MPAS public night

[Louwai (Bryan)]

The public night last night was a great success. IMO anyway.
About 60 odd people turned out, (looked like it to me) and there were still a couple there when I left at 1am.

The 2 observing slabs were full of scopes. About 25 scopes ranging from 18” down to about 3”. Trevor (OneofOne) was there with his C11. A few larger fork Meade’s, not many dobs. A couple of Newts. And refractors. I arrived at 7.45pm and had a little trouble squeezing onto the pad. Some had been there since 5pm.
When the crowds left the presentation & moved out onto the feild there were people EVERYWHERE. I thought for sure someone would trip on a tripod & a scope or 2 would go over. But everyone was exceptionally careful & the kids were great too. Infact the kids that attended should be commended for their good behaviour & for doing as they were asked.

Was a great night tho. Plenty of interested public. I was talking to one guy, covered in tats, typical looking bikie (sorry, I know, Generalising) He was very upset that he had just bought a new bike. After last night he would rather have bought a decent scope with the money. Very nice & friendly couple. Maybe we can talk him into selling the new bike.

I must appologise to the guys on the lower observing slab. About midnight my daughter opened the drivers door on the car. The headlights were on 'auto' & so as soon as the door was opened the headlights came on, bathing the lower slab in bright light. VERY SORRY guys. And then to make it worse, I had to open the door again later to pack the car & leave.


All in all was a good night.

Bryan

[Starkler (Geoff)]

Sounds like a big night there. I almost made the effort to come down myself but was feeling tired after a big day at work.

If the clouds stay away I might wander down tonight.

[Stephen65]

I take it there's a MPAS club night tonight? Are IISS people welcome?

[OneOfOne (Trevor)]

Must say we had a great time too. I heard someone mention they reckoned there were 90 people! My wife and I have only been down there twice previously and both times clouded out. But last night was great. We left around 12:30 and headed back home. Probably would have stayed longer but we had to prepare for a party tonight.

I must admit the kids were extremely well behaved, especially considering it was more than an hour before we could actually see something.

I know everyone who attended certainly enjoyed the night.

[Louwai (Bryan)]

I'm going to head down again tonight. Will leave in about an hr. I think Phil W might get down as well.
I hope so. I'd love to check out the 10" truss bino's again. They blew me away at the SV camp.

[PhilW]

alas, I am planning to take the 14", its turn tonight. Next time the bino!

[taz]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to this site and to astronomy.....but have already learnt heaps here, just by flicking through the forum...many thanks!

Got a LX90GPS for Chrissie and am still trying to work it all out. took out the trusty DSLR last night and found Mars (very small, blurry pic!) Am very exited...yes I'm that new!!!!

Interested to read about the MPAS nights....I'll be looking to get down there and learning more. And no doubt I'll have many questions for the forum.

Look forward to meeting some of you Melbourne people soon!

Cheers,

Caroline

[erick (Eric)]

to Caroline! Nice to hear from you. Yes, visiting MPAS, with your scope, is a good idea. There are plenty of IIS people in Melbourne and surrounds. Eric

[Louwai (Bryan)]

Yes Caroline. Their not a bad bunch around these parts.

Check out the MPAS web site for info.
http://www.mpas.asn.au/

Another one I highly recomend is the Snake Valley crowd.
http://snake-valley-astro.homelinux.org/astrocamp.html

Cheers, Bryan