You might be thinking of Andrew, who came along with me and was looking at the Sharpless bubble, Thor's helmet and Horsehead too. Andrew is taller than me.
Congratulations to all on SV camp being successful again.
10 years this year and going strong.
Well done Malcom for keeping the fire going.
Thanks for the photos Daniel
Again well done to all on making the SV camp a great one
No worries Dave and great to see you still pop in for a look.
Also yes, a big thanks to Warren and Pamela Maag for putting on the cheese platter for all on Saturday afternoon.
Congratulations to all on SV camp being successful again.
10 years this year and going strong.
Well done Malcom for keeping the fire going.
Thanks for the photos Daniel
Again well done to all on making the SV camp a great one
hey everyone after 9 hours sleep during the whole camp i have finally recovered (i think) and i only just unpacked the car today. hahaha
Wow wow wow one again AWESOME camp and it wouldnt be a successful camp without out the support of our little astro family so a big thank you to all of you Specially to Malcolm and the crew for making the effort to keep this camp going there is really a great bunch of peeps here and you all know how much i love these camps
It was great to catch up with the usual crowd (i did miss a few too) but also a big welcome to the noobies i hope we havnt scared you away and that you will be back next camp i hope i didnt keep you all awake in the early hours hahahaha Even the weather played nice this time round woohooo
It was great to see dob corner getting busy this year the visual peeps neally became extinct at one stage lol lol those SDM's are just a beautiful piece of equipment OMG i sooooo want one LOL
It was a very hands on camp for me this time round as im heading to the darkside (imaging) it went way to fast i had so much to do and so much to learn in so little time (its a shame we didnt get my scope up and running properly) grrrr stoopid vista but i got to learn my way around photoshop and imaging plus thanks to John G so i wanna make a big shout out to John and thank you for taking the time to teach me photoshop your patience was amazing hehehehe i must have been a good student because i got lollies (snakes) so if anyone wants some lessons on photoshop next camp Johns the man he is a very good teacher And also big thanks to AL, Niko, Ken(nico13), Neale, Marty , Daniel and everyone else for all trying to help me get up and running you guys are the best and i miss you all already :thum bsup:
Great camp, great company i loved it, once again a huge success is it November yet
Oh and in the middle of my photoshop lessons with John i was given a little test to see if i could process a pic in photoshop by myself so i was left unattended for a short time (while the cats are away the mice will play) Guess what i found I can make purple stars
Hi crew, I'd just like to add my wife Kerry and I to the thanks list. We drove over from Millicent, S.A., booked a room in Ballarat and then went out to your camp on Saturday night Big thanks to Bo for showing us around when we arrived and letting me peer over his shoulder while he battled with his computer to align his mount (seemed to be a lot of that going on). Even though I've had a scope for many years this was my first star party and it was great to see a lot of gear that I've only seen in magazines. The people were laid back and friendly and we would like to have met more but I blame Rodney from NSW for not having done so. We got waylaid by his beautiful 24" dob. Many thanks Rodney for about 2.5 hours showing us everything we wanted to see. He was friendly and patient and it was like having my own big scope with included driver! 5128, omega cen, 47tuc, m104, m83, m46, Thor's helmet, the horsehead(I really struggled with that one), and Ghost of Jupiter neb(my favourite for the night. The inner shell very bright and star glowing at the centre). Thanks to everyone for a great night and hope to bring my scope and stay for the next one. Cheers, Richard.
Hi Richard
Thank you so much for the kind comments on the camp. Rodney certainly went above and beyond with sharing his scope, I know how big scope owners love getting to use their scopes under dark skies so spending 2.5 hours showing a stranger was wonderful.
I don't think I got to meet you personally, but please stay in touch so I can let you know about upcoming camps etc.
Oh and in the middle of my photoshop lessons with John i was given a little test to see if i could process a pic in photoshop by myself so i was left unattended for a short time (while the cats are away the mice will play) Guess what i found I can make purple stars
Well the first of the “new” Camps are behind us. Before anything else, I think I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who attended. As I have said on other occasions, camps only work because people turn up!!
We were very lucky with the weather, lovely sunshine to get the solar scopes out and clear skies, although not perfect, at night on 2 nights out of 3. I hope everyone managed to view or image something over the weekend. Haven’t seen too many images posted yet, so looking forward to those.
I am going to do a quick summary of things under 4 headings, positives, things we learnt, things that could be better and thank you’s.
POSITIVES
- Great atmosphere. I think by and large we all got on well. Beginners were welcomed and the spirit of co-operation was really evident. I only found out after the event that the power to some of you went out maybe twice? Instead of hearing complaints, all I heard was the problem was located and everyone just got on with it.
- Pre booking makes life easier for everyone. Only a handful of people had issues that needed dealing with on the weekend such as payment etc. which gives us as organisers more time to concentrate on actually running the camp and, after dark, doing some astronomy ourselves!!
- The Sky Tour was a success I think. For first time visitors and some regulars, it enabled them to have views of objects through decent sized scopes. It also gave first timers and beginners a “focus”, something to do were they could feel welcome.
THINGS WE LEARNT
- Snake Valley is NOT the place to sleep in a car!! As a couple of attendees found out it gets really cold at night and cars can be very hard places to get sleep in. I will try in future to encourage attendees not to try it!!
- Most people are really willing to help out. Having been involved in organising events ranging from World, National and State Archery Championships, State Dance Championships, rock’n’roll dances, and the like, and now an astro camp, I often feel like all the work is being done by a small minority. But by and large, people will usually jump in and help if the opportunity arises. It was really gratifying arriving back at the site on Monday morning to find virtually all the clean-up had been done (luckily Neale was on hand to point out that I “knew when to turn up!!”). That same spirit was evident throughout the camp.
- Snake Valley is a really good place for an astro camp. It is not perfect, there are cars going past, Ballarat creates a light dome to the east and it gets really cold, but I think the positives outweigh the negatives.
- Publicity does work. Getting flyers at Bintel, a note in AS&T and mention on the ASV Calendar all helped to spread the word.
THINGS THAT COULD BE BETTER
- One of the things I have always loved about SV camps is that we have never gotten too “rule hungry”. Having been at camps were accidentally switching on a white light headlamp will lead to streams of verballing from across the field. That has not happened at SV.
Having said that we do have a red light policy on the field. There were some instances of white lights being used to assist with setting up gear and also a green light. I chose not to make a big deal of it on the night, but it is something we need to keep an eye on.
- We have taken on board the comments regarding the Saturday Night feast and I hope to have something in place for next time
- Sky tours should be organised slightly differently. For those involved in showing objects, we should just let them do their own thing, rather than trying to all find the same object.
THANK YOU’S
- Lot’s to mention, and if I tried to mention everyone who did things, I would almost certainly miss some one out, but a few deserve mention.
- Paul, Barry and Niko for their support and advice all through the process of getting the camp running
- Paddy for joining in the Sky tour. His knowledge and ability to articulate that knowledge of deep sky objects is inspiring
- Rodney Doig for being so generous in allowing complete strangers to view through his wonderful 24” SDM
- Warren and Pamela Maag who travelled from Phillip Island and still found time to prepare that wonderful afternoon spread on Saturday
- John Glossop for travelling all the way from Cootamundra to give Jen a Photoshop lesson!
- The crew who stayed on to Monday morning to help clean up, I am sure I will miss someone but I can remember Neale, Jen, Paul, Niko, Ken and I am sure there were others!
Anyway, I think that is enough of me waffling on. As I said I have probably forgotten something important. I will leave with one last thought.
Amateur astronomy is a small hobby, but we have something very powerful to share with the world. We have the wonder of the night sky and the idea that by learning about the universe as it is, we can help to make the life we have on this little planet a bit better. If we want to spread that message and get more people “looking up” we need to continually attract new blood. I hope this camp has gone a small way to achieving that.
Cheers
Malcolm
I think that is a pretty good take on what worked and what maybe needs a polish. I did get one white light in the face early on Saturday morning but I was about to pack up anyway so I said nothing. As you wrote, at some star parties you would get a real serve for it. I think it is one of the beauties of the SVAC, everyone got along and that I heard and no tempers showed themselves even at silly o'clock.
One thing to perhaps press a little harder in future camps is the cold, we did suffer a bit from wishing we had more blankets on Friday night though Saturday was milder. I am glad I was not sleeping in a car that is for sure.
I think it is safe to say that both Andrew and I will be back.
Hi all,
Yep had a great time at camp, a little slow getting this out but better late than never as they say. Yes more thanks to the organizing committee.
Good to have a look through the big Dob's, very impressive to see Centaurus "A" like that.
Hey Jen I got my UE Boom today, I think the wife will swipe it though.
Here is my Horsey from the weekend, I'm still learning RGB processing and I've added HA into this, that's apparently why the colour is a bit subdued.
Mind you it's less than an hr of each RGBL and HA so about 4.5 hrs total.
Hi all,
Yep had a great time at camp, a little slow getting this out but better late than never as they say. Yes more thanks to the organizing committee.
Good to have a look through the big Dob's, very impressive to see Centaurus "A" like that.
Hey Jen I got my UE Boom today, I think the wife will swipe it though.
Here is my Horsey from the weekend, I'm still learning RGB processing and I've added HA into this, that's apparently why the colour is a bit subdued.
Mind you it's less than an hr of each RGBL and HA so about 4.5 hrs total.
Hahaha awesome ken you will have to get another UE Boom box hehehe you can pair them together for stereo sound would sound super awesome they are great aren't they ? I could have sold 10 of those at camp I reakon lol I just love my music and it's a must have when I'm out observing PS I love the horsey I can't wait till I get an image of that one day
Hi all,
Yep had a great time at camp, a little slow getting this out but better late than never as they say. Yes more thanks to the organizing committee.
Good to have a look through the big Dob's, very impressive to see Centaurus "A" like that.
Hey Jen I got my UE Boom today, I think the wife will swipe it though.
Here is my Horsey from the weekend, I'm still learning RGB processing and I've added HA into this, that's apparently why the colour is a bit subdued.
Mind you it's less than an hr of each RGBL and HA so about 4.5 hrs total.
Great job on the Horsehead Ken,
How is the Leo Trio coming along?
Bo
but i got to learn my way around photoshop and imaging plus thanks to John G 
