Its clouded over here too and doesn't look like clearing. The national radar image at BOM shows a large gap coming thru then lots of cloud behind that. 7timer is now showing partial cloud all night.
So at the moment I would say that it wont be a good night for telescposes.
But you are still all welcome to come up anyway for the BBQ. It should still be a nice evening.
Thanks John, pity about the clouds and even though it would be great to get up there and meet you all I only have a certain amount of brownie points away from the kids and I think I'll bank these for a telescope session in the future. Have a great BBQ.
Just back from an all nighter with John and Meru, and contrary to all the forecasts, it was clear throughout till dawn. occasional wisps of cloud but they were pretty low.
Had a great time, relaxed and had the bbq in the evening, set up the scopes, and then had another bbq at 2am!
Did a bit of visual as well with my 8" newt on a Dob mount, surprised the hell out of myself by locating sombrero in 5 seconds flat with just a laser.
Whilst I had some guiding issues, Meru was happily snapping away his widefields with two dslr's, and John managed to get a few subs on four or five targets in one night, which is a bit of a record for both of us.
we both used the CCD method for polar alignment and that got us aligned quick and easy. Amongst the best method I've used and highly recommended.
It was a bit chilly till around 2 when suddenly the temperature rose by 3 degrees and became very warm. that was very strange.
But in all, a fantastic night, sure to see some good images from John and Meru.
Can't wait till next new moon. we'll be heading out again.
Cheers
Well said Alistair, it was truly amazing. It was so clear we actually saw quite a number of DSOs with Alistair's dob, and I got some great footage for my timelapse video cant wait to post it here! The BBQ was also great idea!
The drive home was actually very beautiful, you could see the sun rising over the mountains and valleys with patches of low lying fog here and there on the road. Look forward to it next time guys!
It turned out to be a good night afterall. Even at 7pm it was still doubtful that it would be that good a night. By 8 we decided we would set up, even thou the forecast wasn't that promising and the moon was quite high and didn't seem to be moving across the sky at all. (maybe the Mayians did have it right i thought.)
My main aim for the night was to get my PA method down to a reasonable time, 4-5hrs seemed a bit long last time. This time, using the CCD method Alistair showed me, I had a good PA an hour later if you take out all the chat time. I was happy.
It turned out that the clouds stayed away all night so we were all able to get some imaging done till about 5am this morning.
Claudia, my partner, did find a nice little suprise waiting for her when she got up about 1/2 hr after I went to be. Saomething 1 of the cats dragged in. See pic below.
Next new moon is on the 12 jan which is a sat night, so I am planning on another evening then. So start building those brownie points and hope to see you then.
Sat. night is looking like it might be a reasonable evening.
I know its a bit late notice for any that have to get permission from thier other half but thats the way with this hobbie.
So if your interested PM me for details. So far I think there will be 2 others coming up.
Thanks guys I'm glad you all had a good night. A few clouds early but not many. It cleared up after 2 but the wind picked up a bit more.
Saturn looked great thru Pete's TEC160.
Sounds like you guys had a good night, I'm hoping to make it next new moon if the weather clears up.
What did you'll end up imaging or observing?
Ricky and myself are visual guys and did a comparison test on a TEC140ED vs TEC160FL mostly on Saturn. The point of it was to put to rest what an extra 20mm of glass can do. The results where ???? well maybe next time when both of us are there people like yourself and others can see for your selves. But I do recall some huge similarity to this image but at the eyepiece and at a reduced image scale http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/a...1&d=1360605892. I think John has a great thing going here where people can come and enjoy them selves or learn new techniques. Can wait to make it to the next get together.
I reckon you might have to build a hotel there soon John.
Having great views all round from the airport, it's starting to clear up and my internal barometer (Aka a hunch) says it will be clear! Yay!
I will also be bringing two other non-astro friends who just want to see what its all about. So will have a 8" dob for people to view through if anyone else was interested
cant wait to post it here! The BBQ was also great idea!
