Deep Sky Camp - February 20th 2009

[Fay]

Yes Mike

[Mike]

Cool. See you there.

[Carole]

At the moment I am planning on coming down tomorrow (Friday), and stopping over to Saturday.  Leaving my tent and household equipment there but I then have to come home to a family function during the day on Saturday and am planning on coming back to Tuesnoad by around 6pm.  So should be back in time for the meal. 

Mike is it too late to order a veggie meal as I can't eat poultry and I having a feeling the beef meal is going to be too hot for me.

Planning on staying over to Sunday, but need to get home by Sunday night, although I could leave it until very late if the skies are good.

However, the weather could change all this, but currently looks OK.

Is a cheque OK for the weekend payment?

Carole

[Whitters]

CURRY BEER GUNS ... Just try to keep me away

[Mike]

Sorry Carole I hadn't had any replies by the time I came home today so I ate it all for dinner tonight 

[Ian]

 

Rhys has decided that this is the weekend he's going to have Chicken Pox. I'm not going to make DSC this month

And I was so looking forward to the curry Mike. I'll give you a contribution to the ingredients next week.

If the field is muddy, you're on your own. At least until Chris arrives

[Mike]

[Carole]

OK Mike, it's my own fault for being so indecisive. 

Mike, is there any chance you could put a bit of the beef aside and not make it so hot, or have you already put in the spices?

If I don't hear from you by the time I leave I'll have to think about bringing something myself. 

Just been looking at all the weather forecasts, and they all vary, and just as I am doing so the sun has come out.  Think the only answer is to take a chance.

See you all there.

Carole

[Mike]

Carole it's Beef Kofta and green chillis and hot chilli powder, plus garam masala are rolled up into the meatballs.

OK I am about to leave the house so see you all later or tomorrow.

[Fay]

That was such a good DSC, I really regret not taking the tent. The drive home was a bit better than previous attempts as I used the headlights, never thought about them before & was driving home in pitch black!

A very nice meal from Mike & Cris & good company, really good that so many people turned up, as that is what makes it.

What a good group we are!!

[JohnP]

Popped down last night with Luke for a few hours & very impressed with turnout for mid Feb - must have been 15 or so people there.. Looks like some great images were being taken & can't wait to see the results - Mark it'll be interesting comparing your recent attempts at m81 from Sidcup with last nights effort...

The food looked great and although I didn't sample it from all the comments tasted great as well - just glad i wasn't in Chris's caravan last night....

John

[Ian]

missed a good one again...

It wasn't coz I wasn't there, was it?

[RobertM]

Hope everyone had a good time!  The skies looked really good so I'm looking forward to the images from everyone.

Got back home at 9pm yesterday so it was too late to come along plus the skies were starting to look really mirky over Orpington.  Will have to make sure I attend the next one, even if it's the Saturday night, and sample this wonderful food Cris and Mike cook.

[MarkS]

I think everyone had a very good time.

Friday night was cloudy with the occasional few stars popping out.  I took the opportunity to collimate my C11 with an artificial star.

We enjoyed much sunshine during Saturday - it must have been the hottest day of the year so far - certainly too warm to wear a coat.  It gave us all a chance to relax outside with wine and beer.

The sky remained cloud-free as evening approached and we all had a good look at the cresent of Venus.  The imagers had time to set up and begin imaging before Mike served up two terrific curries - one hot and one mild.  We had a few good hours of imaging and observing before the clouds began to roll in.  At that point, Comet Lulin was just visible low in the sky and we managed to view it through binoculars and small telescopes. Its fuzzy blob and extended tail was faint but still easily visible.

Thanks again to Mike & Cris for their hard work and excellent cooking.

Mark

[Carole]

Yes, Saturday night's sky was excellent and I echo the thanks to Mike and Cris for their hard work.

On a personal note I would like to thank every-one who has offered me advice on the purchase and use of my new equipment, it was a huge learning curve for me as the ETX works completely differently.  I learnt a lot this weekend.

I don't think the one image I took is going to be much cop, but I haven't actually finished processing it yet, but again, all part of the learning. 

Meeting the horrid mud again in the gateway was too much for my car and I risked doing serious damage to my 4 month old car with the rubble that had been put down which hadn't got pressed into the ground at that stage.  Thus I had to carry everything in from the road and cart it back to the car when coming home and it took a long time and was exhausting, especially the 12v battery and the weights for the scope. 

I don't think I will be coming to another winter DSC at Tuesnoad.

Carole