First Post

[Dragan]

Thanks for joining Gary!

One day, I'll make it down under for some deep sky!

[Jimi Lowrey]

Its great to see you here Gary. WELCOME!

[Dave Tosteson]

Jimi and the gang, Thanks for the invite to the forum. Looking forward to some great discussion and sharing of ideas. To Gary in Sydney I am planning to come to Australia for the eclipse. Do you know of any deep sky parties going on in your area in November?

Dave Tosteson

[Jimi Lowrey]

Welcome Dave good to see you here at DSF. I look forward to your input.

[gary]

Hi Dave,

Great to hear you are comimg Downunder for the solar eclipse in November 2012.

Most of us will be heading to in and around the locality of the city of Cairns, in far north Queensland for the event.
Cairns is north of the Tropic of Capricorn and these latitudes of the country are subject to tropical weather patterns.
Unfortunately November is starting to get into the warmer part of the year and with it comes unsettled wet weather.
The eclipse at Cairns is taking place very early in the morning and many of us are hoping for some luck that the weather
will be fine and cloud-free as the sun rises up above the Pacific Ocean and Great Barrier Reef. But the odds aren't the best
but we all live in hope.

Logistically Cairns would be a good 4 days drive from Sydney or 5 days from Melbourne. In that regard, most of us in the
southern east coast cities will fly up there. It is serviced by a large airport that even sees some international flights
come in and out of there, particularly from regions such as Japan. If coming from Chicgao, your best bet would be to fly
either LAX -> SYD or LAX -> BNE (Brisbane) and then a flight to CNS (Cairns). Alternatively QANTAS now fly direct
from DFW in Texas to SYD which is one of the longest commercial flights in the world.

Because most observers will probably fly to Cairns, the logistics of shipping large scopes up there would be difficult
and prohibitively expensive. Though my friend Andrew Murrell has driven all the way up there from Sydney with his
20" Dob on a prior occassion, I doubt few will be so keen to do the drive as it is a long way.

So though some larger scopes may make their way up there, possibly from amateurs who live in Queensland
cities a little south of Cairns, I don't think they will be thick on the ground, particularly given it is not the
best place to be to observe at that time of the year.

The second phenomena is that I suspect many amateurs will take advantage of the trip up to combine it
with a vacation. Some of them have never been to Cairns and in that way it will be a novelty for them
and there are many local attractions. So with that in mind, a quorum of people flying straight back to
Sydney, where the observing weather is more settled, to have a star party is looking unlikely when I have
asked around.

Depending on levels of interest, there might be the possibility of getting some observing in from dark sky
locations more readily accessible from Sydney before the eclipse date. I see some observing friends associated
with helping host the Coona event this weekend and I will ask what their latest thoughts are.

Generally no other major star party appears on the Australian calendar in November.

It certainly would be good to meet you down here.

[FaintFuzzies]

Thanks Dragan and Jimi for starting this forum and looking forward to contributing and learning!

Clear skies,
Alvin Huey

[Jimi Lowrey]

Welcome Alvin.

I look forward to your posting here.

[gdjsky01]

Wow! Honored to be here amongst some of the best and brightest. Thanks for the opportunity to lurk and learn

[Jimi Lowrey]

Welcome Jeff Long time no see

[deepskywim]

Great to see a forum dedicated to Deepsky observing! I'm looking forward to very interesting discussions here! I'm already very impressed with the number of deepsky celebrities in the list of forum users.

[Dragan]

Great to see a forum dedicated to Deepsky observing! I'm looking forward to very interesting discussions here! I'm already very impressed with the number of deepsky celebrities in the list of forum users.

Welcome Wim and thanks for joining!! We sure hope you enjoy your stay!