Shame you can't make it! You'd love the dark skies!
Mike,
The skies are darker in Western Australia than they are in the Eastern States.
Northern parts of Western Australia (Kimberleys etc) have some of the darkest skies in the world along with some regions of Africa. Some parts of New Zealand are also very good. The West Coast of the South Island North of Haast is very dark. The very southern part of the West Coast of the South Island around Dusky Sound, which is not accessible by road, is very dark also. That having been said, in terms of absolute limiting magnitude, the skies at Lostock were certainly good, particularly so considering the close proximity to Sydney and the Central Coast (I can't drive to Dusky Sound in 2 hours ). In addition, the seeing was superb on 2 of the 3 nights. It is rare to get pretty dark skies, good transparency and good seeing combined together, Lostock excelled in this regard.
Roger would be better travelling North than East if he wants dark skies. Of course we would welcome him in the East for the social side of things to add to the festivities
CS-John B
Last edited by ausastronomer; 20-09-2006 at 12:23 PM.
The signed prints from David Malin arrived this week - they look fantastic! Printed on professional quality Kodak paper, they're huge! and they're signed by the man himself.
Below is a quick picture (apologies for the compression artifacts).
There are 8 in total, so winners of the lucky door prize competition will have the option of choosing from the prints as part of the prize pool.
I've updated the first post in this thread, as well as the IISAC2007 info page - please take a look at the changes to ensure you're up to date.
Updates include:
- Forms and Policies, Maps
- Picture of the David Malin prints
- Rules (including Swimming Hole, payment details, late payment and cancellation fees)
- T-Shirt prices and sizes
Please pay attention to the swimming hole rules - event insurance will not cover the swimming hole so you use it at your own risk. Children must be supervised by their parent. These strict rules are in place to minimise risk, so we can still allow the swimming hole to be used.
The registration page will be online in the next week or two, once registration fee is finalised.
Please be sure to ask any questions if something is not clear.
Mike ,
The direction to the space camp from Singleton to me is a little bit hairy fairy .If you are coming from the North I would suggest that you take the off ramp just over the Hunter Crossing bridge turn right at T inertsection (if you miss the off ramp keep driving down highway untill you come to the traffic lights near MacDonald turn left then turn right at the next T that will be Queen St) then follow the road (Queen St) out of Singleton you will cross the Hunter river again ,the road you are on now is called the Gresford or Glendon Brook road depending from were you are from . Just follow the sign and you will end up on the inerstection of the Gresford and Loststock roads .The Mitchell flat road turns off the Gresford road just out of Singleton
If need any more info give me a ring 0412998031
I'm looking into the cost of coming from Rockhampton. Looks like it might be way outside my budget, but just for the sake of dreaming, lets act like it's not.
Just to get a rough figure to work with, what did last year's event cost (for the full three? nights)?
Does an 8" Bintel Dob in the orginal box fit in a Toyota Echo (or similar)? What about two 8" Dobs?
How much did people spend on extra EPs to keep up with the Joneses? (lol)
Ian, thanks for that. I'll try and make the directions more clear.
Geoff, the cost last year was $22/night, so $66 for 3 nights, which included dinner each night.
Petrol would cost way more than that
This year, the per night cost will be higher, because as you can imagine, costs of pretty much everything have gone up. Catering is costing more per head, and insurance is not cheap either.
Dinner will still be thrown in each night for the cost, and there'll be (homemade!! yummy!!) sausage sandwiches for lunch each day.
I hope you can make it down! I'm not sure about fitting a dob in the small car.. hope someone can help you there.
The IISAC2007 page has been updated with costs for the event, and i've updated the first post in this thread with the following info below:
IISAC2007 T-Shirts
Information about the IISAC2007 T-Shirts, including sizes available and costs, is now available on the IISAC2007 info page.
T-Shirts can be ordered with your IISAC2007 booking, or even if you're not coming to the event you can still order some t-shirts by filling out the booking form on the IISAC2007 page. The t-shirts will not be available until late november/early december.
Booking/Registration
The registration form is now live! Please see the IISAC2007 page for costs, and click on the registration form link to submit your booking!
Bunkbed spots are limited, so register early to secure yours!
or more approrpiately 
