Kulnura - this weekend 18th Nov - Page 2

cahullian · #21 16-11-2006, 09:27 AM

Sounds good guys. I already have half a dozen hedgehogs ready for the weekend and am looking at maybe another half dozen by Sat night.
Looking forward to seeing you all again. I'm lookiing forward to using my new seat again.

Gazz

cahullian · #22 17-11-2006, 10:16 AM

Disaster
Came home last night and some one had eaten all the hedgehogs.
I will go looking again tonight but the little buggers are hard to find.

Gazz

RB (Andrew) · #23 17-11-2006, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cahullian

Disaster
Came home last night and some one had eaten all the hedgehogs.
I will go looking again tonight but the little buggers are hard to find.

Gazz

"Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

They were my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My moon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that the hedgehogs would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one:
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods:
For nothing now can ever come to any good."

Unless of course Gaz can find some more !

iceman (Mike) · #24 17-11-2006, 10:27 AM

geez gazz I thought that was your condition of entry!

iceman (Mike) · #25 17-11-2006, 10:29 AM

Just checked with froggy, we're ok to come!

He'll be there this time too!

iceman (Mike) · #26 17-11-2006, 10:30 AM

PS: I'll probably get there between 7 and 7:30pm, since it's not dark until 8pm atm.

cahullian · #27 17-11-2006, 10:33 AM

lol nice one andrew

GTB_an_Owl (Geoff) · #28 17-11-2006, 10:55 AM

Where DID you get that from 'RB'

good luck with the hedgehog hunt 'Gazz'
(but you only really need them if 'h0ughy' promises to come)

but there again, there are those that will not say no to a bit of hedgehog if they can be captured

ausastronomer (John Bambury) · #29 17-11-2006, 11:00 AM

As Rod mentioned, Gary, Andrew and I will be at Ilford this weekend due to a mutual friend from Texas visiting. Hope the weather is clear for you guys and the night goes well.

CS-John B

sejanus (Gavin) · #30 17-11-2006, 11:38 AM

hey guys i might be there not sure yet. I have a wedding to shoot but it may end about 9:30pm and it's up north so I'll put the scope in the car and come out if I'm not too buggered after the wedding.

I still haven't used my scope properly as it's been cloudy darn near every night at where I live.

David · #31 17-11-2006, 07:23 PM

see you all there, don't know if I can stay the whole night but I will be there for the start

wavelandscott (Scott) · #32 17-11-2006, 09:35 PM

I'm pretty solid after an early evening of "chores" and "honey do" items...

Most likely I'll have at least Cam and maybe Tom too...probably can't stay too late but any scope time will be nice!

See you all soon...

RB (Andrew) · #33 18-11-2006, 01:00 PM

Is anyone going to stay back till late tonight?
Looks like a top night coming up !

Rodstar (Rod) · #34 18-11-2006, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rocket Boy

Is anyone going to stay back till late tonight?
Looks like a top night coming up !

I could be convinced if you bring your Tak, Andrew.

h0ughy (David) · #35 18-11-2006, 06:12 PM

I am not allowed to come tonight guys

. i have been grounded

. I have been roped in to help my wife mark 170 exam papers. not happy either, hole in jetstream, clear skies, no dust in the air, no cloud, and no moon either. its not fair.......and to think that hedgehog had my name on it???? I am not even allowed to set the scope up until after the papers have been finished.

please take some photos to tease the proverbials out of me showing clear skies, everyone happy and a hedgehog.......I want to show my wife there are normal people out there who care about me and need me

. and that I should have been there

iceman (Mike) · #36 19-11-2006, 12:10 AM

Back home already.. something weird tonight, the sky just wasn't dark. And it got worse as the night went on, could hardly see anything in the north.

Good company as always, but transparency was shocking.

Maybe next month.

wavelandscott (Scott) · #37 19-11-2006, 12:25 AM

Mike was right about the seeing but the company was good...three tired Mitchell boys just arrived home...we will unpack in the morning...off to bed now...

GTB_an_Owl (Geoff) · #38 19-11-2006, 01:41 AM

You ok 'RB' ?

did you get roped into helping H0ughy and his missus marking papers?

hope all is well

absolute crud of a nite with the seeing - and it didn'get any better after 12 as it usually does - in fact it got worse - we packed it in about 12-30

looking forward to next month and your pleasurable company again guy's - xmas party hats are optional

Rodstar (Rod) · #39 19-11-2006, 07:57 AM

We missed your company RB!

As Mike and others have said, the conditions were quite bizarre. We saw 15+ satellites, was looking very promising early on with clear skies and still air, but as it got darker, it became apparent that the sky background was much lighter than we have ever experienced before.

It wasn't skyglow in the usual sense....it was not particularly coming from the direction of Sydney or Newcastle, it was everywhere. Glenn Dawes' laser pointer hinted at the problem, the laser beam picked up an enormous amount of moisture in the air, (although not a huge amount of dew fell on the equipment).

The north was just plain dull, like someone had smudged the stars. It had the appearance of dull storm clouds, but there were no clouds!

I am wondering if a coven of wives got together to conspire against us....we certainly all got home much earlier than usual!

I would be interested to hear how John B and the others found the conditions at Ilford.

Thanks to Cahulian and Geoff for the generous supply of hedgehogs and beer. Also to David for kindly sharing his mint slice chocolate bickies! Was nice to have the company of both Campbell and Tom Mitchell, who were very patient and well mannered (like their daddy!). Also good to see Froggy, who stayed for a good while last night.

Thanks Mike for letting me set the observing agenda. Before the conditions deteriorated too badly we saw some interesting targets in Sculptor, Tucana, Cetus and Aquarius. Perhaps the most interesting sight was a group of 3+ galaxies in the one FOV in Cetus. Two of them were NGC 584 and 596, not sure of the ID of the third. NGC 157 is another nice compact galaxy in Cetus worth a visit; I would like to see it again another time with 20" to see how much detail I can elicit.

I had a chance to try a new EP out....I picked up a 12mm UO HD ortho from Frontier Optics for a mid-high power EP in the short term until the budget will stretch to the premium end. Although the FOV was rather narrow, the views were tack sharp to the edge, and image brightness and contrast excellent given the conditions. If it performs as well in my new scope, I think I might just pick up the 6mm and 9mm EP's as well!

Look forward to seeing you all next month.

RB (Andrew) · #40 19-11-2006, 10:45 AM

Guys I'm so sorry I couldn't make it last night.
I was gearing up to be there around 7.30pm but something unexpected came up and had to attend to it.

I was thinking of you all, sorry to hear the seeing was yuk.
It looked like it was gonna be a stunner night, although I wonder if there's particles in the air from bushfires.

Anyway missed you all

, I had planned to bring the 12" LX200 just for a change, looks like it'll have to be next month.

Cheers.