sts 128..here we go again........maybe !!!!

The Lads know I am just teasing. Although I can never bring myself to make the announcement, "I'm callin' it a night lads", more often than not I'm saying to myself, "I'm cold, I'm damp, its 2am...I wish Michael would call it quits for the night" Its such a blessing to have great observing buddies like Michael, DaveB and Paul(Lunartic) I feel I should take advantage of their company and the dark skies as long as possible and thus can't bring myself to be the first to call it a night

Well it was a washout at our usual site tonight.
There seemed to be a 'standing' cloud forming to the North.
John O' Mahony and I hung tough for an hour and a half but it
just didn't budge.
I cancelld the session.
But..
as luck would have it.
As we drove home I pulled in off the road and took a look..
it was totally clear!?
I noted there was a lake nearby and on the sat nav there was
a road that led down to it.
So I took a flyer and went off exploring...
Holy Cow!
I'm so glad I did!
It's a wonderful car park with picnic area seating
leading down to a jetty with fishing boats.
The area is surrounded on the East / South / West by an embankment and
some trees with a lovely lake to the North.
(Will make an excellent site for NLC's!)
The South aspect is slightly marred by some lighting in the nearby town of Corofin
but holy smokes! The Milky Way was thick and clear!!!
I took some shots and will upload when I get some kip..
been awake 24hrs straight now...

So,
I'm gonna wait for the Shuttle to take off and see can we see it.
Then
zzzzzzzz

Well it was totally clouded over in Limerick, couldn't see a single patch of clear sky. I just watched the launch on NasaTV, and now its back to bed.

Beautiful site from D15. On time and more or less as last time.
Really quite fast in the sky - vey clear colour difference.
Quite remarkable how a "rusty" red tank can glow so bright.

Glad I saw it.

Mark

0521. Just saw the Shuttle and it's jettisoned tank passing over from my back garden here in North Dublin. This is the second time this year for me. Absolutely amazing yet again. The tank seemed closer to the shuttle this time round which made the event more eye catching. The pair of them passed over at a blistering pace and the tank even managed to occult/eclipse Rigel in Orion very briefly! Probably the shortest eclipse I will ever see. Worth putting the alarm on and getting out of bed for.
Regards,
Brian

Glad you saw it!
Nothing here in Shannon except cloud and fog.
I'm done.
I'm sick of this crap....
It's time to get a new hobby.