3rd quarter @ kulnura - Saturday 21st

[iceman (Mike)]

Have spoken with Anthony, all is ok for us to be there tonight.

[ving (David)]

Originally Posted by Octane

er... quoted wrong post... it was the see this post post

gotcha chief!

[Octane (Humayun)]

Guys,

I'm heading out of home for about 3 hours, and won't have access to a computer.

If tonight is cancelled, Mike or Andrew, could you SMS me, please?

Thanks,
Humayun

[wavelandscott (Scott)]

I got a "pass" from the warden for good behaviour and am planning on going...see you all there...

[frogman (Anthony Lord)]

louie mate im not going to be here i will be leaving sunday lunch to go to cessnock to get a wisdom tooth pulled !
sorry

[wavelandscott (Scott)]

Thanks all for a nice time...

Both myself and my son had fun!

Thanks Froggy for your bosses generosity!!1

[iceman (Mike)]

I had a great time last night, observing in the company of Scott (wavelandscott) and his son (an upcoming astronomer no doubt!), Rod, Humayan (Octane), David (Ving), Froggy, Louie and (Anthony) Rocket Boy.

The sky was very clear all night, transparency was good but quite a bit of moisture in the air. The seeing was very good, best i've seen while we've been at Kulnura.

Had no real observing plan, and just jumped around the sky and socialised with others. My SkyCommander battery ran out, my spare was flat, but lucky Froggy was able to charge it for me, so an hour later I was back in business.. thank goodness for that! My planisphere was long left behind since I got the DSC's, and I can tell you I was out of practise recognising constellations naked eye!

RB's 5" TOA Tak was a stunning bit of gear.. military in look and precision. The widefield views were so sharp and contrasty, absolutely amazing. Now I know what pinpoint stars look like.

The 31mm Nagler in my scope was amazing.. first time I've said "WOW!" in a while, fitting all of Orion's sword in the FOV, and the nebulosity around eta carinae filling the whole area. Just incredible. I think Rod had a bit of newt envy for the wide field views.. He remained very quiet while looking through the 31mm nagler in my scope It wasn't long before he started talking about 18" obsessions

Unfortunately there was quite a bit of dew and things were wet and fogging up for the last few hours.. I packed up and left by 12:30am, as I'd had a long night the night before imaging the gas giants. Most others were packing up then too. I'm sure RB and Louie stayed for the long run.

A great time as usual, thanks for the company and the fun, and thanks Froggy + boss for hosting us again!

[Octane (Humayun)]

Hi all,

It's 7:55 AM. I should sleep.

Last night was the best.

It took me ages to get my scope set up initially. Thanks to the boys who helped!

Andrew's Takahashi is droolworthy. It looks like a weapon, rather than a telescope.

Louie's G11. *dribble*

I didn't correctly polar align so just did a lot of visual observation. However, when the moon came up over the trees, I snapped around 50 shots in prime focus.

It then started getting extremely dewy. My scope was dripping in moisture. It looked like it had been put in a freezer and had been taken out for defrosting. Terrible.

Towards the later stages of the evening (morning), Louie showed Andrew and I several clusters in the vicinity of Eta Carina. They looked absolutely stunning through his C11.

We also had a good ogle at the Moon through several high-powered and barlowed eyepieces, and at Jupiter, again, through several high-powered eyepieces. The bands were quite clear as were the moons.

Andrew, Louie and myself were the last to leave just a little after 5 AM.

Thank you to everyone. That's the best night I've had out in ages.

Regards,
Humayun

[Rodstar (Rod)]

I had a lovely time too, thanks for the company fellas (and the drop, RB). It was nice to have the little fella (Campbell) bubbling with enthusiasm, even at the midnight hour!

Highlight for me was playing with WavelandScott's 16mm Nagler T5. I didn't mind the tighter eyerelief at all, in fact to my eyes it increases the spacewalk feeling. (thanks for the loan, Scott)

Yes we all had lots of fun admiring the astrogear floating around. The 31 Nagler? Not bad......

I agree with Mike and H that RB's Tak is stunning. I have never seen such sharp and contrasty views with stars quite so pinpoint before. For the things I am currently interested in (star clusters, doubles), this is the perfect instrument.

Louie, I didn't get to your 20mm Nagler......next time, mate! I am very keen to see how it performs. I have been told that double the focal ratio is the sweet spot of any scope, so I figure that 2 x f/10 makes a 20mm Nagler my perfect companion.

I am sorry to hear H that after all that polar aligning you were unable to image. After all those setbacks to describe the night as your best night out for a long time shows you are truly sucked into this hobby!

Ving and I had some fun hunting down some doubles in Orion. The dew kind of spoilt our fun in the end, along with a rising moon. Damn that dew! I seem to recall that the early months of the year in '05 (my first year of serious observing) was also very dewy. We'll certainly be needing dew shields and zappers at Lostock.

Best luck with the tooth extraction, Froggy. Nice, as always to have your company, Mike. It was good to compare views in our respective scopes, and I agree that the 31 Nagler in a fast scope is hard to beat!

I am pleased to say that I have now tracked down all of my January objects, and that I am well into February's. I will have to put February's list up sometime soon.

Soo you all soon (hopefully at Lostock).

[Orion]

Sounds like you guys had a great time.
I had visitors so I couldn't come along.
Anyway I'll catch up with everyone on Thursday at Lostock!

[RB (Andrew)]

It was a great night last night.
The best part was the company.
Thanks guys.........

Thanks Froggy, hope all goes well with your tooth.

[wavelandscott (Scott)]

Well, I believe that I have created a monster!!

My son, Campbell, who attended last night is still talking (and talking and talking) about last night. Clearly he had a great time and he is sure that we should take more equipment next time...look out SPSP!

Thank you all who patiently listened to him and put up with him through the night. He is a talkative and inquisitive boy no doubt...He has been and is a "space junky"...last night only helped fuel his fever.

Rod, I am glad you enjoyed the 16 mm t5...I like it too.

Mike, thanks for letting me look through your filter...it is clear (no pun intended) that your filter is more discriminating than the CLS I have...I suspected it would be but it was good to see in person. Just one more thing to add to the shopping list...

The 31 Nag was big and nice, but I don't think I am ready to own one...

Oh, I almost forgot...Ving, your seat cover is fabulous!

Froggy, good luck with the dentist...

It was nice to be back under dark skies but as noted earlier, it got a bit soggy as the night went on.

Anyway, thanks again all it was a good time!

[ving (David)]

Originally Posted by wavelandscott

Oh, I almost forgot...Ving, your seat cover is fabulous!

hey I like it too!
Moooo!

thats for a good night guys, i had fun

I liked mikes self-adhesive felt so much i went to spotlight today to get some
the down side to that, they had run out of black

looked at saturn for the first time this year thru my scope and she was a beauty... I even sneaked a look thru RB's tak while he wasnt looking

Campbell shared out the timtams great son you have there

rod and i did some doubles in orion, starting with rigel, then doown to the belt and mintaka and alnitak, then over to the top of the sword (nice triple there) and lastly to sigma onionis... by then i couldnt see out of my finder and rods scope had dewed up too...

while rod and i were battleing dew louie (atalas) was having troubles too trying to image m1.

I packd it in at about 12:30 (i had already turned into a pumpkin) for the long drive home...