Brisbane Report #3 - Odds and Sods

[terrynak]

A few other things from my Brisbane trip (all images, except for me at Moogerah Dam, taken by me).

View of the city from Lookout Mount Coot-tha:



Brisbane is not as spread out as Sydney, nor as cramped as Melbourne.

A 4.5 inch Ross telescope of 5 foot focal length, first owned by the Brisbane amateur astronomer Captain Henry O’Reilly (1824-1877):



He purchased it for £77 10s in April 1871 for use at his private observatory, which was completed later that year. This scope is now housed in the Museum of Lands, Surveying, and Mapping.

My Orion SkyScanner at Moogerah Dam, mounted on a heavy Manfrotto tripod:



I had this telescope since June 2010 – it introduced me into the pleasures of deep-sky observing. A good grab-and-go scope. The aperture on this scope (100mm) was sufficient to begin resolving Omega Centauri and 47 Tucanae. This was impossible with the Meade 50mm F/7 refractor I brought to Sydney two years ago.

Marine telescopes, from the Queensland Maritime Museum:



Me at Moogerah Dam, looking at a star chart - note that the constellation Orion is upside down:



The Astro Anarchy store in the CBD or heart of Brisbane:





Only quality scopes sold here.

Barbecue stoves ("shrimp on the barbie") at a public park:

[notFritzArgelander]

Thanks! Especially for the pic of the Ross refractor. I love the old scopes.

[bladekeeper]

Great pics, Terry! Thanks much for posting these!

[kt4hx]

Excellent trip Terry and welcome home. Appreciate the images and I will say you gave the SkyScanner a great workout and had a lot of fine photons passing through it!

[Lady Fraktor]

Very nice!
I to appreciate the historic pictures and the Ross telescope.
Something to check more about

[terrynak]

Thanks! Especially for the pic of the Ross refractor. I love the old scopes.

You're welcome nFA!

The only other historic telescope I saw was one owned by Sir Thomas Brisbane (governor/astronomer), on display at the City Museum in Brisbane City Hall:



It looks like a terrestrial telescope though...

Great pics, Terry! Thanks much for posting these!

Thanks, you're welcome Bryan!

Excellent trip Terry and welcome home. Appreciate the images and I will say you gave the SkyScanner a great workout and had a lot of fine photons passing through it!

Thanks Alan! This scope was up to the task - I'm very proud of it.

Very nice!
I to appreciate the historic pictures and the Ross telescope.
Something to check more about

Thanks LF!

Too bad there is no historic observatory that exists in Brisbane. Only a planetarium, built in 1978:

[Graeme1858]

Very interesting report. Seeing Orion and others upside down has to be on the bucket list of all Northerners!

Regards

Graeme

[John Baars]

Nice, this Ross telescope.
On the black and white pic in the background we can see the old heavy duty wooden tripod (heavy indeed) with the same(?) mount. Very nice to see that Henry used stones on the bottom of the tripod for extra stability. Apparently our ancestors had rigorous solutions for well known amateur problems. I quess this was more stable than many modern and flimsy mounts...

Thanks for your report and your pics!

[terrynak]

Very interesting report. Seeing Orion and others upside down has to be on the bucket list of all Northerners!

Regards

Graeme

Thanks Graeme. Mild shock seeing the northern constellations oriented different (e.g. Orion overhead on the northern horizon and upside down).

Nice, this Ross telescope.
On the black and white pic in the background we can see the old heavy duty wooden tripod (heavy indeed) with the same(?) mount. Very nice to see that Henry used stones on the bottom of the tripod for extra stability. Apparently our ancestors had rigorous solutions for well known amateur problems. I quess this was more stable than many modern and flimsy mounts...

Thanks for your report and your pics!

Thanks John, you're welcome!

I didn't notice the picture carefully myself, so thanks for mentioning! The man shown using the instrument is not Henry though (the picture is too contemporary). The scope found its way into the Surveyor General's Dept of Queensland and may have been used here for surveying purposes.

[prowler75]

Excellent trip down under!
The upside down Orion pic was a very cool perspective to being in the Southern Hemisphere.

[Thefatkitty]

Terry that is awesome, thanks for that! Love the pictures, especially Orion. Took a sec to "orient" myself, so to speak. And the old scopes too. I quite like the scope shop and the name of it too; started by an ex-skateboarder, perhaps? Cool ET at the door as well...
Good for you on taking the SkyScanner, looks quite solid on that mount as well.

Nice trip and welcome home!

All the best,

[Juno16]

Nice photos Terry, thanks!

I didn’t even notice an upside down Orion until I read Graeme’s post!

Jim

[terrynak]

Excellent trip down under!
The upside down Orion pic was a very cool perspective to being in the Southern Hemisphere.

Thanks Craig. And seeing the moon phasing in the opposite direction as well.

Terry that is awesome, thanks for that! Love the pictures, especially Orion. Took a sec to "orient" myself, so to speak. And the old scopes too. I quite like the scope shop and the name of it too; started by an ex-skateboarder, perhaps? Cool ET at the door as well...
Good for you on taking the SkyScanner, looks quite solid on that mount as well.

Nice trip and welcome home!

All the best,

You're welcome, thanks Mark!

Nice photos Terry, thanks!

I didn’t even notice an upside down Orion until I read Graeme’s post!

Jim

Thanks, you're welcome Jim!

[helicon]

Thanks for sharing the photos Terry. Sounds like it was a wonderful trip. And I am glad that you got some scope time in as well!

[Bigzmey]

Cool pics, thanks for sharing Terry! Looks like Brisbane was not effected by wild fires as badly as other parts of Australia.

[Ozypic]

What do you mean Orion is upside down ?.... Great that you enjoyed your trip . Phill

[terrynak]

Thanks for sharing the photos Terry. Sounds like it was a wonderful trip. And I am glad that you got some scope time in as well!

You're welcome Michael! It was wonderful - and getting observing time with the locals was a great experience. Could have easily not have happened (observing).

Cool pics, thanks for sharing Terry! Looks like Brisbane was not effected by wild fires as badly as other parts of Australia.

Thanks, you're welcome Andrey! Fortunately, Brisbane is away from the fires. But it did effect the weather there - mostly cloudy or hazy skies. I had to get very far away with the help of Petar to get some moments of clear skies.

What do you mean Orion is upside down ?.... Great that you enjoyed your trip . Phill

Thanks Phill! Hope to return to the Southern Hemisphere sometime this year. There's a lot of deep sky stuff there I need to log...

[jrm_astro]

Great post Terry!

The Brisbane planetarium is always a great trip and I have certainly dropped a few paychecks at Astro Anarchy.
Hope you enjoyed your time here.

Cheers