Hi All,
Thought I’d provide some updates on from the AIC2008 conference as it goes to air. If anyone else is here from Oz or other regions make sure you post, send me a PM or email and we’ll meet up. Arrived yesterday (Thursday) afternoon and recognised Adam Block’s face so introduced myself. Got chatting about many aspects of imaging and processing. Amazing guy with some very cool projects happening at Mt. Lemmon. He’s running another series of hands-on processing workshops at this location in Feb’09 – for those interested, I’m happy to provide more info. Weather permitting; you’ll also get to acquire data with their 24” RC. Today’s (Friday) workshop sessions include (there are duplicates so you can at least attend some conflicting sessions if desired):
Workshops:
8:45AM- 10:00AM...Series #1
* CCD Autopilot Imaging with John Smith
* Maxim DL Image Processing with Doug George
* PixInsight Image Processing with Jack Harvey
* T-point made simple with Ron Wodaski
* Successful Remote Imaging with Mike Rice
10:15AM- 11:30AM...Series #2
* ACP automated imaging with Bob Denny
* CCD Stack Image Processing with Stan Moore
* ImagesPlus Image Processing with Mike Unsold
* CCD Commander Imaging with Matt Thomas
1:45PM- 3:00PM...Series #3
* Successful Remote Imaging with Mike Rice
* T-point made simple with Ron Wodaski
* PixInsight Image Processing with Jack Harvey
* Maxim DL Image Processing with Doug George
* CCD Autopilot Imaging with John Smith
3:15PM- 4:30PM...Series #4
* CCD Commander Imaging with Matt Thomas
* ImagesPlus Image Processing with Mike Unsold
* CCD Stack Image Processing with Stan Moore
* ACP automated imaging with Bob Denny
Wow – this sounds like an incredibly exciting and rewarding experience, to be so thoroughly and intensely immersed in the conference with the top players in the game; thanks for giving us the details of the AIC.
Although AIC attendees are in the upper regions of the stratosphere with their knowledge, experience skills and equipment, this stuff does none the less percolate down to us mortals, through these posts as well as the helpful advice and guidance you provide when critiquing our images on IIS.
I'm not one for dropping names, but most of the key players are here. Information overload that's for sure. I'm off to shout some beers to extract more processing tips.
Here's a couple of photos, more to follow;
20" PlaneWave on a PME
24" RCOS with a RC guider piggybacked
Will update when more info comes to hand.
PS- the "guidescope" is actually a 12.5" RC, looks dwarfed compared the 24".
Last edited by jase; 15-11-2008 at 05:20 PM.
Reason: Correction on 32" - its actually a 24"
Bugger I though that this was in the land of OZ, ah well.
Leon
Hey Leon
You should be grateful that this conference is held overseas. If it were held down under, you’d no doubt attend and inevitably come home having spent $10,000’s on high end mounts, scopes, ccd cameras, accessories and software!
Great day, with plenty of info; John Gleason's presentation was sensational, picked up a few tricks - always a good thing. Today's agenda included;
Opening Remarks, Ken Crawford
2008 Hubble Award Lecture, Professor Timothy Ferris
Fires of Creation, John Gleason
.Break
Publisher Priorities, Michael Bakich
.Lunch
Founding Sponsors: Michael Barber, Brad Erhorn, Steve Bisque
Dark Energy and the Runaway Universe, Dr. Alex Filippenko
.Break
Tzec Maun-AIC Scholarship Program, Ron Wodaski
Collaborative Imaging, Sean Walker
3D Astronomical Rendering, Chris Ford, PIXAR Studios
Remote Imaging with audience participation, Stephen Cullen, Lightbuckets
.Close of day
Here are a few more rig teasers photos...
AP3600-GTO aka el'Capitan
AP3600-GTO with 24" RC. This is one of the few GEMs that can take the 24" RC. RCOS typically sell the 24" on their professional series fork.
I know everyone is probably waiting for an update on this....
SBIG STX series.
Here are two photos of the prototypes they are currently testing (one with the 16803 chip). Alan advises that they are currently on track to commence shipping in March 2009.
DUDE!! talk about equipment envy... I'd go stir crazy in that place... Personally, I want the AP3600GTO + 24" RCOS, 16mp SBIG STX and also the ASA 12" astrograph setup for wider fields
Jase. Could you do me a favor while you're there.. if there is any info brochures on the Chronos mount, could you grab one for me and post it to me when u get home? Im rather interested, also if you could have a look at it, see how steady it feels with that kind of weight on it and no counter weights etc.. It definitely looks like a new era in Astroimaging mounts..
The 16" A&M RC is a stunning looking bit of gear too.... Man.. I'd be losing it in there... (money that is..)
Jase. Could you do me a favor while you're there.. if there is any info brochures on the Chronos mount, could you grab one for me and post it to me when u get home? Im rather interested, also if you could have a look at it, see how steady it feels with that kind of weight on it and no counter weights etc.. It definitely looks like a new era in Astroimaging mounts..
The 16" A&M RC is a stunning looking bit of gear too.... Man.. I'd be losing it in there... (money that is..)
Alex, I've got the brochures, in fact I've got brochures for just about everything, but in the digital age, they don't tell you much. Everyone has a website. The PME brochure simply has a few pretty pictures and a URL to the Bisque site.
The Chronos is available through Optcorp. Simply hit there site and type Chronos into the search field. There are a few models with different payload capacity. Starting price is US$14k. Not sure if its the future of mounts - interestingly, the traditional astrophotographers still go for a GEM. If you're looking for cutting edge, I'd say the Astelco NTM 500 would be it at present. It will get superceeded at some point. Vendors learn from each other and as such make advances. Without a doubt, SBIG would have kept a close eye on Apogee and FLI, so when they come out with the STX, it will be cutting edge. Before you know it FLI will probably offer a camera that contains a 22mp chip, which will make SBIG look a little dated. Its simply a game of leap frog. The bottom line is whether your equipment meets your needs. Unfortunately Astelco aren't here at AIC (I've searched high and low as I was keen to see the mount in action - slewing etc).
Yeah I posted a thread on here about the NTM 500 earlier today, first time I'd seen it.. Shame there isnt one there for you to have a look at.. The ASA mount also looks interesting, although, as usual with these things, no price to be seen..
but it would be good to attend something like that.
