IISAC2015 - IceInSpace AstroCamp 2015: 19th-21st March 2015 (important info)

[iceman]

Hi guys

IISAC2015 crept up on me big time this year - having it a month or so earlier plus being so busy at work it's snuck up on me that it's only just over 2 months away!

I've made a couple of changes this year:

1. I'm not going to hire the marquee. It wasn't used very much, really only for the guest-speaker talks.

2. As a consequence of #1:
- I won't be arranging any guest speakers or sponsors/door prizes
- There has been a cost reduction for attendees (by almost 50%), since the marquee was by far the biggest expense of running the star party.

I'm not sure yet if it's the right decision, or if I'll regret it, but hey - let's live life on the edge and see :)

The marquee was great for the laser show last year, but it's not worth over $3k just for the laser show :)

I found it quite difficult to find guest speakers, and unfortunately they weren't always very well attended. As for door prizes, I have a theory that people don't attend star parties just for the chance to win a door prize. Of course it's a nice benefit if you do, but organising sponsors who are willing to give up prizes becomes increasingly difficult each year too.

So, I'm hoping these changes don't affect anything for those who were/are intending to come along.

We're there for the astronomy and photography and the company, right? Hopefully without the marquee and guest speakers, we can still enjoy those things.

I'm more than happy to help arrange/facilitate workshops in the undercover area of the bottom house.
We'll also still do a communal sausage sizzle on the Saturday arvo.

It's been great to be able to reduce the cost too - hopefully that gets a few more people coming along, as well as the change to the time of year.

More info coming over the next few weeks. The online booking form is ready, but I don't have the shirts or the info webpage ready yet, so that's next to do!

Happy to hear your feedback!

[MortonH]

Sounds good to me!

[Allan_L]

Sounds like a winning solution to me too Mike. :thumbsup:

[Wombat]

sounds good mike, loved the sausage sizzle last year.

[Rod771]

Who needs a marquee when you can have almost 50% off! :thumbsup:

[peterl]

Still a good social event, and some excellent skies as well.
Looking forward to this one.
Peter and Sue..

[ariefm71]

Looking forward to this too. So this is only 2 nights of observation? Why not extending it till Sunday?

Arief

[iceman]

It's 3 nights, Arief.

Thu/Fri/Sat nights.

[ariefm71]

Ahhh... that's great!! Thanks Mike for the clarification.

[Spookyer]

Might be a silly question but where is it held?

[sheeny]

Lostock Scout Camp, Brett. Its in the Hunter Valley, north of Singleton and Gresford.

Al.

[iceman]

Hi guys

The IISAC info page is now online.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/iisac

Nothing unfamiliar there for those that have been before :)

You can now register for the camp online at:
http://shop.iceinspace.com.au/shop/iisac2015-registration/

The shirt design is not yet completed and so you can't order a shirt yet, but this will be able to be added later on without a problem.

Less than 2 months to go now, so get your annual leave forms in and start thinking about the gear you'll take, the objects you'll view and photograph etc. :)

Cheers!

[mental4astro]

I've got approval from the Minister for War, so I'm in!!! :cool:

I've PM'ed the Iceman about doing a couple of workshops:

1, Astro sketching, looking mainly at the Moon this time, but also covering DSO's. And if the weather is cooperative I hope to do a demo of solar sketching. I'm hoping to have a Daystar Quark in time for IISAC - I'm very excited about this bit of gear, :D

2, Scope maintenance and improvements that one can do. Have a new dobbie? There's a few things one can do on those long boring cloudy nights when we would rather be looking through our scopes than at them... These things will help keep your scope performing at its best for you. I'll also briefly look at collimation, what it is and what it isn't. Also, for the more adventurous, there are a few things that can be done to improve our scopes.

Times for these workshops are still to be determined, so keep an eye out for these if you are interested.

Gondwana Telescopes will also be flying the flag at IISAC, :D

[strongmanmike]

Gee Alex, that's all a good value add for IISAC, great stuff, having recently scratched together enough and got myself a 12" GOTO Skywatcher (sorry :sadeyes:) wish I could make it...I've missed a few ISACs now :sadeyes:

Mike

[madwayne]

Work conference at Cypress Lakes 17 to 19 March, morning finish on the Thursday looks like I know where I'll be headed after that.

Talk about perfect timing.

Wayne

[creeksky]

Wow! this sounds fantastic, although a 9 hour drive I could break the trip up at Nambucca.
Go to the camp, then visit Mum on the central coast.
Would love to learn Alex's drawing techniques and hear his tips!
As well as learn how to use my scope from those with experience, and meet the wonderful people from IIS!

I can bring a projector and screen(would be best in a darkish room area-has a built in DVD player but only vga- rga connection for laptops)

Anyone would be welcome to use it for presentations, or people could watch movies at night(,If they want) will even bring movies.

Would be fun camping near the Dob, staying up real late and seeing what others can see!
Not far to fall into bed either:)
Great work and thank you for organizing this Mike:thumbsup:
Edit -I can also bring 2x large tarps and poles if you want a make-shift marquee?
Will have to check measurements.

[stringscope]

Can't make it this year due work commitment :sadeyes:

[mental4astro]

Gondwana Telescopes is now sponsoring the 2015 IISAC. :cool:

To celebrate, we will be offering Marana No. 5 at a very special discounted price.

Wildcard Innovations is also offering the purchaser of Marana No.5 a 10% discount on a new Argo Navis handset.

You will find further details in the Gondwana Telescopes News & Events (http://gondwanatelescopes.com/news-and-events) web page.


I have organised with Mike Salway for the two workshops to be held on the following times:

* Telescope Maintenance - Friday 20th March at 3pm

* Astronomical Sketching - Saturday 21st March at 3pm. Fingers crossed here that the weather is kind to us so I can do a Solar sketching demonstration.

And as Gary Kopff can't make this year's Astro Camp, I've put my hand up to do the Sky Tour with my 17.5" dobbie. Anyone else with a scope is also welcome to join me with the Sky Tour, :) . OOOHHH, those imagining boys and girls ain't gonna like that laser... :evil: :wink2:

I'm very much looking forward to this event :)

Alex.

[Nebulator2570]

:hi: all and mike,

This will be my first time to lostock, so im looking forward to it this year.. If all is great and clear skies, maybe next year i will have to arrange with mike salway, a week or two before, if i may bring a Massive scope.:eyepop:.. But thats next year... Will see what happens.:question:.

But Im so looking forward to it this year and :question:hope to make also Wiruna South pacific star party, later in the year too.;)

Anyway hope to see all you guys there and make some NEW:thumbsup: friends

Nebulator:D

[gary]

Thanks Alex!

The Sky Tours are therefore in the safest of hands.

Actually it will be the first IISAC I have ever missed.

But I will be getting my fix of stars from the northern hemisphere.

Hope everyone has a great weekend and that the skies are crystal clear.

Best Regards

Gary Kopff
Managing Director
Wildcard Innovations Pty. Ltd.
20 Kilmory Place, Mount Kuring-Gai
NSW. 2080. Australia
Phone +61-2-9457-9049
Fax +61-2-9457-9593
sales@wildcard-innovations.com.au
http://www.wildcard-innovations.com.au

[iceman]

HI All!

Only 4 weeks to go now! Coming up fast!

I've updated the IISAC page to include the Programme.

The sausage sizzle has been moved to 1pm Saturday, since last year (at 2:30pm) was too far from lunch and too close to dinner :)

Thanks to Alex for putting on two workshops, scheduled for 3pm Friday and 3pm Saturday.



Sorry you can't make it, Mike. Would've been good to catchup.



Fantastic Wayne, see you there! :)




Hey thanks for the offer of all that! Feel free to bring a projector if you want, though I won't have the marquee/projector screen this year so there'll be limited places to use it.

Brining the tarpes/poles - only if it's not too much trouble. It's not essential but it certainly can't hurt.




Sorry to hear that, Ian.




Thanks Alex! Will be great to catchup and I can't wait to see what you've done with the telescope since last year!




Great news! See you there!




Sorry you can't make it, Gary. I'll certainly miss our chats!

[Dave2042]

Just signed up. Looking forward to it.

[madwayne]

All paid up for the three nights, really looking forward to it. I'll have my 12" goto dob and a fair chance of a nice bottle or three of red. After all what's a star party without it?

Mike - as I've said in my earlier post I'm only coming from Cypress Lakes so could be there early. I know and appreciate how much work you do for us at IISAC. If you need help with anything at all let me know and I'll willingly oblige. I assume it's ok to be there before lunch on the Thursday and get things setup. I note that you have the registration desk open at 15:00, from memory.

Wayne

[iceman]

No worries at all Wayne. The "desk" itself won't be open but no problems coming early to setup yourself or help setup.

[uwahl]

Over the next few days I hope to be able to nail down a trip to IISAC. Booked last year but last minute illness prevented me going. Here's hoping I will make it this year. :)

[absolut]

Well, I had the distinct impression that I wouldn't be able to get the time off to go to IISAC2015, and then somehow (thank you Murphy!) it became possible!!... YAY!! :)

I'll be there from around lunch time Thursday until Sunday...

Now to work on those weather gods for some nice skies!! :D

[absolut]

Something that may affect some of us... concerning the safety of portable butane cookers:

http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/ftw/Consumers/Product_and_service_safety/Lunchbox_cookers.page?

Looks like I'll be shopping for a new cooker before heading to IISAC!!

Clear skies (and safe cooking)!!

[LightningNZ]

This will be the first IISAC for my wife and I too, totally stoked to be going. Really looking forward to meeting a bunch of interesting people and hanging out under dark skies. :D
-Cam

[iceman]

Great news, Rob and Cam.

See you there!

[RB]

I can't make it this year. :sadeyes:
Have fun everyone and clear skies.

RB

[Allan]

Long range weather forecast is looking promising, although a little hot to kick the party off with on Thursday.

[skullmurphy]

Hi everyone,

Just booked for IISAC2015 and looking forward to getting away from it all.

Wondering if there is a 2015 T Shirt this year to go with my 2014 one.

Lets have clear skies day and night.

Skull :thanx:

[skullmurphy]

Hi there

Looking at the possibility of obtaining a good quality solar panel setup or a quiet generator (<60db) or both mainly to charge tablets, my powered scope battery amongst other things if we have lousy sunless days for the star party.

Firstly are generators permitted and are there restricted hours of operation ??

:thanx:

Skull

[sheeny]

There is power available at both houses. I usually charge batteries, laptops, etc during the day. If you are into imaging, the imaging area is close to the bottom house, so bring a long extension lead and power board if required.

I'm not sure if there are rules about generators. I'll let Mike handle that. I don't remember hearing any generators during past IISAC's.

Al.

[iceman]

I think they're fine during the day but would prefer not to hear them going at night. Like Al said, you can set up fairly close to power anyway.

I haven't arranged t-shirts yet. I'll probably get some idea of numbers and get some done after, if there's interest.

[absolut]

Hey Skull,

I have 2 x 18Ah batteries and an 80W solar panel.
It is enough for my goto 10" scope, dew control, wifi module, android tablet, and android phone. The only time my batteries get tested is in extremes of cold (below zero). Regardless, the 80W panel is enough to significantly recharge them even in the depths of winter when the sun is least available.

I'd only ever consider a generator if I had a fridge or multiple laptops.

Clear skies!

[skullmurphy]

Thanks Rob, Al and Mike,

Gives me some clues of where I will look to getting my power requirements when I get back from the Astrocamp ......

Rob would it be possible to meet up either Thursday or Friday to check out your solar-powered setup to see it in the flesh. ...

Thanks again all

Skull

:thanx:

[FieldsofLaura]

Hi All, this is my boyfriend and I's first star party and we are both very excited (me more than him). We are both complete novices so looking forward to learning from all you experts. Unfortunately we couldn't get time off work so will be heading down late afternoon on Friday. I hope this isn't going to be a problem and we won't miss out on too much of the fun? :-)

[barx1963]

To Mike and all the crew heading to Lostock.
Best wishes for a great Camp for 2015, hope the skies are clear and all goes well.

Malcolm and all the crew at Snake Valley

[norm]

Hope you guys have a great time and fantastic weather. Unfortunately work and personal commitments don't allow me this time.

I'm hoping Mike will host one in 2016, we'll definitely make it to the 10 year milestone.

Have fun all.

Norm :):thumbsup:

PS: Alex, your scopes look amazing !

[madwayne]

After a stinking hot Thursday we were treated with a clear sky all night. I got through around 50 of my planned 72 Messier objects but called it a night at 1:30.

Woke up Friday morning to a repeat of Thursday only hotter. As I'd left the hose from my gas bottle to stove at home I went off on an adventure and ended up at Rutherford via Singleton and back to Lostock. Great excuse to drive an air conditioned car for quite a few hours. Around 18:00 the heat was replaced with a cool change. Unfortunately the change bought in cloud by the sky load.

And after some showers overnight and most of the day I ended up packing up and heading for home as did quite a few others.

Great to meet Allan, Scott and Jen (my closest neighbours) and also Rob and many others. Special mention to Bill our TEC160 wielding American friend. Many great chats with everybody and thank you for your company. Also a big note of thanks to Allan for the work he did confirming my collimation and most importantly on my primary. It went rattle free the whole way home.

Mike - another great star party. I don't know how you do it, juggling work, family and astronomy/photography, but sincerely thank you!

Wayne

[LightningNZ]

It was really great to meet so many wonderful people at IISAC. Mary-Anne and I had a really lovely time and are looking forward to coming back next year.

Thank you to Mike, Alex, the BBQ helpers, Trevor and everyone else there who turned a simple gathering into a fun and friendly occasion.

All the best,
Cam

[iceman]

Thanks to those who came for another IISAC, the 9th!

The weather on Thursday was brilliant - a hot day, but clear all night long and a slight breeze to keep the dew at bay. I had a great time capturing nightscapes in some new locations, and ended up heading to bed after 1:30am. I wished I stayed up later given the next 2 nights :)

Friday was hot! and then a change came through about 6pm which cooled it down, bringing clouds and later, rain. Saturday was a complete washout too.

Unfortunate about the weather, but at least Thursday was great. A lot of attendees who only came for the Friday and/or Saturday were no doubt disappointed. Certainly one of the cloudier, wetter camps we've had.

We were way down in numbers - just over half the number of last year. The weather forecast certainly would've affected that. Maybe it was the lack of guest speakers or lucky door prize? I suspect it was the weather more than the latter, but without clear skies it's impossible to know :)

Anyway for the people that did come, I hope they had a relaxing time even though it wasn't doing what they had hoped. The swimming hole was magnificent on Thursday and Friday.

Thanks as always to Al and Lyn for their help and support, and thanks to Alex and Gondwana Telescopes for the 2 workshops.

Might do something different again next year - otherwise I'm just not inclined to do it again at this stage. I've got some ideas.

[Rod771]

Mike, thanks for hosting the IISAC space camp again. Your efforts are greatly appreciated by us all and despite the poor weather, I still enjoyed getting away and catching up with people I now usually see once a year.

The one clear night we did have was a gem, little windy at times but dark and clear. :)

Here's some quick shots from camp on Thursday, Thursday night and Friday night. I thought I'd have some fun with the clouds :shrug:. I've also got some images to process and post in the Nightscape and Deep space threads shortly.

Cheers

Rod

[peterl]

Another good camp at Lostock.
All kinds of weather conditions made this one interesting.
Thanks again Mike and helpers for running this weekend.
Thanks to Alex Massey for the two workshops on Friday and Saturday.
Sausage sizzle worked well because of the cool rain outside.
Mark, a visitor from Texas in the U.S. was interesting to talk to.
Was going home to his 28 inch f 2.8 dob.
Thanks to Mark Suchting for showing us some virtual reality goggles
from Samsung.blew us all away!!
some images of Al, Mike and Lyn cooking, Alex with his excellent
sketches of the moon and other objects.

Peter and Sue Langdown. :)

[skullmurphy]

Hi all,

To say the camp days were eventful was really an understatement.....

My intentions were with Jenny to make an early start and drive to Elderslie (near Branxton) by 11am Thursday to our friends Blue and Sandee who were originally going to Lostock with us.

Fate stepped in and Blue took very ill and our first port of call was John Hunter Hospital to see Blue instead..... Sandee and Blue ordered us to go to Lostock eventually with us arriving at 5pm as Blue was going to be a hospital guest for a few days. We wish him a speedy recovery.

On arrival after fighting with the tent and putting up the gazebo in the heat, I put the scope together and proceeded to meet up with the neighbours madwayne, Jim and Wendy (jayemay). Then along the way Rob (absolut), with his solar setup, Alan with his collimation help and Bill our Texan friend we had a great Thursday night of viewing. The Jewelbox and Tarantula were outstanding.

Friday was very hot but we met up with a mate from last year Darren (otis quakes) who I went to Gresford for some supplies with and we just had to have a cold beer at the Gresford pub.

We got back in time for Alex talk on Telescope Maintenance and then a great swim to cool off in the river.

A cool change then came through but thats when the weather went feral and put an end to observations for the rest of the camp. Thankfully we cooked up a steamboat dinner which had other fellow campers eating prawns, squid, chicken, beef and noodles in a rather stop start affair with Ulrich (uwahl) bringing some wine to fortify the party.

We then moved to Jim and Wendy's camp fire and ate red frogs and maltesers along with more campers including our English friend Laura arriving late to join the yarns ranging from astronomy, accents, hercules planes, gun laws amongst other subjects. A truly memorable night despite the rain.

We packed up Saturday our wet tentage, telescope and other gear and managed to fit it all back in the Hilux ute and had a couple of sausages at the sausage sizzle before heading for home but knowing we will be back for other camps....

Thanks Mike for the camp and everyone for being so hospitable and friendly which made it so memorable.......:thanx:

Scott and Jenny

[uwahl]

Last year I booked for the three days, became ill just before the camp and spent the three days in bed. This year I booked for three days, found a gas leak in the caravan the day before departure and missed the first night despite some shameless begging to a local gas fitter trying to have my job bumped to the to of the list.

Even though my two nights at Lostock were rained out I still had a great time meeting people and learning about scope maintenance.

At least I made it to the site this year - will try again next year. Maybe this time i will make it for the whole three days!

[charsiubau]

Hi Mike
Ken and I were sorry to miss this year's IISAC due to health reasons. We would have come regardless of the weather forecast, but I think for people who live closer, the weather would have been the major factor in them not turning up, not the lack of lucky door prizes or speakers. We really appreciate your efforts in putting on this star party.