Hi Paul
You must have been in the same group with a friend of mine from CO. Don
Wyman ???
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Phil Chambers [ptchamb@No-Spam] (S.F. Bay Area - Calif. USA)
On Mon, 18 Apr 2005, Alsing, Paul wrote:
> Mark wrote; .... and visible during SSP!
>
> Hi Mark,
>
> Speaking of Star Parties, I just got back from 7 days of power observing in
> Australia, where about 20 of us were hosted by Tony Buckley, Andrew Murrell,
> Lachland MacDonald, and Gary Kopff (Mr. Argo Navis) in Coonabarabran, NSW, about
> 350 miles Northwest of Sydney. Remote and dark, what a concept, but only 8 miles
> from the nearest pub.
>
> The US contingent included myself, Debbie Searle and Sheryl Johnson (stars of
> the Obsession video), Dave Kriege (Mr. Obsession himself), and about 16 others
> from California, Wisconsin and Texas.
>
> We were set up with a 25" and (2) 20" telescopes, all with Argo Navis and one
> with ServoCat, along with a few other smaller 'scopes that I never even looked
> through.
>
> No need for me to tell you what we saw down there, because you yourself have
> just viewed the same things. But let me tell you, those Aussies know how to
> party, and are the best hosts you could ever ask for. They supplied the
> telescopes, the viewing spot (complete with cabins), custom-labeled wine
> (BlitzKriege), and several nights of barbies & beer (but no Fosters, that's the
> crap they use for export). We were treated like family right from the start, and
> even invited back, anytime! We stayed in town for AUS$85 per night, no worries.
>
> We got a behind-the-scene tour of the AAT at Siding Springs, the biggest
> telescope in Australia, which was just another 8 miles up the road from the
> cabins where we viewed.
>
> Andrew Murrell is the Australian version Steve Gottlieb or Barbara Houston (and
> only a few others), and it was a rare treat to not only be able to enjoy the
> usual and customary eye-candy of the Southern sky, but also have Andrew parade
> one obscure object after another, night after night, before my very eyes. The
> proverbial kid in a candy store, was I. "Ruprecht 103? No problem, mate, step
> right up and have a look". It just went on and on...
>
> See you in July...
>
> \Paul Alsing
>
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Received on Mon Apr 18 18:31:00 2005