What a greaat night it is out there. Just lost M86 to the horizon so I'm having a run at M57 before I go indoors and process this lot. Wahoo. Good stuff.
P.
It is beautiful out there.
Did you see that very short very bright meteor at around 8pm? Bright enough to cast a shadow!
Missed it. What was that punchline in those Toyotas ads, the one with the sheep dog that tried to jum into the back of the ute bust missed and landed in the mud. It was a delightful one-liner that has become part of language and folklore - except the moderator would shut me down if I use it here. But it is very apppropriate in just such circumstances as these.
P.
Well, I said I'd post an M51. Here it is. It was well down into the twilight (hence that reddish glow I couldn't get rid of) and my tracking was off but it was visible. I managed a few of the M86 cluster of galaxies too but tracking was not up to it.
P.
My prediction for the future - they will have telescopes that are affordable to the ordinary man that are so sensitive at capturing light, the viewer will be able to see this detail when they look through an eyepiece..
Rod... Just have one eye removed and have a very sensitive CCD put into your skull attached to your optic nerve.. Then you'll see detail even through a nice little 70mm refractor!
My prediction for the future - they will have telescopes that are affordable to the ordinary man that are so sensitive at capturing light, the viewer will be able to see this detail when they look through an eyepiece..
I can dream can't I.....
You can already do something like that!
If I just feel like observing, I hook my Gstar-Ex video camera up to my little iOptron refractor and Cube mount to view galaxies and nebulae in real time on my computer or television.
This camera is so sensitive you can even see the Horse Head nebula.
Peter at present I'm going to say we should be making it down this afternoon to visit you and accept your invitation for a nights observing at 10 Chain Hill. We're really looking forward to it!
The plan at present (again) is the same as last month, ie that Joy and I will bring our little van (nicknamed "the Clubhouse" by my son) along for it's debut trip away to ANYWHERE and stay overnight.
My brother Don is also planning to come along in his new "microcar", he's been off the road with car and health issues for well over 2 years. Don used to get out to Ron's a fair bit but he's barely been there for a night observing in the last 18 months, so this will be the first overnight trip anywhere in his "new" car. It's also only the second time his 10" dob has been to a dark sky site in it's 18 month life too so he's keen as mustard!
We're planning to leave here around lunch-ish and I figure we've got a 2 hour run down - we'll probably travel together, and Don's car is a 3 cylinder, 543 cc engine powerhouse, 80 - 85 km/h will be about his best highway speed - so I figure we'll see you no earlier than 2pm, hopefully no later than 3-ish if we get away on time. Fingers crossed!
A big thanks to Peter for having us all last weekend... It was a fantastic, and judging by some of the images posted so far by Jeanette, Les and myself, a very productive night!
Thanks Peter for your Hospitality It was great to give my Camper a run and to meet up with you and the other members who normally frequent Cambroon.
Next Astro Stop is Duckadang
Thanks all. Isn't it ironoc that Monday night turned out to be one of those absolute pearlers - so much so that I didn't get to bed until about 5 a.m.. I just kept getting whacked with great sights and to top it all off, who should come marching over the hiils to the east but our old mate M42 and all his cohort. So I managed to get my images of 31, 33, 42, and to top it off, got 57, the Tarantula and ... nope that was it. But a great list of sights I'd been waiting for for ages - all in one night.
So excited by all this, I went over again tonight and decided to do a hard one and tried the Saturn Nebula - elusive little blighter it turned out to be. I set up a 4-hour process of 10 minute subs and went to bed. It's now 2 a.m. and I've just processed all those hours of nothing. Got some lovely proof that my tracking works but my aim doesn't - not so well anyway.
Ah well, dem's the breaks.
See you all soon, somewhere.
Peter
The odd tantalising success here and there is all it takes to get addicted though isn't it Peter! Thanks again for such a great stay. We all had a good catch up around the fire anyway until the clouds parted again - we can't blame you for a bit of moisture. Looking foward to next time.
Then you'll see detail even through a nice little 70mm refractor!
You can already do something like that!
