Thanks to all of you who worked to make this weekend a great time. I learnt stuff in two days that would have taken a lot longer here at home. Thanks Daniel and Martin for all your assistance with getting up and going with my imaging equipment ans software.
Thanks to Ken's boys, Jake and Aaron for spending time with Emiel(my son) he had a fantastic time.
Thanks to Dave Tuc47 for a great evening on the friday of observing, I discovered a couple of new(to me) and interesting galaxies and globular clusters.
I've attached a couple of panoramas of the campsite and dam.
Also after discovering a bent bolt on my EQ6 I carried out a repair this morning with some replacement parts from our local nuts and bolts shop. Picture attached. Fortunately only half of the interior thread in the hole was torn out after removal so the replacement had sufficient to thread onto.(phew).
Thanks to all who came to Camp. You guys make it an event.
If you didn't turn up I'd be sitting in a paddock all by myself
It was fantastic!
The weather came just as I ordered it.
The company was great, the food was great, the sky was great, the entertainment was great (well, Shane was), the weather was great, the sleep-ins were great, etc etc.
It was . . . ummm . . . GREAT!
I finally got all my gear working pefectly
and you wouldn't believe what it was all this time
I have not been able to image since last October because . . . drum roll please
I had the wrong settings on the USB port.
Thanks heaps to Martin(Mill) who clicked it from 'USB COM port 9' to 'USB COM port 7'.
I truly believe that this 10th Camp was a total success. Peoples faces showed they were having a good time, and almost everyone said so
Many have already booked for November
As usual, the ladies from the CFA did a fantastic Saturday Night Feast, and Shane Gilbert really played and sang up a storm with his amazing talent. A 'World Class Show' just for us
Once again, thanks to everyone for coming and making it a great time
Thanks to Ken and the other organisers for another great camp - this was the first one I could make it to in 3 years and for me it was probably the best so far. Highlights were meeting new faces, looking at and through other peoples stuff, including Tims amazing 22" uberdob, and seeing some things like the trapezium G and Sirius B visually for the first time through my metal monster.
The seeing late on saturday night, after about 1am Sunday morning, was magnificent, and Saturn was really putting on a show with all the small moons on display, although sadly not all at the same time as Mimas had hidden behind the rings by later in the night.
ps after getting home and re-reading the recent article in AS&T about seeing Sirius B I suddenly became paranoid that what we had seen as "Sirius B" might have been an internal reflection... but I've re-checked it just now and there's no doubt that it's the real deal. Same location in all eyepieces and it doesn't move if I put it at the edge of the ep in any direction.
The company was great, the food was great, the sky was great, the entertainment was great (well, Shane was), the weather was great, the sleep-ins were great, etc etc.
It was . . . ummm . . . GREAT!
Well said Ken and I totally agree. I have been to most of the camps over the 5 years since they started and this would equal the first for being the best one for me
Many thanks to Ken and SVAA and congrats on another successful camp
Pics:
1: SDM ....2:Adam and 12"Skywatcher... 3: Dave47tuc and Danielsun .... 4:Birds 14.5" newt..... 5:Lots of refractors ....6:Ellois (sp?) and Daniel ....7: More finderscopes posing as real telescopes .... 8: Our lady of the purple font, seen here modelling a tank top in Skywatcher-blue
Now that I've had a nanny nap, I feel up to writing my assessment of the Camp!
How much fun was that?
Deep clear skies, great company, a wealth of experienced Astronomers who are more than willing to share their talents and knowledge!
The local ladies once again did a wonderful job on saturday night, I only wish I didn't feel so tired after the feast.
Dave's excellent presentation on Saturday and the entertainment was a wonderful highlight!
Did I mention the company. I think I need 7 Months till the next camp for my stomach muscles to stop aching I laughed that much. Seeing the field on Saturday night was a sight to behold, scopes of every type and people having a great time.
A lot of applause to Ken and the SVAA for an absolutely fantastic weekend.
What a wonderfull camp this one was. Clear skies each night so not much sleep was had by all. The company was, as usual top class with lots of old faces and some new ones.
The usual little quirks with equipment kept everyone busy. One of the joys of Astrophotography. My only problem wasn't recognised until I tried to process some images on the last day when I discovered I had been shooting away all camp with an incorrect bias setting which has ruined all the images taken.
The clarity of the sky was beyond belief, being some of the best and most stable skies I have seen.
As usual some very funny events happened during the camp. Probably best left at the camp as well. (A few sighs of relief I bet)
Great to see a lot of old friends and look forward to the November Camp. Thanks to Ken and the SVA group for another ripper.
With fingers crossed behind our backs, we told the newcomers:- "Yes the weather is always this good at these camps!"
But we couldn't have had much better (OK, that slight dusting of rain early Monday night and the few hours of cloud over four nights was less than perfect).
I was amazed by a dewless Mon/Tue night! After all had collapsed to bed Tue morning, I had an extra hour or so observing, then I packed up all my gear in bone-dry conditions! Then brought some breakfast back to the field and sat and watched the sky lighten, the last few meteors, the stars fade and our home star come into view.
I can only echo what others have said - this was the best camp yet for many reasons.
To see the observing field packed with people and scopes on Saturday afternoon and through the night was marvellous.
Thanks to Ken, club members, other camp regulars, and all others who attended.
That was easily the best camp I've been to. I've never been so productive at an astro camp before guaged purely by the fact that I saw 3 sunrises out of 4 days! I spent so much time under the sun during the day that I've come home with a bit of a tan, lol.
The company was wonderful with everyone willing to help each other out. It was great to meet and hang with people I knew and to make new friends.
I was mesmerised by Shane Gilbert's guitar playing during the entertainment session and could quite easily have sat their and watched him play well into the dark!
I'm still baffled by two things, though:
1. the bizarre bright (magnitude -1 to -2?) object (which I initially thought was the ISS) sailing/undulating across the early morning sky, and;
2. the stationary flashing light(s) amongst the star field. I can only think that they're geostationary satellites. Otherwise, I, for one, welcome our new overlords.
The drive home was uneventful, but, quite long. Still, pleasant, though. I saw a nice sight as I was heading towards Bacchus Marsh (I think it was). On the fairly steep decline, I saw an enormous eagle hovering/soaring/flying and being attacked by some other kind of black-coloured birds. I thought they may have been crows at first, but, they just seemed like too many. Maybe they were contesting the eagle on some food? As I got towards Gundagai I witnessed an amazing sunset. There was a bit of haze in the atmosphere and the light was pink! Yes, pink! I thought many times about pulling over and getting the camera out but decided against it. There was no-one else on the road and so the rest of the trip home was just overtaking trucks. I think it took 9 hours to get home.
Thank you, Ken, and everyone else for making it a wonderful camp. If I have any leave left over in November, I'll be there.
ps after getting home and re-reading the recent article in AS&T about seeing Sirius B I suddenly became paranoid that what we had seen as "Sirius B" might have been an internal reflection... but I've re-checked it just now and there's no doubt that it's the real deal. Same location in all eyepieces and it doesn't move if I put it at the edge of the ep in any direction.
cheers, Bird
It was definitely there!
I have an eyepiece that gives an internal reflection that appears to be a smaller companion to a bright star. The giveaway is that it moves around the main star as you move your head. The one we saw did not change position.
As you said, it was also visible in different eyepieces and the 22" as well (Sirius was bloody bright though!).
What a great camp!! Had a great time and the combination of Doug, Pete and Darren had us all in stitches of laughter. Saturday was fantastic which began with an informative talk from Dave (47 tuc) thanks Dave and then the entertainment from Ken and his boys (Jam Sandwich) leading up to the main act of Shane Gilbert who was absolutly brilliant and blew us all away with his talent.Then the yummy Satuday night feast, The lamb was so tender it just melted in your mouth.
It was great catching up with all the regulars and meeting many new faces along with H who is now alias ( Captain Photoshop) who spent some time giving some of us some priceless processing tips.Thanks H.
Thanks Ken it was once again a camp to remember, cant wait for the next one.
Here are some snaps.
Love Martins sticker 4th pic.
and to the SVAA 
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