Blue Mountains - 28/12/13. Last hurrah for 2013

[rogerco (Roger)]

Sorry, something has come up and I have to stay home, looks like I will just have to make do with Woodford skies after all. Have fun seeing out the old year.

[Steffen]

Just arrived at Hargraves LO, not a bad spot by the look of it. See you all soon.

Cheers
Steffen.

[rogerco (Roger)]

Hope you had a good time. I setup at home (too much Xmas cake had given me a poor stomach). Mixed results, started Ok with a ten minute guided shot of Orion but the focus wasn't quite right. Then tried to get the guide camera a bit sharper. Well that was the end of that, combination of poor seeing and what appears to be poor collimation of the guide scope put paid to any further work.

Orion was a single ten minutes ED80 with QHY8 quick process, no flats and just basic levels in Nebulosity.
Setup photo shows the back end of the ED80 with the QHY8 the guider is the new Orion 70mm with a QHY5L-II mono with T thread spacers

[Camelopardalis (Dunk)]

Lovely shot Roger!

The conditions at Hargrave's were pretty great until some time after 1am when the wind would buffet the scope from time to time.

The Orion Nebula was pretty special last night visually, and above all I think I preferred the view without filter, so much detail and contrast. Jupiter was the best I've ever seen once it had risen above the murk. Nice texture in the polar regions, jaggedness/swirliness in the equatorial bands, and then the red spot graced us with a transit, and the swirls fore and aft. Beautiful.

Then I swept through Carina with my little Zenithstar and the 40mm (about 10.5x!) which was awash with stars, clusters and nebulae had to dial up the magnification a bit (about 17x) to see more detail in the Carina nebula and nearby clusters, before finally locating Omega Centauri which was just a big fuzzy patch in that scope

A fitting tribute to - for me at least - some fantastic sessions this year under the southern sky - thanks for putting up with me guys

[rogerco (Roger)]

I tried looking at the cross eta region about 1:30 but by then thin cloud was coming over it and couldn't see anything other than the main stars of the cross.

Glad to hear the trip to Hargrave's was worth it.

Happy new year.

[AG Hybrid (Adrian)]

Yep,
Pretty good night till the wind hit at about 1 AM. Probably the best view of Jupiter I have ever seen. Conditions were great, clear skies and a warm light breeze until the gusts hit. Seeing was superb even when the wind hit. The predicted 9/10 seeing was accurate.

Saw some new targets to the north. A few new galaxies in Cetus and a handful of interacting galaxies. All-in-all a good night.

The Nova in Centaurus was easy naked eye at midnight too. Pretty cool to check out.

[Camelopardalis (Dunk)]

Forgot about the Nova

Taking in the SMC and the sausage of the LMC in one FOV in the ZS71 was pretty cool too

[Steffen]

Yes, what a night! A fitting finale to 2013. And did you see that big, red crescent Moon rising on the way home?

Cheers
Steffen.

[killswitch (Edison)]

It was a good night to end the year. Nice and clear.

On the way home i stopped by the Three Sisters and as i was walking back to my car there was a massive fireball! It went for a good couple of seconds, it exploded and broke up into pieces.

Also attached is the quick star trails i did (200 frames)

Originally Posted by Steffen

Yes, what a night! A fitting finale to 2013. And did you see that big, red crescent Moon rising on the way home?

Yes i couldnt stop looking at it on the way home. It looked much bigger than usual and the crescent was perfect.

[Camelopardalis (Dunk)]

Yeah the Mucky Moon was distinctly less so by the time I got home highlighted how much the road weaves and winds. The thick mucky carpet over Sydney was a shock to the system after all that lovely mountain air, I had to put the air conditioning on again

Btw great pic Ed!

[AG Hybrid (Adrian)]

Originally Posted by killswitch

It was a good night to end the year. Nice and clear.

On the way home i stopped by the Three Sisters and as i was walking back to my car there was a massive fireball! It went for a good couple of seconds, it exploded and broke up into pieces.

Also attached is the quick star trails i did (200 frames)



Yes i couldnt stop looking at it on the way home. It looked much bigger than usual and the crescent was perfect.

Ha! That valley below looks really illuminated with long exposure. Of course when your there its like a black sea of darkness.

[Wavytone]

Sigh...

I was thinking of you guys all through dinner - the evening looked so good down in Sydney even my wife suggested coming up just for a look afterwards but 4 hours drive wasn't exactly appealing.

Aah well... at least the weather has been kind at last.