European Astrofest 2020

[DaveS]

I *will* be giving it a miss this year unfortunately. Brewed up the sniffles, so staying here. No it's not the Chinese Lurgy , nor even Man Flu, just a bit of a cold. Also I saw in the local news that part of the M27 will be closed for bridge work so that might make my drive a bit tedious.

[souls33k3r]

Will be there tomorrow. Aiming for around 10am. Coming to meet up some names from here and also a few mates off SGL (Facebook). 

@carastrowhat time you coming? 

[carastro]

Probably about 10.30.

Carole 

[souls33k3r]

6 minutes ago, carastro said:

Probably about 10.30.

Carole 

Perfect, will find you... Unless you find me first

[Space Hopper]

If theres anyone who has any pictures of the 'Astro-trac' stand (who i believe are in attendance)

i'd be interested to see Richards latest gizmo.....

[Stu]

18 minutes ago, Space Hopper said:

If theres anyone who has any pictures of the 'Astro-trac' stand (who i believe are in attendance)

i'd be interested to see Richards latest gizmo.....

Any good?

 

[PeterW]

That’s it.. did think about taking a shot as I know there’s been a lot of interest... but got sidetracked talking to lots of people:

Peter

[carastro]

I saw Ahmed (souls), Mo (Marmo), Lorenzo, Apophis and a number of other Astro chums, but unfortunately no-one else from SGL.  Didn't seem so crowded this year, I guess some people are going to other shows.

Carole 

Edited February 2, 2020 by carastro

[souls33k3r]

26 minutes ago, carastro said:

I saw Ahmed (souls), Mo (Marmo), Lorenzo, Apophis and a number of other Astro chums, but unfortunately no-one else from SGL.  Didn't seem to crowded this year, I guess some people are going to other shows.

Carole 

I was lovely to see and chat with you as always Carole. Good seeing you Marmo and Apophis... Hopefully you'll see my mug more often once I have this car thingy sorted out

Throughout the day I was found at the ikarus stand and it was lovely to chat with Rob, Grant and Ray. Best nerd out ever!

Did anyone see how cute and impressive the new Rainbow Astro RST-135 mount was? Super light weight, slightly pricey for an average guy like me but that didn't stop me from dreaming and dribbling all over it (if FLO decides to put this mount on their "Offer" page and if the lucky owner sees some marks on the mount, yes these are my dribbles) Gawd! It was gorgeous and equally impressive was the StellaMira scopes. Very well machined, beautiful glass and tbh who doesn't like Red & Black combo. 

I agree with Carole and also since I gave the last few years a miss, I really did notice that the herd was not as massive as it used to be. Also i did go there with the intention on buying something which wouldn't take a massive hit on the wallet but didn't know what. In the end didn't feel like it was worth opening up my wallet. 

Edited February 1, 2020 by souls33k3r

[GavStar]

Enjoyable catchup with several friends and retailers.

Here’s the night vision contingent with David Nagler

[Highburymark]

2 hours ago, GavStar said:

Enjoyable catchup with several friends and retailers.

Here’s the night vision contingent with David Nagler

Great discussion with David Nagler yesterday about night vision and TV’s market strategy. Though clearly he didn’t trust Peter or me not to swipe the Apollo 11 eyepiece for this photo - note arm carefully protecting eyepiece

[robbymain]

I really enjoyed my visit on Friday morning - my first ever astro exhibition! Spoke to lots of exhibitors but it was especially good to meet and talk with FLO's Grant and Rob plus Rowan Astronomy's Derek and Dave on the Ikarus Imaging stand. I was really impressed with the AZ100 with Nexus DSC - far more capable and high performance than I could consider just now but one day...?! The StellaMira refractors were very nice as well.

The 2 talks I attended (Doomed Massive Stars and The Inspiring story of the Hubble Space Telescope) were extremely good and I would have happily attended more.

Chatting to the Naglers about their Apollo 11 anniversary eyepiece was another highlight!

I did lookout for any of my fellow SGLers but the only person I bumped into was Eddie, a fellow member of the Bristol Astro Society 😃

 

 

[DirkSteele]

8 hours ago, GavStar said:

Enjoyable catchup with several friends and retailers.

Here’s the night vision contingent with David Nagler

Not seen in that photo, a wannabe night vision contingent member. 😉

[PeterW]

There were two wannabes hanging around, but as they weren’t paid up members of “the club” we didn’t let them in the picture 😉 

PEter

[ApophisAstros]

i really enjoyed it , and meeting all the SGL members and fellow astroists', managed to buy all i wanted: atik 460ex mono from atik with a LRGB filter set half price!!, zwo filter wheel 1.25 x 8 , primalucelabs focuser , 3 NB filters from widescreen centre but gotta wait for 2 to arrive a s not in stock Ha should arrive soon..

Roger

Edited February 3, 2020 by apophisOAS

[DirkSteele]

Only attended Saturday this year but thought the presentations were excellent.  I was a bit disappointed with the exhibition but as I am not really in the market for any new equipment (other than maybe NV which was not on show) perhaps I did not look as close as I might otherwise have.

[PeterW]

Having the “societies” room upstairs back would be a good idea for future years, meeting old friends is another reason to go along too.

Peter