western sydney people. - Page 3

atalas · #41 27-06-2005, 07:24 PM

Well Ving If the weather is good I'll be there with another astro buddy.

Louie

ving (David) · #42 29-06-2005, 10:03 AM

oh, umm... what time should we meet?
and
how long does it take to get there from penrith?

seeker372011 (Narayan) · #43 29-06-2005, 12:12 PM

before dark..so 4 30 ? or a bit earlier?

about 35 minutes or so from Penrith ..maybe a bit less

ving (David) · #44 29-06-2005, 12:18 PM

sounds... sound!

I'll aim for a bit earlier tho.

ving (David) · #45 01-07-2005, 12:45 PM

weathers looking good so far

any more peeps from anywhere wanna come along?

atalas · #46 01-07-2005, 01:55 PM

Yes fingers crossed Ving !

Louie

ving (David) · #47 01-07-2005, 02:22 PM

you guys got an observing plan or itinery of some sort for the night or are yas just gunna hop around?

my first priority is finding temple1 so i can show it to a mate on the 4th, then I'll just use my charts to hunt misc faint fuzzies....

atalas · #48 01-07-2005, 03:33 PM

Nope !

Louie

seeker372011 (Narayan) · #49 01-07-2005, 04:21 PM

Ving, your plan sounds Ok to me

atalas · #50 02-07-2005, 09:50 AM

Ok Sydney dude's things are looking good ! lets hope It stays clear tonight.

Louie

seeker372011 (Narayan) · #51 02-07-2005, 11:05 AM

fingers crossed

also just a reminder..print off the directions to get to the field from here

http://www4.tpgi.com.au/users/wsaag/Linden.html

believe me, its easy to get lost esp after dark

seeker372011 (Narayan) · #52 02-07-2005, 01:12 PM

whats with all the cloud!!!!

ving (David) · #53 02-07-2005, 02:12 PM

it'll clear

dont worry. if worst comes to worst there will be at least sucker holes...
but I expect that this will clear some time tonight

I am leaving in about an hour and wont be on here so if something happens call me please.

seeker372011 (Narayan) · #54 03-07-2005, 12:36 PM

Ok so we did have the first Western Sydney IIS observing meet at Linden after all.

present were Ving (David), atalas(Louie), rmcpm (Rob), and yours truly (Narayan).
Louie's mate Michael was there as was Brett White from the Linden Trust, for a short while.

It appeared the height of optimisim to rock up at the field when a light shower had started over Sydney, and the sky was 100% covered by cloud by the time we actually got to Linden.

Brett did a bit of a tour of his workshop showing us his mirror griding tools and also many giant dobs strewn around his workshop. (We did not get to look through the 20 inch or 30 inch on this night as Brett left early)

The cloud eventually dissipated , however, and those of us who persevered had several hours of observing time. (Michael, and Rob also left before the cloud cleared)

a couple of other guys who were looking to join the Western Sydney Amateur Astronomy group also showed up and stayed for a while.

We had four scopes on the field -my ED 80, Louie's 5 inch Takahashi Newtonian, Ving's 8 inch Dob (and a DS 114 belonging to Garth, one of the newbies) and my 12 x 60 binos

Aperture ruled as it always does-the most stunning sights were through Ving's dob (using Louie's nagler)-especially views of various nebula using a LP filter.

There was a fair mount of sky glow because of low cloud in the East reflecting Penrith light but Ving was on fire finding faint fuzzy after faint fuzzy including the Saturn and the Helix- despite the sky glow -as also tempel 1 which provided surprisingly hard to detect

Louie helped us find the Ring and Dumbell nebula-who needs a GoTo eh, when you have someone to guide you with a laser pointer -the Ring nebula in particular was stunning through the 8 inch and clearly resolved in my 80 mm, though I had to borrow a 7.5 mm eyepiece to resolve it.

We observed the Cocoon nebula, also NGC 4595, M13-first time for me-this object doesnt ride high enough to be visible from home, plus all the usual objects-the Swan, the eagle, the Lagoon and Triffid, Eta Carina, M6, M7, The Northern
Plaeides, Omega Centauri, Centaurus A and possibly a bunch of other objects that I have forgotten (afraid am not disciplined enough to take notes)

Unfortunately while I took all the bits and pieces I forgot the most important link-the camera so could do no imaging. It was a bit windy though so maybe it wasnt the best night for it anyway.

Particularly stunning for me was the great Sagittarius Star Cloud through my 12 x 60s. as also globular 6752 through the same.

We finished up at around midnight or maybe a bit later. Thanks Louie and David, we need to do this again

atalas · #55 03-07-2005, 02:19 PM

Nice report Narayan,turned out to be a good night.

Louie

ving (David) · #56 03-07-2005, 03:33 PM

yup was a good one guys. thanks for the writeup seeker

we saw heaps of stuff hey

I think next time i'll get myself an itinery going of faint fuzzies. I tried a few galaxies in virgo but because the seeing conditions I couldnt resolve any detail out of them. Louie did point me at the pinwheel tho and I could make out the arms with averted vision... so maybe with better seeing I'll see more

temple1 was nothing more than a very faint blob. I think with averted vision a may or maynot have seen a small tail but I am not sure.

thanks again guys.

when I get around to it I'll ask my astro soc guys about opening up the airfield at The Oaks. some of the Woollongong guys might be interested in that.