Kelling 2016

[Ivor]

Just wondering who's going to Kelling and when?

I'm arriving early Friday afternoon but I'm on T325 which I think is a bit further away from the rest of you guys. I might has a couple of stowaways as well awaiting confirmation. I can bring OAS event tent if we have a use for it?

Keen to get a better pitch next year, do we know the dates for 2017 and do we have plans for a group booking?

Last thing does anyone have a fixed canon 28mm F/2.8 I could borrow for a few hours over the weekend I want to do some testing with the QHY8L?

[Carole]

I am going pitch T351, Thursday to Monday, but might arrive Wednesday if it looks like clear skies.  The dates haven't been announced for next September yet, but I managed to find out from Kelling what they were because I didn't want our DSC to clash and as I am preparing the calendar at the moment, I asked if they could tell me.  It the weekend of 21st - 24th September 2017.  Last year you could not buy tickets until you were actually at the September Star party as they sell out quickly and they want to give priority to those who regularly attend. 

Spring Star party is 20th April – 24th April, there were only a few pitches left when I booked on Monday. 

It gets a bit tricky trying to book a group booking, trying to co-ordinate it and then if some-one wants to sell their ticket because they can't go only the person who booked on their behalf can do it.  So it is easier to make our own bookings and maybe go to reception together to book them to try to get together.

As regards the event shelter, I guess if the weather was not suitable for astronomy it could be useful, but at Kelling there is always the bar, plus not sure whether they will allow two tents on a pitch for the same price.  I managed to get away with an observatory tent on the same pitch, but if you intend to bring it I would check with Kelling.

Looking forward to it, fingers crossed we get some decent weather and clear skies.

Carole

[Sue]

Roy and me are arriving on Wednesday, pitch 369 beside some trees to SW but should be ok, fingers crossed!

[Sue]

I think they are relaxed about extra tents, awnings etc for the star party. It is nice to have a communal space if weather turns bad. We are in our tent this time and have fitted thirteen in our 'living room' area at a DSC once! All welcome : )

[Carole]

Think I am going up today, it looks like there might be a couple of hours clear skies, then nothing until Saturday (predicted ATM).  That's if I can get myself packed up in time.

See you all there.

Carole

[RobertM]

It's not looking very good is it...

[Ivor]

Personally I'm ignoring the rain forecast all day Saturday, I've a weekend pass and a bottle of Sloe gin saved for this. Plus I'm already committed to go up Thursday night to Lincs to install broadband at my mother's house Friday morning.

[MarkS]

It's not looking very good is it...

It could be a lot worse!  I think it'll be fine during the day - just a bit of wind on Friday and that's before I eat my tin of beans.  Just a question of how much clear sky we'll get at night.  If none, I'm sure we'll enjoy a few drinks

Mark

[RobertM]

It's not looking very good is it...

It could be a lot worse!  I think it'll be fine during the day - just a bit of wind on Friday and that's before I eat my tin of beans.  Just a question of how much clear sky we'll get at night.  If none, I'm sure we'll enjoy a few drinks

Mark

Just thought, I'm on the next pitch so I hope the wind is blowing in the right direction 

[MarkS]

I can also give a demo of my new, powerful, almost perfected, method using Photoshop to remove background gradients that PixInsight DBE cannot touch - e.g. gradients on top of nebulosity where there is no background sky on which to place DBE sample points.  All done on the original linear (i.e. unstretched) data. 

Mark

[The Thing]

I can also give a demo of my new, powerful, almost perfected, method using Photoshop to remove background gradients that PixInsight DBE cannot touch - e.g. gradients on top of nebulosity where there is no background sky on which to place DBE sample points.  All done on the original linear (i.e. unstretched) data. 

Mark

Sounds like dark magic to me 😉

[RobertM]

What about basic Astro-imaging for us that haven't done it for a while