Grant

1 minute ago, 25585 said:

The new wifi Star Discovery AZ mount is probably taking over, so maybe GTi has been discontinued.

They are very, very different products - I doubt very much one will replace the other!

I got my grubby paws on one today and well... it just works!

Unboxed and setup within a couple of minutes - turned it on and it levels itself and then after a short pause (while it gets a GPS fix) off it goes! Sun bang in the field of view on my Lunt 60.

Clouds stopped play unfortunately but it did seem to track well for the 5-10 minutes of use I got.

One nice addition - it comes with a battery pack to take AA batteries but also a connector and alternative battery case cover which has a 12v center positive DC socket on it - so I used it with a Celestron Lithium Powertank and it worked a treat! Much better than buying AA batteries

Looking forwards to playing around with it some more - the supplied tripod is much better than I expected helped by the round legs and twist lock mechanism and the tripod extension tube is a great addition.

1 minute ago, AdeKing said:

Yes, specs on the FLO website state that the Lunt L60THa/B1200CPT is 3.1kg without dovetail or eyepiece.

Interesting mount, though I can't justify it for the amount of use I'd get out of it.

Ade

 

That's exactly the scope I intend to stick on one of these mounts - for me, the quick setup should really help maximise the clear sky time I get during the day.

11 hours ago, Jannis said:

Would my Surface Pro 3 be considered a PC or a tablet...?

As long as you are using the onboard camera, then I think this would be fine

I won't be holding my imac up to an eyepiece and using the facetime camera but if I did, I think that would just about be OK too

12 hours ago, happy-kat said:

Excellent one.

I assume that you mean must be taken using the lens device on the phone or tablet, and not the device connected to something else making the captures.

Feel free to hold your phone or tablet up to an eyepiece or hook it up to a telescope - it's all about the camera in this case, if you choose to attach it to something go for it

3 hours ago, tooth_dr said:

But DSLRs were excluded from entering the Narrowband Challenge?  Discrimination

We are going to try and keep the challenges as open as possible in future - we will see how it goes though.

3 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I understood there would be an OSC/DSLR challenge in January-March.

Is this 'open to all' RGB challenge a different one?

This is the OSC / DSLR challenge but we’ve tried to listen to feedback form past challenges and want to make it as open as possible.

It looks like we can’t win either way! The point of these challenges is to be a bit of fun that people can participate it - please take them in the spirit intended ?

Well it's really a OSC / DSLR challenge but we didn't want to exclude people with mono cameras

Yep - luminance is OK but not using a narrowband filter ?

4 minutes ago, lulu57 said:

Have you seen the weather forecast? You're all going to be stuffing your faces with banana bread whilst basking in your bikinis - 20 degrees!

 nobody wants to see the SGL admin team in bikinis - am I right @daz @Ant @Steve

2 minutes ago, simmo70 said:

Thanks for the quick response.

Not wanting to upset my neighbours on my first event   is it easy to change pitchon arival? 

One does snore like a trooper especially after some old rosie

See 27 & 28 are grass and be alone too

 

 

Speak with Lucksall when you arrive and if they can, I'm sure they will help with a pitch change but it will depend on the condition of the pitches - some have been deliberately left empty.

14 minutes ago, simmo70 said:

I booked last minute Yesterday as now have funds to attend. What time can one arrive at the camp site on the friday?

Not had any email or feed back yet as to pitch number etc  but i do want to arrive at decent time and avoid the traffic

Fingers X for clear skies this time.

 

You're on pitch 48, just heard from Lucksall

Official arrival time with Lucksall is 1pm.

They're all just 'turn up on the day' except for the processing ones with Rob/Uranium235 - he has separate threads running to sign up for those

Pitch plan up to date - version 3

An updated pitch plan with all the recent additions will be posted in the next day or so - just waiting to get the allocation details from Lucksall.

If anybody would like to bring any cakes for the tea tent they are always gratefully received

Not long now  Still time to book pitches and/or food but please be quick - these all need to be finalised by the weekend.

We're a little more organised this year so I am very pleased to announce the timings in advance!

Arrival

• Arrival - Please ensure you book in and collect your welcome packs
• Welcome - Come and say hi at the welcome tent - me and Daz should be hanging around there most of the time so if you need any help, assistance or just fancy a brew come and say hi!

Friday

• 17:30 - Cafe - Curry Night
• 18:30ish - Cafe - Quiz - this will happen once everyone has had their curry so the time is a little flexible. If you're not having curry, please do pop up and join in the cafe has a great selection of beers and ciders to sample!

Saturday

• 10:00-13:00 - Welcome Tent - FLO Trade Stand and Bring & Buy Sale
• 13:00-14:00 - Welcome Tent - Meteorites / Fossil Touch & Feel with Helen
• 13:30-14:30 - Rob's Pod - Group 1 Basic Astro-processing with Uranium235 (Fully Booked)
• 14:00-15:00 - Welcome Tent - Plate Solving in SGPro with Daz
• 15:00-16:00 - Rob's Pod - Group 2 Advanced Astro-processing with Uranium235 (Fully Booked)
• 15:00-16:00 - Welcome Tent - Timelapses with PhotoGav
• 16:00-17:00 - Welcome Tent - Observing the Moon - Reading the Lunar Landscape with MichaelMorris
• 17:30 - Welcome Tent - Hog Roast!!!
• 20:30ish - Welcome Tent - Star Hopping with a Dob with RikM

Sunday

• 10:30-11:30 - Welcome Tent - Solar Capture & Processing with Ibbo
• 11:30-12:30 - Welcome Tent - Variable Star Observing Talk with Mr Spock
• 13:30 - Cafe - Sunday Roast
• 20:30ish - Welcome Tent - Variable Star Observing (if clear) with Mr Spock

I think you'll agree it's a pretty jam packed line up - many thanks to all the volunteers for doing talks and workshops

In addition to the workshops, if anybody has any specific questions they would like help with then we will be running ad hoc one-to-one's or small groups that will be arranged in a separate thread.

Look forward to seeing you all soon!

We have a list of challenges for the next year based on ideas we've had in the mod/admin team but, we are very much open to suggestions

We're trying to get a balance of subjects and difficulties and like to have some that pretty much anyone can take part in every so often to try and get more people involved.

Please let us know any thoughts you have

Cheers,

Grant

Just now, Starflyer said:

Hi @Grant, I didn't book food when I originally booked our pitch, how do I book some meals now?

Cheers,

Ian

You can book food anytime up until a week or so before:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sgl-sp-booking.html

Same as extra nights - I will join up all the bookings for the same person

Few more bookings have come through so pitch plan has been updated to v2

On 9/8/2017 at 19:40, mark skelton said:

Are there still any pitches left, and is it possible to book/pay at end of month when I next get payed?

I've sent you a PM

1 minute ago, DaveS said:

Looking at where my pitch is, Buzzard 49, it's not clear if it has EHU.

It's only the very end section in hare that doesn't have EHU.

When you book you choose electric or non-electric and you also enter your tent size so that you will be allocated a suitable pitch ?

4 minutes ago, simmo70 said:

Do you take over the whole campsite then ??

 

No but a large chunk of it and at this time of year there won't be many others around and in theory not close to us. Those that are there will know an astronomy event is going on and will be given information about red lights efc.. and welcomed to come and visit ?

Just now, simmo70 said:

But on the map what is called as 'the rally field' is not on there ?  Is it the section thats closed off near the Loo block?

 

We don't use the large 'rally' field because it doesn't have electric hookups...

Version 3 of the pitch plan.

It's starting to fill up nicely but still plenty of room if anybody would like to come along - bookings are still open

Cheers,

Grant

* Updated to version 3, 4th October 2017.