2016 ASNSW South Pacific Star Party - 5th to 8th May 2016

[stefang (Stefan)]

The 24th Annual South Pacific Star Party will be held
from 5 to 8 May, 2016.

The event proceeds regardless of cloud, rain or snow.

Deadline for registration: 17th April 2016

Registrations now open

http://www.asnsw.com/node/712

[tlgerdes (Trevor)]

Thanks for posting this Stefan. I have been tied up with work commitments and was on my listed of "things to do" for his week.

As we confirm the speakers and agenda, I will post more info.

[stefang (Stefan)]

But who is counting.

[GTB_an_Owl (Geoff)]

anybody want a freezer suit for the occasion?

geoff

[GTB_an_Owl (Geoff)]

orders will close on the 25th April at 9am

this will allow me to get them out in time for the May new moon

geoff

[GTB_an_Owl (Geoff)]

only 5 days to get your orders in

don't miss out

geoff

[GTB_an_Owl (Geoff)]

only 2 days to get your orders in folks

it's a long time to wait till next year


geoff

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Hi all,

I'll be bringing some Ebony Star 4552-90 off-cuts/pieces with me for those of you who might be after some bearing laminate. Some will be roughly square, some circular and others long and thin. Large and small.

Alex.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Not long to go now. Forecast is looking ok for next week leading up to it.

[Satchmo]

Originally Posted by mental4astro

Hi all,

I'll be bringing some Ebony Star 4552-90 off-cuts/pieces with me for those of you who might be after some bearing laminate. Some will be roughly square, some circular and others long and thin. Large and small.

Alex.

Thats great Alexander - I've got a little 8" F4 Dob project ...

[stefang (Stefan)]

better get out that ParaPort for transport.
stefan

[Retrograde (Pete)]

I'm excited! Got a few new toys to play with this year

[gary]

There's an old adage about Wiruna which is that you can never guess what the weather will do there.

Saturday during the day - cloud - and not looking promising.

Come nightfall, large amounts of it miraculously cleared right on cue.

Great to see you all again!

[Am (Andrias)]

I had an amazing time at the star party, it was totally worth the trip to Australia and I definitely want to come back! Great luck with the weather too, I had already been imaging every day to 5am almost the entire week, such wonderful skies. It was good to catch up with a few people I met at the Takahashi star party too.

Pictures from Friday & Saturday night are on my FB page if anyone is interested. Such a great atmosphere with amateur astronomers & big telescopes in the foreground and you can't get a better background than the Milky Way Center for your shots!

I put the pictures on my Flickr too (higher quality.)

Now I just need a star party to visit for the June New Moon, haha.

[GTB_an_Owl (Geoff)]

SOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooo

nobody had a good time at SPSP?

nobody took a camera with them ?

or are you all sworn to secrecy!

geoff

[The Mekon (John Briggs)]

Brilliant time! Thursday and Friday were awesome nights, saw the Enke division on Saturn for the first time. Counted 8 galaxies in 1/2 degree field of Abell 1060, brilliant view of Antares companion at 400X in an AP 130 GTXStarfire - and plenty more.
Saturday night was not so good, but the roast dinner and red wine + good company still made it very enjoyable.
As usual I, nor any person associated with me (2 guests this year) failed to win a prize. The odds must be getting pretty short for me as I have been to a dozen SPSPs and never won a thing.

[multiweb (Marc)]

It was great. I arrived early on Tuesday because I had to leave on Saturday. Dean was at the house as well and a few others turned up from Wednesday onwards. Packed field. Much wine and photons to be had.

The seeing was incredible. Guiding was flat lining at times and I had to check if it was still working. Tuesday was a little windy but Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were excellent.
Pretty warm too at night for this time of the year. Got caught out without any aeroguard.

Transparency was better Friday than early in the week. It was ok although I've seen a lot better at Wiruna. Driving back to Sydney on Saturday arvo there was a lot of smoke from Katoomba onwards and the whole of Emu plains was blanketed in thick smoke so that might have contributed to the slight haze.

One star party for the books for sure.