IAS/SDAS Observing on Friday 16th

murphyme2010

Hi All,

The weather looks good for Friday.

The plan is to meet up at the Sugarloaf car park at 8.30 for those who want to see the Moon, Venus and Mercury.
After that we can either stay in the car park or travel to our new site in Trooperstown for more observing.

Can you ring at 087 6398143 before 7 on Friday to make sure the observing is going ahead.


Regards,

Michael.

astronige

not yet been to sugarloaf, what road is it off ?
going from the N11 ?

what telescopes will be going to this meet up ?

Sykk

How do I know you won't be there with a black bag and a 10 inch dildo?

Come to think of it I think I saw a post from you being in a club!

Pity I have plans this weekend. Happy stargazing, take some pics if you get the chance

murphyme2010

9 people turned up.

We saw the moon, venus and mercury (GOTO is definitely your friend here!).

The ash in the air made for an interesting sunset but did interfere with the seeing :-(.

astronige - the sugarloaf carpark is on the road to Roundwood from Kilmacanogue. go past the quarry and it's the first turn on the left. There is a white sign with L-something identifying the road at the turn.

Sykk - I assure you we are all normal, really, really normal, trust me:D.

Michael.

astronige

thanks for directions. would like to one day attend :-)
also what does ias/sdas stand for? ireland astronomy ?? is that the one i signed up for emails from maybe?

astronige

i know this not quite astro related but can sugarloaf be walked up from that carpark? any ideas how long to do walk if so?
im new to wicklow area so still learning my surroundings :-)

dbran

Hi

IAS - Irish Astronomical Society
SDAS - South Dublin Astronomical Society

As far as I know there is a path from the car park that goes to the top.

Kind Regards

dbran

Calibos

No connection with Astronomy Ireland [Hiss...spit] Think of the relationship between the two being like the relationship between the Peoples Front of Judea and the Judean Peoples Front

Have yet to make it up with the lads to the new sites but they sound great. 9 observors sounds great too. Think the average we had last year was about 5 or 6. The more the merrier. Real starparty atmosphere when there is a big gang. We all love our observing but when a good few would head up half the time we'd spend joking and having great craic too. I'll never forget the time we could hear animal noises nearby and everyone was like WTF is that. The first image that popped into my head was the scene on the moors in American Werewolf in London. Then out of the blackness about 3 yards away a herd of 5 or six Ponies/horses walked by!! Scared the ****e out of us Theres one of the irregular regulars who often regales us with other astronomy horror stories like the time he went observing and stumbled across some doggers or the time some stark naked hillwalkers(except for their boots) walked past while he was setting up is scope at dusk. Then there was the story about the cupasoup he made to keep him warm one night but ended up spewing everywhere only to pull the empty box out of the bin when he got home and find it was 9 years out of date! I nearly fell in some sheep sh!t laughing when he told that one.

What I mean is we are serious enough about the whole Amatuer astronomy business that we have good gear and will head up with NGC target lists we hope to bag that night but not so serious that we don't have a great laugh too every night. I love showing newcomers stuff with my scope and answering questions about the scopes and the sky. ie. we are not a geeky humourless intimidating bunch of regulars either.

Informal is the atmosphere if you get me.

The black sacks are to put under the scope to keep the sheep sh!te off and I keep the 12inch black dildo at home on observing nights....:D

Hopefully I will finally have my 16" Dob finally modded and ready for the next observing session. Lots of big scopes usually in attendance ranging from 8-20inches.