Hello!

[Astropleiades]

Hi everybody,


I'm a new member of this forum... I hope this is the good place to introduce myself.
First, I'm French (and naturally, I live in France), so I don't speak English very well.

I'm astronomer at Rocbaron Observatory (located in the south of my country), and I'm a member of the Astronomical Society of France (Société Astronomique de France, SAF).
Other thing: you maybe know Webastro which is a french forum (where I've got the same name...)

As you can see, I'm not in the South hemisphere (is it well written? Oh, I also want to progress in English! ), but I want do open my mind by discovering an other astronomical community in the world.
I have three instruments: a Mizar 114/900 on EQ3, a Meade 60/700 on azimutal mount, and a Paralux 70/350 on a simple tripod (for travels).

I think I said everything... if you have any questions, I agree to answer!


Astro-frendly,
Astropleiades

[ZeroID (Brent)]

Hi Astropleiades, to the forum from down under. Your English seems pretty good, I don't think you will have any problems with communications. I'm just about totally opposite to you on the globe living in Auckland New Zealand. Trying to build a small Observatory in the back yard. List of my hardware in my signature below.

What are your responsibilities at the Observatory ?
Do you have a specific astronomical interest, planets, DSO's or ... ?

Cheers
Brent

[PCH (Paul)]

Salut AP,

et bienvenue sur le forum

Ici, il ya quelques personnes qui parlent un peu francais. Et aussi il y a un Francais au moins sur le forum. Je parle un peu, mais seulement ce que j'ai appris a l'ecole il y a 30 ans.

Encore - bienvenue

[Rodstar (Rod)]

Bonjour Astropleiades, bienvenue a Iceinspace!

J'ai visite la France en Juin l'annee derniere. En Provence, j'ai vu Polaris pour la premiere fois!

Do you have plans to come to Australia?

I am hoping to return to France in the next few years. My forebears came from Bourges, I spend some time there last June, but I want to go back there and learn some more.

I also loved Provence - Arles, Carpentras, Venasque, Mount Ventoux, Bedoin, Aix-en-Provence, Orange, Vaison-la-Romain. Tres tres magnifique!

Where is Rocbaron? What research are you doing at the observatory?

Your English is much better than my French. I look forward to seeing you on the forum.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Welcome to IceInSpace

[Astropleiades]

Thank you for your reception!

Originally Posted by ZeroID

What are your responsibilities at the Observatory ?
Do you have a specific astronomical interest, planets, DSO's or ... ?

Originally Posted by Rodstar

Where is Rocbaron? What research are you doing at the observatory?

The Observatory is not professionnal... we could make scientifical missions, but the director prefers to propose an astronomy accessible to all. That's why we were "amateurs" since we created the Observatory, 16 years ago...
You can discover Rocbaron Observatory here: http://www.observatoire-rocbaron.com/

Currently, I don't have any responsibility, but:

I'm going to become responsible of a new cupola including a refractor, particularly a 180mm whith f/d equal to 9. This new cupola will be optimised for astrophotography...

If you travel in France and if you can visit the Observatory, we detain the greatest apochromatic refractor of France (diameter: 232mm, focal: 3meters), a C11, a C14, and more...
In the next fews years, we will build the greatest refractor in Europe (yes, the director is crazy, but he has the head in the stars... )!
In brief, we're well equipped and we study the sky for leisure (er, this last sentence maybe badly built! but I think you understood me).

I don't have specific astronomical interest because every object of the sky is beautiful (even in theory!). Planets, Sun, comets, galaxies, ... I observe differents objects without preferences. However, my favorite object is Pleiadis (M45 if you know the Messier catalogue, but if I remember, it's not visible in south hemisphere?).

Hey, about celestial objects... I want to find a celestial map showing "your" sky (becouse I don't know south hemisphere constellations...). Where can I find it? Is there a good website for this?


Astro-friendly,
Astropleiades

[Liz]

Bonjour Astropleiades.

You have made us all very jealous, as am also a lover of the south of France!!

Am sure you will have a lot of fun on this Forum, and come to appreciate some of the beauty of our Southern Skies.

[EricB (Eric)]

Bonjour Astropleiades, bienvenue sur le forum!

Moi aussi je suis francais, mais je vis maintenant en Australie. Je suis tout nouveau, mais ce forum est super. Rends-vous souvent visite!

(I am French too, but I now live in Australia. I am very new here, but this forum is great. Come and visit us often!)

Bien a toi,

Eric

[ZeroID (Brent)]

Hi Astropleiades
Pleiades is just visible in the low northern sky from my latitude ( 37 S ).
We, of course have the Southern Pleiades (IC2602) in our sky.

I'd suggest you get Stellarium (Free) to study our skies. Just set the location to anywhere down this half of the world and it's all available.

[JB80 (Jarrod)]

Hi Astropleiades and welcome.

Quite a French feel in here, my wife is French too and Rocbaron is not very far from my brother in-laws place. We will keep the observatory in mind next time we are down that way for a vist perhaps.

[FJA (Faith)]

Hi Astropleiades, I'm also in the northern hemisphere (UK). If you ever get the chance, make a visit to the southern hemisphere, it's worth the effort and expense.

[Astropleiades]

Originally Posted by FJA

Hi Astropleiades, I'm also in the northern hemisphere (UK). If you ever get the chance, make a visit to the southern hemisphere, it's worth the effort and expense.

In fact, IceInspace is an international forum! But I'm surprised finding so much French here!

One day, I'll go to South hemisphere, and I'll contemplate...


Astro-frendly,
Astropleiades

[Harley (Gilbert)]

Hello from Australia