[OneCosmos (Chris)]

So, I spent the afternoon and evening today at Duckadang for what turned out to be a quite exclusive Astrofest 2020, attended only by me. The entire camp was devoid of people except for Belinda, who kindly agreed to host me.

Duckadang seemed weird without all the telescopes set up and all the windows Sporting custom frames to block the light.

Actually no blackout materials were required because the whole camp was pitch black and after a fairly cloudy and windy day, the night was still and wonderfully clear.

I am currently between scopes having sold both my 6” refractor and my 16” SDM and awaiting completion of the new 28” SDM. I therefore decided I’d use the night to test the EOS Ra on the EQ35M with the Sigma 105mm f/1.4 and the Sigma 14mm f.2.8. As you can see in the photos I was the only telescope on the field. The Astro pictures attached are some quick JPEG grabs over WiFi which I think massively compressed them. The individual frames have not been processed.

I was hoping these photos would mean I won ‘best of the fest’ 2020 but knowing my luck I have only come in second!