Hello there Icey people, I have been astro imaging since 2006 after a break from astronomy. I will be arriving in Brisbane where a house awaits in Cleveland. I have had a few posts in the Equipment Section but not introduced myself formally.
My name is John Hothersall from the UK in the county of Cheshire and got into astronomy with Halley's Comet 25 years ago, my interest waned and restablished itself when digital technology became affordable in 2005 as I always wanted to image and film was too difficult.
I have an Orion Optics SPX350 F4.53 which is a high grade Newtonian and image with ATK-16HR and newly purchased Astrodon filters. I also have a DMK21AF for lunar/planetary and a whole load of accessories.
Weather in UK is appauling 1-3 nights a month seemed the norm in Autumn 2009 but Cleveland looks clear most of the time. Also in UK we have the Jet Stream making seeing stormy so most imagers go widefield with small refractors while I struggle with longer fl.
The big packup for Bris will take place beginning of March and my scope and other hardware will go via shipping.
Welcome Downunder hope your trip goes well and everything arrives in good order and time. I was wondering which way the Deck on your new house faces it might be good for viewing from get you over the other houses and trees if it is facing the right direction
Hi John,
Welcome to the Austraila for when you get here. You will be in for a shock when you arrive. Ice in UK to a barbeque in your shorts in winter here.
Rememeber where in the southern hemisphere so the sky will look a lot differant, And don't touch the pretty black spiders with the red line on it's back!!
Hi John! I lived in Bolton for a couple of years as a kid so I know all about the weather in the North of England! Looks like a nice house your moving, just in case you are not familiar with it, the blue stuff above the house is called sky!
Manchester was the reason I came here 20+ years ago. It took ages for the wonder of waking to a clear. cloudless, sunny sky to wane. Not wishing to hijack the thread, spare a thought for this poor pom though ...
DIARY OF AN ENGLISHMAN IN NEWMAN, WESTERN AUSTRALIA
August 31
Just got transferred with work from grey old London to our new home in
Newman, Western Australia. Now this is a town that knows how to live!
Beautiful, sunny days and warm, balmy evenings. I watched the sunset from a deckchair by the pool yesterday. It was beautiful. I've finally found my new home. I love it here.
September 13
Really heating up now. It got to 31 today. No problem though. Living in
air-conditioned home, driving air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to see
the sun every day like this. I'm turning into a sun-worshipper.
September 30th
Had the back yard landscaped with tropical plants today. Lots of palms and
rocks. No more mowing lawns for me. Another scorcher today, but I love it
here.
October 10th
The temperature hasn't been below 35 all week. How do people get used
to this kind of heat? At least today it's windy though. Keeps the flies
off a bit. Acclimatising is taking longer than I expected.
October 15th
Fell asleep by the pool yesterday. Got third degree burns over 60% of my
body. Missed three days of work. What a dumb thing to do! Got to respect
the ol' sun in a climate like this.
October 20th
Didn't notice Kitty (our cat) sneaking into the car before I left for
Work this morning. By the time I got back to the car after work, Kitty had died and swollen up to the size of a shopping bag and stuck to the
upholstery. The car now smells like Whiskettes and cat sh*t. I've
learned my lesson though: no more pets in this heat.
October 25
This wind is a b*****d. It feels like a giant flippin' blow dryer. And
it's hot as hell! The home air conditioner is on the blink and the repair man charged $200 just to drive over and tell me he needs to order parts from flippin' Perth.
October 30th
The temperature's up around 40 and the parts still haven't arrived
for the flippin' aircon. Been sleeping outside by the pool for three nights now. Bloody $800,000 house and we can't even go inside. Why the hell did I ever come here?
November 4
Finally got the ol' aircon fixed. It cost $1,500 and gets the
temperature down to around 25 degrees, but the humidity makes it feel about 30. Stupid bl**dy repairman.
November 8
If one more smart a*se says 'Hot enough for you today?', I'm
going to flippin' throttle him. Flippin' heat! By the time I get to work,
the car's radiator is boiling over, my clothes are soaking flippin' wet and I smell like baked cat!
November 9
Tried to run some errands after work, wore shorts, and sat on the black
leather upholstery in the ol' car. I thought my flippin' a*se was
on fire. I lost two layers of flesh, all the hair on the backs of my legs and my flippin' a*se. Now the car smells like burnt hair, fried a*se and baked cat!
November 10
Weather report! It might as well be a flippin' recording. Hot and
sunny. Hot and sunny, Hot and flippin' sunny! It's been too hot to do
anything for two flippin' months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week. Doesn't it ever rain in this damn flippin' place. Water restrictions will be next, so my $5,000 worth of palms might just dry up and blow into the flippin' pool. The only things that thrive in this hell-hole are the flippin' flies. You don't dare open your mouth for fear of swallowing half a dozen of the flippers!
November 20th
Welcome to HELL! It got to 45 flippin' degrees today. Now the air
conditioner's gone in my car. The repair man came to fix it and said,
'Hot enough for you today?' My wife had to spend the $2,500 mortgage
payment to bail me out of jail for assaulting the stupid flipper. Flippin' Newman! What kind of sick, demented flippin' idiot would want to live here!
December 1
WHAT!!!! The first day of Summer!!!! You are flippin' kidding!!!!!
Australian's bubble wrap "risky" behaviour by banning many things.
Like Laser pointers...which are deemed (by those somewhat less bright than the laser) to be similar to AK-47's.
Fines are issued for most "risky" things...such a 3km/hr over the speed limit if you drive in Victoria.
Corporations don't pay much tax, buy PAYE (Pay as you earn) taxpayers on a good wicket, part with about haft of their income with GST and personal taxes.
The welfare system is very good. Health care...so so...(in NSW)
A good Highland single malt is also a little hard to find.
Cars, like Aston Martin, Lamborghini and (sigh) Ferrari are *really expensive*. Benz and BMW are also up there. Chinese, Korean and Detroit deravitives are not too bady priced. Way cheaper than Singapore.
Interest rates are probably the highest in the developed world. Our Bankers do well.
The weather. Mild winters, hot steamy summers. You need airconditioning in your house and car.
You can mention the war.
The locals, mostly harmless. Unless the Ashes test series is on.
The night skies...particularly in winter...are splendid. Significantly better than can be seen north of the equator.
My (Brit) father came to the conclusion the deal was only more sunshine.
To some extent I think he was correct. But life, no matter where, is what you make it. Welcome to planet Oz!
Last edited by Peter Ward; 17-01-2010 at 09:29 PM.
Reason: having fun
The place your moving to is quite nice. Will be sultry in summer time but you should also enjoy cooling sea breezes. Winter will be like your summer experience in the UK most likely, perhaps just a little colder at night.
As far as astro photography goes, you will have the heavy light pollution of Brisbane to deal with, however you are probably used to LP on a larger scale too.
You will DEFINITELY average much more than 1-3 nights a month under the stars unless of course you decide to purchase some long awaited new equipment ... Actions such as this are known drought breakers.
Once again, welcome aboard, hope your shift is a pleasant as shifting can be.
Manchester was the reason I came here 20+ years ago. It took ages for the wonder of waking to a clear. cloudless, sunny sky to wane. Not wishing to hijack the thread, spare a thought for this poor pom though ...
DIARY OF AN ENGLISHMAN IN NEWMAN, WESTERN AUSTRALIA
October 20th
Didn't notice Kitty (our cat) sneaking into the car before I left for
Work this morning. By the time I got back to the car after work, Kitty had died and swollen up to the size of a shopping bag and stuck to the
upholstery. The car now smells like Whiskettes and cat sh*t. I've
learned my lesson though: no more pets in this heat.
December 1
WHAT!!!! The first day of Summer!!!! You are flippin' kidding!!!!!
Thanks for the welcome and advice. 2 weeks ago the temperature in Cheshire where I live reached -14 and -22 in Scotland with arctic air spilling down to France.
In Cheshire UK even though I live in a rural setting the Bortle LP colour is orange/yellow which is suburban LP but in Summer I can see Milkyway through Cygnus down to Scutum star cloud which is 30 degrees above UK South horizon. But Cleveland, Brisbane is Bortle green and the Sag Milkyway is staggering. In UK my setup is very simple with no obsy.
We went for a holiday in Cleveland 18 months ago for the first time and I sat on the balcony with my binocs and waited for the high cloud to move away until I realised that High cloud was the Milkyway and my eyes were no where near adapted yet. This makes our Northern hemisphere Cygnus look rubbish.
With the new house in Cleveland there are not many places to put the scope, the balcony is the best place facing NNW. I wondered if the balcony would be suitable as it is solidly built and supported. I image at 1585mm with 10-30min subs using an OAG with my Newtonian, I also use longer fl for lunar/planetary.
Unfortunately there are 2 streetlights 50ft away one is sodium and the other is broad spectrum but Milkyway is so strong and limiting mag so good so not sure if lights will damage imaging. Cleveland is 15 miles from Brisbane but this place is definitley not UK as there is a clear difference seen when looking up.
I am on the UKAIF and the SGL in the UK but will look forward to contributing to IIS forum.
With the new house in Cleveland there are not many places to put the scope, the balcony is the best place facing NNW. I wondered if the balcony would be suitable as it is solidly built and supported.
Regards, JohnH.
John,
Firstly, Welcome.
Facing NNW from Cleveland will put you looking directly at the City, along with the associated sky glow.
Observing from the rear of the house will be your best bet (if there's room)
I lived at Cleveland for a few yrs (still have the house there near the show grounds).
The sky was reasonably dark considering the proximity to the CBD. From directly north, to the east & around to the SSW was good sky.
Unfortunately the NNW was washed out with Sky Glow.
I hope you can find a good position in the back yard.
Welcome John, another Queenslander to be ..... Good luck with the move, hope all that amazing equipment makes it Ok.
Dont know Cleveland, but not too far from Brissy, so lots to see and do in the beautiful warmth and sunshine of SE Qld
Hi John. I live just south of where you are heading, having migrated to Australia myself back in 2004. The skies Brisbane way will be a challenge, but if you can image looking to the south or out over the water, it will be much much better.
We hit 39C today, but despite what people say that isn't very normal for here Low 30's are more common summer highs for the coastal suburbs.
I spoke to you last year at Star Gazer's Lounge (Astroeye there..) about your impending move. Good to see you have a date - just in time for our winter here in Brisbane!
If you can, try to look south and not towards the north - no point looking at what you've just left!!
