I'll see if I've got a spare 10 minutes to write this now while my wife is on the phone and the kids are playing happily
Yes it was HOT! Damn hot. The next IISAC will be October
2008. Unfortunately I don't have the time, energy or browney points to hold another IISAC this year. So it's unfortunately a 21 month wait between events, but we definitely need to get to a cooler time of year. Even though we're 100% for clear nights (6 out of 6), it's hard to recouperate during the day when it's so hot.
Despite the heat, it was another great event - 3 clear nights in a row, unfortunately again with 3 incredibly hot days. The water hole was a blessing, and got a lot of use throughout the 3 days.. sometimes with up to 40 people at a time cooling off.
The guest talks were great, and very interesting. Next time we'll definitely do some more work on making the presentation area darker (and cooler) so that the screen can be seen properly. David Malin's talk was very interesting and I learnt a few things about photography!
The lucky door prize was interesting, with a lot of the kids getting prizes. Take your family next time!
It also appeared that paying early was a benefit for some people, as they doubled their chances and it paid off. My son Jacob chose the 20x80 binoculars from Astronomy Online.. unfortunately they seem out of collimation as the view was just not right - couldn't get the images to merge. I'll talk to them tomorrow.
My family surprised me by coming up on Friday afternoon (they weren't expected until Saturday lunchtime), so it was nice having them there - although it started badly with Jacob kicking his toe, getting bitten by green ants (on his bum!), and Eliza and Abbey tripping over and scraping a knee
It improved after that
They loved the view of the comet from the top of the hill. The girls fell asleep up there on the picnic rug on Saturday night.
The comet was magnificent - the most amazing thing i've ever seen. And it got better each night. It was awesome seeing 80-100 people on the top of the hill all facing west with tripods, cameras and binoculars. Once a few people saw the images each night, they weren't going to miss it the next night! Many thanks to Alwyn from the GRFB for allowing us to use his property!
Like some of the others, I didn't do a lot of observing each night. Thursday night was imaging night for me, hanging with Anthony (Bird) and Markus (KISA) doing some imaging of Saturn and Jupiter. It was my first go with my EQ6 mount.. I had my 10" on top and while my goto's weren't accurate (didn't level or align properly), it was accurate enough tracking for high-res planetary imaging with only minor adjustments every 20-30 seconds. I enjoyed just sitting down pressing buttons instead of crouching by the platform to keep it centered! I went to bed when the sun came up, and only got about an hour of sleep thanks to Markus who snored like a freight train!
I ran on adrenalin most of Friday, with the night starting with the comet (again), followed by some observing through Mark's 12" binos.. absolutely AMAZING! Easily the best view through a scope i've ever seen. It literally looked 3 Dimensional. Just great. I hit the sack around midnight to try and catch up.
Saturday was a busy day, with lots of people showing up, lots of talks, and probably the hottest day of the 3. The comet was again amazing.. we got a group comet shot at the top of the hill, which i'll superimpose with a comet shot for a t-shirt.. "I saw Comet McNaught at IISAC2007"
The rest of Saturday night was spent yacking with John, Anna, Dave, Petra, Rod, houghy, Al and others while eating chocolate, bickies and dip etc.. I spent a little while looking at some objects through the 18" and 25" obsessions.. very nice indeed. Although I think they suffered from large temperature differences due to the hot mirrors and relatively cooler nights (after 11pm).
I didn't touch my scope after the first night.. the comet just took it out of me and nothing was going to beat that
It was great to meet Remus and his friends from Singapore.. they were very friendly and his talk was very interesting.. also great to finally meet Ian Maclean (gaa_ian) from the NT - a great guy, very friendly and very helpful around camp.
Driving home this year was similar to last year - a real relief.. Such a long buildup, such a lot of work, it was physically, mentally and emotionally draining and it was a huge relief when it was all over.
It seemed everyone had a great time, and
I know it was very hot and exhausting during the days.. that's why we're moving it to October in 2008. Only a week before it was 25-27deg.. lucky or unlucky? The skies were clear again at least, 3 great nights in dark skies with great company.
Thanks firstly to my wife (who I forgot to thank at the event
) for putting up and supporting me with my obsession. Many thanks to the IISAC organising committee (h0ughy, sheehan, Rodstar, sausageman+son, Orion, cahullian, rocket boy, and anyone else who contributed), plus those who helped out at the event (gaa_ian, dick everett, KISA and others).
I literally could NOT have done this without you.. so thankyou from the bottom of my heart.
Thanks to the generous sponsors who provided prizes for the lucky door prize competition. I appreciate your support of IceInSpace and IceInSpace events, and for the community, make sure you support the sponsors who support you!
Thanks to Mike Boggan and his son David, who cooked and provided the (very yummy) sausage sizzle lunches on Friday and Saturday, and also for bringing and putting up the small marquee and 2 gazebo's which gave some much needed shade on the northern side of the undercover area.
Thanks to Gresford RFB who catered again each night. It's a real weight off my shoulders to know that they'll come and cook, clean up and take it all away each day. We'll arrange more undercover areas next time too.
21 months is a long time to wait before the next IISAC, which is a shame, but most of us will catch up again soon at SPSP and BSG in 2007 and 2008, and we'll meet again at IISAC2008 in October 2008!