Tornado33 (Scott)
Orion (Ed)
George
Mark Suchting
GTB (Geoff)
Octane (H)
Rodstar (Rod)
Rocket Boy (Andrew)
astropolak (Joe)
Froggy (Anthony)
DOn't think I missed anyone.
Great company again guys.. thanks for the hospitality Froggy.. thanks for the pizza and beer, Andrew!
Andrew and Geoff looked hilarious in their freezer suits.. the red headlamps really made the reflective strips stand out
Froggy also showed us his new paintball gun! Man, what a weapon! 32 pellets a second, firing at 100m/s! I wanted to send Andrew and Geoff running out in the field with their reflective targets on the back for target practise
Saw a lot of great objects.. highlight was Barnard 86 and the triplet in Grus. Stunning objects.
Thanks again for a great new moons observing. Look forward to it again next month.
Howdy all.
Thanks for a fantastic night, including looking through impressive telescopes and eyepieces, under an impressively dark sky. It wasnt a matter of wether one could see galaxies or not, but rather seeing detail in those galaxies and other deep sky objects.
It was great to meet the people of IIS too, both imagers and observers.
Heres some shots of the nights proceedings, taken with my modded 350D (no IR filter).
Thanks agin all. A night thoroughly enjoyed.
Scott
Another great night at Kulnura, clear night and absolutely no dew!
Thanks once again Anthony!
The views from Mike and Rods scopes were first class and thanks for sharing them with us guys.
Humayun, I hope those (test shots) were worth while considering you were testing till around 1:00 in the morning!
Here are some pics before dark.
Setting up, Scott next to Georges 18" and some last minute alterations.
What a great night.
No wind, no dew, clear all night long and best of all: wonderful company.
It was great to meet Scott (Tornado33) and Mark and to see Ed and George again.
We all shared Pizza and a beer or two (at which time the "seeing" improved )
Stayed up with Geoff till about 3am helping H(Octane) image some widefields.
Rod showed me some wonderful doubles in his scope which I really enjoyed.
Thanks Rod, we'll have to have those cigars next time though.
The Hepworth suits were truly wonderful, so comfortable and for the first time I didn't feel the cold, thanks Geoff, although we did become targets for a certain boy with a toy gun !
Thank you most of all to Anthony (froggy) for hosting the night once again.
Last night was fantastic. I feel as though last night was the best night I've attended at Kulnura. Great company, nice pizza, and wonderful cigars.
Thanks to Anthony for his hospitality, once again, and thank you to Andrew for allowing me to use his camera and lens, and all his other assistance!
I thoroughly enjoyed myself and was surprised that I started imaging well before the standard 3 AM; I took my first proper exposure at 12:00:13 AM. That's a first.
I really needed to get out and socialise and look through my telescope. Well, not look (I haven't done that for months), but use. The only visual I've done is through the 9mm illuminated reticle whilst drift aligning.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, great night guys!
If it were a restaurant meal, I would describe myself as having glutted on a ten-course meal. I went home thoroughly satisfied (at that is without even mentioning RB's pizza and beer!). What a great night's observing, with a great bunch of guys to-boot!
The conditions were very good, no dew, no cloud, very steady seeing. My goto performed flawlessly (as always), and I churned through about 50 new objects, as well as visiting some old favourites that shone like diamonds.
It was a pleasure to have Tornado33 and Mark Suchthing visit. May we see you again very soon!
Astropolak (Joe) was good company chatting about equipment. I also enjoyed sneaking a view in some others' scopes, including Geoff's: it is always fun scanning the skies with a dob, and M8 looked mighty fine! It is also always very interesting comparing the views in Mikes 10" dob with my 10" SCT. My slower scope does not afford such wide-angle views, so some of the larger galaxies and OC's are a pleasure to see in Mike's scope. Also, George's scope was quite unusual to use. George always has something new to show!
Like Mike, my highlight was Barnard 186. To my eyes, there is an inky black dark nebula under a beautiful ring of stars, on top of which is beautiful "setting" with a central orange star. Well worth a visit to anyone who has never seen it. I might just put Barnard's list on the agenda for next year's observing targets!
Great conversation flowed....thanks for the company everyone. Keep those cigars for next time Andrew!
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, great night guys!
If it were a restaurant meal, I would describe myself as having glutted on a ten-course meal. I went home thoroughly satisfied (at that is without even mentioning RB's pizza and beer!). What a great night's observing, with a great bunch of guys to-boot!
The conditions were very good, no dew, no cloud, very steady seeing. My goto performed flawlessly (as always), and I churned through about 50 new objects, as well as visiting some old favourites that shone like diamonds.
It was a pleasure to have Tornado33 and Mark Suchthing visit. May we see you again very soon!
Astropolak (Joe) was good company chatting about equipment. I also enjoyed sneaking a view in some others' scopes, including Geoff's: it is always fun scanning the skies with a dob, and M8 looked mighty fine! It is also always very interesting comparing the views in Mikes 10" dob with my 10" SCT. My slower scope does not afford such wide-angle views, so some of the larger galaxies and OC's are a pleasure to see in Mike's scope. Also, George's scope was quite unusual to use. George always has something new to show!
Like Mike, my highlight was Barnard 186. To my eyes, there is an inky black dark nebula under a beautiful ring of stars, on top of which is beautiful "setting" with a central orange star. Well worth a visit to anyone who has never seen it. I might just put Barnard's list on the agenda for next year's observing targets!
Great conversation flowed....thanks for the company everyone. Keep those cigars for next time Andrew!
sorry for going to bed early too guys.(sat on the foot of my bed and fell asleap) ....but im glad you all enjoyed yourselves.
i remember waking up at somestage and swearing at that bloody useless dog barking. heard a few giggles from outside before i remembered you guys were out there ! did i scare anyone? ?
your welcome anytime guys ...im just happy your all happy !