Phil,
We've talked about going back in the "other" season, but I don't know
if I'll be ready for another big trip by this October; ask me again in
another month or two. :-) But it is a sure thing in the long run.
For example, we missed the great Sculptor and Fornax galaxy regions,
and the SMC was almost at its worst -- circumpolar and swinging through
the bottom 1/3 of its daily circle during observing hours.
Cheers, Bob
--- Philip Terzian <pterzian@No-Spam> wrote:
> Hey Bob,
>
> Thanks for adding to Albert's report with these interesting tidbits.
> Too bad about that cold, but glad to hear you "worked" through it.
> Going back next year?
>
> PT
>
> Bob Jardine <rljtac@No-Spam> wrote:
>
> Albert already posted a nice summary of our trip. Here are a few
> additional thoughts and some more “stats”. I also hope to post more
> detailed observing reports soon.
>
> When we first got out into the “country” -- not the hard core
> “outback”, but well out into the rural areas, we started noticing
> that
> nearly all of the cars (but not our city-based rentals) had huge
> double
> bumpers. That is, in addition to the standard bumper, there was a set
> of humongous metal bars enclosing the front end of the car like a
> cage.
> The locals glibly called these “Roo Bars”. We guessed that the idea
> is that it isn’t a matter of IF, but WHEN you’re going to hit a Roo.
> Apparently, they are as stupid as deer about crossing the highway,
> but
> there are a lot more of them.
>
> When our host fixed the flat tire on David’s car, we got into a
> conversation about the wisdom of driving long distances on dirt roads
> where it isn’t uncommon to be the only traveler on the road for
> hours.
> Apparently, the locals normally carry two spares! At first, I was
> mildly surprised that he was able to fix the flat. Have you ever
> tried
> to take a tire off a rim? It isn’t easy, unless you have one of those
> hydraulic tire-fixing machines that you see in garages. But after
> awhile, it dawned on me that the average Aussie living in the outback
> doesn’t have any choice -- he’s got to be his own auto mechanic, and
> tire repair patches are a normal shopping list item!
>
> All three of our stops (near Hawker, Wirrealpa Station, and
> Arkaroola)
> were in and around the Flinders Ranges, a particularly interesting
> geological area. Some of the oldest rock on the surface of our
> planet.
> Marek, we thought of you; you would have gone crazy!
>
> I was very impressed with Doug Sprigg, the force behind Arkaroola, as
> well as with his father, Reg Sprigg, a geologist who is probably
> reasonably well known to other geologists, but not widely recognized
> outside. I’m sure David will tell this story in far more detail.
>
> The only hitch in the trip from my perspective is that I caught a
> nasty
> cold -- probably on the airplane on the way there. I started having
> mild symptoms after the first couple of days, and it lasted the whole
> trip plus some. Couldn’t have helped that I had spent the last three
> weeks prior to leaving working "double time" trying to get “bidness”
> in
> order. Nor could it have helped that I forced myself to observe
> nearly
> every possible hour (except the first night), no matter how miserable
> I
> felt. The cold let up a little bit in the last day or two before we
> left, so I was able to get on the airplane for the flight home, but
> only barely.
>
> As always, it was a great pleasure to both hang out with and observe
> with Albert and David.
>
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Some additional stats from this observer:
>
> I filled 59 log book pages with approximately 340 log entries (based
> on
> a quick scan & count). Some of these 340 entries represent duplicate
> observations, as I often did some reading on an interesting object
> during the day after first observing it and then coming back to it to
> observe in more detail on a second night. I’d guess that I observed
> somewhere between 250 and 300 unique objects.
>
> Bob J.
>
Received on Fri Apr 15 15:34:17 2005