Galloway 2017 Spring Gathering

[Physopto]

7 hours ago, Astronomer69 said:

Still not made my mind up yet as not used any of my equipment for over 12 months and the car not moved in about 6 so still in 2 minds weather to risk it as got more to lose than to gain. On another note would be great to catch up and see some faces again ??

Risk it, be nice to see you again. We can allways give you a jump start. Then think of the company,,,, OK forget the company  ?

[moondust]

Just come across these Derek hope you like Dennis

[Physopto]

Oh Oh have to diet, quick delete these, Ugggg!  ?.   ? ?????????? Better now!

 

[Uplooker]

7 minutes ago, Physopto said:

Oh Oh have to diet, quick delete these, Ugggg!  ?.   ? ?????????? Better now!

 

Who, who, who ate all the pies? You did, you did!!!!!!

[mapstar]

Be good to have you back up there Kieran. I'm sure you'd do a sterling job of creating a new time lapse for the camp. 

Get yourself booked, loads attending this year. 

[Physopto]

57 minutes ago, Uplooker said:

Who, who, who ate all the pies? You did, you did!!!!!!

My aim in life is to match just half your consumption O Holy One ?

[Uplooker]

11 hours ago, Astronomer69 said:

Still not made my mind up yet as not used any of my equipment for over 12 months and the car not moved in about 6 so still in 2 minds weather to risk it as got more to lose than to gain. On another note would be great to catch up and see some faces again ??

Come on, you know or should know that we would all love to see you. It's always difficult to make the jump but one you have you wonder why you didn't do it sooner, get you'll sel booked. Be really good for you and us to meet up ?

[Davey-T]

Blimey Derek, having never seen you in the flesh, only spoken on the phone I pictured you as a Brad Pitt lookalike 

Dave

PS thanks for all your patient help setting up the 10Micron, been working faultlessly for months now.

[Physopto]

2 hours ago, Davey-T said:

Blimey Derek, having never seen you in the flesh, only spoken on the phone I pictured you as a Brad Pitt lookalike 

Dave

PS thanks for all your patient help setting up the 10Micron, been working faultlessly for months now.

B;);:/&or, I thought I was better looking. Now I'm right depressed!

Still glad your mount is proving its worth.  ??? Nice to hear that. I will be glad to give mine an outing once again. Hope to see you up at Galloway then. 

[Adrian Condon]

Hi Mike,

Just to confirm that I plan to arrive on Monday 13 February 2017 and depart on Friday 24 February...  I will be going to the DAG Annual Dinner 25 February at Chapel le Dale.

So I will not be around for the Pie Eating Competition.....

Must start packing... a bottle of Whiskey, astro gear, a bottle of whiskey.... camping gear, another bottle of whiskey........

Gloomy skies here, hope skies in Galloway from mid February are clear, jet black and the DSOs are crystal clear.... (as per usual).

Cheers

Adrian

 

 

 

[Demon Barber]

Hello All , not long to go now,all the electric hook-ups are now fully booked,there are still non-leccy pitches available, i will start a reserve list for any cancellation`s.

The Cold clear weather is on order just keeping everything crossed

Regards

Mike

[mikeyscope]

Hello Mike and all...

We kinda left things to the last minute but we decided to come along... booked yesterday for 20th-28th Feb ( pitch 12)

Had a couple of problems back at the November starcamp... Titan guide camera not working due to fault with USB within camera... Atik replaced faulty circuit board, thanks to them for a very fast turnaround on the repair, great service and thanks to those on site at Drumroamin that helped in fault solving the issue... Derek, Ian and Dave.

I had to resort to using my old SBIG STV autoguider and that sure makes you realise how much more sensitive the guide cameras are now, the brightest star in the field required 10secs to be bright enough to consistently guide on... not ideal at long FL 

Also the hand controller for AP mount decided to malfunction not pointing to where it should, having done fault finding with AP we concluded a component within the keypad was draining power in the circuit that stores the database of objects simulating a low battery problem. Unfortunately because the keypad is so old there was no repair option on the components so had to bite the bullet and buy a new keypad ...can't really complain as it was good for 13years!

Mike

[Demon Barber]

Nice one Mike looking forward to catching up with you, it must be the season for faults developing,my mount takes it upon itself to  complete a goto then ticks it`s way off the target,still working on it,will just be bringing my Obsession,visual only for me!

See you there,

Mike

[mikeyscope]

Mike... sorry to hear you're having problems there too, a process of elimination, hope you get to the bottom of the issue soon!

Anyway looking forward to a holiday and catching up...

Best wishes!

Mike

[hadyn42]

Hello All

Christina and myself are very much looking forward to attending the Spring GSP.

I  would be very grateful if  I can a couple of you to give me some instruction on using my ED80 and Canon 700D to do some astrophotography,  I did a bit last year with the kind help of Julian and Adrian. I have now gotten a 60mm guidescope and a Lodestar X2 camera to try and  do some guiding. I have already put BYE EOS, PHD2 and Eqmod along with the Ascom software on my Wndows 7 and 10 laptops, but with this poor seeing  I have been unable to test the gear out. Oh and by the way I have bought the Polemaster camera to set things up, so thank you to Julian and Adrian for the Polemaster advice

So if anyone could kindly help me please that would be great?

Mike:   Can I ask are you doing the Pie Social night on the Saturday night please?  Just trying to inquire as to how many cakes for Christina to bake? No need to ask what kind of cake you like!

See you all in just over two weeks!

Best regards,

Christina and Hadyn - Isle of Man

[Demon Barber]

Hi Haydn,nice to hear from you,thee pie social is a an autumn feature,but i`m sure we can organise something locally,cakes will not go to waste 

As regards your a/p i`m sure everybody will chip in with advice,i can suggest installing APT software similar to BYE.

Regards

Mike

[PhotoGav]

Hello Haydn,

I would be delighted to try and help you with a bit of astrophotography. @A40farinagolf has also asked about guiding and astrophotography, so I feel a little session coming on! I don't profess to be the complete expert, but I've certainly made plenty of mistakes in my astrophotography journey that I can at least share my learning with you. I am not bringing a huge rig with me as it is now resident in my garden obsy, so will have time to help.

Look forward to seeing you and everyone up there.

Gav.

[Dr_Ju_ju]

I'll be on site from the 18th onwards, so if Adrian hasn't hogged all my time, I'll gladly help anyone who may need it with PHD2 guiding etc...  especially if bribed with a small libation

[furrysocks2]

On 03/01/2017 at 07:56, furrysocks2 said:

Not sure for how long I'll be allowed to escape but hoping to make it along again.

Great mountain biking up at Kirroughtree for anyone interested.

Far from being a fair-weather camper but whether I make it down or not depends on a stellar forecast - time away from the family and the 4 hour drive, etc.

My folks aren't that far away so can retire there if I leave it too late for a pitch.

 

Any mountain bikers?

[Ally8446]

Really looking forward to this meet guys. Now although I know and fully understand how to collimate my Rev 12 dob I do have one thing I'm hoping someone can shed light on.  To collimate it to near perfection one of the primary adjusters is racked all the way in and really quite tight,  it's almost as if the mirror has shifted within the cell itself. Don't get me wrong,  the views through it are good enough but I can't help wondering if something is amiss.  I'm hoping one of you top blokes/girls can help.  See you all in 3 weeks,  I'll be arriving on the Thursday 23rd around 1ish. Clear skies one and all. 

Ally

[Demon Barber]

Hi Ally it does sound as if it's shifted no problem to readjust the mirror, will see you there

Regards

Mike

[mapstar]

19 hours ago, furrysocks2 said:

Any mountain bikers?

I may bring the bike one day, but there's gonna be clear skies everynight so sleep will be on the agenda for the daytime 

14 hours ago, Ally8446 said:

Really looking forward to this meet guys. Now although I know and fully understand how to collimate my Rev 12 dob I do have one thing I'm hoping someone can shed light on.  To collimate it to near perfection one of the primary adjusters is racked all the way in and really quite tight,  it's almost as if the mirror has shifted within the cell itself. Don't get me wrong,  the views through it are good enough but I can't help wondering if something is amiss.  I'm hoping one of you top blokes/girls can help.  See you all in 3 weeks,  I'll be arriving on the Thursday 23rd around 1ish. Clear skies one and all. 

Ally

Sounds a little bit strange a few photo's of the mirror and cell may reveal the problem 

[Demon Barber]

Hello All,not long to go now,the weather is looking good over the s/w of Scotland for the next five nights is promising,i hope it is practicing and that we get a good clear spell,i`ve got everything crossed!!!!

Make sure you have any batteries charged up in good time, and don`t forget warm/waterproof footwear clothing etc. I wonder if we will need skin so soft,just in case there are any midges not hibernating 

Regards

Mike

[mikeyscope]

Hi guys

Just a quick note to say sorry we had to cancel our booking this evening with Lesley.

Unfortunately a friend is in hospital with cancer has taken a turn for the worse... afraid it's terminal so we are staying home to give support.

We will be back at Drumroamin in the Autumn all being well ...perhaps sooner if circumstances permit.

Hope the weather plays fair for everyone!

Best wishes Mike, Elise & astro dogs!

[Demon Barber]

Hi Mike,thanks for letting us know,it`s a terrible thing and it seems not a day goes by without hearing it has blighted another life,take care and we will see you later in the year.

Here`s hoping a cure is found soon,

Regards

Mike