Queensland Astrofest 2009 - Page 14

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #**261** 31-08-2009, 04:08 PM

I could borrow a couple from the Art Society I belong to. Can't see a problem there.

firstlight (Tony) · #**262** 31-08-2009, 04:15 PM

That sounds great Jeanette... we would probably need 2 to accommodate to re-process junkies out there

... how big a file should be made available?

firstlight (Tony) · #**263** 31-08-2009, 04:16 PM

How about volunteers to count the vote?

[1ponders] (Paul) · #**264** 31-08-2009, 04:24 PM

Can the volunteers still be in the comp.

I don't think 4-5meg is too big these days. It would be a fairly small tiff though, even zipped. Though a quarter frame 20D raw stack converted to TIFF is 12mb, winzipped @ 50% makes 6 meg which isn't too bad.

There are probably a few areas that need to be discussed, degree of difficulty for example; image type; neb, galaxy, star field all require different processing and combination of those there can be a real challenge, just to pick a couple of areas to be considered.

firstlight (Tony) · #**265** 31-08-2009, 04:52 PM

My opinion is that those in the comp can count, they are not judging... conflict of interest etc.

A 6 meg zipped file should be alright to download... a lot of people now have broadband. As to if you want to have categories... concider the workload for counting and for just getting the images up for viewing in the first place.

I will take it to the committee and will let you know what the outcome is. The important thing is that a greater workload is not placed on the current committee. I take it there will be a number of people to assist in the putting up of images and the vote count on Saturday?

[1ponders] (Paul) · #**266** 31-08-2009, 05:00 PM

I can put my hand up for the vote count, but I'd better not put my hand up for the putting up of images. I would hate to put the competitors images upside down.

mozzie (Peter) · #**267** 31-08-2009, 05:04 PM

just one sugesstion for next year lets try to keep cars from driving through the camp in the middle of the night

i dont know who it was but he was getting a mouthful from everyone
mozzie

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #**268** 31-08-2009, 05:29 PM

Count me in as a helper in this Tony.
You can hang them all sideways if you like Paul, if they're all the same image.

[1ponders] (Paul) · #**269** 31-08-2009, 05:43 PM

But presentation is everything.

firstlight (Tony) · #**270** 31-08-2009, 11:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mozzie

just one sugesstion for next year lets try to keep cars from driving through the camp in the middle of the night

i dont know who it was but he was getting a mouthful from everyone
mozzie

Yeah, I went over to find out who it was and was a bit surprised to find Bill the manager returning home from an astronomy class with Jim Barclay

.

He was very chagrined the next morning when he came over and apologized. I would like to repeat his apology for those who he disturbed that night.

A couple of years ago we pulled the chain across the driveway in the evening to stop such a thing happening, but we hadn't done it for a few years as everyone got the message that no-one enters after dark. We will enforce it in future.

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #**271** 31-08-2009, 11:51 PM

I honestly thought he was going to be drawn and quartered out there on the field. There were calls to hang him from the tallest Dob.

firstlight (Tony) · #**272** 01-09-2009, 11:38 PM

OK

At the meeting last night, all around the table there was general concensus that the image process comp is a pretty good idea. We didn't sit down and work out full details as we had a lot to go over about how the Astrofest went and what needs to be improved.

I think that many feel that there is plenty of time to organise the event as we have almost a year, but it was agreed that the IIS fraternity (sorority?) can assist in organising the competition. The raw image needs to be chosen, display boards are required, assisatance in putting the images up, and counting the votes.

We feel that the comp can be opened online for an image to be downloaded from the website, a certain period for processing, and then images are submitted to the committee prior to the start of the Astrofest and voting closes by mid Saturday, same as the Astro-Photo Comp.

This will allow almost everyone who attends to see the work and vote... we only miss the stragglers which can't be helped. We talked about setting up a poll on the website, but it was felt that it is harder to track how votes are cast.

How does that set with everyone? A 8 to 16 mb file is not that large with broadband... I just downloaded a couple hunderd mb of podcasts i about 20 minutes/half an hour.

astroron (Ron) · #**273** 01-09-2009, 11:43 PM

Yeah, I went over to find out who it was and was a bit surprised to find Bill the manager returning home from an astronomy class with Jim Barclay .
Poor fellow

Some good ideas there Tony

Thanks to the team

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #**274** 02-09-2009, 12:47 AM

How exciting! Looking forward to being involved.

[1ponders] (Paul) · #**275** 02-09-2009, 07:18 AM

Ok, I'll put my hand up. It's still early days yet, but 3 or 4 vollies should be enough for the job. As the time draws closer if we ask Mike nicely he might open a private forum for discussion and organising the process. Either that or we can skype it, though a forum would be good to keep track of the organising.

acropolite (Phil) · #**276** 02-09-2009, 08:51 AM

I'd suggest that next year the committee attempt to coordinate with the RFA regarding burns.

I know that some victorian event organisers have had good co-operation from authorities when requesting no burns in the area for the event's duration.
The smoke from the burns is not only annoying, it's often laced with chemicals used to start the burn and quite corrosive.

firstlight (Tony) · #**277** 02-09-2009, 12:45 PM

The RFS did not conduct any burns in the valley of the Astrofest. There was also a total fire ban during part of the Astrofest, certainly toward the end. Unfortunately the local landholders did not/do not always seek official sanction to conduct burns. The report from the Black Saturday fires came out during camp and the media jumped in with massive reporting that Queensland (amongst other states) will have a bad fire season. I think a lot of cockies threw matches out the window as they were passing along the road.

The rules apply to others and not to them it appears (climbing into my pulpit), in much the same way lifting of red gel from computer screens, failing to dim headlamps and not directing the light they do generate toward the ground instead of spotlighting across the field, down tubes and into lenses.

(How's that for hyjacking a thread?

)

It is a good point to try and get in contact with the authorities and we will make the effort to do so, but the fact remains that people will burn regardless. I have just sent a message to through the the QRFS website regarding your comment and I hope to hear from them soon.

Are there any locals on this forum who might know someone in RFS or has some association with them? Jeanette, Chris?

BTW we were very fortunate that the Astrofest was not held a week later when half the hills around Kilkoy were torched... During the total fire ban!

Davros (Lauren) · #**278** 02-09-2009, 12:54 PM

Another thing i thought of in a moment of temporary enlightenment was using head torches as a wrist torch rather than a head torch. Thus keeping the lights low but still useful for fiddling, walking (or fiddling while walking

) etc.

[1ponders] (Paul) · #**279** 02-09-2009, 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davros

Another thing i thought of in a moment of temporary enlightenment was using head torches as a wrist torch rather than a head torch. Thus keeping the lights low but still useful for fiddling, walking (or fiddling while walking

) etc.

You've been watching far too much Star Trek Mick.

Davros (Lauren) · #**280** 02-09-2009, 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by [1ponders]

You've been watching far too much Star Trek Mick.

Fascinating...........is there really such a thing.