2011 Astro Fest , My report , Photo Heavy

[Essex Stargazer]

Hi All

Thought I would post this in case anyone was interested , so here goes !

Went down Friday 2nd , arrived at 14.00 , Weather fine and quite a few people already in attendance

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.Set up in my van and got my scope out to cool

The sky looked good with just very high wispy clouds

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Had a wander around the site ( Camping area ) as this was my first Astro Event was not sure what happens ? but it worked out for me as follows ,

While walking around I found if I looked at some equipment and the owners looked at me then look away , that was as far as it went

However If I stopped and looked at a scope setup and the owner looked at me and said " Hi How are you " they were interested in a chat and talking about astro related items

I knew instantly if I was welcome , don't want to be a pain to anyone so I knew where I stood

Got on well with the family in a caravan next to me , Tea and bacon buttys and several long chats

Also spent some time with a chap with a imaging setup ( @ x Williams optics ) , he knew what he was doing , I was impressed

Went into the Observatory center for a wander around and to look at the massive scopes

Back to my van for a scotch and coke , Then notice the Moon was up in daylight so had my first Look through the LX90 with the 16mm EP / the the 9mm EP , WOW huge detail , The couple in the caravan came over for a look as well so we were all quite happy

Darkness decended , by this time the Moon was gone , so a quick look around for a bright object to look at and found one , so in manual mode ( No Goto ) had a look and low and behold I had found Jupiter and could see all the moons

Around 11pm it started to get misty and by 12pm it was thick so I put my cover over the scope and went to bed

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Next morning I woke to this

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Thats my scope under what I thought was a cover , but alas it seems not , the dew had gone straight through the cover and the scope was soaking wet , NOT IMPRESSED

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Later in the day the mist cleared and we had skys like this

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So I went back into the OBs center to see the trade stands

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Some fine equipment

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Had my first look through a PST scope 3 on site for viewing

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I thought we had been invaded when I saw this looking over the fence at me

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I had notice lots of lost soles being drawn to this evil looking tent

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Eventually I to was absorbed to it innards , wont say what I found inside

Nice obsevatory

Nice plants

Invented a new drink while I was there , Its called A bitter OBSY TOP

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Later in the afternoon was the raffle

My lucky ticket won me 4th prize

A Phillips Book

:D

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The sky during the day went from this

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to this

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Then this

and this

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So with a forecast of storms and lightning I decided to head for home

All in all I enjoyed the time there

Bring on Kelling

[Deneb]

Can you blow up the 10th pic please, ive seen something which i was told might be hard to get over here . An Explore Scientific 6" Mak Newt.

Cheers

Nadeem

[Essex Stargazer]

Is that the one under the Meade rear shot ?

If it is PM me a email address and I will sent it to you

[Deneb]

In that pic, who's trade stand was that ?

[Essex Stargazer]

In that pic, who's trade stand was that ?

Astronomia

[John]

Thanks for the report and all the pics of what looks like an interesting event in a great location

These things can really enthuse you for the hobby can't they

[jam1e1]

good review thanks - wanted to go as live nearish but with recent arrival of a little one, no chance of anything social for a while

[Phil Fargaze]

Got back from Herstmonceux this afternoon. We too were wondering about the forcast but in the end it remained dry with no thunder storms. It did remain partly cloudy until I went to bed at 12.30 sat night but someone said it did clear after 1am for a while. I was packed away by then anyway so I don`t think I would have dragged the scope out at that time. The dew was a bit too much on Fri night wasn`t it! My dob was still drying off in the sun on Sat afternoon, now the mirror is badly water marked so I will have to give it a clean. On Sunday morning the Storm Troopers gate crashed the party!

[Tim]

Looks like great fun!

See you at Kelling

[brantuk]

Great report and pics - looks like you had a smashing time and made a couple of chums. Saw you drooling over the Mead stand though hehehe! Looking forward to meeting you at Kelling. Btw - get one of these:

Cases, Bags and Covers for Telescopes and Other Optics

[twotter]

I'm drooling just at the pics of the Meade stand - nice report

[JamesM]

Thanks for the report and pictures, looks like a great event. Although I've heard of it before, I didn't realise you could camp there as well - must male a note in the diary for that one. I wonder if they could do this at Sidmouth?

James

[John]

.... I didn't realise you could camp there as well - must male a note in the diary for that one. I wonder if they could do this at Sidmouth?.....

I think it's being considered James - I've expressed an interest in some sort of event at Sidmouth if it can be arranged

[Rustysplit]

We were in the splitscreen vw opposite you! Nice to meet you. If you had stayed on the saturday night, it did clear for a few hours, but not until about 1 am ish. too late for us as we had fallen asleep by then.

Fully agree that it was a good weekend. We will be there again next year for sure.

[Essex Stargazer]

We were in the splitscreen vw opposite you! Nice to meet you. If you had stayed on the saturday night, it did clear for a few hours, but not until about 1 am ish. too late for us as we had fallen asleep by then.

Fully agree that it was a good weekend. We will be there again next year for sure.

Nice to meet you and yours , Hope you enjoy you 1ST prize in the raffle

May see you next year