Cambroon on the 1st Jan 2006

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

It was only a small group but a fabulous time was had by all.

Rolecall. Zubenel, jjjnettie, [1ponders], Mark and Tim (Friends of Zub). Scopes on site, 2X12" dob, 1x8", 80ED and a couple of pairs of 10X50s. And that was all we needed.

It was without a doubt the best nights seeing I've experience in the past 12 months. What a great way to kick the year off. Lets hope its a sign of things to come.

While I spent most of my time manually operating the exposure timing with my bulb cable (I left my remote cable that runs from my StarMate to the 300D at home (What a pain. I've been too spoilt by automation)) the rest of the guys toured everything they could think of. M33, M31, NGC253, M46, NGC2438, NGC2516, NGC104, NGC2072 and friends, LMC and SMC, M42 and friends, NGC3372, IC2602, NGC3918, NGC2392, a double Asteroid (I cant remember which one), a number of double stars in Orion, Venus, Mars, Saturn and the Moon. And these are just the one's I remember seeing in between camera clicking.

The night finished at about 12:30 when Zubenel, Mark and Tim headed home and the dew started to come in, not heavily but it was a good excuse to get some sleep .

Lets hope this fantastic sky weather keep going for a few days.

[h0ughy (David)]

You all covered a lot of sky by the sounds of it!

Ah I remember I had the cable but forgot the software loaded on the lappy Paul at Duckadang. Nice to see everyone having a great time. you should have a good viewing, according to the jet stream map tonight.

So when the others stopped laughing, was there any sympathy Paul?

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

About what you'd expect from Dob users towards cables.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Paul, you forgot the junior astronomer, Jack, my 8yr old. He is truely a geek in the making, he was walking around wearing purple socks with his green sandles. He was the first to spot the tiny sliver of moon in the evening sky, also the first to spot a satellite. His main roll for the night was to turn my dob into a voice controled go-to. M42 please, Saturn please this time with the barlow.
I was playing around with my video camera getting .avi's of Mars and Saturn. Boy, a hand held camera sure makes for shakey movies. I put them through Registax today and got a couple of satisfactory images.
As Ron was away, we had no access to facilities. It was agreed that we should have a viewing night at my place outside of Kilcoy next time. I've got quite dark skys, with mountains blocking much of the skyglow from Brissie.
Anyway, it was a great night. Thanks for the company.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

I did too, sorry Jack He was a real champion. Keen as mustard. I don't know how I forgot him.

[asimov (John)]

Cool! I like to hear success stories...glad you all had fun & yes, here's to good seeing in 2006.