Great camp, even though I only had one night there.
Terrific to catch up with people and meet a few new ones. Excellent observing conditions and saw so much stuff, including 3 comets, numerous galaxies, clusters, nebulae etc. Highlights for me were Thor's Helmet through Tim's 22", and Saturn through Anthony's scope.
Highlights of observing through my own scope were Thor's Helmet (visible unfiltered as a background glow in a rich starfield, and with OIII filter as a large dim nebula with a flicker of the horns), Saturn at 225x, and comet C/2009 K5 McNaught in the early morning as a small roundish glow, easily visible. Sunspots today were good, in white light (Baader AstroSolar Safety Film Filter). Moonrise this morning - what can you say?!! Brilliant, the earthshine nudging above the treeline first, rising as a luminous orb and followed by a delicate thin sliver of a waning crescent.
Thanks to everyone who took pity on a poor old dig and let me look through their scopes - particularly Tim, Anthony, Barry & Eric. Viewing through Tim's massive scope was AWESOME, and it's always great to spend a bit of quality time with Barry & his 12" dob. Also Daniel and his binoculars - great sights including Pleiades & Beehive Cluster.
Finally thanks to Ken & the SV crew for another fantastic camp - top job guys!
Here's some shots. First, view over observing field this morning - Sunday (several people had packed up and left by the time I took this photo - the field was very impressive when I got there late Sat arvo).
Second, Tim's 22" scope with lake in background.
Third - as if it wasn't bad enough being pestered half the night for views through the mighty 4.5", they were even lining up in daylight!
Cheers -