Any star gazers on the forum?

[loamer]

I was out looking at the night sky tonight - magnificent. I have the 'Australian Sky' 1967 by W.J. Mewell my Pop got me in the 60s. Great little book. Just wondered if we have any other night sky watchers on the forum?

 

[kleinman98]

Yes sometimes. I have Starwalk on my Ipad and a mirror telescope in the workshop

 

[loamer]

The reason I ask is that many times I have read the old diggers navigating across the goldfields at night from one rush to another (take the Southern Cross and Eureka as an example). the old blokes were pretty much looking up at what I am looking up at 160+ years later.

 

[Ag Man]

Balx is a bit of a star spotter

 

[loamer]

Laying back in the swag - looking at the night sky - seeing stars I do not see in Melbourne - (pardon the pun) absolute heaven.

 

[charlie123]

what shape is the moon tonight, big question

 

[loamer]

Its a waxing gibbous.

 

[yournutz]

i look up at the night sky alot on friday or saturday nights, usually because i have fallen over drunk and cant get up............lol

 

[loamer]

That's a pissa. :lol:

PS sucking on a veebers as I laughed

 

[axeman]

I read a book titled (Back of Cairns) which was set back at the start of the gold rush days. Now how these early explorers and prospectors found there way around was amazing because half the time they wouldn't have seen the stars because of the scrub they were walking through. Sometimes it would take days to get through.
Mick

 

[slowflow]

'I've a couple of telescopes, 12" dobsonian, 3" aldi special and an 8" Meade ( still in Qld).
The Aldi occasionally goes prospecting.
Could not follow the stars around the back yard :8

 

[charlie123]

Armillary Sphere is an ancient and most accurate map of the planets and stars position , basicly a more complex sun dial, chinese indians use them to judge what time of year is best for certain jobs a such. I believe this tool to be the most important in any house hold

 

[yournutz]

hey Loamer its friday evening time to start the process for tonites star gazing .....im of to the pub......lol

 

[yournutz]

something went wrong Loamer i didnt fall over tonight..........i tried i really did......lmfao

 

[BrisJoe]

For a while not long ago I was lookinginto getting into AstroPhotography
A bit expensive though

 

[slowflow]

Yournuts, have another go tonight. recover allday sunday then wait until next week so you recover.

 

[the hill folk]

Laying back in the swag - looking at the night sky - seeing stars I do not see in Melbourne - (pardon the pun) absolute heaven.

Now that is the life !!!

 

[Guest]

Just a quick note, although no astronomers are 100% there is a "chance" earth could be entering the debris filed of the now vaporised Comet Ison, so over the next 5 night keep an eye out for an uptick in meteors, even if there is none the sky sure is looking good this time of year

 

[the duck]

Here is my favourite podcast see if you think im interested in stars

http://www.abc.net.au/science/starstuff/

 

[Syndyne]

Hi all,

Count me in as another star gazer. Absolutely loved the hobby for many years. We have very dark skies out here with almost zero light pollution so it's perfect for any telescopes/binoculars. I use a Skywatcher 10" Reflector on an EQ5 mount and a smaller 4" Refractor on an EQ2 for more portable reasons.

Never really got into Astrophotography as like BrisJoe said, it can be a touch expensive, particularly when auto-guiders and pro GoTo mounts come into the equation.

Very handy skill to have, not only for the more important navigation reasons, but it's always an interesting topic to chat about, not unlike prospecting. Glad to know there are others here that share the hobby.

I haven't had the old telescopes out for a good while now. I do have shots from various astro events and the odd outing with the camera.

Just testing out the camera on a wide field Galactic shot here. We had some atmospheric dust at this time, hence the visible red haze. This was taken using a Canon 5D MkIII and a Canon 16-35mm f2.8 L lens.

And a shot of the recent transit of Venus across the Sun. This was taken using my now old Canon 450D and a cheap 300mm tele kit lens using a rigged up Solar Filter.

This shot of Comet McNaught was taken with my very first digital camera back in the day, which was a little Nikon Coolpix 8700 hybrid digital. If only I had the 5D MkIII back when that was passing!

Just as another tip: There's currently a new Supernova visible to the naked eye just near Hadar at about 1.5 or so -roughly a fingers width away at arms length. Hadar is the upper pointer Star between the Southern Cross and Alpha Centauri. It's now known as Nova Centauri and has been through successive bright stages since it's discovery a few weeks back. I'm attempting to get a shot of it, but the drought is causing so much dust near to the horizon out here at the moment. If I do get a shot I'll definitely post it up

If I can also find the shots of us using the scopes I'll post them up.
Kindest regards,
Shauno.

Edited for spelling corrections.