Grant

I’m looking into this now.

Pod update - all booked except for the two non electric ones over by the river.

The theme for the 26th challenge - May 2019 - is 30 Seconds Unguided! Start Date: 1st May 2019 End Date: 31st July 2019 Rules: Any image that fits the theme ‘30 Second Unguided’ will be accepted. We are not looking for anything specific. It might be an artistic single frame, a ‘lucky shot’ or a highly planned, multi-night mosaic epic! The winning image will be whichever one the judges like best! Feel free to use whatever equipment you like but each single frame can be no more than 30 seconds and must be unguided! (No stacking!). Prize: A personalised mug for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places featuring your image kindly provided by our sponsors FLO and a virtual trophy for your signature. -- RULES All data must be captured and processed by you (no collaborative entries). Data must be captured during the challenge start & end dates. Multiple entries are allowed but please start a new topic for each entry. Multiple submissions of the same image, processed differently, will not be accepted. -- To enter please start a new topic with your image in the ‘Imaging Challenge #26' forum (each challenge will have its own). Please post as much information as possible - when it was taken, how it was captured and processed, etc. The info won't necessarily be used for judging but will help fellow SGLers looking to learn and improve their knowledge and technique.

SGL 2019 SP 31st Oct - 7th Nov 2019 Main Days Friday 1st & Saturday 2nd. Lucksall Caravan & Camping Park, Herefordshire (http://www.lucksallpark.co.uk/) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Star Party We are excited to launch this years SGL star party. Last year, despite the weather, was the most successful yet with the marquee providing a central hub that brought everyone together. There was fun, there was laughter, plenty of local beer and cider and lots of wind! Hopefully this year we will see a few more stars but even if the weather lets us down, we are sure it will be another great event. More details will be announced over the coming weeks but, for now, please see below info booking info and food options. Lucksall are making some changes to the park this year. The grassy long meadow has been made into proper pitches with electric hookups. If you are staying in a tent for only 2-3 nights you will probably be in this area, which is also hopefully where the marquee will be. We don't know exactly how things will stand as Lucksall are still working on some changes but they assure us everything possible will be done to minimise any local lights . We will also contact any local residents and provide the usual flyers / posters to other campers on the site, encouraging them to use red torches and reduce lighting where possible. Booking Information This year all bookings INCLUDING PODs are being handled via the First Light Optics website. Please do not attempt to book directly with Lucksall as this will likely result in confusion. The marquee was clearly a success last year so this year we plan to make it larger and have heating. To cover the additional costs we have added only £1 per night to the pitch prices PODs If you would like to book a Pod, please contact me (Grant) first to reserve one. Pods are limited so need to be assigned prior to you making your booking / payment. Tents / Caravans There are no longer non-electric pitches available (last year only one was booked so this year everything is electric). To book your pitch please do so here: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sgl-sp-booking/sgl-2019-sp-pitch-booking.html Food Food can be booked together with your pitch booking or separately closer to the dates. I will send out reminders nearer the time and let you know cut off points. When you book the food, as long as it's under the same name / email address as your pitch booking, it will all be joined together and food tickets will be in your welcome pack at arrival. Friday night is our traditional curry and quiz night. Please book your curry here: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sgl-sp-booking/sgl-2019-sp-food-friday-curry.html Saturday night is hog roast night. Please book your hog roast here: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sgl-sp-booking/sgl-2019-sp-food-saturday-hogroast.html Sunday we will have a Sunday roast at the cafe. Please book your Sunday roast here: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sgl-sp-booking/sgl-2019-sp-food-sunday-roast.html Nearer the time, we will ask people to choose a specific 'sitting' to help the cafe prepare the roast in tables. This worked well last year. Volunteers If you would like to help with the organisation of the star party or volunteer to run a workshop/talk please get in touch. Some tasks aren't glamorous but really make a big difference to the smooth running of the weekend. I.e. a quick tidy-up of the tea / coffee area or helping to arrange chairs is a big help and very much appreciated.

Tickets will go on sale this Friday at Midday

I've gone with solar for the April one - this spot is really very, very nice

The theme for the 25th challenge - April 2019 - is Solar! Start Date: 1st April 2019 End Date: 30th June 2019 Rules: The theme this time is 'Solar' - the sun is treating us to a nice spot at the moment so this challenge is dedicated to the sun. Prize: A personalised mug for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places featuring your image kindly provided by our sponsors FLO and a virtual trophy for your signature. -- RULES All data must be captured and processed by you (no collaborative entries). Data must be captured during the challenge start & end dates. Multiple entries are allowed but please start a new topic for each entry. Multiple submissions of the same image, processed differently, will not be accepted. -- To enter please start a new topic with your image in the ‘Imaging Challenge #25' forum (each challenge will have it’s own). Please post as much information as possible - when it was taken, how it was captured and processed, etc. The info won't necessarily be used for judging but will help fellow SGLers looking to learn and improve their knowledge and technique.

OO.. that's a good idea with the current spot!

Congratulations all!

We really enjoyed judging this one, some excellent shots of Comet 46P and great to see some animations, videos and unusual compositions too. The winners are.... 46P & The Pleiades - 2018-12-16 By PhotoGav 46P/Wirtanen Animation By Stub Mandrel P46/Wirtanen over the Haldon Belvedere, Exeter By John Baker

We are running a bit behind (as always!) launching the April challenge. We've running out of ideas without repeating ourself so, if you have any ideas for challenges, please let us know in this thread

What's your preferred method, how and why?

That's a lot of icons!!

Best to start your own thread here Louise: https://stargazerslounge.com/forum/287-discussions-eeva-equipment/.

I'm still not clear Gav - it sounds like this IS an idealogical issue and no matter how many NVers you would still want, on principle to post in the observing section? I disagree with the argument that others wouldn't have discovered you if the posts were in a different section - usage stats of the forum don't support that people use the forum in that way, only looking at specific sections. That same argument could also be used for any other new technique or method in astronomy and we essentially get to the argument where we shouldn't separate observing and imaging or video astronomy etc.. etc.. as otherwise people might not find those posts either - it's simply not the case. I would actually argue the opposite, having a clearly marked NV forum where all NV posts are together could help somebody who comes across it or finds it through googling 'night vision and astronomy'. Having all those posts in one place with equipment information and observational reports with NV kit would be really useful. As it stands this information is spread everywhere and there is no single place to go and find it - one could argue, perhaps that's why there are only 4 of you currently? There is also another point here, there are plenty of visual observers, using the observing section that don't want to see NV posts in there and don't agree they are the same thing or even close. The recent decision to request that NV posts clearly state in the topic title that they concern NV reinforces this.

The argument in all of this that resonates with me is the timing issue - have we made this change before there is enough NVers to warrant their own section? My concern though is will the NVers EVER want to have their own section or is this an idealogical issue whereby you will always want to be part of the purely visual observing sections regardless of how many NVers there are posting?

This change isn’t just about NV it’s about ‘electronically enhanced visual astronomy’. NV is just part of that. We will not be making any changes until we see from the stats and activity levels over the next six months or so what difference these changes make. As this section grows we will look to divide it out further but at present NV doesn’t have enough content to justify its own section.

Yes

Exactly that I was loathe to call them 'EEVA Observing Reports' for fear of confusing things. There is also a new area to discuss EEVA specific equipment: https://stargazerslounge.com/forum/287-discussions-eeva-equipment/ This discussion area is for general EEVA discussion, tips, tricks, techniques etc.. As things develop we can adjust to and split out into further sections as necessary.

I'm sorry you feel this is an attempt to hide away these new techniques particularly as the aim is the absolute, complete opposite. We genuinely believe these sorts of techniques are a big part of the future of amateur visual astronomy so much so, they deserve their own section and, this is just the start of some of the things we hope to do on SGL to encourage these newer areas of astronomy. I hope that after reflection you reconsider.

Welcome to the new electronically enhanced visual astronomy or, EEVA section on SGL Over the past few years, a number of new avenues of amateur astronomy have developed: video astronomy, live stacking, night vision and others. There has been lots of debate and discussion on what to call these, where they belong and how they are defined. Unfortunately this has often led to conflict, disagreements and entrenchment. SGL wants to encourage these new forms of astronomy, we believe they are going to be hugely important areas and want to help foster and grow the techniques, methods and equipment used. We also want to recognise that some of these techniques are 'different' to traditional visual observing and could cause confusion or unrealistic expectations for people reading topics if they weren't aware of the equipment being used to help enhance the views. They are also different to traditional imaging which is why we feel they deserve their own areas and recognition within the community. As such, we have coined the new phrase: EEVA or EVA which stands for: electronically enhanced visual astronomy. We hope this offers a catchy acronym which can be embraced by the community and used to describe these techniques and methods and give them their own area of SGL which we hope to foster and grow to become as important as the existing observing and imaging sections. We are open to feedback and suggestions but hope, after a pause of reflection you will see we are trying to do something good here, for the right reasons. Thanks, Grant on behalf of the SGL admin and mod team.

To kick things off, as a new user to Pixinsight I'm curious how people have Pixinsight setup on their computers? Do you have a load of toolbox icons setup for your particular workflow? Any specific things about how you configure Pixinsight to display on your screen? A screenshot would be great

More details to be announced within the next couple of weeks but, the venue will be Lucksall Caravan Park, Herefordshire and the dates will be: Main Weekend: Friday 1st November - Sunday 3rd November Star Party: Thursday 31st October - Thursday 7th November - for those who want to arrive a bit earlier or stay longer.

The ASIair cannot currently do 'live stacking' but it will certainly display the most recent exposure you have taken with colour if using a OSC camera. I believe 'live stacking' and other EAA features have been requested so hopefully will be added in future updates to the ASIair app - it really is developing extraordinarily quickly and the developers are very responsive and committed to the product.

The theme for the 24th challenge - March 2019 - is Android vs iOS! Start Date: 1st March 2019 End Date: 31st May 2019 Rules: The theme this time is 'Android vs iOS' - all images must be captured using an Android or iOS device but anything astro related goes! Single shots, stacks, videos, animations, whatever you like Prize: A personalised mug for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places featuring your image kindly provided by our sponsors FLO and a virtual trophy for your signature. -- RULES All data must be captured and processed by you (no collaborative entries). Data must be captured during the challenge start & end dates. Multiple entries are allowed but please start a new topic for each entry. Multiple submissions of the same image, processed differently, will not be accepted. -- To enter please start a new topic with your image in the ‘Imaging Challenge #24' forum (each challenge will have it’s own). Please post as much information as possible - when it was taken, how it was captured and processed, etc. The info won't necessarily be used for judging but will help fellow SGLers looking to learn and improve their knowledge and technique.