Official post Ballarat star party thread

[Starkler]

Many thanks to Ken ( Ballarat Dragons), John (xstreme) and everybody else who contributed to make the first big Vic Iceinspace star party the success that it was.
Although the heavens didnt really cooperate until Monday night, those that stuck it out were treated to some great viewing with great seeing conditions.
I personally had some fantastic views of Mars as did many others there.

I can't wait to see Anthonys (Birds) Mars pictures as he was quite excited about the quality of the images he was capturing.

Aside from the viewing itself, I think everybody without exception had a great time with great company :thumbsup:

[Starkler]

A few happy snaps :)

Left to right:
1: Steve (Janoskiss) with his 8inch dob
2: Robin (Robin from Warnambool)
3&4 : Ken and Steve with 12 and 8 inch gso dobs.
5: 10,12,8 inch gso dobs for size perspective.
6: Ken (Ballarat Dragons) next to his beloved 12 inch gso dob
7: Anthony (Bird) with his planet killing newt. Looking forward to seeing his Mars pictures.

[asimov]

Thanks for the pics Geoff.

I'm pleased you all had a good time.

[ving]

sounds like yas had a ripper of a time :)
great pics!

[asimov]

Who's that in the background of pic 3?

[norm]

Hi,


I feel a bit envious of you guys - congrats on the starcamp.:prey2:

[Striker]

Well done to all who were involved and attended.

Sounds like the weather could have been better but i'm sure it was good just to meet everyone.

[janoskiss]

You're quick Geoff! I just got home and unpacked. Thanks again guys! It was a most worthwhile and rewarding experience. :thumbsup:

[h0ughy]

wow you guys must have had a great time. Well done ken et al for the good work, it obviously paid off

[mick pinner]

Even though Sue and l did not get there until 2.30 on Sunday and only had the one night there, with cloud, it was good to catch up with Dave (47tuc) and Geoff (Starkler) again as well as the rest of the group, the chance to discuss equipment and ideas with a like minded group should not be missed.
To all the organizers, you should be congratulated on a great event and to Anthony, John, Robin, Neil, Steve and Wombat thanks for all your input on my ideas, and Ken you only confirmed what a great fella you are and to everyone else thank you for a great time. Can't wait for the next one.

[Dave47tuc]

Hi All,
Well some of us are back. Many thanks to Ken and John & Mike.
To all who helped(Anna) ;)
Great to meet you guy's. We only got last night in viewing. It was great.
Viewing with the PST was also very good. Thats me with Trevor at one of the pst's.
Plenty of GSO dobs :lol: All in all a great time. Stay tuned those from Melbourne for monthly viewing nights.

Thanks again.

Bird in the 1st photo. Ken and DaveP in the 4th. Me and trevor in the 2nd.

[Striker]

Any group shots.....come on dont be scared.

[Dave47tuc]

Robin has that one. He should post it soon. :confuse3:

Time for some :zzz2: :zzz2:

[rowena]

Hrm... so when and where will the official QLD IceInSpace star party be on? ;)
maybe we could get one organised per state per every 3 monthsish..
ok i'm being bad... all your partners are going to kill me ;)

[[1ponders]]

Sounds like a great idea rowena. Away you go, organise away :poke: :lol:

[Wombat_In_Space]

Well it's over for this year at snake vally (wish it wasn't), I had the best weeked since buying my Dod a few months ago, I learnt a lot of new things and met the best people.

Here are some of the pics.
1. Viewing field.
2. Anthony (Bird) with his Newt.
3. Mick Piner with his scope trolly.
4. Ken (Ballarat Dragons) Toni (Mrs Wombat_In_Space) showing us the size diference between the 12" GSO and the 8" GSo Dobs, My wife is 5'3" tall and Ken is about 5'5" tall.
5. <!--StartFragment -->Robin (Robin from Warnambool).
6. John (xstreme)

[rowena]

Somehow I see all the brisbanites (General area + 150km) complaining if we held it in North/Central Qld! :)

[robin]

Thanks for a great time everyone.Due to work committments,I was only there for one night but the information & advice offered was absolutely fantastic & putting actual faces & identities to the fellow IISers was great.Pity about the fickle weather but thats now history.
I'll post more pics very soon but here's the official group shot.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v242/makemineameade/group.jpg

[davidpretorius]

a great time!!!

can't write too much, sitting on a boat ready to sail with the internet thru the mobile.

will post pics tomorrow night.

I have some nasty goss to spread about Bird!!!! something about using a scope with an eyepieice or something!!!!

thanks all that helped me. I really appreciate your efforts and wealth of knowledge.

I can only reiterate how good Birds images of mars are going to be. He had never seen the amount of data that he saw on his computer!!!!! 40 gbytes of data!!!! Saturn will not be quite as good as the seeing wasn't quite as good, but look out for that one too!!!

[Striker]

Great picture Robin.....

Now for the goss.

[Moonman]

:poke: Dave I hope your itching to get out again next Sunday

[bird]

Hi everyone - I got home a few hours ago, had a really great time at the camp. Even though I'm completely exhausted after last night and the travel today I'm already starting to look through the data from last night's imaging...

A big Thank You to Ken, John, Mike etc etc for making this a great last 4 days - looking forward to the next one already!

Bird

[robin]

Heres a montage of some pics i shot.Let me know if it's too slow loading & I'll downsize it a bit.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v242/makemineameade/svmontage.jpg

[ballaratdragons]

Great montage Robin! It says it all. Fun, Friends, and lots of scopes. The group shot is superb thank you.

I only had to drive 2k to get home but I am wrecked (I slept most of the afternoon).

It was a pleasure to meet so many IIS'ers (and families) and to discover that they are ALL terrific people and that I am pleased to call them my friends.

I was one of the silly few that stayed up until dawn each night, even on the 2 rainy nights! But last night (Monday) was more than could've been expected!!!!

About 10 visitors came from Snake Valley and a few from Ballarat to look through the scopes and went "OoooH, Aaaah!

Monday night: 9-10/10 Transparency and 9-10/10 seeing, nil wind, mild temp, and it stayed like that till about 5:30am. (others will confirm this). I did the usual sky tour, then was shown a few new objects. I managed to get pics of the Sun, Mars and Saturn with the little Kodak (I will post them tomorrow). I have already posted some pics here: http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=5025

The Sunday Night Feast was amazing. We asked the CFA ladies to cater for 40 people. There was enough for about 60-80 and we had 2nds & 3rds! The display room has some interesting items especially Mick Pinners Dob/Wedge Cart! We also watched DVD's and pic shows on the Big Screen on most days and some of the nights and Dave 47Tuc gave some great talks (Leonids was funny!!) The rest of the time was relaxed general conversations about EP's, scopes mounts, astro objects, the weather etc. Just plain old 'good company'.

The door prize was won by Sue Pinner (12 mth Sub Aust Sky & Tel), raffle prizes went to Dave47Tuc (Binocs), recieved the Telrad and the book and DVD went to Neil. Over $500 was raised and presented to Mike to keep IIS going for another year.

Astro pics will be judged after they are all processed and posted.

Thank you to all of you that came and made it a success, and thanks to those that couldn't make it for your best wishes.

I need sleep! :zzz:


p.s. The seeing was so good that 5 of Saturns Moons were clearly visible while Saturn was still down on the horizon!!! (all 5 moons & positions verified via Davo P's Sky map program on his lappy) and Saturn did not boil at all. A clear still image about 1 minute after it arose from the horizon!!!!!!!!!

[ballaratdragons]

Daniel. A new IIS member.

[asimov]

Oh shaddap about perfect seeing Ken! You want me to move to Ballarat instead of America??:)

Get to bed dude! ;)

[RAJAH235]

A big WELL DONE to all concerned. Glad you all had some clear weather for a change. We've had nowt but rain & cloud here. :2thumbs: Great looking group of IIS's too. :D L.

[asimov]

And might I say welcome back to the forum happy-snake-valley-star-campersss! :hi:

[toetoe]

A great time with great company. Thanks for a fantastic weekend.
A few more random snaps of the Star Camp.

[xstream]

Thanks once again to everyone who attended, I'm sure we all agree it was more than worth the effort.
Ken, great effort Mate! Thanks for you time and help Anna and I count you as one of our true friends.
Dave (47T) and Geoff thanks for your time and contribution, guys we couldn't of done it without you both.
To our sponsors, Australian Sky & Telescope, Bintel, Skylab and My Astro Shop. Thankyou for your generosity it was greatly appreciated.
To anyone I may of forgotten it wasn't intentional so please accept this as my thanks and appreciation.

To all who attended, what a great time we've had. Friendships that have been formed, knowledge and experience that has been shared, willingness to help one another; Astronomy just seems to have the happy knack of bringing out the best in us all.

Thanks once again everyone, Anna and myself will look back on these last four days with fond memories for many years to come.

[bird]

No! No! It's a lie! I never did!

Well, ok, maybe just once, but he *promised* not to tell anyone - now what will they all think of me? I'm ruined!

I just had to find out what these "eyepiece" thingys were all about... Seems like you can fit them instead of a camera (sounds a bit odd if you ask me, you know, a bit unnatural),

Bird

[ving]

:lol2:
bird used a eyepiece!
bird used a eyepiece!
bird used a eyepiece!
:P

[bird]

Waaaah!

[RB]

:rofl: :lol: :rofl:

[Starkler]

One thing that came out of the star camp for me is that an Argo-navis is now a must have .
I just placed my order
Hopefully Dave can help me set it up :whistle:

[beren]

:P The dark side beckons.....pushto>>>goto>>>SCT>>>LX200 :)

Congrats to everyone involved , would have been wonderful to have been there :drink:

[Starkler]

Dont start Beren ! :poke:

[Striker]

It's about time you guys saw the light....3 cheers for GOTO.

[davidpretorius]

whats an sct and are they any good????:nerd:

[xstream]

A few more pics of happy campers

[janoskiss]

Not happy with your Palm + DSC setup any more?

[xstream]

And a few more.

[davidpretorius]

I know i am a nobbie (edit noobie), but I don't think you collimate a mirror by scratching it with a knife??

but then again, who am i to ask????

[davidpretorius]

ken and geoff cleaning kens mirror

my slightly chipped and pinched secondary (thanks Darren for spotting and fixing!)

[Starkler]

Sometimes it works well, sometimes it doesnt. I usually have to pan around a bit. With Daves argo the target was falling inside the field of a 12mm nagler everytime. With faint fuzzies thats a big help.

[astro_south]

Love all the photos guys! Gives us poor souls too far away a taste of what is what like. Looks like a really worthwhile event for all involved. (Is there anyway to move Snake Valley a bit closer to Brisbane? :D )

[Dave47tuc]

Some more Pics :)

[ballaratdragons]

Well, I have caught up on some much needed sleep!

Here are 2 of my shots through the Pocket Kodak. Excuse the quality, but if you saw my camera you would understand :lol:

1. The Sun through Trevors PST. A nice flare at the bottom and 2 Prominences at top and top left. (Date is wrong sorry) Supposed to read 31-10-2005

2. Saturn 5 minutes after rising above the horizon.

[davidpretorius]

nice one ken, that ejection material is streaming out of the bottom of the sun like on the one we all produced.

[iceman]

Hey guys.

I'm back! What a great time at the camp, unfortunately the weather only co-operated on the monday night, which is a shame for those that left on Monday.

But Monday night viewing was a blast! The seeing started out shocking, but after midnight it improved out of sight, and I got the best eyeball views of Mars i've ever seen. So much detail visible.

With the family staying in Ballarat, I didn't do any allnighters but had a good time chatting and gossiping with the guys and girls there on Friday and Sunday night.

Many thanks to Ken and John for their incredible effort organising and setting up the camp - it ran extremely smoothly from what I could see, and it's a tribute to their organisation.

Many thanks to the generous guys and girls who helped raise the money to put towards IceInSpace. It's very very much appreciated.

Many thanks to the sponsors, Bintel, MyAstroShop, Australian Sky & Telescope and SkyLAB: Astronomy Software for supporting the camp.

Many thanks to Dave47Tuc, who let me spend most of Monday night by his side at his scope, with me bossing him around about what to view next. :) And I agree with Geoff, every time I use ArgoNavis it goes higher up in priority in my "next buy" list. We had a great time viewing some faint and not so faint galaxies, hunting 12th Mag galaxies in Eridanus , looking at planetaries and of course spending a lot of time on Mars.

It was great to meet many IceInSpace members, and to hear how well everyone got on at the camp.. Many new friends were made and that's what it's all about.

Highlights of my Monday night viewing include Andromeda (M31 and M32 companion) in Geoff's 15x70 binos and Dave and Geoff's 10" dobs with a 31mm Nagler! :eyepop: and M33 as well. It was my first ever view of Andromeda, and I can see why those Northerners get so excited about it. It's truly stunning and the dust lanes were quite visible even though it was only 10-15 degrees above the horizon.

Other highlights are Mars of course, incredible view in moments of good seeing. The Fornax and Grus galaxy clusters in the 31mm Nagler and many other targets, just great views throug Dave's 10" dob.

It was great to meet Bird (Anthony) and speak to him about imaging, and see him at work with Mars on Monday night. He's got a truly fantastic setup and it's made me start to think about a cooling system for my mirror. What I was previously blaming on poor seeing could well be put down to mirror temperature and tube currents. It was obvious from Bird's demonstrations when the mirror was not cooled how important it is to good images.

Everyone was very willing to share their knowledge and experience all through the camp. It was a great time and thanks again to Ken and John for an awesome effort.

I've got some pics from the camp, like everyone else, and will post them once I go through the 400-odd shots I have from the holiday :)

[iceman]

Oh and great shots Robin! When I get more time, i'll add names to the group shot, or Ken or John or someone can do it too if they have time :)

[robin]

I was going to do that too Mike but there were a couple of names i didnt know so i didnt want to leave anyone out.

[TidaLpHasE]

:) Great pics guys, glad you all had a good time up there.

Work and sleep kept me away this time, but looking forward to the next one.

It's a shame about the weather though, wish you could have had more clear days..

Welcome back all :thumbsup:

[Rodstar]

Great reports, guys and gals. Mike, it looks like your kids made some new friends, judging from the group photo!

The standard has been set for the NSW starparty in January 06. Not sure how you guys remain so buoyant, given how crappy the weather was for three nights!

[davidpretorius]

very easy,

Sir 47 tuc broke the ice with a case full of naglers and stubby holders under his arm on friday night. It was like a stripper at a bucks night. Lots of "woo hoos" and "show us your nagler".

We opened each case with a quick prayer to the nagler gods (inc houghy) and off she went.

We would have peetered out except Ken served SPAM for breakfast, lunch & tea!

[ballaratdragons]

Spam & salad Davo!

Here are the names for the montage.

[ballaratdragons]

And names for the group photo.

Sorry I didn't put names on all the kids as I couldn't remember which was which Lol!

About 6 people had already left before this pic was staken.

[Starkler]

Ken, Birds name is Anthony :P

[ballaratdragons]

Oops! Thanks Geoff.

Well, he did say he prefers to be called 'Bird' than Anthony. I was just obliging him ;)

[davidpretorius]

Who's Geoff???

and Ballarat Dragons, who the hell is Ken????

[bird]

You know, I looked at that image, read all the names, and didn't even notice?

Bird

[ballaratdragons]

Here ya go! :)

[Starkler]

Well there's two Geoffs, take your pick :P

[fringe_dweller]

Glad you all had a goodtime at the inaugural BSP!- well done BD! thats some effort to organise something like that - i am in awe!
One thing tho, you guys were observing near a large body of water - in my experience - that can be tricky? at night weird atmospherics happen around water - fog, mists ect.? but you cant tell that from Anthony's and others pics but!!?

[cahullian]

Thanks Ken,John & Anna for all your hard work to make the camp such a success.
Dave's talks were a big hit on the weekend and the leonids(?spelling )was a crack up.He really knows how to keep the audiance captivated.The rain may have had a little to do with that also. lol JK mate.
Deidre, Ron and Myself all had a blast (even though I had a cold) The clouds may have been out but they still played second fiddle to the laughter and the bulldust that was going around (most of the latter from me)

A big thank you to Dave for pulling my name out of the hat for the telrad ( I had been putting off buying one for ages)

We all enjoyed the Ballarat observatory. Some amazing scopes there!! We even found some gold when we went to Sovereign Hill.

I am kicking myself for missing the monday nights viewing, but Ron and I had a wonderful time in Melbourne getting in some real Hapkido practice.

All in all everyone should give themselves a past on the back for making the weekend one to remember.

Gazz

[netwolf]

Congrats to the organisers, looks like you guys put on a great event. I wish i had been, sounds like you had lots of fun. I feel like the Australian mateship spirit is live and kicking in the Amature Astronomy world. Its great to see, keep it up.

Regards

[Rodstar]

What an amazingly good looking gallery of people (although I believe they look even better in the dark)....

[robin]

Well done on the naming Ken. Ha! I had to crack up reading 'Mrs Wombat in space'!!!!

[janoskiss]

Actually I thought Kate should have been Icewoman, not Mrs Iceman. :shrug:

[janoskiss]

Ooohh, just noticed I'm about to join the 1k club. ;)

[ballaratdragons]

LOL! Icewoman isn't a name any woman would like to get stuck with! :lol:

Yeah, I'm suprised that I remembered everyones name! (well, I had to check on Mrs P's name :o )

[ballaratdragons]

Thanks kearn. Ark Ark! Strangely the lake made no difference at all. The air was so calm. A bit of fog rose up from it to about 4 feet high, drifted off to the neighbouring paddock and then settled again. :confuse3:

All planned of course. It went as practised :lol:

[danielsun]

great photo's , had the best weekend i'd had for a while

[ballaratdragons]

Glad you enjoyed it Daniel! :thumbsup:

I can't work out why Gazz was hiding at the back of the group pic. :confuse3: Must be wanted by the FBI or CIA or sumptin!

7 to go Steve.

[asimov]

Ken, can you please come to my place & make the clouds rise up, move off down stream about 50000000 miles & settle again!??

[ballaratdragons]

LOL! Only works on small fog patches! I'm not a magician :rofl:

[danielsun]

many thanks to you ken and dave 47 tuc, john xtream and everyone else that put in to make it a great weekend. it was very well orginised , very informative and i met a great bunch of people, glad it cleared up for you on the mon night, bird would have been happy to get some good images down. I was tempted to come back but had to settle for the backyard. anyway i cant wait for the next one !!

[toetoe]

A few from the Ballarat Observatory, sorry for the poor quality, i'm not to good with a camera..

[cahullian]

Ken I was hiding up the back to hide my bruises from the bashings Ron gave me all wekend. :fight:

[Starkler]

Well star camp turned out to be an expensive exercise for me.
I just unpacked my brand new argo-navis :D

[iceman]

lol nice geoff, i'm *this close* to ordering one myself..

[davidpretorius]

well done geoff!, pictures pictures pictures!

now young mike and geoff, please put your discussion on equipment in the equipment section!!!

signed

David (spamerator)

[xstream]

Well done Geoff. You'll love it!

Star Camps seem to be like that; I've just got to have one of those. :)

[fringe_dweller]

man I bet the vendors are all loving this forum - i wonder if IIS equipment competition has increased sales by at least 100% - should be getting kickbacks Ice ;)

[janoskiss]

He probably is. :lol:

[fringe_dweller]

LOL sweet - should be a very nice sizeable local oz second market developing pretty soon or in years to come :)

[iceman]

lol, I wish!

I should get a cut of all the 8, 10 and 12" dobs sold as a result of IceInSpace! I'd be a rich man! :)

[[1ponders]]

Congrats Geoff, you'll love it. How come you haven't bought one before this???

[Starkler]

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showpost.php?p=61016&postcount=11

[slice of heaven]

Sounds like it was a great event guys :thumbsup: Well done to all.
Seems the only disappointed people were the ones that didn't go...... like me :sad:

[ballaratdragons]

Next year Slick, don't forget next year!

[Wombat_In_Space]

Here is a montage of Ballarat Observatory.

[iceman]

Here's my pics of Ballarat Star Camp.

1: Robin setting up
2: Mick Pinner and his wife Sue
3: Assorted scopes
4: Assorted scopes and Trevor (OneOfOne)
5: Darren (Wombat_In_Space) and his 12" GSO white version!
6: Ken (BD) lining up his finder
7: John (xstream) and his LX90
8: Dave47Tuc and Dave P (crouching) with Dave P's 10" dob

[iceman]

And some more..

9: Dave P and his scope
10: Anthony (Bird) and his beast
11: An electricians heaven (on Bird's scope)
12: Danielsun's Saxon dob
13: Neil and his WO Zenithstar (No, I don't think he was picking his nose :lol: )
14: Dave47Tuc and his 10" dob
15: Geoff (starkler) and his 10" dob

[davidpretorius]

great pics ice!

[robin]

Good to see more pics Mike.

[iceman]

Thanks! Now i've just got the other 6 days of holiday snaps to get through! :)

[Rodstar]

......Just one correction there Mike......#7 should read:

"John (xstream) and his wife Anna's LX90" :nerd: