IceInSpace 5th Birthday Celebration Competition - How IceInSpace Has Helped You!

[Greg_White (Greg)]

How has IceInSpace helped you in amateur astronomy?
Learnt about CCD cameras and PS software (and continuing to learn)

What have you gotten out of IceInSpace?
It is an excellent central repository for shared knowledge and experience. I appreciate the excellent photographic work of others which motivates me to hone my own skills and knowledge in this area.

Inspiration? Motivation? Friendship? Knowledge?
Thankyou to all domestic and international contributors, and to Mike Salway and Terry Mohan whose leadship has made this site one of the best in the world, you are all inspirational.

What keeps you coming back to visit IceInSpace every day or every week?
To see what others are doing and how what they are doing influences the shape, learning and experience I gather and develop as an individual.


Tales from the Unknown Astronomer
"The Dob is my telescope, I shall not want. It maketh me go out on dark nights; it leadeth me through the Messier Objects; It restoreth my night vision; It leadeth me to star parties; Yet though I walk through the valley of the shadow of large scopes, I will fear no evil for my Naglers and Widefields they comfort me. Thou preparest a star chart before me in the presence of the galaxies. Thou anointest my head and optics with dew; my eyepieces and finder cloudeth up. Surely good seeing and no mosquitoes shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the deep skies of the night forever."


Thanks to all
Greg

[Tamtarn]

How IIS helped us

We began our journey with IIS on 25/5/06.We quickly learnt that whatever question you had about Astronomy would quickly be answered by the many experienced members on the forum.

We were totally inexperienced in anything to do with astronomy having only just purchased our first telescope (a little refractor) 6 months earlier at the ripe old age of 63.

We then purchased a 12" Dob and posted our first questions on IIS we gained information on which eyepieces were suitable, star charts, planisphere, filters, dew shield, dew heaters, telrad etc and of course the IIS Dob mods - teflon sliders cooling fan and portable trolley.

Next our EQ mount - things we had never heard of before Polar alignment, SCP, and drift aligning.

Then more recently our venture into astrophotography - Piggyback, Afocal, Prime focus, guidescope, guidecamera, PHD autoguiding, DeepSky Stacker, and Photoshop. All of which neither of us had any experience with whatsoever.

Now to our present setup - EQ6 Pro, Celestron C9.25 SCT, Canon 40D DSLR, all mounted on a permanent pier in our homemade roll off roof observatory.

We're proud to have had one of our DSLR deep sky images published and have others in the pipeline to be published also.

We have also met many wonderful IIS members of which some have become very close friends.

We have come a long way in just 3 years. Where else could a couple our age gain such a wealth of knowledge in such a short time without leaving the comfort of our home?

Our success in what we have accomplished in 3 years is totally due to IIS

Happy 5th birthday Mike


David and Barb

[Kevnool (Kev)]

First of all congrats on the 5th birthday.
IIS has helped me from from knowing a little to knowing a little bit more.
Forums are for all to share experiences and knowledge.
Again happy birthday.
Cheers Kev.

[DJDD]

Hey,

Without IIS I would never have heard of HDR!

cheers,
DJDD

[Neil]

The two years I,ve been a member at IIS have been great. Although I have,nt posted as often as I should have, when I have asked for help or advise about equipment or assistance with a problem the responces have been many and varied, and extreamely helpfull. IIS is a great asset for amatear astronomers. I believe it is the best, not only in Australia and the southern hemisphere......Tomorrow the WORLD.

[Inmykombi (Geoff)]

Happy Birthday Ice in Space........woooo-hoooo.

I have been into Astronomy in a minor way since I was a Paper boy in the early 70's.

When I moved to a new home on the Central Coast of NSW many years ago, I was looking for an astronomy club up this way with the intention to get back into Astronomy.
I almost gave up looking for a club, when I heard about Ice in Space at a Macquarie UNI open night in Sydney.

I then logged onto IIS and gave myself a silly name and sold my old scope within 24 hrs of posting it.
After looking around the web-site and buying another scope from the IIS Classifieds, I was amazed at all the wonderful information and help there was available to all of us here.
It was from then on, I got back into my much loved hobby in a big way.

I met with so many great people at Star Parties and Casual observing sessions.

I must say that after getting onto IIS regularly, I re-gained my previously lost enthusiasm for this great interest of ours.

I still have that enthusiasm, and I can honestly says its still growing due to all of YOU out there that help and contribute to this web-site everyday.

Cheers to all and Thanks Ice in Space....

[alan meehan (Alan)]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ICEINSPACE
Iceinspace has helped me in so many ways it is not possibble to put them all down .The friends and helpfull information have remade Astronomy a passion for me ,there is no end to the wealth of help on these forums if not by asking or just listening and learning and
watching. Thanks iceinspace bring on the party

[Jaeger]

IceInSpace has been a great source of advice, and encouraged me to (finally) get my first Dobsonian telescope.

Hope the next five years are as successful as the first!

[I.C.D (Ian)]

Iceman (Mike)
After reading the above threads i have to agree with all of them, what a great site to have at our finger tips ,to find out information on our hobby ,no matter what it is their is always someone out their that can and will help you .Keep up the good work please we know it takes up some of your viewing time in running the site WELL DONE
Ian C

[circumpolar (Matt)]

When ever I purchase astronomy equiptment (Which is rarely) it is always based on the information that I gained from my fellow Ice In Spacers.
The community is an endless wealth of information that is only a click away.

Thanks Mike, and all those members who post and contribute to the site.

[markseibold (Mark Seibold)]

Dear IIS

Although I am quite new here, I find the camaraderie and general info from others to be an invaluable resource for amateur astronomers. My award winning astronomy art, although published in many other venues, has received great admiration here by the members at ICC, and I thank all of you.

Mark Seibold
Artist-Astronome,r Portland Oregon

*And so some of my dry moon dust cosmic humor for a change >
(Large Image available at) > http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...telByMarkS.jpg

[nandopg]

Happy 5th IIS !!

I think of IIS as a fertile ground to present and to absorb ideas related to astronomy and astroimaging in general. I have benefit myself several times of the goowill of people here in helping others.

I would like to congratulate all the people involved in the site's operation for keeping this outstanding resource available to the world.

Fernando

[HawaiiBill]

Ice in Space has helped me enormously by constant ability to "see the other side" of our skies from Australia. My viewing is more frequently than I'd like to admit barred by Hawaiian clouds but I keep up as best I can with iPhone's pUniverse (Pocket Universe by Craic Design).

That little jewel gets and keeps my latitude and longitude and nightly shows me "what's up." It's possible to move it down under to see what you folks are staring at.

Keep in touch with your most welcome newsletter plus personal contacts by e-mail with our Great Leader every now and then AND wearing my terrific IceInSpace beanie.

Now how's that for a happy member far off in the middle of the Pacific Ocean?



HawaiiBill

[peterbat (Peter)]

IIS has helped me get in touch with a fantastic bunch of people and given me great ideas for modifying my telescope.
As a result of the info on IIS I've attended 4 start parties in the last couple of years, and I'm looking forwards to more.

Happy Birthday IIS!

Peter

[Widd]

Happy Birthday IiS. Great work guys.
I think its great to have chat and classifieds from people who are passionate about astronomy...its unlikely that the wider public with a glancing interest in the subject would use the site.
The benefit to us, I think, is that sale items are likely to have been well looked after as opposed to items advertised in the national papers.
We're passionate about our hobby and passionate about our gear.

Brian

[Kaarpy (Kathleen)]

There's great advice about equipment which has helped me set up my first 'scope, everyone is very friendly and willing to to be helpful. There's heaps of info about what is happening in the skies and I am looking forward to attending my first 'star party' at the Ice in Space camp, having a lot of fun and doing some fast-track learning and deep-sky observing.

[Laurie Meintjes]

What I have appreciated most about the Ice In Space community is its friendly spirit and unbridled willingness to welcome and advise a new chum. I have accepted that advice and taken my first, happy steps into the world of backyard astronomy. Thank you for the warm welcome, and have a very happy birthday.

Laurie Meintjes
Cooranbong, NSW

[mickqueensland (Mick)]

Happy Bday IIS,

I have found great advice and information here. Sharing of information like this is the best way to promote the art of astronomy. I am about to leap into the hobby in the biggest way I can afford and the advice has been extremely helpful.

Cheers to all
Mick

[rogerg (Roger)]

I've been trying to work out how to best summarise how IIS has helped me but I'd better get a move along and post something...

- Help on many DIY/ATM tasks
- Saving on cost of new toys by use of Trade forums.
- Getting something back for the items I no longer need via Trade forums
- Keeping my interest alive while it rains and pours for weeks, and while my equipment is dead/broken
- Getting some reward for my photography by way of comments and constructive criticisms of images

.... and so much more.

A very beneficial site, no doubt about it.

Roger.

[Buddman (Adam)]

I've been semi-interested in astronomy for years but the bug really bit only about 3 years ago when I was shown how much can be done in astro-imaging (thanks Paul 1ponders). IceInSpace has been invaluable as a resource for learning more about setting up a scope and especially the tricky part of processing images.

As a High School science teacher it has helped inspire me as to what can be done. Some websites have good information but I think that the forum is the best in that anyone (myself and my students) can post questions and get great advice and a healthy discussion in return.

Oh, nearly forgot to mention the fact that it is also a great place to meet people with the same interest (as opposed to some family members and work colleagues who seem to be really hard to impress - how can you not be excited about the remnants of an exploding star or a far away galaxy?).

Cheers IceInSpace.