What a great night! Wonderful to see so many people. Looking forward to seeing Jakob's group photo. A few arrived later after the group photo was taken, but most people are in it.
Conditions were pretty much ideal until the dew kicked in at about 11. The transparency was excellent, and seeing very still (which of course contributed to the dew). By midnight my shroud was absolutely drenched, and, uncommonly for the Mary Rose, the primary mirror was all fogged up as well.
It was great to have Bambo and Phil sharing the Mary Rose with me. I convinced John that TPAS run was not required. John had an appetite for galaxies, so we chewed through quite a few, including my favourite NGC1365 in Fornax and one of John's favourite's NGC1566, a lovely spiral. The Humunculous was spectacular - lots of details in the lobes were visible without any effort or averted imagination required. We also chewed through quite a few crisps, and some of us enjoyed a drop of Makers 46 (yum).
Also good to see Ron this time with his 8 inch dob - he was able to locate a few object such as NGC253 and Eta Carinae for the first time which was a buzz for him.
Jupiter yielded some lovely tight views through the evening. M42 was spectacular - E and F were visible in twilight, and the pallet of colours came in to full force by mid-evening.
I will be in Coonabaraban next new moon for a week's concentrated observing with John (XStream) and Anna. Looking forward to it!
What a great night. The dew killed me by 2200, really have to address that and got a lot of tips from people on doing just that, something about 'pulse phase units' or was that 'phasers on stun' or something or other ... lol
Met a bunch of lovely people for the first time, and caught up with some older faces, pun intended, and got to see some fantastic views. The 'Mary Rose' is a real eye opener, pun also intended. Go dobs.
Couldn't get away last night, visitors stayed to very late.
Glad you guys had a great time.
Rod, wish I could have joined you, John and Phil for a sky tour.
The sky looked great from here but dew was bad.
FANTASTIC to see such a big turnout last nite and only two clouds in sight () all nite.
Hope the new comers had a good session and will come again.
Al and I closed the gate about 2-30 am
A real pity the dew got so bad late in the evening
The Observing field looked like a parking lot!
So many people there I am sure I didn't get to talk with nearly everyone.
Sorry about that.
But the viewing was "on" and there was plenty to see.
Special thanks John for the excellent supper.
Thanks to everyone who turned up!
And a special warm welcome to all the "First Timers".
Hope to see you there regularly.
I cannot remember when there was so many at the PC as there was last night.
Welcome to all the new comers who visited for the first time.
A Cracker of a night until the Dew came in, but with my LX200 dew heaters working overtime to keep it away, I was observing until about 1 am.
14 meteors and a few brightly flashing satellites kept the naked eye busy between visits to the numerous eyepieces on offer.
Thanks to everyone who attended for a great night.
Wow! What a turn out last night. The PC looked like a car park. Never seen so many people at the PC before. Fantastic!
I departed at midnight, defeated by the heavy dew but I did manage a few snaps despite the constant use of a hairdryer. Very impressed with the Polarie's tracking ability. This was a five minute exposure at effectively 160mm.
Look forward to seeing Arthurs's group photo. Any chance of putting a link to the picky so we can download the photo?
Nice shot John.
I was trying to look at the Flame nebula last night but no success, the bright Alnitak just drowns it out.
Your polar alignement was also pretty good to get the stars so sharp.
And thanks for the midnight Snack!
Last edited by jakob; 02-02-2014 at 06:26 PM.
Reason: spelling
Congratulations to everyone who turned out to make such a good night.
A warm welcome to all the newcomers and to John 'Fizics' for those scrumptious snacks.
Thanks also to Rod for the 'firewater' and awesome views.
Hope you sort that pinched optics problem Al.
Once again top roll-up and bring on the next meet.
I think there were about 15 vehicles, by the end of twilight. I have never seen so many there.
The Mary Rose had to setup near the road, it was so full.
Sorry for the image quality, unfortunately, this particular tablet doesn't have a great camera. Still, you can see most of the field.
I think 2 or 3 more vehicles may have arrived after this photo was taken.
Sue and I left at around 23:30, and everything was soaked due to the dew. I don't think I have seen it so bad up there before. The wind had stopped by 8pm, so that probably wouldn't have helped things.
Still, the seeing was quite good, and we had quite a celestial feast.
Geoffro, the link you want for the wifi controller is:
I also thought it was a great night despite the dew formation. My apologies if my headlights disturbed anyone when leaving just after midnight. I didn't expect dew on the inside of the windscreen and couldn't see where I was going. I also had a first go in the field with an Ioptron skytracker driving an old DSLR. I couldn't polar align properly due to lack of familiarity with the southern pole and possibly a fogged polarscope. Inspired by John's pic, this is a 2min exposure of a similar region to his snap. It was taken as an afterthought when my other lenses dewed up. Despite its limitations (tracking, focussing etc) I think there is a flame and maybe a bit of something where the pony is meant to be. Something to work on next time.
. I also had a first go in the field with an Ioptron skytracker driving an old DSLR. Despite its limitations (tracking, focussing etc) I think there is a flame and maybe a bit of something where the pony is meant to be. Something to work on next time.
Hi all,
It was well worth the trip up to the pony club even though dew attacked the primary fairly early. Was great to meet some of the IIS members. Lots of excellent advice floating around for us beginners (fair warning, lots more will be needed ).
Was awesome to see some of the more advanced scopes in action and even better getting a chance to take a peek through some of them . Though that massive 20" mary rose was a little intimidating thus both Linda and myself were not game to climb that ladder just yet, kind of like Jacobs ladder that one maybe next time.
Work and weather permitting we will be back up again to shoot for the stars next new moon and clear skies. Some nice pictures were posted including the group shot. Hope to see you all and possibly some new faces on the next run.
Huge thanks to everyone for help, advice, comparisons, food, facilities and general good conversation.
Cheers Guy and Linda.
) all nite.
well worth the trip
). 
