Taby Mini Astrofest

[wimvb]

Yesterday evening, with no clouds and no moon (is that even possible?), I had two friends over for an imaging session. Firas (@Firas) and Roger (no member of sgl, yet) brought their gear and set up in my garden for some quality social time, and imaging.

We had a few very enjoyable hours with (hopefully) some nice images to show later. Unfortunately, Firas couldn't get tracking and guiding to work properly at -12 C, so he packed in early and did the smart thing: go inside. Therefore, only two setups in this image.Both Roger and I could controll the sessions from indoors (usb vs wifi).

(Suddenly my SW 150PDS and AZ-EQ6 look tiny, compared to Roger's photon bucket, a C11 Edge HD, reduced to f/7.)

After some 4+ hours of imaging, we (they) called it a night and packed everything away at 2 am, while I let my gear run for another two hours. When I finally put a cover on my scope it had started to cloud over, and the east was getting brighter. I haven't had a chance to look at the data yet, but guiding was very consistent all through the night, and there was no ice on any of my gear even at 4 am, which is an indication of good seeing as well.

Thanks Firas and Roger for the company. Hopefully we can do it again sometime.

[Demonperformer]

And yet there are people who tell me that astronomy must be a solitary pursuit.  Sounds like a great evening.

[wimvb]

Thanks DP, it certainly was great. Re solitary, I think that the very existence of SGL already proves otherwise. But it's always nice to meet fellow stargazers irl.

[gorann]

Sound like you had a nice but cold night. Why not just take off the roof on that little play-house?

[wimvb]

1 hour ago, gorann said:

Sound like you had a nice but cold night. Why not just take off the roof on that little play-house?

My daughter wouldn't agree with that, to put it mildly. If we weren't moving this summer, then maybe ...

[Firas]

Thank You Wim! It was certainly a lovely evening both socially and astronomically.

I am not well accustomed to setting up outside my territory, my balcony. It was really cold, my toes froze despite good preparations, and it became increasingly difficult to think and try to identify the problem with the setup, let alone that natural stress that time is running out (I should be imaging now, the night is slipping away, what am I doing?)

So, yes, giving up was the wiser choice.

We will do it again Wim.

Cheers   

[LukeSkywatcher]

So, let me get this right..............

You do astronomy with other people and you do it from indoors?.

One of us is doing it all wrong. 

LOL.

[wimvb]

24 minutes ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

One of us is doing it all wrong.

Or just different. At -12 C I don't want to rough it. I've done my share of manual AP, including manual dithering. As Danny Glover grunts in Lethal Weapon: "I'm too old for this s..t." 

 

[LukeSkywatcher]

Dont think (i know) i wouldnt be outside in -12C.

[wimvb]

41 minutes ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

Dont think (i know) i wouldnt be outside in -12C.

That's a double negative (not counting the minus sign ). But I think we agree that roughing it at -12 is only fun for a short while. You're always welcome for some social AP, if your in the neighbourhood. Indoors or outdoors.

[GarryLazereyes]

Born and raised in Täby :-) now in Norrtälje. Nice to see some fellow swedes on the forums