I just called the poor fellow from Scotts Tubes (Rob) over the road from the pony club that came home last nite to discover two red buckets in his front garden
had him puzzled till i explained what had happened and who the buckets belonged to
he said it is ok to turn his lights red again whenever we go up
i also invited him to come on over for a look whenever the reds lights were about
I'm glad you guys had a good time, and am sorry I didn't make it, but you can't really bail out of your Grandmother's 85th birthday party.
I got home around 10, so thought it a bit late for the 1-1.5 hour drive to the nag park. The skies were clear here on the northern beaches, so out came the dob for a bit of a squizz. Had good views of M42, even saw star E of the trapezium, which is a first for me. Spied 17P Holmes, though with 8x56 bino's, not naked eye. Just as I was about to put the scope away Mars popped up, so I had a quick view of it. It looked suprisingly good, especially through a vintage Unitron 12.5mm Ortho 0.965" eyepiece and a cheap Tasco 3x barlow!! Looked better through that combo than the Bintel 9mm Plossl.
Anyhow, I can't wait to get to some clear skies, and have pencilled in the 8th.
