here is a link to a fantastic free program designed just for that.

http://www.davidpaulgreen.com/tumol.html

It is called TUMOL, The Ultimate Messier Object Log.
It rates every object by binocular difficulty, prints out finder charts and displays a picture of the object.
Have fun.

styleman333 · #13 31-01-2007, 06:48 AM

Hiya there tailwag , well i guess we can let another "old bloke" in.
You are most welcome as long as you and the other old blokes dont start discussing "the war" .

Welcome and enjoy
From the "young bloke"

toetoe (Peter) · #14 31-01-2007, 07:34 AM

G'day and welcome to IIS tailwag, sounds like you know what your doing, starting out with binos to learn the night sky

there is so much up there to keep one going for hours just using binoculars so enjoy the viewing and don't rush in to buy a telescope until your sure of what you want. Enjoy your stay here and keep posting away, we are a big happy family here at IIS.

DobDobDob (Ron) · #15 31-01-2007, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by toetoe

G'day and welcome to IIS tailwag

Thank you to ballaratdragons, Iceman, bloodhound, Ric, jjjnettie (I will try TUMOL), styleman333 and toetoe for your warm welcome. It is my second time around but last time I did it as an adjunct to a course and this time I am doing it for sheer love.

In the 7 years off, I have totally forgotten everything I learned, so it's as if I am starting from scratch. The only thing that remains the same is my appreciation of the universe at large and my staying ability on a cold night.

I do have a few questions which seem dumb but I also realise that if I don't ask them I'll never know, or perhaps I will just over time assume certain things to be correct, even if based on educated guesses and not fact.

Because I haven't hooked back up with an amateur astronomy club yet and have started my binocular observations on my own, it is just me, my planisphere, my copy of Astronomy 2007 Australia and now (proudly) IIS.

Firstly, where in the cosmos is Ophiuchus and more importantly how do you pronounce this phonetically? I assume it is near the ecliptic because I have read that it is an un-official Zodiac.

Next question, last night, despite a very large bright moon, I swung the 20 x 80 triple lens bino's near crux and saw an interesting star formation, I would say it was in Centaurus and may have been the SMC, but I can't be sure. At first I thought it was a globular cluster, but from the photos I have seen and from past observations via telescope, globular clusters seem smaller and more dense.

The object I saw was larger and not as densely packed with stars, but in comparison with the surrounding area was packed sufficiently enough for it to grab my attention. I spent more than 30 minutes on this and because I am still struggling with RA and Dec and because it is just Binoculars, it's hard to judge where you really are.

A mm on the planisphere is like 1 or 2 degrees and because the moon was so bright, a lot of the weaker stars were not visible at all. So I am not sure what it was, but will research it more and eventually classify it for sure. I really am a beginner

Then I waited till about 1.00pm and looked at Jupiter which was in Leo, I guess this might be old hat for a lot of you but for me it was like discovering the Holy Grail, the clarity with which I saw it was stunning. It had a flatten shape (presumably because of the angle and shadows) similar to a football, sitting on a mound ready to be kicked. Not overly flat but the outline was crisp, I sure am glad I went and purchased my tripod, you just haven't got a hope of holding these bino's in your hands.

Then whilst studying Jupiter as I looked at it, I noticed what at first I thought was a faint star. I tracked Jupiter for over an hour and noticed that the star, which was across to my right by about an 'inch' as viewed through my eyepieces, was exactly the same distance during the entire hour + which seemed strange to me. I looked harder and focused totally on the companion object and then saw that it was not 'twinkling', in fact I then noticed that the left hand side (the side closest to the planet), was illuminated and the far side was in shadow. At that point I knew I was looking at a moon of Jupiter. I don't know which moon it was and I haven't had enough time to read and master the tables that can tell you which moon it was.

At that time my excitement was off the scale and I just wanted to yell, but resisted because the neighbors dogs would surely have joined in with a chorus of yelping.

Perhaps someone with far more experience can name the satellite for me?

So, despite me stumbling around and not knowing really what I am doing, and the conditions weren't super, I still had the time of my astrological life and it was free entry and front row seats

Okay, I'm off to download that TUMOL program which is a blatant steal from TUCOWS which has been around 20 years that I know of

Thanks for reading this, I suspect you have all gone through your own first 'daze' of amateur astronomy and not known what you were looking at but you knew were looking at something significant. Now I finally understand why people say - 'Clear Skies', without them Zip!

DobDobDob (Ron) · #16 31-01-2007, 02:32 PM

Thanks for your warm welcome, I intend to be active in this forum, but I have much to learn first.

DobDobDob (Ron) · #17 31-01-2007, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by styleman333

You are most welcome as long as you and the other old blokes dont start discussing "the war" .

The only war I know of is when the Ermo boys (Ermington) took on the West Ryde boys about 35 years ago, it ended in a draw from what I recall

neB · #18 31-01-2007, 02:35 PM

Mr Wag, I think you've got a big jump on the rest of us.

But the more you know, the more there is to learn.

Welcome (again),
neB

DobDobDob (Ron) · #19 31-01-2007, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bloodhound31

Hi there Tailwag!

from Canberra mate. I too used to live up your way, sunny Penrith.
Look forward to your say dude.

Cheers,

Baz

http://members.iinet.net.au/~armstead

Penrith isn't far from me, as you know and 25 minutes drive the other way is Mt. Linden where I used to go, it is a dark site and the home turf of WSSAG. I'm going to look those boys up again soon and start going again.

Your home made observatory looks amazing, you are way too talented to be talking to me

DobDobDob (Ron) · #20 31-01-2007, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ric

Hi Tailwag and welcome to the group

.
I don't know about tail wagging but this a great place for chin wagging

Cheers

Quote:

Originally Posted by neB

Mr Wag, I think you've got a big jump on the rest of us.

But the more you know, the more there is to learn.

Welcome (again),
neB

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ric

Hi Tailwag and welcome to the group

.
I don't know about tail wagging but this a great place for chin wagging

Cheers

You guys are all really great for making me feel welcome, thanks to every one of you. Over time I will get to know each of you from your writing and wit, aren't these smilies great