Star Party - Saint Barthélemy 2014

[Singlin]

I have just come back from a great weekend at my local Star Party.

The venu is only 10 miles away as the crow flies but it took me an hour by car.

We have a local Observatory that hosts the event and this year we had an expo tent where most of the Italian manufacturers were present.

I managed to get the chance to view m42 with a 30" dob, It was breathtaking you could see 8 stars in the trapezium. Also The horsehead.

Fell in love with Teknosky.it's new 10" reflector too.

Attached are a few photos.

Drinks with far right father and son from Teknosky.it and friends

Trying to sell my idea of converting a geoptik weight into a hip flask to Mr Geoptik. He is interested and will start production when the requests come in.

Lunch with ProfessorFederico Manzini and Andras Dan from Gemini mounts. The two idiots facing me are the ones that got me into astrophotography in the first place.

Other photos of the event.

[Singlin]

A few more pictures.

Here is the Tecnosky.it new reflector 

One of the 3 observing imaging sites.

[laser_jock99]

Looks like a good event and venue.

[Singlin]

It's growing every year.

This year we had over a thousand people.

The site is divided into three main areas consisting of the Main tent and Bar which is open 24 hrs. In this area their are many astro photographers too.

The second area is near the small Hotel where the observers set up their scopes and then their is the area where the Observatory is where their are lectures and also an area for astrophotographers too.

[swag72]

I notice you've got a pic of the Avalons - Is that a picture of the mobile observatory that they've been talking about?

[Singlin]

Yes , It is quite expensive at 7000 euros.

Avalon are also making a slightly larger one.

You can't fit a medium newtonian in it but they ars also in the process of designing a custom 8 inch newtonian that will fit in.

[Singlin]

I quizzed Luciano about the problem with long ota's in windy conditions and he highly defended his mount and said that although the guide graph jumpa a bit it does not affect the stars.

Luciano is quite a character, he arrived with a long legged dolly Bird for his stand. Everyone else had professors, Engineers at their side and Luciano had a  sexy model. At the bar tent it was a topic of conversation with some people found it cheap and typical southern Italian and other found it amusing, myself included. A friend of mine who owns the small Hotel had a friend over helping him and I believe  the dolly bird was occupied with him in her spare time