"Unleashing the the Imaging Monster" with a Meade DSI II OSC

Prologue

"NGC3242: Ghost of Jupiter Planetary in Hydra (top) and M97: The Owl Planetary in Ursa Major""

The long slumber is over. I tried to surpress it, but I can no longer hold it back. It started off as quick shots of the moon and the milky way with a standard bridge digital camera. This escalated into a dedicated deep sky imaging CCD camera. About a year ago I started on this quest, to take images of the our wonderful night sky. My first stop, naturally, was those modified webcams that could be used to take pics of the brighter members of our solar system with a non motorized mount. I figured I would ease my way into the realm of astrophotography. To that, I purchased a Orion Star Shoot Moon and Planetary Imager II. Did not know what I was getting into. Getting the camera to work with my existing scopes itself was a challenge. I quickly learned that one cannot simply attach a camera to the eyepiece of a non motorized telescope and get good images (or images for that matter as the scope needed sufficient back focus!!).

"M62: Black Eye Galaxy in Coma Berenices"

As fate would have it, I chanced upon a cheap Meade Deep Sky Imager I One Shot Color (DSI I OSC) camera on Astromart. That camera coaxed the imaging beast from within, one that was always there, simmering and waiting for a chance to be unleashed. Once a visual observer, I am now more of an astroimager (even though I still stay true to my visual roots and take an hour or two out of every dark sky session to drink in the faint starlight). As a result my observing habits changed. My most used scope went from my big 10" f/5 dob and Celestron/Vixen C6 to a 102mm GOTO Celestron NexStar. This small nifty scope enabled me to spend more time enjoying the views, while imaging or sketching. I also could hit more objects in a night than I previously could. Together with this scope, and camera, I spent countless of nights under Pinos and Malibu skies, imaging as I went along. I spent more than a year with my first DSI I OSC. It was a constant companion of mine, and it went with me everytime I went observing. I was amazed at what it could do, even with my limited equipment and knowledge. My problem was always its limited FOV and small images. The camera worked great. It was just inadequate for larger, sprawling objects. I did do some wide field imaging with a 70mm Celestron Travescope OTA mounted on my NexStar mount.

 

"M101 (top), M81 (middle), M82 (bottom) galaxies in Ursa Major"

Enter the Meade DSI II OSC 

"M105 group (top), M95 (middle) and NGC2903 (bottom) in Leo"

After some soul searching a decision was made to actively seek out a CCD with a bigger imaging chip that was within budget. Enter the Orion Star Shoot Deep Space Imager II, which had a bigger chip and TEC cooling. Found one for cheap on Astromart so I bit the bullet and purchased it. The camera got as far as my light polluted playground and a single trip to Malibu. The camera was heavier and bigger and used a different image capture software, the industry standard MaxIm DL.  But the camera and software proved to be not as user friendly as the Meade DSI I OSC and the Envisage software. I then put it back up on Astromart and the camera was sold in a flash. Back to the drawing board and my lil Meade DSI I OSC. Then fate came a knocking once again, I found my first camera's older brother, an upgrade, the Meade DSI II OSC with a larger CCD chip and a temperature sensor for dark frames. On testing, the camera performed as well as its little brother. It had the additional advantage (compared to the Orion SSDSIII) of being similar in size, weight and simplicity to the Meade DSI I OSC. I had found my ideal camera (for now)!!!!!!!

"Meade DSI's I (left) and II (right) OSC side by side"

Meade DSI II OSC specs:
Model / Part Number:
Deep Sky Imager II / 04526  
CCD Sensor:
High Sensitivity Color Sony EXview HAD CCDT Sensor (ICX429AKL)  
Chip Dimensions Pixels:
5.59mm (w) x 4.68mm (h); 8mm diagonal (type 1/2) 752 x 582 pixels (437,664 pixels)  
Pixel Size (in microns):
8.3 microns (w) x 8.6 microns (h)  
Temperature Sensor:
Built in temperature sensor measures degrees in celsius and matches it to each dark frame  
A/D Conversion :
16-bit (greater image depth and contrast)  
Min. - Max. Exposure Time:
1/10,000 of a second to one hour  
Housing:
Anodized die-cast aluminum  
USB Compatibility:
High Speed 2.0 and 1.1  
Size / Weight of product:
3.25" x 3.25" x 1.25"/ 10 oz. 

"M94 (Top): The Croc's Eye, M106 (middle) and M63: The Sunflower (bottom) Galaxies in Canes Venatici"

Three weekends on and I finally plucked up the courage to sell my old faithful. I rather it go to someone who would use it heaps, like I did when starting out with astrophotography. This is an awesome lil camera to start with as it greatly reduces the learning curve and can still generate some really pretty snapshots of the deep sky! My only regret with it was not playing around with different image formats. I did not push my lil camera to its limits!!!!!

"M83 galaxy in Hydra"

So after some initial testing from light polluted skies, and experimenting with different file formats (FITS vs TIFF vs BMP) with the Meade DSI II OSC, the imaging bug struck me even harder, much like Mjolnir! I spent the last two weekends imaging from my preferred site, Solstice Canyon park in Malibu.  Seeing how my usual blog goes, I will do a writeup after my dark sky session. I figured I do things a little different this time and write about my experience imaging with the Meade DSI II instead. In total I spent 7 hours imaging and visual observing.

"M84/86 and a portion of the Markarian's Chain in Virgo"

And we are off for some imaging at Malibu 27th March and 5th of April 2014 

"M53 Globular (top) and NGC4565 Galaxy in Coma Berenices"

I spent the eve of Cesar Chavez's day (27th of March) and last Saturday (5th of April) imaging from Solstice Canyon at Malibu. Conditions were rather nice. It was not windy at all, as it was all through Dec, Jan and Feb, and it did not get very cold until midnight hit. Also everything ran oh so smoothly. The mount was humming along just fine and dandy, hitting every object pretty much center or slightly to the left of the FOV on both nights. On most objects, I did not even need to put in the eyepiece to frame the object and then refocus. All I had to do is slew, hit the left or right buttons three to four times and whala...object acquired! The DSI II was also performing very well, as was the laptop. No stalling, no hanging and no frequent updates (the night prior to these two trips were just a weird night when nothing went right). The only small hiccup I encountered was losing some good frames on the 27th of March. I am not quite sure what happened, but that was one of the reasons why I went back this 1st quarter weekend to bag more objects. And I was there late as well since we had a dinner party to attend in Irvine.

M51: The Whirlpool Galaxy in Canes Venatici"

As far as the sessions went, I bagged all the objects I had on my list. Starting at Leo, I polished off NGC 2903 (although I wished I had the better frames, this was one of the objects that did not get saved properly). Then went on to do some old faves such as M81/M82/M97 in Ursa Major, M83 in Hydra, M3/M64 in Coma Berenices and M44/M67 in Cancer. All in all, I managed to go much deeper than with the DSI I. I think this is partly to do with the file formats since I was experimenting with FITS at 32 bit and TIFF at 16 bit. It was here that I learnt that somehow the color balance gets skewered when I save stuff in the FITS format (and combine all four channels, luminence, red, green and blue in MaxIm DL....this is very evident with my M82, M97, M64 and M83 shots pictured in this blog update). Weird? You tell me. Another revelation was that the DSI II had less amp glow than the original DSI I, so I could coax more detail out of the darkness of the frame.

"M12 (top) and M10 (bottom) globulars in Ophiuchus"

When the laptop battery finally died (usually last about 2 hours or more) I went to visual with the Astroscan and the 102GT. The Astroscan is just so easy to use, even easier than the SkyScanner. My fave eyepiece in this one is the 13T6 Nagler. Spent a good amount of observing time looking at all the galaxies (the Leo galaxies M65/M66; M95/M96/M105, Virgo's Markarian chain of galaxies, Coma's galaxies M64, The Blackeye Galaxy; NGC4565, Canes Venatici galaxies M51, The Whirlpool Galaxy; M106; M63, the Sunflower galaxy and M94 as well as big papa bears galaxies M81/M82.

"M8: The Lagoon Nebula in Sagittarius"

Last Saturday was a rushed job as I only got there at 1.30am and imaged all the way till 4.30am, with some visual breaks in between to look at the glorious summer milky way. Can never get enough of M8, the Lagoon Nebula; M20, The Trifid Nebula;, M17, the Swan Nebula;, M16, The Eagle Nebula. Overall a very happy camper. The aim of my next trip therefore will be to re-image summers best and brightest......M20, M17, M16, M57 and M27.......as well as some of the Virgo group of galaxies.....

"M4 Globular (top) and NGC6302: The Bug Nebula (bottom) in Scorpius"

Murphy strikes again.....Solstice Canyon Imaging night 20th Feb 2014

"M46 and NGC 2368 Puppis re-imaged 6x21 sec"

Everything was going so well. Great weather report, transparent skies, little if any wind. So how did my session go...terrible, cause as the title says, Murphy's Law struck yet again. Mount was misbehaving after 30 minutes (remember that I did not image that long the last session so batteries were still pretty fresh!), the Meade DSI I C keep on freezing and to top that off the laptop decided to do a software update right in the middle of my session and that drained the batteries. Least to say I was not pleased at all. It also got really cold despite the warm sunny day we had earlier. Was totally not dressed to handle the cold least to say. Good thing I had my beanie and gloves with me (I never leave home without them!).  Definately not one of my better sessions, but I guess as they say better to be out there than not at all! So I am just not going to write heaps other than the fact I had planned to image the following and failed miserably:

"M53 Coma Berenices 6x15sec, dark subtracted"

M3 Globular Bootes
M53 Globular Coma Berenices
NGC 2359 (Thor's Helmet) Puppis
NGC 1514 Planetary Nebula Taurus
NGC 2903 Galaxy Leo
M63 Galaxy Canes Venatici
M101 Ursa Major

 "M65 Leo 6x21sec, dark subtracted"

Due to problems with the mount, the DSI and focusing (farted around for a while to get the focusing right and that is why I imaged M46....and just when I was ready, NGC 2359 and NGC 1514 were going behind some trees!), and with me getting there at about 10.30pm (Orion and the rest of the winter constellations were slowly sinking behind the canyon walls and trees to the west),  I ended up doing the following:

"M66 Leo 6x21sec, dark subtracted"

M65/66 Galaxies Leo Reimaged
NGC3628 Galaxy Leo
M53 Globular Coma Berenices
M46 and NGC 2368 Puppis Reimaged

"NGC 3628 Leo, the third member of the M65/66 trio 6x21sec, dark subtracted"

I did do some visual stargazing with the Astroscan/13T6 Nagler and the NexStar 102GT but that did not last very long as I was not dressed for the cold. I looked at a couple of galaxies, M104; the Sombrero Galaxy in Corvus, NGC 3242; Ghost of Jupiter Planetary in Hydra, galaxy duo M81/82 and the Owl Planetary; M97 in Ursa Major, galaxy trios M65/M66/NGC 3628 and M95/M96/M105 in Leo, as well as NGC 2903 and of course the Markarian chain M84/M86 and the rest of the Virgo cluster. One of the fave things I used to like doing is start at M59/60 and then meander down the Markarian's chain with my 10" f/5 dob. This this tonight with less aperture! Also took a quick peek at M51; the Whirlpool Galaxy and M64; the Blackeye Galaxy with the Astroscan before the cold go the better of me. Hopefully I get another of such a night, but with everything going well before I head home for the hols at the equator.

Coming next: Imaging with wider fields, testing the Orion SSDSI II replacement (yes i sold it off as I could not get used to the software or the camera!), the Meade DSI II OSC

The true temple to the stars...Leyburn, QLD....my dark sky getaway 2001-2010

"Leyburn in the early days. Barren field's, large dobs and EQ mounts.....this was my first trip to Leyburn. All three of us packed our gear (and ourselves) into David's Trooper (seen behind Andrew's York Optical 6" f/5 on NES EQ3 mount...similar mount to Orion's SkyView deluxe mount). Center piccie shows David's 10" f/5 GS dob and his then imaging scope 6" Synta refractor on EQ5 mount"

The lousy weather the past couple of weekend's allowed me time to ponder, read my new kindle book "Southern Gems" by Stephen O'Meara and to reminisce about observing locales and times gone by. One of my favourite observing places is Leyburn, Queensland, Australia. If there ever was a paradise on earth for amateur astronomers, the Southern Astronomical Society's dark sky site would surely rank up there as one of the best places in Australia (for me anyway, unless you are out in the boonies and deserts, but then those are not accessible on a regular basis). I remember my first visit to this wonderful site. Thanks to my awesome observing buddy Andrew Durick, who was the first person to welcome me to observing down under. It was Andrew who introduced me to Leyburn and my second real observing buddy David Rigley. I remember fondly the first few months back in oz in 2001 where all I had was a lowly 76mm f/9 navy blue alt-az mounted newtonian, a scope which showed me heaps more than I could have imagined from the darker skies in and around Brisbane. This scope gave me my first "in depth" look at two of my fave winter objects, M57; The Ring Nebula and M27; the Dumbbell Nebula, and from my apartment balcony in Vincent Street, Indooroopilly no less. The skies were heaps darker in the early 2000's. The winter milky way showed structure in the wee hours of the morning when all the lights went out! having two balconies made a big difference, coupled with the fact that the balconies only had beams and no roofing.

"Leyburn in 2004. Still early days and barren fields. We always occupy the same space when we go together. Andrew and his newly acquired 102ST on the York Optical NES mount from his 6"f/5. David was using a slighly different setup with a Celestron C8 as the main imaging scope and 4" Synta as a guide scope. Note that he was still doing film photography back then. Last pic shows our side of the observing field. Ray standing far left, David seated in the middle and me surrounded by my Celestron/Vixen C6, Andrew's 102ST and my 15x70 binoculars. I traveled with Andrew on several of our outings to Leyburn. He would come pick me up after lunch from UQ and we would swing around to my place at Vincent Street and then start our journey...ah fond memories all!"

The first gathering we ever had was at David's house in a rather light polluted part of town. This was a real eye opener for me. Andrew had his York Optical 6" f/5 on NES EQ 3 mount, and David had his 10" f/5 GS and 6" Synta refractor mounted on an EQ5. Its funny how Andrew's 6" f/5 EQ was more collapsible and easy to transport than my 76mm f/9 alt-az newtonian, as the OTA and the mount would not come apart. It was heaps lighter though. In the early days, David did all the driving to Leyburn. We packed whatever gear we had into his Trooper. Andrew had this 6"f/5 EQ, and I had my 6" Bird Jones EQ which I purchased new in late 2001, with the help of my significant other. David usually had with him his imaging rig, which he had to cart out there. He also brought along a "spare" visual scope (the 10" GS scope which ironically had an Orion labeled eyepiece rack and dust cover (yup the first generation spring loaded GS dobsonian's (the ones with the non dovetail finders) were made by GS in Taiwan, the later batches were made by Synta) with him, and that usually ended up getting used by either me or Andrew. In the old days he imaged with film and used mostly his Synta refractors (he had a 6" and a 4" long focal length refractor), as well as his white tube Celestron C8 on EQ5 mount (and later on a Atlas clone mount).

"Much later years at Leyburn at the peak of winter (yes never again will I go in July.....frost covered everything and I had to wait for my car and scope to thaw out. Notice the same spot where we usually gather. The bottom pic shows Ray (left) and David's (right with his white truck) shed observatories......everyone does digital imaging now! Truss dobs have been replaced by precise GOTO mounts, DSLR's and CCD camera's! Third image on the top right shows the campervan that houses the bunk beds and the kitchen where the mini library lives!"

Sessions usually lasted a night and we usually got there before sundown, set our scopes up, check the collimation and the finderscope alignment. Then it was chill time, where we would either sit down and grab a bite, plan our observing for the night or walk around and inspect other telescopes (mostly large truss dobsonians). Boy how times changed. I remember seeing the transition from a barren field covered with truss dobs, to concrete slabs being erected one by one, as more people turned to astro imaging. In the old days we had David imaging with either his 6" Synta, or C8, and Ray Suckling doing wide field imaging, with Kevin Dixon showing us the night sky treasures through his 16" truss dob. Those were the people I hung around the most with, even while I was crazily hunting down objects on my to do list (which frequently numbered in the 20's or more per session!). There was the occasional large scope treat when Pete Robbin's brought his 30" SDM to the field. Those were some crazy awesome nights! It was here that I had my first real taste of truly dark skies. It was also here that I first learnt of the great celestial emu, which stretched from the coal sack at the bottom of the Crux, all the way through Puppis-Pyxis, and saw the wonders of the south like the great Tarantula Nebula, or Kevin's starfish glob (Pavo glob NGC 6752) and spiral planetary in Musca (NGC 5189), and of course the Magellanic Clouds.

"Leyburn in the hotter months means mozzies that bite through even jeans, balmy to warm weather and camping tents out in full force! From left to right, Andrew's 12.5" truss dob (Ray's observing shed-white and David's imaging shack-green can be seen in the background), my 10" GS  and StarBlast 4.5" dobs.....and my old faithful Hyundai Excel hatchback."

I remember the anticipation of getting there and how we would even risk going there when stormclouds were a brewing (seeing that Leyburn is  2 1/2 hour drive one way up and down the Toowoomba ranges, which helped with shielding the bright lights of Brisbane!). There were a couple of sessions where Andrew and I would go, only to get 1 or 2 hours of sucker hole observations, but we still went. Such was our resolve. The early days also saw us sleeping in the  guest campervan. The campervan had poor insulation and only had three bunk beds (slept 6). I remember getting very bad sleep due to snoring and being very cold. The later trips saw us setting up our own tents or even sleeping in our own cars when it got too cold. I also spent mornings in the adjoining part of the campervan that had cooking facilities and a mini library. Spend some mornings just perusing the nice collection of Astronomy and Sky and Telescope magazines and taking a trip down memory lane with some of those old issues. They even had japanese telescope magazines (I think it was called Tenba) and a copy or of the HB atlas. Ah those were some magical times. At that stage, I never though I would someday move to the northern hemisphere for work. I though I would be observing from southern skies for as long as I lived! I spent a total of 9 years observing from Leyburn (averaging at least 9 to 10 months a year, weather depandant). So many wonderful memories observing under pitch black skies with wonderful friends.

"Leyburn in different seasons. We even setup our tents in the winter...call us crazy ;) The bottom left piccy shows David's imaging rig in his coldroom observatory (yup it was literally a torn down cold room so it offered excellent insulation during the winter months. David was also a big music fan so we usually observed to tunes wafting through from his observatory). Main imaging scope is the C8, with the WO 65 providing wide field shots and guiding. Bottom right pic shows Andrew with his main scope, the 12.5" truss, and his wide field scope."

Alas that was not to be. Jobs and opportunities in my line of work are few and far between in Australia, largely due to research funding. California is the place to be for biotechnology. Granted that it is also a sunshine state, the number of clear skies per year here is staggering. Also since California is largely desert, getting to dark skies is a non issue for me. But the southern skies can never be replaced, and will always hold a special place in my heart. I remember my first truly dark sky moment here in SoCal. It was at Mount Pinos. Skies were dark, close to what we get in Leyburn (largely due to the presence of the marine layer, which is not always present). But I found the northern milky way severely lacking in many aspects. There were no "WOW" objects in the northern skies. As such I found myself once again pining for the southern gems and going south and revisiting the center of our milky way, which skims the pine tree tops in Pinos. Objects I really and truly miss are:

• Eta Carina Nebula and surrounds
• Omega Centauri
• 47 Tucana
• NGC 6752
• NGC 6397
• Tarantula Nebula
• NGC 5189 Musca Spiral Planetary
• Coal Sack
• Large Magellanic Cloud
• Small Magellanic Cloud

Someday I will return to the land down under, even if it is just for a visit. But Brisbane and Queensland will always have a special place in my heart. Who knows maybe someday I will retire there.....as they say where there is life, there is hope........

"The evolution of a deep sky fanatic. From left to right: My first dark sky trip to Leyburn in mid 2001 with my Bird Jones 6" on EQ3-2 mount. The OTA got replaced with a beat up Celestron/Vixen C6, seen in the middle piccy, which gave wide FOV and sharper views of the planets due to its superior parabolic mirror. Also in the pic is my Orion 80ST on photo tripod for wide field use.....best views of the entire Veil Nebula and the North American nebula was through this scope. The last few years in Leyburn saw me using exclusively the 10" f/5 GS and my Orion StarBlast 4.5" table top dobbie which replaced my most used scopes, the C6 and the Orion 80ST, which I sold after getting the StarBlast in mid 2007"

The best starparty in the southern hemisphere...the Queensland Astrofest in pictures 2005 and 2007

Voted the top 10 best star parties around the world by BBC's Sky at Night magazine (May 2007 issue), the Queensland Astrofest is held at Lion's Camp Duckadang in Linville, Queensland every year during the cold winter months. The top 10 list includes luminaries such as the Grand Canyon Star Party (USA), Texas Star Party (USA), Starfest (Canada) , Winter Start Party (USA), Southern Skies Star Party (Bolivia), Equinox Star Party (UK), Kielder Star Camp (UK), Swiss Star Party (Switzerland) and South Pacific Star Party (Australia), so our very own QLD Astrofest certainly ranks up there with the best of the best. Running since 1993, QLD Astrofest celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2013. The star party is convened by the South East Queensland Astronomical Society, the Southern Astronomical Society, the Brisbane Astronomical Society, the Astronomical Association of Queensland, the Amateur Telescope Makers of Queensland. 

I have had the pleasure of attending this fantastic star party twice, both with friends of whom I introduced to the hobby. Both are not active astronomers now, but do the occasional dabble in amateur astronomy. John Zhu, a close friend of mine observes with his 6" f/5 EQ 3-2 newtonian, and my other friend Yeh Yixin observes with a 76mm f/9 alt-az newtonian. Both prefer solar system objects. 

My first trip to this wonderful starparty happened in 2005. John came along for the ride, as did his new (at that time) his 6" f/5 EQ. John too started off like I did, with a 76mm f/9 alt-az newtonian, but quickly traded that in (in a week!) for his 6" f/5 EQ. He never looked back. My second second trip happened in 2007. This time Yixin came along. He used my Orion 4.5" StarBlast dob extensively that night as it was just so easy to use. For the 2005 session, I had with me my Synta 102mm f/5 refractor, and in 2007, I brought along my Celestron/Vixen 6" f/5 and my Orion 4.5" StarBlast. The GS 10" f/5 never made it to the Astrofest as I had guest traveling with me and there was just not enough room in the Hyundai Excel hatchback.

QLD Astrofest attracts some really well know speakers. Some of the more well known include the late John Dobson, Fred Watson, Gary Kopff, David Malin and comet discoverers Rev Bob Evans, Bill Bradfield and Rob McNaught.

Without furthur ado, here are images from Astrofest 2005 and 2007. Pictures speak a thousand words.

Queensland Astrofest 2005 in picture-icy frost cold

My first Astrofest and boy was it cold, as in negative numbers cold. Everything was covered in frost the next morning. My fave part of the whole Astrofest was looking through Pete Robbins 30" SDM. Now I have looked through Pete's scope from SAS's dark sky site at Leyburn, but what is a good star party without looking through a giant scope? Scary being on top of that tall ladder with a slight breeze blowing but the views through the 31T5  Nagler's blew everything else away. I was glad I left that till later. My impression of the skies at Linville were good, but not nearly as dark as from Leyburn.

 "Imaging field and we were smack in the middle of it. Well it was close to the dorms we stayed in. Astrofest 2005"

 "John's 6" f/5 EQ in the middle of the field and my Synta 102 f/5 to the right of the field. The guesthouse with food is to the right of the picture and the office to the left. Astrofest 2005"

"Me and my Synta 102mm f/5 on EQ in Alt-Az mode. Nice wide field but horrible chromatic abberation. No contest between my 6" f/5 and this scope. Astrofest 2005"

"No pic with Pete (Robbins), but I have one with his amazing scope...the behemoth SDM 30!!!!! The dust lane in NGC 5128 was wide enough to drive a dump truck through....and there was mottling in the dust lane!!!!!! The pillars of creation in M16, the Eagle Nebula were plain as day and the central star in M57, the Ring Nebula was easy with direct vision.
The only drawback was the long line and the very tall ladder!. Astrofest 2005"

Queensland Astrofest 2007 in pictures-hot and dry


My second Astrofest. This year we opted to buy the super cool Astrofest T's. Collected them on our way in. It has a cool milky way logo and this message : "QLD Astrofest, perfect one night, supernova the next!". We stayed in the same bunkhouse as the last time (not that we slept much as we observed throughout the night). It had double decked beds and This time round it was much warmer, despite me being fully decked out in Ugg boots etc etc. Well as they say better to stay warm than freeze. We had a bit of a problem this year with smokers in the observing field. It was kind of annoying. The things I remember from this Astrofest, Pete Robbin's 30" SDM was out of commission that night we were there as the hot weather melted the encoders on his Argo Navis GOTO system. Most memorable thing for me was winning something at the raffle during dinner (I won a Patrick Moore signed Sky at Night magazine...cool or what!).

"In the daytime we amuse ourselves with events such as the counterweight throwing event!!!!!!! Astrofest 2007"

"In the middle of a very bad drought.....if I remember correctly we were on level 7 water restriction that year. Astrofest 2007"

"Still pretty despite the bad drought. Its nice walking around the grounds in the daytime. Astrofest 2007"

"The advent of cheap, large, mass produced scopes. Me and a spanking new 16" Meade Lightbridge...someday it will be mine.........Astrofest 2007"

"While walking around, we came upon an 8" Mag1 Portaball, an Astroscan on steroids. Astrofest 2007"

 "In 2007, I had with me my trusty most used scope, the Celestron/Vixen C6 (6" f/5) on my EQ in alt-az mode, and my Orion StarBlast 4.5" mini dob. Again as I had a friend travel with me in my lil' Hyundai Excel hatchback, the 10" did not make the trip. Astrofest 2007"

 "As in 2005, we were once again smack bang in the middle of the imaging field.....look at all those hi tech gear!!! Astrofest 2007"

So if I were still living in Brisbane, a place I still hold dear to my heart, and a place I will always call home, I would not bat an eyelid and make the QLD Astrofest my premier and one and only star party. Check out the QLD Astrofest.