Short session report - 6th dec 2008

[Amar Sharma]

There is nothing about observing I can report here, since skies were all clouded up. However, this was a BAS star party coming after months. The attendees were Shweta, Sathya and Madhu who reached Hosahalli by 5:30 pm on 2 bikes. Half an hour behind in a cab were Akarsh, Me, Pavan and Ravindra. Rakesh and Sunil reached the venue as late by 10pm by the last bus.   We set the school's 8" scope and members were already taking afocal shots of it. I had boarded a cab booked by Akarsh, along with the parallelogram mount from my house. I knew I had taken everything including the hardware parts with it. However, after reaching the spot, I realized a triangular board to support the tripod was left at home..and I thought thats it! Anyway brains racked together and we decided to tie it with a nylon string, to make the heavy setup (in all maybe 25 kilos) stay put. It worked, and we headed off for dinner. It was fun being together after a long time, however the skies should clear up. We waited all night long, and I dont remember if it even cleared for sometime. There was a photo-shoot of the parallelogram mount - the mount was working just fine except for the mechanical anomaly I faced in Mumbai too.   This was a time when everyone got noisy, cracking jokes, gossipping etc. But we also got to a BAS meeting out in the open, and some serious issues were discussed. No point being awake after around 3 am, and everyone went for a nap, since it was getting very dewy and chilly. Some of them left early by 6am, and rest of us took some while to disassemble the scope and binoc mount setup. I decided to take an alternate route in the cab we were in, from the backside of the village, into the open wilderness, expecting a good scenic drive. And man...were the roads one of the most horrific? All eyes were naggingly looking at me, since some of the potholes were more than 10-15inches deep..it was only a tractor-able road! Finally we reached back after the ~15 km struggle.   Hoping for clear skies in our 'next' session. Can Pavan and Ravindra post the pics we took that day, esp the binoc mount for all to see? Thanking You. Amar.

[Amar Sharma]

Can Akarsh, Pavan and Ravindra individually upload their pics to a common album..or whatever is convenient?

[Akarsh Simha]

Hi

I wrote a short report on this event, highlighting some aspects that
Amar missed in his report. Also made a collage of some pics that were
in my camera and put it on the report:

http://www.bas.org.in/Home/posts/2008/18/12/report-observing-session-6th-december-2008

Also processed one of the better astrophotos I took that day:

http://kstars.wordpress.com/2008/12/19/orion-hyades-and-pleiades/

Regards
Akarsh

[nitin oke]

Hi all

I will be going for sky watch and messier hunt on Saturday night at a place by name Gandhigram near my native place akola. will report the observation afterwards

I will like to organise a small interaction session with interested one. Will it be possible for any one to dig out time for a mini meet which will start at 6PM and end next day morning and during day time we may have some lectures. Please contact..

Forwarded conversation
Subject: [-BAS-] Short session report - 6th dec 2008
------------------------

Hoping for clear skies in our 'next' session. Can Pavan and Ravindra post the pics we took that day, esp the binoc mount for all to see? Thanking You. Amar.

----------
From: Amar Sharma <amar_u...@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 7:29 PM
To: b-...@googlegroups.com

Can Akarsh, Pavan and Ravindra individually upload their pics to a common album..or whatever is convenient?

----------
From: Akarsh Simha <akars...@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Dec 19, 2008 at 4:24 AM
To: b-...@googlegroups.com

--
Nitin Oke
"Yaa" Jatharpeth Road
Akola 444005
Ph. 0724 2420561

[Madhusudan Purushothaman]

Hi Nitin,

Hope you doing well.

I am very keen to explore Universe and its mysteries. I have been
going through all in and around email chains of BAS from past 1 month.
I would like to purchase the most effective Telescope for personal
use. Could you please suggest me the best one and how much it gonna
cost and also where do we get the same.

Regards,

Madhusudan Purushothaman
+91 9886329048

2008/12/19 nitin oke <oken...@gmail.com>:

[Akarsh Simha]

> I would like to purchase the most effective Telescope for personal
> use. Could you please suggest me the best one and how much it gonna
> cost and also where do we get the same.

You might find something useful in these articles:

http://bas.org.in/Home/book-page/2008/24/06/telescope-buyers-guide

http://bas.org.in/Home/posts/2008/05/12/places-buy-telescopes

Regards
Akarsh

[Madhusudan Purushothaman]

Hi Akarsh,

Many thanks for the providing very useful links regarding Telescope
purchase. I will now be in a position to opt for the best one.

I am a working professional currently serving with IBM India in
Bangalore, Astronomy is my child hood inspiration and fascination as
well. I would like to be a part of BAS team and I am not sure how is
the way in procedure.

Regards,

Madhusudan Purushothaman

2008/12/20 Akarsh Simha <akars...@gmail.com>:

[Amar Sharma]

Hello Nitin, It is interesting to know you would be doing Messier hunt and sky watch alone at your native near Akola. Which is the equipment you have? I too am coincidentally in Thane (Mumbai) now once again, Would be leaving to visit the Lonar Meteor crater in 2 days. It is in Buldhana district around 120-140km from Aurangabad.   People have said the skies here are pretty dark, lets gauge how they are. Surprisingly enough it is cloudy in Mumbai now!! Anyway, best of luck and post your observing report.   Are you talking of having a meet in B'lore once you are back? That we must be having since it would be the beginning of IYA 2009. Thanking You. Amar. --- On Fri, 12/19/08, nitin oke <oken...@gmail.com> wrote:

[nitin oke]

Hi Madhusudan,

I am happy to know that you are keen to explore universe and its miseries. About telescope you have enquired about-- i will like to help you but you need to define some few things what exactly you need telescope for? i suggest that unless you know at least 50 to 60 constellations with at least 4th to 5th magnitude star there is no meaning in using a telescope. Here we do not allow new sky watchers to use telescope until they are able to point out alpha, beta, gamma stars of constellations we expect them to show 63 stars of orion and 54 of ursa mejor and so on if you have done this step then go for telescope again you need to decide whether it is reflecting or refracting in reflecting you have more magnification but not big size the range is up to 15k in refracting depending on make, there may be aberrations so if you just want to see Messier and planet even spotting scope may be use full to you. In India you may go for Tejraj or even at Bangalore you may get good telescope.

Hope this may be useful for you at your service when you need. be in touch.