The South Pacific Star Party: 13 - 15 April, 2007 - who's going?

[rmcpb (Rob)]

Just been playing around with RTGUI for viewing lists for both Friday and Saturday night. We will have PLENTY to run down, I wonder who can get the most objects with non go to or push to??

[33South (Chris)]

Originally Posted by Rocket Boy

Guys, I'm sorry to say that it looks like I won't be attending SPSP this year.
Something's come up and looks like I won't be able to get there.

Sorry to hear that Andrew, I was looking forward to catching up again.

[h0ughy (David)]

wELL i AM PACKED READY TO GO. i still don't feel great but I am sure a star party will make me healthy?

[GTB_an_Owl (Geoff)]

good to hear Dave

i'm almost done - just a few last minute things - like BEER and clothes

did the "you know what" fit Dave ?

"RB" ----- now don't be dissapointing that princess of yours
you get yourself packed and come up after that thing that is supposed to be stopping you from coming is over
we will find a place for you to sleep till we get you set up saturday morning

geoff

[xstream (John)]

Originally Posted by Rocket Boy

Guys, I'm sorry to say that it looks like I won't be attending SPSP this year.
Something's come up and looks like I won't be able to get there.

We're going to miss you Andrew. I hope everything is okay!

Tell Elizabeth I'll give Mike or Rod her Easter egg to pass onto her.

[xstream (John)]

Have the camper trailer packed and raring to go.

[spacezebra (Petra)]

Im packed - now Im off to bed! A very early start.

Cheers and see you at SPSP.

Petra

[h0ughy (David)]

Originally Posted by spacezebra

Im packed - now Im off to bed! A very early start.

Cheers and see you at SPSP.

Petra

see you tomorrow afternoon

[jonathank]

This is THE Day!
See u in few hours in the middle of nowhere and if you can hear someone talking with a French accent, that's me.

Bye

[Rodstar (Rod)]

I'm back!

As always, we had a hoot at SPSP. It was particularly good being in a little community of IIS'ers down near the bottom of the camping ground. It was great spending lots of time with everyone, especially sharing meals, grog and lots of laughs with Xstream and Anna, Petra and David, HOughy, Iceman, Chris (33South) and Al. It was great to meet Petra and David's friends Kate and Mark, who are superb company.

I also caught up with lots of other IIS'ers, like Scott Mitchell (and Tom and Campbell), Geoff GTW, Jonathank, Itchy and his wife, Strongmanmike, Steve Mogg, Joe and Anushka, Okieskopey, Gary Kopff (and Mai) and Glenn Dawes. I am sure there were others too....excuse me with my fatigue for forgetting you! There were others I meant to catch up with, but didn't get around to it, eg Stringscope, Mark Suchting. Maybe next time?!

It was a great thrill that Rocket Boy showed up on Saturday. Thanks for making the effort, buddy!

When many of us had our Hepworth suits on we looked like a team of Antarctic Emergency workers. We need to get a sponsor, and maybe get our individual names emblazened on the backs.

I met some very interesting people and saw some pretty spectacular things. SPSP always stretches one mind as to what is possible. I particularly enjoyed spending a large chunk of time last night with Alan Dyer and John Sarkissian. We shared some amazing views of the southern skies, and I lost count of the number of times John S said, "Wow!". It was also good drawing on the knowledge of Michael Chaytor on Friday night.

It is great to be in a community where there is such a high level of trust (hundreds of thousands of $$ worth of equipment lying around in the field each day), and such good will. It was great to be able to share some views throught SDM 12, and to sneak some views through other people's scopes.

Thanks especially to Scott, Petra and Anna for being so gracious in letting me borrow their eyepieces at various times, and Xstream, Anna, Petra and David for sharing so generously with more domestic things like food, refrigeration, and cooking equipment.

Some non astronomical highlights included discovering Bizzy Bird Cafe in Rylstone, planning a fund-raising calendar to raise "exposure", and thinking about what would suit being launched by a trebuchet (grand piano would be great to watch).

The skies were a tad unpredictable, but at moments of good seeing, I enjoyed spectacular views of the Ghost of Jupiter, Centaurus A, M83, M46, and the Homunculus amongst others.

Iceman and Stronmanmike excelled themselves again in the astrophotography awards, each of them taking out first prizes in sections, with Stronmanmike being the winner overall. Well done fellas!

I am glad to be home. I have had my first shower in four days. Domestic matters (or is that a wife and three children) now demand my attention.

[wavelandscott (Scott)]

We made it safely back too!

Ditto many things that Rod said...it was good to "see and be seen" by and with members of the IIS community!

Congratulations to all prize winners! Including my son Campbell who won one of the 6 inch Tasco dobs... we needed another telescope in the house!


Clear Skies All!

[gary]

Good to see you all there and I hope everyone had a great time!

Rod, you have got yourself one fabulous scope and thanks for sharing the
views. Peter and the mirror maker have really done their job.

Thanks also to Lachlan MacDonald for the time on the 25" Obsession.
Always awesome.

We saw a lot of wonderful things at SPSP, but the celestial highlight for
Mai and I turned out to be on the drive home.

At 16:09 in broad daylight, while driving along Wylds Rd in Arcadia,
we witnessed a spectacular meteor. It shone with a brllliant blue and
white 'arc light' and I could make out the black meteorite itself before it
appeared to vapourize. It is always difficult to estimate the distance and height
of these things, as there is no sense of scale. However, this one appeared
to be *very low* and coming in steep. It lasted about a second and a bit.

Best Regards

Gary Kopff
Mt. Kuring Gai

[Rodstar (Rod)]

That sounds very cool, Gary. Astronomy is such a hobby of chance.....right place, right time. Sometimes it comes off, often it does not. Sounds like things worked out on your way home!

It was a pleasure to share SDM 012 with you and Mai. And....thanks again for that awesome invention of yours.....the Argo Navis certainly makes locating objects so much easier with a large dob.

[gary]

Originally Posted by Rodstar

That sounds very cool, Gary. Astronomy is such a hobby of chance.....right place, right time. Sometimes it comes off, often it does not. Sounds like things worked out on your way home!

Too right mate!

It was a pleasure to share SDM 012 with you and Mai. And....thanks again for that awesome invention of yours.....the Argo Navis certainly makes locating objects so much easier with a large dob.

Rod, it makes our day when we see it helping bring guys like you so
much enjoyment. Thank you.

Best Regards

Gary

[h0ughy (David)]

i am back, tired, still sick but better for the company I kept. I will post some photos later, and a jigsaw puzzle image if I can find the software for it??? Very interesting viewing thast one will be.

[iceman (Mike)]

Had a great time at SPSP#15.. got back about 1pm yesterday but left the computer OFF all day in order to regain some browney points.. still won't chance my luck with Kulnura this weekend though

I echo all Rod's comments, was great catching up with everyone - old and new friends. The skies weren't great but they were good. On Friday night, transparency was poor and the seeing was awful, and it got very cold.. I was in bed by midnight but after being up since 1:30am (imaging Jupiter before I left for SPSP) I was happy to try and get some sleep.
I bought a freezer suit Saturday morning, but Saturday wasn't nearly as cold.
Saturday night was better conditions, better transparency and much better seeing, but both high and low clouds still brought transparency down significantly at times.

I didn't do any planetary imaging, was there for the dark skies, great company and enjoyed many fantastic views through Rod's 20" scope. I put my camera on the EQ6 and did some widefield stuff. The short focal length stuff looks ok so far but the long focal length (300mm lens) didn't turn out due to bad tracking.

I was very pleased to win both 1st and 2nd place in the Solar System category (two Jupiter entries) in the astrophotography competition, which was voted upon by our peers (entrants in the competition). The "people's choice" award was a tough one, having to choose a single image as your favourite out of all of the fantastic ones on display. I also won 2nd place in the widefield category with my Venus/Uranus/mercury widefield at Terrigal.

Congrats to Mike Sidonio, John Drummond and Joe Cauchi who also took out prizes. Some amazing images and a very high standard has been set for next year. Well done guys. Well done and thanks to Greg Priestly for organising a great astrophotography competition!

I had a very enjoyable time and want to thank Rod for sharing his tent and his scope and his great company. It's always a pleasure, sir!
Also thanks to John and Anna, Dave and Petra, Dave and Al, Mike and Riley, Chris and Jenny, and everyone else I spent time with over the weekend.

Looking forward to seeing some of you again in August at BSG!

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

So... has anyone heard from 292 yet?

[AJames]

Originally Posted by Rodstar

I am glad to be home. I have had my first shower in four days.

Phew!!! So it was you....

[Kal (Andrew)]

This was my 5th SPSP that I have attended and probably my briefest due to unavoidable circumstances. Having to pick up my sister and my mum from Sydney International airport at 6am on Friday morning I decided to just attend for Saturday night only. Still, I had a thoroughly enjoyable night.

The unpredictable cloud meant that I had to hop across the sky a few times chasing the better parts, but when the views were clear they were spectacular. I took the time to carefully collimate my scope this time, and I enjoyed spectacular views and the best that I have seen through my scope so far of of Eta Carinae, Omega Centauri, and Jupiter! I actually felt excited with these views as if I was living the 'new scope' buzz all over again!

I also won a lucky door prize of a $200 voucher at Bintel so I will be doing some shopping later this week!!

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Also my 5th SPSP the 2007 event was the usual blast with great company and clear weather each night.

It is always great to catch up and say hi to so many familiar faces.

While circumstances prevented me from taking my new imaging gear with me, sadly I have realised that I am an imaging tragic now . While I did enjoy viewing through a few scopes, including Rod's beautiful big (Burgundy ) scope, I spent most of my time getting my withdrawal fix with imagers, including Houghy, Iceman Mike and Fred Vanderhaven... ... ... I think I was pining for my new camera that had only arrived the day before SPSP .......

Thanks for the great company IIS'ers

Well done to Ian Ogilvie and Peter Bobroff (and the other ATM'ers) for their marverlous handy work that never fails to amaze me (I ended up missing looking through Peters new 16" )

Congratulations also to Mike Salway, Joe Cauchi and John Drummond in the astroimaging competition, I'm glad our (and the other entrants) images were so widely enjoyed by so many, it makes our love of imaging that much more pleasurable!

Well done to ASNSW (and Kandos Scouts!) for another fine event!

I was very sad to hear of the passing of Mike Kerr too. It reminds us of the fickle nature of our existence and why it is important to make the most of our short stay on this planet and do the things that make us most happy. Rest in Peace Mike.

See some of you again in August at Border perhaps? Or else SPSP 2008?

Mike