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  #181  
Old 20-08-2009, 01:22 PM
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Davros (Lauren)
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Some teaser pictures, i had to come home early was a great time and i got to meet some good people and have a few good conversations. Good to put some faces to names.
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  #182  
Old 22-08-2009, 08:18 PM
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Argonavis (William)
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The weekend weather was good, mid week weather not so much. The burning off appears to have stopped on the second Saturday.

Friendly and relaxed.

Happy icers Darren, Ron and Paul.
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  #183  
Old 22-08-2009, 08:20 PM
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Argonavis (William)
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The weekend weather was good, not mid week weather not so much. The burning off appears to have stopped on the second Saturday.

Friendly and relaxed.

Happy icers Darren and Paul.
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  #184  
Old 23-08-2009, 12:16 PM
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jjjnettie (Jeanette)
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Wowee what a week. I had a terrific time meeting up with everyone.
There was an unusual amount of hicups on the imaging field. A certain moderator was capturing his subs in medium jpeg Then there was the 6 volt incident. Thanks for pointing it out Peter.
I'll post some happy snaps as soon as I get the energy to unload the car.
After averaging only 3hrs sleep per day I'm in dire need of some

Big thanks to the organizing committee, as usual you've all done a tremendous job.
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  #185  
Old 23-08-2009, 06:34 PM
eclipse (Leslie)
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Enjoyed Astrofest

We had a great time at the Astrofest and would like to thank the organisers, Tony and Anne-Louise, Lawrence from Tasmania,for the help in finally understanding collimation, Glen from Casino for the fantastic tour of deep sky objects, and William for letting us look through his monster! See you next year, if possible, and this time for longer.

Les and Deb
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  #186  
Old 23-08-2009, 06:49 PM
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h0ughy (David)
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ghost of astrofest just past

well i had a ripper of a time - heaps to say and post and will do so later
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  #187  
Old 23-08-2009, 06:57 PM
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Davros (Lauren)
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Thats just a bit creepy....
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  #188  
Old 23-08-2009, 07:15 PM
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h0ughy (David)
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this is a star trail overlooking the imaging field - 7.50pm through until 5:05am - taken the last imaging night i had there - thursday night through to friday morning
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  #189  
Old 23-08-2009, 07:16 PM
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Davros (Lauren)
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very nice, craps all over mine what iso and aperture was that?
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  #190  
Old 23-08-2009, 07:18 PM
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h0ughy (David)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Davros View Post
very nice, craps all over mine what iso and aperture was that?
pentax k10D with a 20-40mm f2.8 lens
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  #191  
Old 23-08-2009, 07:28 PM
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h0ughy (David)
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pentax k10D with a 20-40mm f2.8 lens
hear is the first one i did on the 1st saturday night
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  #192  
Old 23-08-2009, 10:07 PM
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firstlight (Tony)
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Got home today just on dusk and then slaved for several hours to emty the car and trailer.

We had a great Astrofest again this year, and I want to thank all the people who attended and made so great. Anne-Louise and I always seem to get kudos for the staging of the event, but everyone who has organised such events knows that it cannot be attributed to one or two individuals, rather it is the team.

In no particular order I would like to thank on the committee:
  • Pat Pearl - SAS
  • John and Diane Hughes - SAS
  • Peter Bester - AAQ
  • Mike Ford - SEQAS
  • Wendy Colvin - SEQAS
  • Bob Grimes - ATMQ
  • and of course Anne-Louise - BAS
Volunteers:
  • Gary Gawronski
  • David O'Driscoll
  • Terry Cuttle
  • Everyone else who attended and assisted us setting up the hall for the speakers and workshops, kept their areas/bunkhouses clean, etc
  • Everyone who attended


We managed to have great weather for most of the 9 nights. One evening wehad about 30 laptops in the Dining Hall sucking as much power as Tarong could supply to process images for the first two nights. I went to bed before midnight, but I was told that the sky cleared for more imaging to the morning.

The following night was clear, then the next night (Wednesday?) we had light cloud for most of the night. The next day there was plenty of cloud all day but after the Sun set, the sky cleared. All the remaining nights we had clear skies, although there was variable seeing. I can't report how clear it was for the duration of each night as I only pulled 2 nights past 4:00, and a few more to about 2:00.

What I can report is that a couple of those nights were virtually dew free, last night in particular. I should also note that it was unseasonally warm... positively tropical.

Some highlights for me of this years Queensland Astrofest, once again in no particular order was:
  1. Talking to the organisers and some 300 attendees of Starfest 2009, a star party run by the North York Astronomical Association in Canada. Just before 23:30 on Friday night Starfest telephoned us and we used a cordless speaker phone and two-way radios to transmit and converse around the fields.
  2. I actually was able to take some images that I am proud of, again thanks to Terry for his assistance setting up my gear while I was trying to do the same with our youngest in hand. Terry's foundation work and aligning was invaluable to me
  3. The entertaining Counter Weight Toss, which saw my eldest son narrrowly defeated in his class, a creditable second. There was also reenactment of the State Of Origin clash which saw NSW, represented by Mossie thrashed by Queenslander Blake Pearl in the first two rounds, before snatching a win in the third.
  4. The Astro-photo competition in which I won for the non-telescope category. There were so many great photos and quite frankly I did not think I had a chance. I was so stunned I was speachless... a state that does not occur often in nature . I neglected to thank the other entrants for their great work, and I would like to do that now... you people really set a high standard to beat.
Here are a couple of images I captured from early in the `Fest with some processing. Not sure of the full details, need sleep.
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Hub over the camp is a stack of 2, 10-20mm @ 10, 350D... ran out of Scorpius for more.

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LMC is a stack of 6, 70-300 @70, 400D

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M31 is a stack of 5, 70-300 @ 70, Canon 400D

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SMC is stack of 4 (?) 18-55 @ 55, 350D

Anne-Louise asked if I could post a few of her photos... these are not mine and I am jealous . Again not sure of the full details and too tired to look up the file stack
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South pole over Duckadang, 10-20 @10, 400D

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Scorpions tail, stack of 5, 70-300 @70, 400D

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Pipe Nebular, stack of 5, 70-300 @70, 400D

Cheers to all out there, now off to bed.
Tony and Anne-Louise
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  #193  
Old 23-08-2009, 10:13 PM
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Davros (Lauren)
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Beautiful images Tony and Anne-Louise. That first one is still my favourite.
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  #194  
Old 23-08-2009, 10:42 PM
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acropolite (Phil)
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HRH & I have just arrived in Bundy after returning the rental van to Brissy.

We would also like to add our thanks to the entire team who organised the event.

Many thanks to William for the views through the large dob, despite my persistent caughing from that damn (Victorian?) Flu and to Glen, who Paul (an ex kiwi) (not ponders) christened "The walking Argo_Navis" for his enlightening sky tours.

It was great to meet up with IISers who we already knew and to meet a few more. I've got a few images to post, but I'm too buggered after 6 hours on the road, so tomorrow will have to do.

Hopefully we didn't pass the Flu on to anyone else and apologies to anyone that I gave strange answers to; my ears were almost totally blocked, I was having trouble hearing most of the time.

We're hoping to make it again next year.

Last edited by acropolite; 24-08-2009 at 11:36 AM.
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  #195  
Old 24-08-2009, 12:47 AM
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citivolus (Ric)
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I had a great time, and will definitely be doing my best to come back next year. It was great to learn a few faces, and see some of the variety of equipment in use out there.

I lost my rental car keys on Saturday night, but fortunately they showed up again at 6:30am on Sunday morning That would have been a long walk home.

Next year I promise not to break my camera. Field stripping a 40D to remove a loose USB connector wasn't what I had in mind to be doing out there, but on the up side, I think I now have my wife's permission to mod it

Regards,
Eric (the Canadian)
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  #196  
Old 24-08-2009, 09:45 AM
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GrahamL
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Had a great time, the galaxys around sculpter looked stunning in the wee hours of saturday morning, it was very sureal that link up to canadia
thankfully tornados arn't much of a problem for us , and can honestly say I wasn't aware of the geographical problems of NZ

The hard work to make this event happen is very much appreaciated .
A few shots from here and there , I think its a very pretty place when you have a look around.

panorama looking west duckadang far left
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  #197  
Old 24-08-2009, 10:41 AM
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Had a counter meal at the linville pub a couple of years that was really nice so went back again this time ,$6 steak and chips or salad is pretty cheap. Met the pubs newest employee , ars#wipe is his name , seen here happily destroying the pot plant while waiting for his lunch to brought out , which was actually my lunch, he selected a chip off my plate and was quite happy with it.
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  #198  
Old 24-08-2009, 11:02 AM
EddieT (Eddie)
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Hi all.
What a fantastic week. Sheree and I both enjoyed ourselves immensely and it was great to catch up with you all. It was a fantastic social week even though I seemed to have a knack for missing the best imaging times by going to bed early. Might need a Boltwood sensor with Clear Sky alarm for next year!

Even though we left on Friday, it tooks several days to get everything setup and working again in the Tin Shed, finally getting it all together last night. I took one ten minute image of a field in Fornax that I also took from Duckadang (on an ordinary night) and realised again just how bad the Gold Coast is for imaging. Or maybe, just how good Duckadang is!

Luckily I've taken an extra week off. Now to process some images....

Thanks to all the Astrofest organisers! Now really looking forward to next year!


Eddie
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  #199  
Old 24-08-2009, 12:39 PM
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DavidTrap (David)
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Thanks to all the organisers and participants (esp Michael & Geoff) who made me feel so welcome on my first trip to Astrofest. I learnt more in 3 nights than I have in years. I'll definately be back next year. I've played with a few images I took up there, but definately have been bitten by the bug to get the right gear to have a proper go next year...

Regards
David T
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  #200  
Old 24-08-2009, 07:05 PM
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mozzie (Peter)
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well made it back safe late yesterday arvo wow what a 5 days next year its going to be 8 id like to send a special thanks to anne-louise and tony they are the people that met and greet you and organise the camping a big THANK YOU and to all the comittee members and other peoples that are behind the scenes thanks.next year ill book straight away ans set up near the managers office apparently i snore and its loud steve sleeps with his ear plugs in and just shakes his head at me my appoligises to those that may have stayed awake i dont think i snore?.it was great to put some faces to some of the iis users especiall the moderators which i spent a little time with also all the other members that i met theres jjj that does imaging in amongst paople that had some unbeliveble gear and she was taking some great photos and no paul i wont be going to the dark side wow the images he takes. astro ron we had a late night in his 16"and the boys talk come out and we laughed and laughed a great night all the others i met thanks i have a little trouble with names houghy nsw kept the counter weight tossing comp unlike the footy lets see if i can make it 3 in a row
anybody thinking of going to it make it next year its a great party thanks again see you at iis in october
mozzie
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