Mars Watch 2005 Discussion Board

[VinSnr]

Gosh.....I just wake up....

Wee Kiong's 12" LX200GPS "consumed me" last night. Really a big thank you to Wee kiong for allowing me to play with his scope for the whole night. I practically "owned" that scope during the whole event. What a monster scope. Doing imaging and collimation required me to step up and down a chair all the time.......what a workout session. But the effort is bloody worthwhile. The E and F stars in Trapezium appear "effortlessly" even when the nebula was very low in the sky and kena washed out by the light pollution. You can never get this with most scopes around.

I will to show some shots later...

The night was pretty good but crazy. around 4am there were some drizzle, but when I look up, there were just very little clouds. Everyone was panicking keeping their scopes, but the stars were still all up there! Crazy weather...but a good excuse for me to tell my imaging guys to go home....they wanted to stay until morning!

Saw some really nice scopes last night. Got Mewlon 250, got C11, got C9.25.....and Wee Kiong even have his 14" hidden somewhere. But one very nice scope I must mention is the TMB 115. That feathertouch focuser is a gem. The image of Mars is unbelievable for a 4.5" scope. But the one that takes the cake is not a scope. It is that 30mm 2" UWA Meade 5000 eyepiece. When Wee Kiong pass me that eyepiece, I got a shock....it makes my Pentax XLs (which is not small BTW), look like small dwarfs. Even the 1rpd 82 degrees 2" 30mm eyepiece look like small fry next to it. And people are already saying that the 1rpd is like a size of a coke can. Can you imagine how big is that Meade 5000 30mm 2" UWA? I almost didn't believe that was an eyepeice.

Last night event was a big success. Thanks to Chris and all the RP guys. Never seen such a huge turnout ever before. I know it is a success when I got that itchy feeling of buying a few scopes after an event. I like the Sphinx mount....really nice. Gosh...such event is hazardous to my financial health. I am already thinking if that 12" could fit into my car.....arrgghh.

That BBC weather forecast damn acurate...today is also sunny!

[qu1xs1lv3r]

congratulations to all organisers!! good job u all!! i totally enjoyed that night!!! and the scopes that were there!! holy!!!! i really had fun!!! and its also good meeting all others singastro guys!! cant wait for next event/trip/ob-ing! ahehe

[starfinder]

I'd like to thank all the organisers and volunteers for a great time last night / this morning. Thanks too to all who brought their scopes and shared the views.

There was the most variety of scopes I've ever seen gathered. From 4" and 4.5" APOs (I had a fabulous view of the Pleiades in the TMB, thanks Liuming!), to aperture-fever curing C9.25, C11 (magical 3D layered view of M42), 10" and 12" Meade SCTs, 7" Meade Mak, to Mewlons, Cassegrains, Portaball, etc. Not too mention a buffett of eyepieces, like Nagler 3-6 zoom, Pentax XLs, Orion Stratus, etc. And holding Mr. Lee's 30mm Meade UWA is an experience in itself. Plus thanks too to Andrew for letting me savour the views thru his Canon 18x50 IS bino.

Plus, fortunately, the weather from 11pm to 3.30am was very good too! It was almost cloudless at around 2am as I recall.


For next year, may I suggest perhaps a Saturn or Jupiter Watch. (Saturn Opposition on 27 Jan 2006, Jupiter 4 May 2006).

I got a feeling that some from the public who see Mars for the first time in a scope may be expecting too much in terms of size and detail. Saturn is guaranteed to amaze first-timers. Almost like NASA space-probe photos. Quite a number of friends tell me that I must have a video recorder in the telescope when they see it.

Thanks once again everyone. VinSnr: great to see you after my long MIA absence!

[hlyf]

heye
kudos to Chris and all other organisers and volunteers as well :salute: Was pleasantly surprised by the good turnout from the general public. Most found out about the event through our article in Today papers. Some found out from online forums, or other means. Quite a few own their own telescopes at home, do have interest in astronomy, but did not know of Singastro. Others are surprised to find out that we actually have an astronomy community in Singapore, an informal group of enthusiasts not related to Science Centre or any other organization :k-woohoo:

got some photos of mars, will post them up if they look presentable after i get down to processing them.

[wucheeyiun]

Yes I must admit this probably one of the best star party organised, Thanks to every contributor that made this event so successful.
This is really one up for the astronomy and astro physics community in Singapore.
My wife said the talk is very informative and well delivered, i am above busy manning the scope.....

[David Lian]

Thank for well organised event.

DL

[Jingguo]

yeah i agreed with guys man. d event is quite a sucess and glad to c such a big crowd with plenty of hardcore at d observing site. with all d big apo n big scope. kinda like america star party. thanks to taychon for showing me the imaging through TOCUCam. realli turn alot. d mewlon 210 n C11 provide fanstanic view of Mars. and many other scope which give great details of the planet. all in all a realli eye opener for newbies as well as hardcore. looks like there is future in astronomy in SINGAPORE.

[denebman]

Thanks for the well organized event. It is also my first time experiencing how useful a good tracking mount is when it comes to high power planetary observing.

[kayheem]

Thanks for the well organized event. It is also my first time experiencing how useful a good tracking mount is when it comes to high power planetary observing.

So, are you going to add a tracking capability to your alt-az mount?

Kay Heem

[denebman]

Thanks for the well organized event. It is also my first time experiencing how useful a good tracking mount is when it comes to high power planetary observing.

So, are you going to add a tracking capability to your alt-az mount?

Kay Heem

I will try to find a good equatorial mount first