My pleasure Stefan even thought the weather didn't play ball we still made the best of it. Hopefully in the new moon we can all have a go at the Heathcote site.
Stefan
Good to meet you and your dad, hope you enjoyed the camp. Patrick and I think we had your collimation as well sorted as we could. I was still not sure that the secondary is in the correct position though. It may be a worthwhile exercise to have a go at the procedure here http://www.astro-baby.com/collimatio...on%20guide.htm as I have found this to be a valuable guide to basic collimation. Don't worry about the offset bit, in your scope it will make absolutely no difference!
Like to add my thanks to the organisers (especially Martin!) & for the hospitality, even though I was only able to make it for the one night. Great fun, great to catch up with people.
A few rough shots attached:
1. Malcolm with his scope. Not bad, could do with a bit more aperture...
2. Martin doing an ancient Dutch traditional dance in an attempt to entertain the troops during cloudy periods. You can see the excitement he generated in the appreciative audience, well done mate!
3. Niko & Daniel in the kitchen, think they're Daniel's boys???
4. Daytime view of part of the observing field.
I was just too tired to make it back there tonight so I have setup at home for a nice relaxing night.
It is looking lovely here so hope the Monday night SV record continues for you there.
Many thanks to Martin et al. for another fantastic SV camp. Shame about the weather for the nights that I was there, but the company was great and I really enjoyed the conversations and the laughs. Looking forward to Nick's next acquisition . A bit disturbing to see how much I could improve the Lunt filter's performance by double stacking it - oh well, some more $$$ gone.
Pleasure to be of help Stefan - hope the result is good.
Love the sketch Jen. The first is very like I saw the sun, but you must have seen more deeply than I for your high power version. Also looking forward to some of the time lapses.
thanks Paddy and Malcolm
And yep once again the weather gods kept its usual last night reputation right on the money clear skies all night its now 6am and the suns about to rise so I'm sneaking off to bed for a little while before the dreaded pack up time begins arrrrhhh
Like to add my thanks to the organisers (especially Martin!) & for the hospitality, even though I was only able to make it for the one night. Great fun, great to catch up with people.
A few rough shots attached:
1. Malcolm with his scope. Not bad, could do with a bit more aperture...
2. Martin doing an ancient Dutch traditional dance in an attempt to entertain the troops during cloudy periods. You can see the excitement he generated in the appreciative audience, well done mate!
3. Niko & Daniel in the kitchen, think they're Daniel's boys???
4. Daytime view of part of the observing field.
Cheers -
Well done on keeping the kitchen clean and tidy!
Hope all had a good camp. couldn't make the trip from Tassie this time but hopefully with holidays in November will see you all again later in the year!
I got home just after 2pm, after leaving at just after 7am... Everyone was asleep :/ I did notice that Martins scope was still going though, but not sure if he was, it parked it'self a little later on though... Would hate to see dew drip onto the sensor
Thanks for a great camp, sorry to hear a couple of others didn't make it, was looking forward to catching up with them again... not sure when I will be over again, we will see. Would love to have something like this for all the SA guys on the forum, I know a couple of really dark sites, but gaining permission would be difficult.
Was great catching up with the regulars again, including Jen, always a pleasure... Don't forget to get your son to listen to some Joe Satriani
Thanks again guys.. esp Martin, Darren etc.. for a good show, even though the weather gods weren't so nice but it was just great throwing stories around, getting some ideas on upgrades etc...
Oh! this camp was the first time I had ever looked through a solar scope... I know I would be hooked if I didn't have other commitments and the scopes weren't so expensive... drool...
My greatest thanks to Marty for taking charge. The army of helpers were wide and varied.
Whilst the weather played its' part as usual; the company, conversations, laughs and sometimes tears are just the best medicine in this ever stressful world!
Stomach muscles are sore! Had the usual Monday night seeing to get some images on the CCD.
Of note, was the quietness of Niko, once JohnG sorted everything out for him. The time-lapse instructions provided by JohnG and the usual swapping of skills and recently acquired knowledge by all and sundry which helps us all along in the astro journey!
Unfortunately, I only got to swim in the lake this time, not rescue downed planes, (I'm disappointed Wren!) but enjoyed the company of Paul, Big Dave and Paula! Maybe next group photo should be 20 meters from the end of the pier!
Once again great camp despite the night cloud. As usual many laughs and fantastic company.
Thanks Martin and everyone else who helped organize and run things. For those that has timelapses going can wait to see them hehe.
Thanks to Dave and Paul for showing me how take flats with the light box.
Great to see everyone again and as usual had lots of laughs and a great weekend. The weather teased us for the first few nights to give us a taste of what was to be a ripper Monday night.
A big thanks to Marty and Darren for taking control and making it another memorable camp and to John G for helping me out too.
Cant wait till November!
. A bit disturbing to see how much I could improve the Lunt filter's performance by double stacking it - oh well, some more $$$ gone.
thanks Paddy and Malcolm 
Well done on keeping the kitchen clean and tidy!
