Voting for the IceInSpace Calendar Competition for 2014 is now open! Just by voting, you can win a prize pack valued at $110. Click here to vote!

So it's over to you! During May, we had some of IceInSpace's best astrophotographers submit their images. We had an amazing response, with 242 images submitted by 69 different photographers. The quality of images was absolutely stunning - we were blown away by the talent and will be pleased to feature ANY of those images in the 2014 calendar!

David (Astrovisuals) and I have now narrowed those images down to 5 in each category across 13 categories, and now it's up to you! You get to select your favourite images in each category, and the winning images will be used in the 2014 IceInSpace Astronomy Calendar.

So get voting, and please share the link with your friends via email, Facebook, Twitter and more.

http://iceinspace-calendar-2014.questionpro.com/

For more information, see the IceInSpace Calendar Competition Rules and Info Page.

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It's on again! Last year's Astronomy Calendar Competition was a huge success, with over 220 entries, 64 fantastic photographers, over 900 votes cast and over 3000 calendars sold (500 via IceInSpace!), so we're running the competition again for 2014.

The IceInSpace Astronomy Calendar for 2014 will again be made up of images captured by and chosen by the IceInSpace community!

Yes - you can submit your images for the chance to appear in the calendar, and you get to vote for the final images that will make up the calendar!

For more information about how to submit your images and how to vote, check out the article here:

IceInSpace Calendar Competition 2014

Image submission opens on the 1st May, so start preparing your images!

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The IceInSpace AstroCamp for 2013 was a great success!

We had 3 out of 3 beautiful clear nights, with only some slight high cloud on the Friday night, but still with lots of clear sky. The clouds added some depth to the timelapses and nightscapes so it wasn't all bad :) The days were warm, the nights were cool and clear, and there was no wind or rain. I really couldn't have asked for better weather.

IISAC2013 was the 7th IceInSpace AstroCamp! I can't believe I've been running these since we had our first one in 2006. I was just a young man then ;) Each one ages me a little more, but I also start to enjoy each one a little more, because routine sets in and I worry less about the camp itself.

Every camp has its problems, and this one was no different. We had two guest speakers that couldn't make it and no catering this year, but if you get amateur astronomers under clear and dark skies, the rest pales into insignificance and people will have a great time anyway.

I was a little worried about how many attendees we'd have, because a lot of the regulars (people I was used to seeing there each year) couldn't make it - but a great thing happened.... lots of first-timers came along!

Over the course of the 3 days, we had 118 attendees, and based on the survey so far, almost half of them were first timers! This is great news, and a great sign of things to come for future years. It was great catching up with familiar faces, but I met a lot of new people and made some new friends.

There's some great writeups and field/candid shots on the IISAC2013 thread on the forum here, and if you have a look through both the Nightscapes and Deep Space forums you'll see lots of images taken by people at IISAC2013.

The date for IISAC2014 isn't 100% finalised yet, but hoping for late-April 2014. Keep an eye out on the IISAC page for more info as the year unfolds.

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IISAC2013 is only 4 weeks away now, and we have over 80 registrations which is great to see! Keep them coming in!

• IISAC2013 Info Page
• IISAC2013 Registration
• IISAC2013 Black T-Shirt

What can you do at a star party?

• Observe under beautiful dark skies
• Photograph nightscapes, solar system or deep space objects
• Chat and mingle with other like-minded amateur astronomers and night-sky enthusiasts
• Learn heaps about telescopes and astronomy
• Learn from some fantastic guest speakers
• Perhaps win one of the great lucky door prizes!

I'd like to shout-out to our generous sponsors who have donated prizes to IceInSpace AstroCamp 2013. They provide prizes for YOU to win! Thanks very much to:  

Please support our sponsors because they support the amateur astronomy community through events like IISAC2013, but also by providing great products and great service all year round.

Thanks

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Astronomy takes on a new meaning for the amateur enthusiast with a customised specialist tour visiting the world’s most important observatories, a chat to an expert astronomer or even better, chance to participate in a viewing session with the Hooker 60” telescope – the world’s most powerful visual telescope – located at Mt Wilson Observatory in Los Angeles.

Well known amateur astronomer, Cris Ellis, founder of Astronomy Alive and founder and president of the Astronomical Society of Melbourne, has joined forces with Cox and Kings Travel to put together this amazing 23 day tour of the best astronomy enthusiast experiences in America.

The tour departs on October 4 2013, and visits amazing places such as the Keck and Subaru observatories on Mauna Kea Hawaii, Meteor Crater and the Kennedy Space Centre. The tour also takes in more famous sight-seeing destinations such as the Grand Canyon.

This article on IceInSpace has some more information, or you can download the Cox and Kings PDF which explains the full itinerary and everything you need to know.

It looks like a great tour! I wish I could go!

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