Pony Club (Central Coast) - July

[Inmykombi (Geoff)]

I am leaving in 5 min. for my Kulnura job, then I am out there.

Have I got everything ?????????????????? aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh

See you all there.

[Octane (Humayun)]

I'm in Leichardt at the moment. Going to Macquarie Centre to grab a bite and then I'll make my way up. See you guys soon.

Regards,
Humayun

[Rick Petrie]

Leaving in about an hour. Hope I've got everything!!!!
See yazall. Oh yes warm clothes. Lookin' good so far.

[gmbfilter (Geoff)]

Am leaving. Will be there 3:30 ish
Yeeerharrrrr

[Rhino1980 (Ryan)]

Have fun you lot. Wish I was joining you this weekend but have to work tonight. Hope you will be still keen for next weekend and hope the weather is good because I have been busy making wilcox rings and getting a power supply and some other stuff. Here's hoping!

[iceman (Mike)]

I can't make it tonight. Going to Melbourne for work on Monday for another 3 nights

Was supposed to be in Parkes this weekend

[Kimbo (Kim)]

I've just finished packing the car & hope I've remembered everything. I'm going to try to take my first astro image tonight (just a simple star trail) so wish me luck!

See you all soon

Kim

[Rodstar (Rod)]

I hope you blokes made the most of the clear skies last night.

I arrived home from the Australian Chinese Community Association NSW Inc Gala Ball at about 1am, looked up at the sky from Point Clare, and all I could say was "Wow!". It was the clearest most beautiful naked eye view of the Milky Way I have ever seen from home - the thought crossed my mind to get out the scope, but thought better of it....

I can't come next Saturday night either....maybe Friday night, though.

[Inmykombi (Geoff)]

Thx to all for coming to the PC for what turned out to be a very nice night indeed.
Seeing was very good for a while and then slipped away before re-appearing good again a bit later.
So much to see on the first really good night for ages when we were all together. All the usual "Must sees" plus Andromeda, Veil Neb, loads of Globs and some nice doubles in Pegasus. And I must have seen about 30 Meteors during the night, most of which seemd to be from just East of Jupiter. Short, sharp with no trail to speak of with a few sporadic ones chucked in that had some nice trails and good brightness.

I owe myself an uppercut for forgetting the ground coffee jar even when I took the drip filter machine and everything else.

Thx to Kim and Geoff OWL for the Meat Pies and Sausage Rolls that kept the insides warm.
My scope said it got down to 4.5 degrees last night, no Dew until pack up at about 4 am.
One highlight for me was seeing the Waning Crescent Moon and Venus on almost the same elevation as I drove along Wisemans Ferry Rd about 4.15 am....what a treat that was with the Earth Glow slightly lighting the dark side of the Moon. I had to watch the Road too as I nearly wiped out a few little white poles while watching / staring at them

I am "up a at 'em" now and feeling like a Zombie trying to get ready for a family BBQ about 1pm. mmmmmmmmmmm

See you all again soon.

Geoffro.

[Rick Petrie]

That just about sums it up Geoff(Inmy...). Was an excellent night with good clear skies for a change. Great to catch up again to all those that came.
Dob alley was a big DOBFEST with some striking views of all that deep sky stuff through the SDM's and Geoff filters new beast. Thanks to all and to GTB and Kim for the hot treats.
Hope H and Deeno got some good images from their efforts. Looking forward to the next PC.
Might go back and get some more Kips now.
Cheers

[GTB_an_Owl (Geoff)]

have to agree guy's

what a great "meet", and better than average sky for a change
the milky way was awesome early on in the evening
a very pronounced "emu" to be seen - looking like it was ready to peck the head of someone in Sydney - or further south

we officially renamed a few spots on the field last nite - we now have "18 Alley" and just off to the side of that we have the "Meade mezzanine"
we do still have "Nite Fright" corner (where Greg and Al like to set up)
we now have evidence of the reported happening's down there via the reaction of Deeno's guard dog last nite - lots of getting up from his warm bed in the car to growl at something down there in the corner

we finally made contact with the fellow (Dave) across the road and got the 'pony club airfield landing lights' turned off. What a difference that made.

my thanks to GMB for opening and closing last nite - love the new scope Geoff - a great addition to '18 alley'

thanks for the colimation and hedgehogs Rick - much appreciated

!!!! do you all know - that an 'Argo' works much better when ALL five pins of the "Alt Encoder" are connected to the ALL five holes on the lead ? - your not supposed to have one pin hanging out i found !!!!!!!


geoff

[gmbfilter (Geoff)]

What a sight Geoffs everywhere ...except everyone else

Soo good too see sttars
& catch up

Phil & Greg's SDM are fantastic machines

Thanks to H for letting me touch his G11

Deeano cant wait to see pics 6 hrs...unguided...drift King!
I'll watch the video again to see wot I missed

Just so darn good to have a good Night

[RB (Andrew)]

A very good night indeed, great to catch up with everyone.

Thanks to all who allowed me to view through their scopes, views of the Veil, M31, the Swan, Eta and doubles galore, it was a great night !

I kept my word and brought along the Meade.......

Good to see Deeno finally get the 'drift' of things and to see H level out any minor adjustments on the G11.

Looking forward to next time.

[Deeno]

Almost forgotten how much I enjoyed these nights!

Great to see so many photon starved scopes out on the field.
Finally had my little imaging rig up and running. Amazing how one error in drift aligning can end up in months of frustation.
Need a bigger car so I can bring the dob as well.

Thanks to everyone who let me bludge peeks through their scopes. 'Bout time the PC turned on a clear sky for us! And those little party pies and sausage rolls really saved my life!

Next weekend?
Cheers
Deeno

[Rhino1980 (Ryan)]

Sounds like you all had a blast. What was the doggie growling at, you have me intrigued? Hope to see you next week end so I can finally give the new beast a proper run...

[sally1jack (Phil)]

What a great night !!!, all i could hear was laughter & oooo's & aaaah's by all, everybody was getting great views almost worth the wait of the past few months.
Thanks everybody for a great night i enjoyed it ,special thanks go to the owl, firstly for selling me that toastie warm freezer suite , secondly for getting that light turned off, good effort Geoff.

Look forward to next time

phil

[sally1jack (Phil)]

I forgot to mention the Horsehead was clearly visible for a breif period to the naked eye , quite incredible Mystery solved Geoff
Phil

[gb_astro]

Guys, thanks for the views through your scopes.
Nothing like a couple of 18's to put a couple of 14's in their place!
Guess it was a case of Phil's SDM sophistication verses GMB's JMI ""how does this work again???" with newly "Morning Fresh" cleaned mirror". Great views in both.
H's ED80 on a G11. Need an earthquake to disturb it.
Joe got his binos working in mine and Phil's scope. Impressive. Thanks.
Kim, are you into this Christmas in July thing?
Somehow your setup reminded me of a tree with all your new toys around it. (Only joking).

I think I should have been warned about "Nite Fright" corner.
A couple of times my SevoCat decided to move the scope all by itself. Amazing, and I have witnesses.
The ghost of some tormented past Pony Club member come back for another look?
(Or maybe my remote batteries are just on the way out?)

Greg.

[norm]

It was a great night. Thanks to Rick and Greg for helping me with the collimation. Thanks heaps to Phil for lending me his 17mm Ethos - great peice of glass and definitely on my wish list now!!!

Would have liked to stay but the cold was starting to bite into the toes.

Great to meet some of the gang again and as usual the company is always welcoming.

Norm

[Kimbo (Kim)]

I had a great time last night guys, thanks for all your help with my newish toys. A special thankyou to Geoff (Inmy...) for helping me set up (& for his patience) & to H for his help with my first attempt at an astro image.

One of the highlights of the night was seeing the 'Horsehead' in real life, it was an amazing sight!

I won't be there next weekend as I'm heading up to Wiruna for another photo attempt but hopefully I'll make it again next month.

Kim