OK looks like the weather is going to be hot at VicSouth. So what are some of you doing to keep cool? Could also be a wee bit warm to leave equipment out during the day - even when covered.
Buck
OK looks like the weather is going to be hot at VicSouth. So what are some of you doing to keep cool? Could also be a wee bit warm to leave equipment out during the day - even when covered.
Buck
Good questions , Buck. I have not got past sitting still in the shade during the day. But night skies look good so far.
Well I just got back from a fabulous weekend at the Little Desert Lodge near Nhill for the annual combined Victorian and South Australian Astronomy Societies' Astronomy camp. Arrived on Friday afternoon with the sky full of high cloud but on dusk it seemed to evaporate, exciting the over 50 amateur astronomers that had gathered for the weekend. There were more telescopes of various types on the nice green field than I had ever seen, but my still new 22" compact was the largest aperture one there, the ASV members not bringing their 25" Obsession this time.
I am still working the bugs out of the 22" scope - the last time I took it out the goto accuracy was way out and the drive seemed to be struggling. When I got home I found that the main central azimuth pivot bolt had become very loose. I had tightened it since and when I got it going this time I was pleased to discover that it was working really well. Over the course of the night objects were within 1/2 a degree, so appeared in the field of my widest eyepiece (28 UWAN 82X 1 degree). Actually, I discovered the spiral search function on the Servocat this night which meant that I could find stuff out of the field with a higher power or without changing eyepieces. I am sure I could get the system more precise by using Argo Navis's TPAS function for more precise pointing, but was happy with the accuracy I got, especially since the Servocat had a local sync function, vastly improving accuracy in one area of the sky.
There were some other big dobs nearby, notably Rumples ex 18" SDM now owned by Phil, as well as the 16" Tridob, now owned by Paddy. It was really interesting seeing some of the differences in objects between the the 2 scopes side by side. Most of the "glossies" looked spectacular in both scopes, though details obvious in the 22" needed a bit more teasing out in the 16". The main difference was mainly with fainter galaxies, which really seem to come into their own as interesting observing targets on apertures 20 inches plus.
Spent the first most of the first night cruising through fainter clusters and nebulae in the Magellenic Clouds, galaxies in Fornax, and quite a few planetaries. One of the highlights for me was NGC 246 which showed a distinct ring around the central star, with much detail visible in the nebulosity of the ring. About 1 am the lead supplying power to the cooling fan in the 22" shorted and melted, blowing the main fuse to the electronics. Undeterred, I kept going on manual using charts and found the scope works quite well as a traditional dob. Many people faded away about 2 am, but there were a few hardcore deep sky nuts that didn't want to waste a good night so we kept going until about 5 am, when the moon had risen and dawn was breaking.
The next day was very hot and people were covering or wheeling their scopes under cover so bad things didn't happen to them. Most people hung around in the main dining room, discussing the night, processing images gathered the night before. After lunch, guest Rob McNaught talked about his life and comet hunting which was a real insight.
The second night the high clouds did another disappearing trick so we were feeling very fortunate. I had visited the local hardware store and replaced the fan lead and fuse, so had the goto functional again, this time with no problems all night. Surprising after such a hot day, the seeing was excellent early on, so we had some amazing details of Jupiter as the sky was darkening. I had spent some time making a long list of 50 plus objects I had never seen, so cruised through many galaxies and galaxy clusters in Indus, Grus, Dorado and Horologium. Also seen for the first time were the ring shaped planetary IC 5148 and the emission nebula NGC 602. Finished the night with stunning views of NGC 253, which was staggeringly big, bright, detailed and huge after chasing down the faint ones, as well as pink and green M42 and the Homunculus (the polar jet seems to be getting longer and more obvious). Cloud and bad seeing saw us retire about 1 am this night.
The next day some of us went to nearby Mt Arapiles, a mecca for crazy rock climbers, affording some spectacular views of rock formations and - after cheating by driving in air conditioned comfort to the summit - the surrounding countryside, distant Grampians and lakes.
That evening the clouds finally settled in so it was chewing the fat, red wine and Star Trek that kept people entertained, although I did get a brief sharp view of Jupiter through a 5" Takahashi refractor.
It was a great weekend at a fabulous location to share with the other fine folk that attended, so thanks to Perry, Fraser and the other organisers of the event.
Great report, Tim. It was indeed a very enjoyable weekend. I really enjoyed catching up with some people that I knew and meeting many more for the first time. Browsing faint galaxies with Tim's scope was fantastic.
The heat wasn't that much fun, but the air conditioned dining room provided a good respite. It was there that I made a great discovery, but I'll post a separate thread on that in the Observational astronomy section. Many thanks to ASV and ASSA and all those who organised the event.
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