Blue Mountains - Katoomba Airfield, June 20

[Wavytone]

Agreed it's a great start so far. good luck !

[andyc (Andy)]

Bah, looks like circumstances are against me - I can't make tonight, and so hopefully that means you'll all have perfect skies . Forecast is excellent.

[Camelopardalis (Dunk)]

Have a great night chaps - weather is looking like a cracker

[Allan_L (Allan)]

The predicted weather looks brilliant for Katoomba Airfield (albeit 1*C and frost, from 7pm)
http://clearoutside.com/forecast/-33.67/150.32
...
but it looks atrocious for Mangrove Mountain (again).
http://clearoutside.com/forecast/-33.34/151.16
Well, Looks like another night in.

[lacad01 (Adam)]

Stuck at work but fingers crossed I can make it by about 6PM, just a pita setting up in the dark

[killswitch (Edison)]

Packing up my gear now.. should get there around 4:30

[JRC (John)]

On our way.,.

[ariefm71 (Arief)]

It was an amazing night...
Thanks Alex for organizing this

[JRC (John)]

Excellent evening and very nice to meet all of you Mikes enthusiasm on seeing Saturn said it all

Thank you very much for organising Alex

[basketcase07 (Edward)]

Hi,

Thanks everyone for helping me out in last night. It was great and i'm hoping to join you in the next event!

Regards
Edward

[AG Hybrid (Adrian)]

What a truly excellent night it was. No wind at all though so the dew was serious and the frost was substantial. 2-3 mm of FROST on our cars and equipment.

However, atmospheric stability was 10/10 no contest. Atmospheric transparency would have been up there as well. And it lasted for a 4-5 HOURS. HOURS!

The view of Saturn was absolutely amazing. The best I have ever seen. I counted 7 moons of Saturn for sure and possibly an 8th moon. I saw Hyperion for the first time in my 12". Which is about magnitude 15. Which is beyond the supposed limiting magnitude of my scope. My scope was pointed at Saturn for at least 3 hours. Everyone just wanted to keep coming back and look at Saturn.

It was the most exceptional night of observing I've ever had. And everyone else who was there would have to agree that it was something very special that we wont soon forget, and will talk about for years to come.

Last nights conditions was not a once a year occurrence. It was more of once a decade kind of night. I am going to remember last night till the end of my days.


Simply staggering.


On a side note. Credit where credit is due. The best views of my life was through a Baader Hyperion Zoom and ES Coma corrector, which I kept in the focuser for about 6 hours. Pretty much all my other eyepieces stayed in the eyepiece box.

[AstroJason (Jason)]

Agree mate, that view of Saturn is one I will never forget! We were looking at it at 4mm which was 400x from memory in your scope and it was absolutely tack sharp. It wasn't like there were moments of good seeing either, it was just brilliant the entire time and you could really spend the time to take in and enjoy the details of the view. The colours and bands on Saturn really stood out as well. Incredible contrast like I have never seen before. It was like looking out a window of a spaceship orbiting Saturn.

I am sure we will be using last night as a benchmark for all future astro adventures. Dunk, you should have been there buddy! Truly, it was incredible.

Thanks again for the views mate. And hope the Maccas went down well too!

[jasonghaby (Jason)]

Thanks for an incredible evening out! That view of saturn was jaw dropping. I didnt think it was possible to see that much detail! Well worth the drive, the dew and the frost. Can't wait till next time. Thanks again everyone.

[Camelopardalis (Dunk)]

Gutted maybe the sacrificing of an astronomer satisfied the cloud gods?! Great to hear you had an excellent night chaps

Needless to say, it's been clear the past few nights with my scopes unobtanium but now the unboxing is getting under control, the forecast for this week isn't so great

Oh erm and wot no images

[MortonH]

Once again my absence from Katoomba coincides with excellent conditions.

Damn and blast!!!

[andyc (Andy)]

Originally Posted by Camelopardalis

Gutted maybe the sacrificing of an astronomer satisfied the cloud gods?! Great to hear you had an excellent night chaps

Originally Posted by MortonH

Once again my absence from Katoomba coincides with excellent conditions.

Looks like the sacrifice of three astronomers, myself included, was enough to appease the weather gods! Any volunteers for the altar next time ?

It stayed clear in Sydney on Saturday just long enough for me to get the scope out and start fiddling... then the clouds rolled in for the night .

[Wavytone]

I'm glad to see it finally turned on a night of top seeing - now you guys know why I used to go to Hargraves for years.

Meanwhile we were warm and toasty

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Yippee!!!

Photons at last!!!

A night of several firsts it was:
First night in months we got to use our scopes.
First night in months for screaming great stable conditions.
First night in years I saw the Horse of Sagittarius naked eye.
First night of not a breeze and enough dew and frost to drown in!

The view of Saturn through Adrian's scope was nothing less than staggering! A truly magnificent sight. Only once or twice did I see a hint of a flutter from thermal currents. Just wonderful

I took my new little 8" f/4 rich field wonder, Kulali. , what a special beastie it is... Coupled with good eyepieces for a fast newtonian, and the image it throws up is just delicious! Upto a 3° true field of view I can get with it, and the detail that such a rich field scope can throw up at low magnification is amazing. The galaxy M83, not only a sizeable blotch, the nucleus was obvious even with direct viewing, averted vision revealed its bar, and I caught a couple of glimpses of one arm. I needed to view M83 through Adrian's scope to confirm what I saw, and there certainly was the same arm in the same place in Adrian's scope. Angle's breath faint though, and I only managed a few fleeting glimpses of it.

That combustion heater though, if it wasn't for it I don't think the cold that night would have been so tolerable.

A wonderful night with great company!

Alex.

[dulwich.hill (James)]

Very jealous of you all - the Mewlon and I are itching to get out under the stars again after so many bad weather months.

Unfortunately, we were moving house this weekend and I was in no state to make it. I saw the clear conditions and thought of you all.

The Mewlon and Saturn will have to wait until next month.

James