Four Subjects from a Star Party Weekend

[kiwiapple]

Last weekend (8-10 September) I attended my second-ever star party, at a camp in the forest 15 minutes from my house. I really enjoyed meeting the other participants (some of whom I already knew) and seeing their rigs, which included several of those new-fangled electronic all-in-one telescopes that are all the rage these days, including a Dwarf II and a Unistellar and even a Seestar (brought by a NZ guy who works with ZWO on their English-language tech support and represented them at NEAF). The Seestar in particular was really impressive, and I ended up ordering one (which I probably won't see for months, of course). I didn't bring much of a rig with me, since I didn't want to disrupt any of my nicely polar-aligned mounts and risk jarring anything in transit, though I did bring a Polaris with a mirrorless camera to do a little shooting. But the conditions were just about perfect for both nights of the event, with crystal-clear skies and little moon to worry about, so I had my own rigs at home going while I was away and came up with these.

 

[Comet Hunter]

Excellent, star party's are a great place to learn and make new friends

 

[JimFox]

Awesome work James! Great work on the galaxies, and #2 is really special.

That's really cool you got to go to a star party. I have to go to one myself, though @Bill Richards is in an astronomy club and I have gone a few times with him to the clubs dark sky site and got to see and talk to a few of the other guys there, that was fun.

I glad to hear you ordered a Seestar. I had been following it closely in its beta stages from reports from the FaceBook group. I finally decided to order it on July 31st at 9pm just 3 hours before the $399 special was over. I am not sure when I will get mine. I am guessing in November, but even if it takes until Christmas I will be happy. I have been seeing some amazing work being done with it.