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South West Astronomy Fair 2011

FLO

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FLO

FLO

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This year's Southwest Astronomy Fair is on Saturday, 6th August 9am to 6pm at the Norman Lockyer Observatory near Sidmouth, Devon.

The SWAF is a well established event celebrating its sixth year bringing visitors from all over the country to an area of outstanding natural beauty.

It provides an opportunity to visit observatorys, attend some excellent lectures and view astronomical and related equipment from various trade stands.

James, Martin and myself will be manning the First Light Optics stand together with Steve Chambers of Atik cameras.

It is organised and run by the Norman Lockyer Observatory, entry to the fair is £5 per adult and £2.50 for those under 18.

You can also book lectures, click HERE for a downloadable booking form.

Hope to see you there :)

Exhibitors (so far):

Amateur Radio Station GB2NLO

Astronomy Now

Atik

Campaign for Dark Skies

First Light Optics :icon_eek:

Open University

Opticron

SCS Astro

Sidmouth Museum

Society of Popular Astronomy

Space Rocks

UCLAN

Vixen

Widescreen Centre

Lectures:

David Bryant : Are we alone?

Andy Newsam : Things that go Bang in the Night!

Andrew Lound : A Starry Night to Remember.

Damian Peach : A Guide to Overseas Observing

Planetarium presentations and telescope dome tours take place throughout the day. Car parking and refreshments are available.

The event is suitable for all ages and welcomes disabled visitors by providing step-free access.

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John

John

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Gonna be cool when we move down there. I won't miss anymore of these things :icon_eek:

It's a really nice event in a great location Sy - some interesting old refractors to look over in the domes as well :rolleyes:

Excellent weather last year as well - lets hope for a repeat of that :)

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FLO

FLO

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Is it a free event? I've never been to anything like this before so i'm really looking forward to it.

It is organised and run by the Norman Lockyer Observatory, entry to the fair is £5 per adult and £2.50 for those under 18. You can also book lectures. You can download a booking form HERE

HTH,

Steve :)

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Ant

Ant

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Shame it isn't a week earlier... I'm driving through that area the weekend before and it would have been nice to pop in.

But 250 miles is a bit of a trek!

Ant

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FLO

FLO

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The South West Astronomy Fair is nearly upon us :eek:

Saturday, 6th August 9am to 6pm at the Norman the Norman Lockyer Observatory near Sidmouth, Devon.

Martin, James and I will be there with our biggest stand so far. We will also be joined by Steve Chambers of Atik cameras. Steve is largely responsible for the design and development of Atik cameras so if you have any really technical questions, he is your man :)

We have also just heard Equatorial Platforms will be attending with a stand next to ours. If I remember correctly their products were well received last year and generated some positive discussion here on SGL.

The Widescreen Centre missed last year's event (Simon was bitten by a poisonous spider :headbang:) but they will be attending this year. Simon and Ylena (hope I spelled that correctly) always put up a good display. Other exhibitors include Space Rocks (the meteorite man), Opticron (Vixen and Opticron binoculars), the SPA, UCLAF (for those wishing to study astronomy), SCS Astro, Astronomy Now, astro-imaging Marquee, meteor detection facility, radio group... We are really looking forward to this year's event!

Lectures on the day are:

David Bryant : Are we alone?

Andy Newsam : Things that go Bang in the Night!

Andrew Lound : A Starry Night to Remember.

Damian Peach : A Guide to Overseas Observing

Planetarium presentations and telescope dome tours take place throughout the day. Car parking and refreshments are available.

The event is in an area of 'outstanding natural beauty', is suitable for all ages and welcomes disabled visitors by providing step-free access.

Entry to the fair is £5 per adult and £2.50 for those under 18.

Hope to see you there :)

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tomw28

tomw28

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Conveniently we're on holiday about an hours drive away. If I can persuade someone to take me, I'll hopefully see you there. That means that I'm selfishly hoping for rain so everyone's not on the beach, so sorry . This is one of the few times I wish I could drive...

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fatwoul

fatwoul

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Just got back from visiting the fair. We weren't there long, but it was a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon. Got to finally meet FLO Martin for a chat (lovely guy, spent a while just talking about most of the stuff they had on their stand), along with a couple of SGLers. Didn't get a chance to look through any of the fleet of PSTs running, but the clouds were conspiring against them!

Hope everyone else enjoyed it as much as we did.

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John

John

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I had a great time there and really enjoyed meeting some more SGL'ers ;)

It's so nice to be able to "talk astro" without feeling you are boring anyone !.

See you again soon I hope :rolleyes:

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John

John

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Yes that was the 14". Goodness knows what the 16" will look like !. I looked long and hard at the 14 but it just would not be practical given my need to get my scopes in and out of the house. James of FLO told me that moving just the base was a 2-man job.....

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FLO

FLO

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James of FLO told me that moving just the base was a 2-man job.....

It certainly was! We had intended to setup the 16-inch Skyliner 400p GOTO Dobsonian but James kindly offered to store it at his home after the event (he's good like that) and the base of the larger 16-inch does not fit through his door-frame.

Thank-you to all those who visited us at the South West Astronomy Fair and to the volunteers and organisers at the Norman Lockyer Observatory for arranging the event ;)

We really enjoyed ourselves and are grateful for the opportunity to attend.

Special thanks to Steve Chambers of Atik cameras for joining us this year, his presence and display of Atik kit went down very well indeed. Oh, and the NLO imagers (your all bonkers!) for their display of imaging rigs. Excellent stuff, it really enhanced the event! :rolleyes:

We are looking forward to next year's SWAF.

Steve

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pete_gamby

pete_gamby

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Did anyone happen to take any pictures of the Opticron/Vixen exhibits? Our sales rep Rob forgot to take his camera with him and I couldn't make it there myself this year (was on the Isle Of Wight on hols :-)) It would be great to see what the set up looked like.

Cheers, Pete (from Opticron)

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