Perth Guys - Page 13

mswhin63 (Malcolm) · #**241** 17-10-2009, 10:37 AM

Good luck on your trippin' I really want go go now but damn work.

Have a nice time.

seanliddelow (Sean) · #**242** 18-10-2009, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrevorW

Well I'm off to Dryanda tonight my first dark site venture decided to take the plunge first club type event in over 20 years, Travelling nearly 200klm for 1 nigth viewing but the weather looks good and its a really dark site.

I was going to take all my gear but might just stick to the ED80.

I don't think others may appreciate if I took a generator to power my mount, camera, laptop

I've only got a power pack for the mount and my laptops battery is stuffed (unless I can get one today), so any imaging will be widefield short unguided (hope someone can nail drift alignment for me)

Cheers

Did you have fun Trevor? I certainly did, especially with the trantula nebula

and 47 tucanae. Hope you got some good images and sorry If you got my friends green laser in them. Are you going to the next deep sky Malcolm?

mswhin63 (Malcolm) · #**243** 18-10-2009, 03:29 PM

I sure hope so, am gonna try to get to as many as I can. Just purchaced some tent and gear for further away places like Tammin.

rogerg (Roger) · #**244** 19-10-2009, 12:45 PM

Excellent astro camp. Two nights of photography through to morning twilight on the first night and 3am on the second night.

Got a couple of great photo's, but won't have time to post them for a few weeks.

Good to see several astrophotographer's there, and several IIS members who weren't all ASWA members either, great that so many came along.

Roger.

TrevorW · #**245** 19-10-2009, 02:21 PM

Glad you faired well Roger

I have nothing but power issues

Laptop failed
Mount failed sort of
Camera failed had to replace battery half way through a run
borrowed laptop failed
borrowed power supply failed couldn't drive the borrowed laptop with an inverter and the mount

I'm going to have too invest in a 100 AH battery and power box for the mount and laptop when I come along too more of these nights

Too top it off I when my laptop failed I was in focusing mode and the camera switched from raw to jpeg and with all the other issues I forgot to change the mode back to RAW so it doesn't look like my one night venture produced anything worthwhile

However I did pick up some useful tips from the other imagers there and they were all very helpful.

I'll have to get along for the whole weekend next time.

Cheers

rogerg (Roger) · #**246** 19-10-2009, 03:32 PM

Shame you had so many problems Trevor. I know what it's like though - I am usually in that boat. This was rare for me to have such a successful run.

I had power issues too. Mine turned out to be that the extension cable between battery and inverter is not heavy enough duty to provide sufficient current for the inverter. I have no problem with a 40AH battery lasting me the weekend providing I have it wired up right.

It was great having such a large pool of knowledge there on the night, with 7 or so of us doing photography there was great sharing of solutions to problems.

Roger.

leinad (Dan) · #**247** 19-10-2009, 05:29 PM

A great night indeed

Saw so many iridium flares, and there were some awesome meteors breaking up in the sky. After midnight you would always hear ..oooh, ahhh, whoaah!

It was great to meet you guys in person.
I must have missed you Sean, I heard you were there but didn't see you before darkness approached.

I managed to get a few good pictures on the night of M20, M31, NGC253, IC434, though my focus I found was slightly off and the pictures look a little blurred. Hopefully processing will fix it up.

Sucks you had so many problems Trev. We've all been there.
The deep cycle batteries are definitely worth it if you plan on travelling again where theres no mains power.
I found the 100AH battery was just on 50% power remaining after a solid night of use from 7.30pm to 5am; good 8hrs use powering the camera battery, laptop and usb hub.

We stayed on for Sunday night but the clouds rolled in around 10pm and the night was pretty much over.

Big thank you to ASWA for organising the event. I had a great time and it was definitely one of the best nights I've witnessed.

seanliddelow (Sean) · #**248** 03-11-2009, 07:31 PM

Doesnt it seem that the best weather is on a full moon.

TrevorW · #**249** 03-11-2009, 09:19 PM

Sure is like tonight, thats why I've invested in a couple of DVD's to watch and a good bottle of red

no use fighting moon glow and LP when imaging

seanliddelow (Sean) · #**250** 03-11-2009, 09:23 PM

Cant wait untill 2 weekends were im going to Bakers Hill. Im gonna save up for an Argo navis

picklesrules (Nicholas) · #**251** 03-11-2009, 09:30 PM

you guys sound like you have so much fun
once I get my p's next may ill be deff coming down all the time

seanliddelow (Sean) · #**252** 03-11-2009, 10:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by picklesrules

you guys sound like you have so much fun
once I get my p's next may ill be deff coming down all the time

You can use my 12" Dob and I will show you the tarantula nebula.

picklesrules (Nicholas) · #**253** 04-11-2009, 12:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seanliddelow

You can use my 12" Dob and I will show you the tarantula nebula.

sounds good man , im gonan get a 12" dob as well next yr after i get my heq5 pro

seanliddelow (Sean) · #**254** 18-11-2009, 09:41 AM

The astrofest at Cutin Uni is on in 2 weeks

Who else is going?

TrevorW · #**255** 21-11-2009, 08:13 PM

Well it looks like a crystal clear night in Perth and guess what we've got visitors coming for a BBQ

I arranged it, but but there was cloud about most of the day

Drats bah humbug

TrevorW · #**256** 22-11-2009, 09:18 PM

6:15pm in Perth, slight wind, no clouds all set up but what to image ????

rogerg (Roger) · #**257** 22-11-2009, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrevorW

6:15pm in Perth, slight wind, no clouds all set up but what to image ????

hmm, will think about it. I should. I haven't used my gear for a month+

TrevorW · #**258** 22-11-2009, 09:33 PM

i thought you'd still be on your honeymoon

rogerg (Roger) · #**259** 22-11-2009, 09:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrevorW

i thought you'd still be on your honeymoon

Well that'd be a convenient excuse for not doing astronomy, but no

I have been back a little while but haven't had much enthusiasm for astronomy, not that the weather has been helping

It would be good to get more NGC images. But kind of busy with lots of things too.

rogerg (Roger) · #**260** 25-11-2009, 12:42 PM

Well, I've ended up having a reasonable couple of nights. Between last night and the night before I have another 63 NGC objects imaged. The count would have been about double that if it wasn't for poor GoTo accuracy and cloud. I only got 23 images from last night due largely to the cloud.

Still though, the last time I took any NGC images was 24th August, so its' a boom for productivity right now in comparison

Looks like I might not get back to it until after full moon though, with cloud and then astrofest preventing me continuing with the astronomy.

Roger.