Hi all

It's with great pleasure I can announce that IISAC2008 Registrations are NOW OPEN!

The online registration form is linked from the IISAC2008 Info page.

With only 2.5 months to go, make your booking early, and make your payment early (before 14th October) to receive a $10 discount off the total price.

The IISAC2008 Info page has also been updated to include details of the catered dinner provided by the Gresford RFB (should you choose to include dinner in your booking), and also a look at the IISAC2008 T-Shirt design.

I look forward to seeing you there. Please contact me if you have any questions or problems with your registration or the online form.

Thanks!

Hi all

Some new articles and reviews and other news updated on IceInSpace today:

IISAC2008 and IISis4

On the 13th September 2008, IceInSpace turns 4 years old - a fantastic and important milestone, made even more exciting by the running of our birthday quiz! It's our chance to give something back to our loyal community and celebrate our birthday with you.

Due to the close proximity of the IISis4 quiz and IISAC2008, we've decided to move the birthday quiz to coincide with IISAC2008 - so the birthday quiz will take place in the weeks leading up to IISAC2008, with the prize draw happening at IISAC2008! For more information, check the IISis4 page or the IISAC2008 page by clicking on the logos above.

Thanks to the generous sponsors who are supporting both IISis4 and IISAC2008 by donating prizes that you can win! Please support them, as they support these two great events.

New Articles and Reviews

Thanks to the contributions of some members of the IceInSpace community, some new articles and reviews have been added for your consumption today:

• Review: 8" Lightbridge
• Article: Basic Setup Procedure for a German Equatorial Mount (GEM) Telescope
• Article: A Simple Polar Alignment Jig for a GEM Tripod
• Article: Spectroscopes part 2 - New 200mm Littrow design
• Article: SynScan Alignment Stars and Matching Finder Charts
• Upcoming Event: RASNZAPS NZ Astrophotography Camp

Thanks again to the authors for submitting their work to be included on IceInSpace. If you'd like to contribute an article, review or other content to IceInSpace, please contact me.

Thanks for reading. Until next time..

Hi all

There's a couple of upcoming celestial events to note in your diaries.

Saturn and Mars Conjunction : Thursday and Friday evening after Sunset

Following on from the straight-line conjunction of the Moon, Regulus, Mars and Saturn last Sunday night, on Thursday and Friday evening this week (10th and 11th July), Mars and Saturn will be in close conjunction - a mere 40' (arcminutes) apart (just over half a degree).

That's close enough to fit them both in the same field of view of most widefield eyepieces of moderately sized telescopes (depending on your focal length). They'll also easily fit in the same field of view of most astrophotography setups, such as DSLR hooked up to an ED80.

Make sure you head on out and take a look, and don't forget to post your reports in the Observational Astronomy forum, and your pictures in the Solar System forum. Look to the North West after sunset - Mars will look orange and Saturn will look yellow. Good luck for clear skies! 

Partial Lunar Eclipse, 17th August 2008

The Total Lunar Eclipse of last August 28 was an amazing time for amateur astronomers everywhere. The upcoming Partial Lunar Eclipse on August 17th isn't likely to generate quite the same excitement or media interest, but they still happen infrequently enough that it's worth making an effort to get up early to check out the Moon as it heads into Earth's shadow.

For Australians and New Zealanders, it will occur as the Moon is setting in the West. In fact for most of us, the Moon will set before it reaches the greatest partial eclipse. West Australian's get the best view this time time around and will see almost the entire eclipse from start to finish.

For more information, including a viewing and imaging guide and where and when you can see it, please see the article:

Partial Lunar Eclipse, 17th August 2008 - Viewing / Imaging Guide

I reckon it's worth getting out of bed for on a Sunday morning.. how about you? Discuss the Partial Lunar Eclipse here on IceInSpace.

In other news, the Image of the Week Archives is now available on IceInSpace. See all of the past images that really showcase the talent of the astrophotographers in the IceInSpace Community. The page is available here and also under the Resources menu.

Thanks for reading.