NSW Northern Rivers 2008

[GrahamL]

No worrys mate ,its always good to catch up with old friends and talk a little ****e together hope you all had a good night .

yeah the balance was fixed with a jigsaw around the secondary cage
one thing about building your own you always pick the little faults you will fix up with the next one we make.. You know I'm alittle suss on that textured laminate I used and gave you ..I picked the same little bit of stick on your bearing motion I can feel on mine from time to time,,maybe the surface of it isn't exactly even enough to give good movement .. though a sealed bearing type arrangement like what Ed used ( copy off others ) would be great .

I don't think my mirror ever got close to ambiant/temp ..thats something that pops up i notice with a larger /thicker bit of glass
in that a fairly long time is needed to settle down ..I can really understand why people get thinner mirrors when you go up from 12"./..my 10" was quite useable after a brief move the 12 not as much.

[glenc (Glen)]

Thanks Rob, I liked the bino mount.
Graham your scope is great too.
I just got clouded out here.

[glenc (Glen)]

I was clouded out twice last night, but managed to observe from 10:15 to 10:45 and 2 to 3 am. I saw all the globulars I could think of with the 12" dob. Rob, how much was that 16" mirror?

[glenc (Glen)]

The HST will be mag 1.6 when it crosses tonight at 6:26pm through Orion to Corvus. It will be similar tomorrow and Wed.
mag 1.6 18:26:10 10° W 18:30:31 84° NNE 18:32:00 40° E

[CoombellKid]

Thanks forthe heads up Glen!

Got the scope out and cooling nice clear night tonight. Even though there
is a hint of jet stream to the East.

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

SN had plotted it perfectly I came inside when I couldn't find it and SN had
a little east of Canis Major when I went back out there it was where SN had
it. I raced inside as it hit Corvus and it was doing the same on SN. Coming
back outside and watched it disappear into the Earths shadow a lil to the
upper right of Spica.

Nice night tonight : ) happy observing fellas

regards,CS

[glenc (Glen)]

GREAT night last night. I looked at 38 of the 39 GC in James Dunlop's catalog.
Didn't see the HST.

[CoombellKid]

Awesome out here too, I sat out in the yard with my 20x80's until about
10:30pm then was out again around 3:30am this morning. Mostly checking
out the Milky Way near Scorpius. I did manage the HST although it was near
overhead when I nabbed it. I followed it in the 20x80's until it disappeared
into the Earths shadow.

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

We're having some ripper nights eh' fellas

I spent last night early evening catching HST along with several other sat's
that I didn't bother ID'ing. Did a bit of bino observing, jeeez you get lazy
with the 20x80's on the parra mount as there is a heap to see and many
challenges still to nab, and they only take 3 minites (I timed myself) to set
up. Btw, we have two appearences for the HST tonight so both you fellas
and Alex (if your up here) should be able to catch them. For me 6:21pm
@ 1.5 mag and 8:03pm @ 0.5 mag. It's transiting pretty much West to
East.

Apart fromt that when I woke this morning it was spectacular as I lay
on the trampoline with the parra mount . At about 3:30am the center
of the Milky way was slightly west of the zenith. You could spend hours
scanning around that area, I didn't have any charts printed up.

On another note, My 16" mirror has landed on aussie soil, expected delivery
to Casino Monday morning. So in the next few months, you guys will have
a bit more aperture from the host at Coombell when you come.

Looking good out again tonight, might as well take advantage of the clear
skies.

regards,CS

[glenc (Glen)]

Great again last night, but a bit of smoke around now.
Look forward to seeing the 16".

[CoombellKid]

Originally Posted by glenc

Great again last night, but a bit of smoke around now.
Look forward to seeing the 16".

Yeah just noticed that as I was setting up. Seems mostly in the west but
I did notice a lil in the east too.

I expect at least 6 months of clouds, rain and flooding around the time of
first light with the 16". I must admit I am a lil excited as I've been quietly
burning with aperture fever for some years now (buying ep's, kinda
soothed it) and are really looking forward to some more aperture.

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

How long did that take rob ?.. sheesh I thought you only mentioned going to order it a day or two back .. seems pretty quick ,is that direct from the maker?

Re the smoke they have been waiting to back burn a little down New Italy and bundjalung way this week looks like today was the day

[CoombellKid]

Originally Posted by nightstalker

How long did that take rob ?.. sheesh I thought you only mentioned going to order it a day or two back .. seems pretty quick ,is that direct from the maker?

Yup straight from GSO. Sent an inquiry on Friday got an email back about
price and shipping 2hrs later. Confirmed the order Sunday afternoon, got an
email back from GSO about 20 minutes later with their account info, Sent a
telegraphic Transfer on Monday and an email to ask for confirmation. Got
an email from UPS later that night saying shipping request recieved along
with a tracking number. The Bank told me to expect a 48 hour delay before
the transfer hits there account. So I didn't bother checking until Wednesday.
Only to find it had left Taiwan 7pm the previous night and landed in the
Phillipeans 3am Wed, arriving in Sydney last night. Aparently it's on a flight
up here over night. But wont be delivered to Casino until Monday, my guess
is UPS doesn't do runs everyday out to Casino. And that's that, about to
order the Argo Navis shortly

Originally Posted by nightstalker

Re the smoke they have been waiting to back burn a little down New Italy and bundjalung way this week looks like today was the day

Still a lovely night out there tonight

regards,CS

[GrahamL]

I'll get those pics of the connecters over the weekend ,they are pricey but very good .

NGC 3132 3918 4361 5189 5844 6302 tonight
that eight burst has been a hard find for me all week from home with heavy dew every night popped right out tonight though ..as did 5844

couldn't nab 2736 ,very bright out your place rob but nowhere dark enough from home to spot it..2899 not yet ..eso97-g13 we looked for the other night glen is also playing hard to get .

All the local culprits of globs an galaxys were coperateing

[CoombellKid]

Ok if we get lots of cloudy weather and rain over the next few months,
you can blame me. My mirror arrived in Casino today, and I've just ordered
the Argo Navis. Although for me I expect the weather to be perfect right up
until the day before first light.

We've been getting some lovely night and mornings out this way.

regards,CS

[glenc (Glen)]

I painted my 12" black yesterday and put larger bits of teflon in the base, also washed the mirror and collimated it.

[GrahamL]

The only downside i find of a black scope is turn your back on the sucker for a minute and it dissapears

[CoombellKid]

Originally Posted by nightstalker

The only downside i find of a black scope is turn your back on the sucker for a minute and it dissapears

What you guy's need is one of those remote car key finders. The ones where
you press ya lil remote and your keys play a little tune back at you, except
you could include some disco lights

regards,CS

[CoombellKid]

I thought it rather ominous that I got my new mirror home yesterday only
to be hit with a rather happening storm last night. We almost lost power
there for a little bit. We got about 14mm in 30 minutes.

regards,CS

[glenc (Glen)]

Showed the Moon, Saturn, NGC3532 and omega Cen to 16 cubs and 7 parents at Corndale last night.