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Galloway Autumn Star Camp 2018

Demon Barber

By Demon Barber
in Star Parties & Astro Events

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wackyscot

wackyscot

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Arrived Thursday, Martyn Tony and myself. Pete couldn't manage as he'd put his back out. It was blustery and wet, but we got set up, fed, and headed for the whisky tasting station. There were many malts to try and share. We met some old friends and some new friends. That's what I love about The Drumroamin Star Camp (maybe it should be re-named). The friendship and helpfullness of everyone is an inspiration. Friday wasn't great, so another warm room meeting, exchanging stories and tips for experienced stargazers and the newcomers. Saturday saw Tom and young Calum arrive. Calum has only just got into astronomy. We assisted him at an earlier star party and his enthusiasm is so exciting, as are his astrophotography results. His imaging from a fairly basic setup are astonishing. He will surely blow us all away as his pockets empty from the next purchases he has already showed an interest in. Saturday was looking good with a stiff breeze slowly easing, a fleeting rain shower around 5pm saw us all running for scope coats. We weren't put off, the skies cleared and DID THEY. Come darkness, there was a feverish expectation, everyone rushing around doing final preparartions for the night ahead. 

I was suffering from a knackered back and was limited to what I could do, but Martyn kindly loaned me his skywatcher wifi dongle and I played with it for the 1st time. I was pleasantly surprised when I got the measure of it. Basically, it does away with the handset and you do everything from your phone (make sure phone is well charged) I then use Sky Safari Plus to control my scope go-to's . (I have a 12" goto dob called BIg John)   I saw Saturn, Mars, Andromeda, The Double Cluster which I never tire of looking at and many others.

Tony was at his 1st Galloway Camp and we offered to assist him with his scope, camera and viewing through other scopes. He was stunned with a horizon to horizon Milky Way, he saw Saturn, Mars, Double Cluster. We showed him Mirror Lockup on his camera, a small but useful tip when doing astrophotography. We also showed him how to change his screen colour on his camera, again a useful tip. These are things we all take for granted. But someone has to show you these things. The skies at Drumroamin never fail to impress weather permitting. My back problems saw me retire early regretfully, I was gutted but health issues saw me in bed around midnight. Adrian called by in the morning and kindly offered me some cream to rub on my sore bits. Thanks Adrian. 

I think this has to be one of the best skies I have seen at Drumroamin, I'm just peeved my back gave out and I never saw more. Heyho bring on the cream Adrian. See you all soon at The UK's friendliest Star Camp

David

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Adrian Condon

Adrian Condon

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HI David,

Glad you got home  safely. A good soak in a bath may help. I know that sore backs are areal pain.

Hope Tony will make another trip to Drumroamin, trust you are fit enough to let the builder in tomorrow.

As always, it is great meeting up with you.

Cheers

Adrian

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wackyscot

wackyscot

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10 hours ago, Adrian Condon said:

HI David,

Glad you got home  safely. A good soak in a bath may help. I know that sore backs are areal pain.

Hope Tony will make another trip to Drumroamin, trust you are fit enough to let the builder in tomorrow.

As always, it is great meeting up with you.

Cheers

Adrian

Tony has said he'd be back. I had a hot bath when I got in and am currently watching TV with a nice 12yo. It's blowing a hooly in Perthshire and I noticed a BIG aurora alert. Clouded out here :(  so I'll be having a quiet night in, all by myself watching TV then a comfy soft warm bed - See yoo all soon :)

David

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jamie56

jamie56

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hi All

another great star camp as usual last nite never disappoints, apart from temperamental mount all went not too bad. Thanks to Mike for yer help yet again and also Lesley and Ralph for perfect site. Home now and gear tucked away in obsy, throwing it down so no gazing, hope to see ya all February

 

16 hours ago, mapstar said:

We have Aurora up in that there Skye tonight.

Managed some photos so will post a few when I can.

Hopefully you guys will get some clear northern facing skies to see them. 

 

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mapstar

mapstar

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16 hours ago, mapstar said:

We have Aurora up in that there Skye tonight.

Managed some photos so will post a few when I can.

Hopefully you guys will get some clear northern facing skies to see them. 

Got some shots check out these in the widefield section

Skye Aurora

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philthy

philthy

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Arrived home at 3:45 today, after another excellent Galloway Star camp. Saturday night was stunning.

Thanks to Mike, Leslie and Ralf for putting this together, and to the other attendees who make the event what it is.

Can't wait for February for the next installment.

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oobydooby

oobydooby

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I intended doing a write up but David has done one so much better than I could, so I will just add a few things.

David and Martyn's photo tips were excellent and with a few examples of images they had taken they left me to experiment and I snapped away happily for an hour or so with long and short exposures with varying ISO settings.  I was very happy with some images (it's amazing how good they look on a 2.5" monitor.)  I had varying success with focusing but thought I had done well.  Sadly when I got home and transferred them to the desktop I couls see focus was atroshus  attroshius  atroscious  very bad.  I understand I need a decent wide angle EF-S lens for the best results so will be getting one when my meagre funds stretch to it.

Another valuable lesson was not to bring lots of food, especially frozen fruits and berries which tend to defrost and spread red stains all over the tent.  (really sorry about that David.)

Edna and Hannah (Her grand daughter) went to Tescos when I got home - and Saw something I might like (a self inflating blow up doll  sorry BED and that was another item which David recommended as he had found one cheap at Tescos.  Guess what David I now have a self inflating blow up bed ready for next years star camp.

Anyhow folks here's two of my attempts of imaging the milky way, straight from the camera, no processing and badly focused.  At least I'm happy with it.

Thanks Martyn, David and everyone for the encouragement and for the invite to see the most glorious night sky I have ever seen.  What a beautiful view of the Milky Way.

Will I be going again..... You better believe it!

IMG_1921.JPG

IMG_1956.JPG

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wackyscot

wackyscot

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1 hour ago, oobydooby said:

I intended doing a write up but David has done one so much better than I could, so I will just add a few things.

David and Martyn's photo tips were excellent and with a few examples of images they had taken they left me to experiment and I snapped away happily for an hour or so with long and short exposures with varying ISO settings.  I was very happy with some images (it's amazing how good they look on a 2.5" monitor.)  I had varying success with focusing but thought I had done well.  Sadly when I got home and transferred them to the desktop I couls see focus was atroshus  attroshius  atroscious  very bad.  I understand I need a decent wide angle EF-S lens for the best results so will be getting one when my meagre funds stretch to it.

Another valuable lesson was not to bring lots of food, especially frozen fruits and berries which tend to defrost and spread red stains all over the tent.  (really sorry about that David.)

Edna and Hannah (Her grand daughter) went to Tescos when I got home - and Saw something I might like (a self inflating blow up doll  sorry BED and that was another item which David recommended as he had found one cheap at Tescos.  Guess what David I now have a self inflating blow up bed ready for next years star camp.

Anyhow folks here's two of my attempts of imaging the milky way, straight from the camera, no processing and badly focused.  At least I'm happy with it.

Thanks Martyn, David and everyone for the encouragement and for the invite to see the most glorious night sky I have ever seen.  What a beautiful view of the Milky Way.

Will I be going again..... You better believe it!

IMG_1921.JPG

IMG_1956.JPG

Glad you enjoyed it Tony. And yes, the skies were stunning. My cloud and rain dance worked :) It's always nice to pass on  little tips that help fellow astronomers, when they benefit, we all do, from someone else posting lovely images. I'm sure your bed will be well inflated next year from past experience hehehehe. Anyhoo always good to introduce someone to the Star Camp fraternity, we are a friendly bunch.

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Adrian Condon

Adrian Condon

Posted
Posted

Hi David,

I took the following images using an Olympus EM-1 MKii camera with a 7-14mm Pro lens (equivalent to 14-28mm on a full frame camera). So this was a wide-angle shot.

This was a one-off colour image, 15 second duration, ( and, for Mike.... it was taken on a tripod! ) with a iOptron mini mount.

Another image will be loaded later.

All the 

Milky Way #01.jpg

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mapstar

mapstar

Posted
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3 minutes ago, Adrian Condon said:

Hi David,

I took the following images using an Olympus EM-1 MKii camera with a 7-14mm Pro lens (equivalent to 14-28mm on a full frame camera). So this was a wide-angle shot.

This was a one-off colour image, 15 second duration, ( and, for Mike.... it was taken on a tripod! ) with a iOptron mini mount.

Another image will be loaded later.

All the 

Milky Way #01.jpg

Was the image taken at sunset Adrian?

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Adrian Condon

Adrian Condon

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Hi Damian

It was taken at around 21:30 pm

It looks a lot better in Lightroom

I have taken both RAW and jpeg at the same time

This image is a RAW converted to jpeg

in Lightroom and exported.

 I must download the jpeg image from the camera and compare both jpegs

All the best

Adrian

 

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Demon Barber

Demon Barber

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Hello All, sincere apologies for this late post, i`ve been under the weather.  A big thank you to Lesley and Ralph for all there hard work, always appreciated,and what a surprise the field was in superb condition and was still in good condition when we all departed.

A thank you to Phil and to Kenny and his wife Caroline i could not have managed without the care and help they offered.

As always a huge than you to  everyone who traveled to make the Galloway star camp Scotland's premier astro do under pristine skies, just wish a few more of the nights had been clearer, but i think you will agree that when the clouds do cooperate the reason for traveling the distances we do, is magnificent.

Jim and Dawn thank you for your hospitality, and Ian always entertaining.

David Martyn and their guest Tony always raise my spirits along with newcomer Calum who produced some worthy photo`s considering he is just starting astrophotography.

Adrian for your endless enthusiasm i am always entertained,thank you.

I`m sure everyone from the diehards to newcomers had a good time,and a thank you goes out them all for making the event such a success.

Next year is our tenth anniversary and we are hoping to have  a variety of talks food and of course whiskey tasting,if anyone can think of an item they think would be good just let me know,the dates for the do will likely be in November but i will post them soon.

I really could not manage without everyone`s support,and for that i thank you

Regards

Mike

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Adrian Condon

Adrian Condon

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Hi Mike,

None of this great star party would be possible without you having taken over the reins a number of years ago.

I enjoy the whole party, from the extremely clear skies, the nights that are not so clear, the nights when there is just a few stars visible and the nights that the craic is very entertaining.

This star party is amazing and travelling the 800 mile round  trip speaks volume.

A Big Thank you for all your efforts goes without saying.

Thank you.......Mike

Hope to see you in the Spring 2019.

Adrian

 

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mapstar

mapstar

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27 minutes ago, Uplooker said:

It wouldn’t happen without you Mike! Thank you. ?

I'll second what Ian says. Well done again. I'm in for the anniversary bash.

Keep up the good work we all appreciate it.

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Uplooker

Uplooker

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2 hours ago, estwing said:

Hope to meet you all in spring 

Hi Calvin,

I truly hope so too. You have been promising for sometime that you will attend a GSP event.

Spring event would be good to get you familiar with the going’s on before the 10th anniversary one in late Oct / early Nov 2019.

Just need Mike to post the dates ?

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