Just wanted to add my 2c worth... Congratulations Mike and HOughy and anyone else involved in the organisation of the camp! It was really well done. Having organised similar sized events (not in astronomy) I appreciate what goes into it. Thanks!
Coming from the high country, I really appreciated the waterhole! Absolutely splendid touch for a summertime camp! I managed to get really wrinkly... . Lyn thoroughly enjoyed the weekend even though she's not obsessed with astronomy and I think that says something about having the balance and mix of the event just about right! Casual is good...
1ponders... Thanks mate! I appreciated the one on one alignment workshop! K3CCD is the way to go!
I really enjoyed having a look through Hector, and a little lesson on Argonavis thanks to Andrew!
It's great to put some faces to the names, and meet new people - Jakob, Chris, and Simon (Thiink - small world isn't it?)
Mike Boggan - Yes, I'd love your recipe for sausages so I can make some rissoles, etc. Please PM me. In the meantime, I'll practice my guitar work before the next Lostock (been slack lately and I found my fingers have gone soft) .
While I didn't win an astro prize I was happy to win a bottle of wine and some poultry from the RFS raffle. It created a little dilemma in terms of how to get it home (5 hour drive) without an esky... but fortunately the freezer at Lostock must be almost a cryogenic unit. With nothing but an insulated bag and few towels to wrap it in we got them home without thawing!
As for the suggestion that some of the symposiums / workshops / talks be held IN the waterhole next year... I say YEAH! Just a few minor technical hitches to resolve, like how to keep your polystyrene scope from floating away during the alignment workshop, how to water proof a laptop for the imaging sessions, etc... Nothing too difficult there I feel... we could be on to something...
Just for you info on the accuracy of the results, Gary K and I did some mount training on Saturday night using the new Argo Navis firmware and there was no discernable error in Azimuth and only about 5 arc min error in Altitude adjustment, and that can easily be explained by the mount settling into the ground over the 24 hour. I checked it before Gary and I did the error readings but didn't feel it needed adjusting. But even so 5 arc minutes is still a pretty damn fine adjustment for the amount of time we spent on it and taking into account any settling.
I really enjoyed the weekend. My 9yr old son Jake had an absolute ball and met a number of new friends. He was still wearing his IISAC badge when I left for work this morning.
The venue was superb, clear dark skies in a nicely grassed area. Certainly an Astronomers Heaven and only 2hrs from home for me.
There were a couple of highlights for me both astronomical and otherwise. It was certainly great to meet many of the people that I have corresponded with on the forum over the past 10 mths including Tony, Paul, Erik and Mike from QLD, Simon, Richard, Chris and many others.
Observing highlights were several:
1) On Thursday Night the seeing was quite good and I was able to get a great view of Saturn in my own 10" F5 dob at 446X using a 7mm Pentax XW in the 2.5X TV Powermate. I was able to share the view with several others and its great to be able to do this, as its not all that common that the seeing holds up that well. I think Louie (Atalas), HHHHHHHHH (Octane), Paul (1 ponders) and Gaz (Cahullian) got a peak at it, I was rather hogging the eyepiece myself . In between returning to Saturn many times, I whizzed around a heap of planeteries with Gaz (Cahullian) which were also great under the conditions.
2) Some great DSO views early Saturday Night through Ed's 18" and Hector.
3) Early Sunday AM I spent a fair amount of time chasing some galaxies in my 10" through Leo and Virgo. Some memorable viewing including Markarians Chain under ideal conditions.
The major highlight for me was on the Friday Night and I hardly did any observing that night. I was feeling a lot tired about 11pm after a return trip to Maitland Friday lunchtime and a 4am observing session on the Thursday Night. I thought I will show Jake (9yr old son and very computer literate), how to drive Argo Navis "in Tour Mode" whilst I relaxed in the deckchair and did some naked eye observing through the back of my eyelids. I stuck a 20mm Pentax XW in the scope so he could get some nice low power views and the targets would be easy to locate. I said are you sure you will be ok son ? he said, "yes dad". I said , "go for it!!" I was woken up some 2 hours later by Andrew Murrell wishing to share an eyepiece. I looked at the clock and realised I had been out for nearly 2 hours and my 1st thought was "sheesh!!!!! where's my kid". I looked over at the scope and here he is still driving away at the dob. I said, "you going ok there with the telescope mate? " He replied, "Yes Dad, but there are no Comets or Asteroids in the Database, why not? I want to look at them." I nearly fell off the chair, of course I had been slack and not downloaded the orbital elements. That moment made my weekend.
It was also great to see so many of our regular little Kulnurra observing group in attendance. Over the past 10 months we have put together a small group of Central Coast/Sydney/Newcastle, Ice in Spacer's who meet at least once, sometimes twice, a month out at Paintball Place at Kulnurra. I am proud to say these people have become my friends and we get a lot of enjoyment out of observing together and discussing all topics astronomical, telescopes and eyepieces.
I would like to thank all the people responsible for organising the event and those who gave some very informative talks. For a 1st run star party I think things went exceptionally well. Also special thanks to Ed Roca (Orion) and Andrew Murrell (Hector) who neglected their own observing pursuits and provided "Sky Tours" in their 18" and 20" scopes untill the early hours of the morning.
An outstanding success IMO and I will be a definite for next year as will Jake.
Last edited by ausastronomer; 31-01-2006 at 08:26 AM.
He replied, "Yes Dad, but there are no Comets or Asteroids in the Database, why not? I want to look at them." I nearly fell off the chair, of course I had been slack and not downloaded the orbital elements. That moment made my weekend.
Love this story. Priceless!
Looks like you've got one smart budding astronomer there John.
We also noted Jake was having a ball down in the river which was good
to see.
Thanks Mike, Houghy and all the other organisers for a great Astrocamp. The Gresford Fire Brigade boys and girls did a great job of feeding us in the evenings while Mike Boggan educated our palates with his sausages at lunchtime (Mike has spoiled us now - no other sausages can ever live up to his standard). Special thanks to myAstroShop for sponsoring the Vixen LV 6mm eyepiece I was lucky enough to win in the Lucky Door raffle - thanks not only for supporting the Astrocamp and IIS but for your ongoing support of the wider Amateur Astronomy community.
This was my first astrocamp even though I've been into astronomy (and had a telescope) for over 20 years. Not only did I learn heaps but I met some great people. Here's a bit of a detailed description of my three days so that those who haven't experienced an astrocamp can get a feel for the goings on.
On Day 1, I set up my gear near to Chris (33South) and Vincent (sorry Vincent, don't know your IIS name). First plus from the camp was when I was discussing mounting my DSI to my 'scope with 33South - I wanted to use my electric focusser with my DSI but didn't have the right adapter. Out comes the adapter from Chris's toolbox - 'this is what you need'. Second learning was when I looked in Chris' eyepiece case and saw all his gear neatly nestled in tidy little niches in 'pluckable' foam (I'd read about this stuff on IIS, but until I'd actually seen it and touched it I didn't realise what a great solution this is) The first night I just observed visually with a list of objects I had generated before the camp. I wanted to really observe a smaller number of objects by spending more time with each object and by sketching. The transparency was great - just right for seeing some faint fuzzies. Finished up by observing Saturn at 250x - lashings of detail observed including the Cassini Division, the C ring, bands on the disk and dim moons nicely arrayed around the ringed one - there was more detail than I could sketch or describe. Finished up at about 2:30 am as I thought I'd better pace myself over the whole three nights.
Observing on night 2 started with some imaging with my DSI - thanks 33South for lending me your adaptor. My first time out with my DSI mounted properly. Imaged 47 Tuc, Tarantula, and M42 - all badly! - but my intention was to test that my new F3.3 reducer and DSI worked properly together. I was a bit lazy with my focus and a little bit of experimenting will be needed to get the colour right but I was happy with the result (if I converted to grayscale and reduced the images by 50%!!). The rest of the night was a more collaborative effort for Vincent, 33South and myself. We had a look at various objects in each scope - some were a little easier to find in my LX200GPS eg NGC 1566 (Spanish Dancer) and NGC 1365 (Fornax barred spiral) because of the GoTo, but some objects were better observed in an 8" Dob with a wider field eg Leo Triplet where we could get all the galaxies in one FOV where I could only get two. For some objects, it was just interesting to compare views in each telescope eg Eskimo Nebula. This was really enjoyable and time just flew. Again I finished off the evening's observing with Saturn. Again, finished up about 2:30 am.
On night 3, I was determined to check out some other scopes, especially the big Dobs. I had a look through Alan Meehan's 10" Schmidt Newtonian and really enjoyed the crisp wide field but the 20" was calling me! Got some spectacular views through Andrew Murrels 20". Some objects observed included the usual suspects - 47 Tuc, Eta Carinae, Omega Centauri, NGC 5128 plus some more obscure ones like NGC 1566, NGC 1365, and Thor's Helmet. I've got to hand it to Andrew, he is a great guide to the sky. And no, Mike, I will not be getting rid of my SCT and buying a Dob anytime soon! Then headed back to my own scope for a look at a couple of objects including another nice triplet of galaxies in Leo around M105. Finished up again on Saturn but the seeing was not as good as the previous two nights. I tried my new 6mm eyepiece on Saturn but the seeing was nowhere near good enough to do it justice. Finished up a little earlier this night (about 1:00 am) as I thought it would be a good idea to go back to civilisation with a little more sleep under my belt!
The workshops during the day were very helpful - thanks to Leesa, tornado33, Itchy, Bird, and Gary for sharing your knowledge and experience. Not only did these people give up there time to tell us about there specialities but they were more than happy to answer any questions at any time during the camp.
One of the most enjoyable parts of the camp was going around and discussing different bits of gear with people, gear that they had bought or built themselves. During the day there was plenty to do - attending workshops, talking to other astronomers, and watching various images being processed. I must confess I didn't really know what I would be doing during the day at astrocamp, besides attending some workshops, but I found that there was always something to do or someone to talk to.
Once again, thanks to Mike, Houghy and all the organisers for a great camp - I'll definitely be back next year. Also, thanks to Mike and all the Moderators for all the fine work they do on the forum 365 days of the year - I, for one, really appreciate the work they do to make Ice In Space the great community that it is.
Last edited by Hitchhiker; 31-01-2006 at 10:22 PM.
Reason: Added images from Lostock
The view from our position looking down over Dob City (Adam - your term I think) gave a good feel for the size and locale of the camping/observing area.
The photo I took doesnt do it justice as more tents/dobs turned up later but it along with the T-shirt will always remind me of Lostock 2006.
Amongst my viewing highlights were seeing the Spanish Dancer, Ghost of Jupiter, Spindle Galaxy all for the first time.
Thanks to EVERYONE for making LOSTOCK 2006 such a great success, cant wait for next year.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitchhiker
My 2c from the Lostock camp.
Hey Adam thats a lot more than 2c, great report.
Thanks for your company, also your enthusiasm meant I viewed several great DSOs that Id never seen before and probably would have ignored.
[QUOTE=Special thanks to myAstroShop for sponsoring the Vixen LV 6mm eyepiece I was lucky enough to win in the Lucky Door raffle - thanks not only for supporting the Astrocamp and IIS but for your ongoing support of the wider Amateur Astronomy community.[/QUOTE]
G'day Hitchhiker
Now I'm really depressed I couldn't get up there guys. Your report was very enlightening and reminded me of the enjoyment I felt at an old S&S organised star party at Coonabarabran back in 1995! Great pictures in this thread too!
Sounds like you were in good company! Would love to see that accessoies case Chris
Thanks for the thanks... and support.
Hi All
I must add my own thoughts.
It was a GREAT weekend. I have attended many gatherings of astronomers but I have rarely enjoyed myself as much. The company and location lent itself to a very relaxed and funn weekend. The creek didnt hurt either. A BIG round of applause should go to Mike for finding such a great location and I look forward to many gatherings there in the future. I may even think about using the place more often myself.
As some people have pointed out i spent my time showing other people thru Hector. I enjoy myself more at these events by doing just that. So if you are out observing and you see Hector about come over and pay a visit. You dont know WHAT you may see.
Andrew
Have you had a chance to get the photos off your camera yet Hector? Im keen to see the group photo to add to my archives. Post up a big version if possible (you too Mike!).
I called Andrew last night to prompt him to download his photos off the camera. He was going to email them to me last night but he must've got distracted. I'll call him again tonight.
And you congratulated the Iceinspace crew on a job well done.
And you probably wondered how you could ever really thank them.
Well, it's simple. If you haven't done so already, register and pay for IISAC2007
now.
"Why should I register and pay now" I hear you say, "when Lostock is not
until January 2007?".
The answer to that is Mike and his team need your support. They have catering to
organize along with all the myriad of things that go into planning for a great star
party. So by making a commitment now, it makes the job for Mike so much easier.
And there's an additional incentive for you. As announced by Mike, If you book
and pay by the end of November 2006, each attendee in your booking will
receive an extra ticket in the lucky door prize draw!!
For example, Mai and I have donated an Argo Navis unit on behalf of
Wildcard Innovations that you could win by just attending. You double your
chances by registering and paying today.
Thanks to the geneoristy of other vendors, there are also other valuable prizes
to be won.
So show your support for Iceinspace and for Mike and his team and register
and pay for IISAC2007 now!
. Lyn thoroughly enjoyed the weekend even though she's not obsessed with astronomy and I think that says something about having the balance and mix of the event just about right! Casual is good...
.
![[1ponders]'s Avatar](../vbiis/customavatars/avatar45_9.gif){kind=avatar}
. In between returning to Saturn many times, I whizzed around a heap of planeteries with Gaz (Cahullian) which were also great under the conditions.
