New Moon observing Central Coast Pony Club....Aug / Sept.

[GTB_an_Owl (Geoff)]

well, I am afraid we have to report one very ordinary nite

the only thing good about it was the good company as usual

just as we were packing up conditions seemed to get a bit better - but it was too late

we closed the gates so the ponies couldn't get out at 4am

geoff

[RB (Andrew)]

Yep nothing special here either and the wind picked up which played havoc with the imaging.


I did get some frames but have to see how they turn out.

[Rodstar (Rod)]

Yes, I found it hard to get a steady view even as low as 130x (and there was no alcohol involved).

Still I had fun munching some galaxies. The Grus Quartet was probably my favourite of the evening....all four quite bright, three framed nicely in the 22 Panoptic, the fourth a little outside the FOV, but easily snared with a deft nudge of the scope. NGC 253, 247, 55, 1365 all made worthwhile targets as well, and we snared a galaxy cluster in the Tucana region, which was something new!

Joe brought his extended family. It was nice to give them a bit of a tour, and to have the merriment that they brought.

Also good chatting with Emmanuel (welcome), and Gary was welcome company, as was Deeno. And of course, the multiplicity of Geoffs, and Rick et al.

See you all at Lostock. (You had better be there, RB, or we will start getting a complex.....).

[Deeno]

Definitely a night for the lower power eyepieces, with the 24mm Panoptic occupying the focuser nearly all night.

Good fun chasing down galaxies in the giant footsteps of the Mary Rose. Often requiring a little imagination and convincing that something actually occupied the same patch of space that was easily revealed through the serious aperture of the Mary Rose only moments earlier!

Can't help but be impressed with Ricks new Parracor. Something else added to the wish list......

Good to see such a healthy turn up and looking forward to seeing everyone at Lostock.

Deeno

Lucky I drove home again to retrieve the scopes dew shield to keep the non-existent dew off the primary..

[Rick Petrie]

How deceptive can our atmosphere be?
Beautiful clear night but.....! But on looking at the westerly jet stream that was and the prevailing northerly wind intertwined, made everything awash,just like the proverbial washing machine.
Just when you thought the cycle was over we got spun out, wrung out and hung out in anticipation of a good load to finish. Amongst the wash however was some reasonably good views of galaxies and a few clusters.
On the bright side, wouldn't have missed it, as meeting up again with everyone made for a great night.
Thanks to all again for looks through scopes and to Rod on filling us in on a few good targets with the Big Mother Mary R. With the rocky road (Geoff 1) and tim tams (Deeno & Geoff 2) and cigars (Geoff 3) certainly sweetened things up on the night. (Geoff's not necessarily in that order).
Nice to meet Emanuel on his first venture to the dark side and hope to meet again, and to Joe and family and Greg.
See yawl next time and here's looking to Lockstock (Lostock) hopefully with some smokin' barrels.
Cheers

[RB (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by Rodstar

See you all at Lostock. (You had better be there, RB, or we will start getting a complex.....).

LOL yes you know me better than that, I don't miss pony club sessions very easily (even if it's raining).
Last night was my last chance to image M31, The Andromeda, so I really could only do it from my place.

Glad to hear everyone had a good time even though the conditions were ordinary.
It certainly changed through the night and put an end to my imaging session due to high wind.
Still I did manage to get some good data so I'll be posting once I have had time to look at it all.

Hope to see everyone at Lostock, lest I cause a mass RB 'complex' septics society.

[gmbfilter (Geoff)]

The fun continued at pony club.
It's a great bunch of observers with different interests and approaches to astronomy that make it such a great night

[Deeno]

Just finished unpacking the car.
Forgot to fire up the stogie RB..........

[RB (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by Deeno

Just finished unpacking the car.
Forgot to fire up the stogie RB..........

I didn't have one either, just not the same without company.
Save it, we'll have some when we meet.

[gb_astro]

I should of put the scope away and practiced naming stars and constellations, however I had a Starry Night Bluestar adapter to get working, which I did, until I tried Astromist's T-Point-like pointing improving function and it all fell apart. Back to the manual.

Thanks all,
Greg.