Well now i've got a bit of time to organise my thoughts a bit more after winding down from IISAC2008..
Where to start!? It was a lot of fun.. In my opinion, star parties should be first and foremost about fun - about meeting likeminded people, about socialising, about making new friends, and reacquanting with old friends that you might only see once or twice a year at a star party.
For me, IISAC2008 achieved that.
Yes, clear skies would've been nice. We were certainly blessed with clear skies (and a fantastic comet) in 2007 and 2006. But I don't think it put a downer on the event - at least not too much
After all, it's the hobby we choose - we're always at the mercy of the weather, and when you run an event like this you have to set the date and then hope for clear skies!
Being an online community, IceInSpace has members spread far and wide across the country and across the world. There are local groups that get together for observing nights, or that get together at their local astronomical society meets - but once a year it's fantastic to get a large group from the IceInSpace community together with a single purpose, a common goal and a love for all things astronomy.
I arrived early on Thursday morning and met a few who had arrived on Wednesday to help set things up, including John and Anna, Al and Lyn, h0ughy and the family, and Dave and Petra. It had been raining all day Wednesday so everything was pretty soggy but it fined up to a nice day and dried things out. The afternoon got fairly busy as people started arriving. The guys who came to setup the marquee were running late after having a blowout on the freeway, and the slightly sloping ground played havoc with the canvas in the runners. They certainly earnt their delivery fee that day.
I hadn't set up my scope because of the likelihood of rain but as the afternoon wore on it was clear that the rain wasn't a threat anymore so I took some time out from behind the registration desk to setup my tent, setup the scope and socialise. Thanks to David for manning the desk for me!
The sun set with relatively clear skies - enough to start drift aligning. I was able to get it pretty much as accurate as I have patience for before the clouds came back again. I was keen to image the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and I did see it naked eye befor ethe clouds came, but when it came time to image it, clouds spoiled my plans. It was clouded over for the next 2-3 hours so I spent some time down on the camping field with some friends and some alcohol. Geoff, as he always does, predicted clear skies at midnight - and at 11:30pm when the sky was almost clear we were beginning to get excited. By 12am the sky was crystal clear and the alcohol quickly wore off as I walked back up to my scope (why did I choose the top of the hill!!) and prepared to start imaging.
Orion was rising nicely now and after capturing M42/M43 the week before, this time I set out to capture the flame and horsehead nebula as I had borrowed Chris Wakeman's modded 350D. I was capturing the first photons after about 20 minutes and setup a run that would image to about 4:30am. Unfortunately the clouds came back around 2am and cut the run short, but I was able to get 42 minutes of great data (image here). Apparently it did clear again between 3 and 4 but was a bit patchy. I was just happy to get the data I did, as we weren't sure if that was going to be the only clear skies of the star party (turns out it practically was).
Friday was another great day. Very hot and very windy. I did some processing of the data from the night before, spent some time in the lovely swimming hole, which was just the right temperature (not too hot, not too cold). Luckily the marquee was tied down very securely, because it almost blew away a few times with those gusty winds. Geoff (Owl) had a horrible time trying to secure his stall down on the camping field
Simon O'Toole's talk on extra-solar planets was most fascinating - it's a subject i'm very interested in and he explained it all very well, at a level that everyone could understand the process, the methods and the outcomes for the research he's undertaking at the AAT.
Friday night was cloudy for the most part, with teasing sucker holes which closed up just as quickly as they came. I personally had an awesome night sitting around the "camp fire" (a red light) with John and Anna, Rod and his kids, Dave and Petra, Geoff, Simon O'Toole, Mike Sidonio, Bob Evans, Jakob, and more. It was just a great time chatting, laughing, laughing some more, telling stories and learning more about each other.
Saturday was cloudy and about 15 degrees cooler than Friday, so the water hole didn't get much of a workout. A fairly relaxing morning was followed by the afternoon activities including the lucky door prize, group photo (inside the marquee, thanks to the rain!), the talk by John Bambury and Gary Kopff (during dinner), and followed by Bob Evans talk and slideshow into the night (it was cloudy!).
More sitting around the camp-fire on Saturday night, with chocolate, chips and conversation. I headed to bed at around midnight and was woken on a cold Sunday morning by Vincent (cookie8) making noise around his scope. I thought he was packing up to go home, but luckily Ian (gaa_ian) walked by and spoke to him about clear skies - so out I popped, into the freezer suit and took in 30 minutes of nice clear skies before morning twilight came all too soon. Orion overhead and Eta Carinae in the South was a lovely sight. Apparently it cleared around 4am, but all too late for most people.
The site was cleaned and ready to go by around 10ish on Sunday morning, and I finally got out of there around 10:30am. Like the previous 2 years, the first 15 minutes of the drive home was a very emotional time - a huge sigh of relief, a huge weight lifted, and a quiet time of reflection on the all the goings on of the previous 3-4 days.
I arrived home at around 1pm, happy to see Kate and the kids after 3 nights being away from home.
My head-space is already occupied with some initial planning for IISAC2009 - what to do differently, what to do the same, how to run it better, how to organise it better, when to have it etc. I'm already excited about the opportunities that the next 12 months will bring.
Thanks to everyone who helped make IISAC2008 a success, including the organising committee, the guest speakers, the vendors and sponsors, the Gresford/Lostock Rural Fire Brigade and to everyone who came along and brought their high spirits, in-spite of the low weather.
I look forward to more great fun next year!
Below is the group photo taken on the Saturday afternoon in the marquee.
Here's the 1200px wide shot:
IISAC2008
I often over do it. 
thanks for a great weekend
Astrnomy New Comer
.
I hope you dont think this next bit is a 'commercial' for myself... 
to IceInSpace and thanks for making your first post!
