Hi guys as you can see I am not there. I have just repaired the trailer and painted it ready for the trip to queensland. It is very windy, cold and scattered cloud but apart from that it looks nice. Enjoy fellas, took these from home this evening apologies for the bad images but the wind is horrid!
Thanks.
That platform is a handy bit of gear.
I met most ppl there by voice only (was too dark to see ppl's faces clearly hehehehe)
Anyway for ppl reading this Im the one crouching down with eyes closed in anticipation for the camera flash on dark adapted eyes LOL)
Scott
Nice photos Scott.
So that's what you blokes look like!... lol
Great night apart from the wind chill factor, it was really cold when that wind blew.
The night went well and as always we thank you Anthony for your hospitality. It was great to get under dark skies again and to be able to see what your doing by only the star light. I was amazed when it started to sprinkle though and there wasn't a cloud in the sky (weird)
I hope you got to know the argonavis a bit better last night Louie and it all comes with a bit of experience and patience.
Anyway it was nice to meet up with everyone again.
Thoroughly enjoyed last night - the chance to put some voices to names and of course test out some of the various dobsonians available!
Apologies for being the first to leave - we were feeling pretty frozen and were a little concerned as to how much sleep we would get when unpacking the boy back into bed at home (he actually managed the transition from bassinet to car seat, car seat to bassinet again - before waking at 5.30 or so this morning - yay!) ...
I have already gathered my snow boots, gloves, jacket and thermals for the next occasion - and am seriously considering some of those Irish battery powered socks!!
Thanks again to all. We felt very welcome and appreciated all offers of assistance on the night.
My apologies for not making it last night guys, I am sure I was sadly missed, or at least my box of Pentax's would have been
I spoke with Mike and Louie on the phone during the day and indicated I was "a maybe" as my 8yr old son had his tonsils out on Wednesday and was a bit clingy. That wasn't helped when my wife got home from work at 5:30pm having aggravated a work related back injury which has been ongoing for over 6 weeks. I didn't have my scope finished either so I was going to be a "casual" observer at best, at least it will definately be ready for next month, just painting the control panel today.
Glad to hear the weather co-operated as well as can be expected at this time of year.
Louie, at least Ed was able to help you with Argo Navis so all was not lost there.
Hopefully I will get to catch up with those people I haven't met next month.
Well another good night at Kulnura ! cold and windy but fun. Nice meeting some new faces and catching up to some old ones. A thank you to our host Anthony and to ED for his time helping me get a better understanding of the Argo Navis . We visited a lot of old vafourites last night some being Eta carina , jewl Box ,A Crux , Alfa Centuri, Omega Centuri,Nu Scopio,M8,M20,M16,M17,M22 and later on in the night NGC 104,M57,M27 and the Helix. For those who could not make It last night you were missed and I hope we will catch up next month !
Big Thank you to Anthony for hosting another fine dark sky night.
I arrived just as the moon was seting behind the trees at the back of the field(which was a bit annoying for me as I'm still new at this and love to look at the moon as often as I can. Jupiter and four of it's moons looked great early on. Old favourites such as Omega centuri. Lagoon nebula and the Trifid nebula,were my first port of call. Later on Louie showed me where to find the Dumbell nebula and the Ring nebula. I only have two words to say to Louie "ZOOM,ZOOM" he he he. J/k mate thanks for your help finding my way around the night sky.
The sombrero Galaxy was a real buzz to see for the first time. (Ed also showed me a few other DSO's that I cant remember the name of)
Good to meet a few new people
Nick and Rebecca
George
Ed
Pat
Scott
and a few familiar ones
Brendan
Anthony
Louie
Mike.
I was really blown away looking through Louie's 20mm hand grenade on Anthony's 12" Dob, the nebulas really looked 3D with the UHC filter.
The Milky way looks amazing with the naked eye and everytime I wasn't looking through a scope I was giving myself whiplash looking up at such an fantastic site. It did start to rain for a few mins,funny thing was,there wasn't a cloud in the sky(maybe Quantas are cost cutting and installing old style toilets that the railways used to have)
The hot drinks were much appreciated and so were the biscuits.
Louie and I were the last to leave around 1:15 am as the clouds had put a big move on and threatened rain.
Most found the going a bit cold but George was in shorts the entire time and those born in the Northern hemesphere thought it was almost like a summer night (just kidding) brass monkeys were seen heading north earlier in the day...seems that the lower primates outsmarted a few of us and the pending weather.
Once again a big THANK YOU to Anthony for another fine evening
Tah dude i would like to have a moon session this month crack out te old moon atlas and go nuts over thoes craters ($100 for the first person to resolve the lunar lander) and you guys can talk underwater with a mouth full of marbles and who kept farting ? that was rank !!!!
SORRY KIDDIES !
from Left to Right (opps) we have
Brendan (me)
Ed (sorry mate)
Mike (Iceman)
Scott (tornado33)
Louie (Atlas (i think))
Patrick
Anthony (frogman)
George
Scopes present were Icemans 10" on eq platform and frogmans 12".
I must say that was the best nights observing i have had for ages, I think its about time i started makeing a record of these sights.
My thanks to Scott for the lone of his UHC, definately one of those going on the wish list. Also to Ice those views of 47tuc and megcent were fantastic.
till next time clear skies :
Hi to all and thanks to those who hosted the night. My apologies for not getting around to the board earlier & posting a thank you, BUUUUT I had "other things" to attend to like my crummy backed-up toilet (Eddie will know what I mean when I say Ole Blue Fingers had Struck Again.)
There was some interest in "staging" a "do" in the Maitland Area, for those who came from around / near that area, to (perhaps) form some sort of Society?
Please let me know via this forum if anyone is interested.
Hi To Gary....we look forward to seing you at the next NAS meeting.
Remember:
7:30 pm, Last Friday O' The Month,
GP 1.1, University of Newcastle.
Thanks Ed, you can see my scope with all its bit and pieces and on the platform there too, and Anthony's 12" scope is on the right.
It was a good, fun, clear night, depsite the cold and the wind.
Got some widefield shots on the EQ platform again, will process them later and see how they turned out.
Was good company too, great to see some more NAS guys coming down too - except h0ughy, where were you!? And where was truffles?
I only stayed for 2.5-3 hours, as I didn't get there until about 9pm.. I didn't do a whole lot of observing, more socialising and whatnot. Great to see Nick and Rebecca there, getting some advice before making that all important purchasing decision.
After all the doom and gloom weather reports leading up to the night, it was great to have a clear night and at least make something of the new moon. I saw the helix for the first time, and also checked out a couple of the July challenge objects including NGC5128, M22, M20 and HN40. NGC5139 was amazing as usual,a nd had my first look at NGC4945 galaxy, a very night sight.
Was very impressed to see the SMC and LMC rising already, 47Tuc looked great and even got a glimpse of the Tarantula NGC2070 about 5-10 degrees off the horizon
apologies for the bad images but the wind is horrid!
They look pretty cold in that pic. The second image was a bit hard to work out though.
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Glad you guys managed to get together. Unfortunately I wasn't there so you guys will just have to do the best report you can 
we have
