I also had a great time despite the weather. We were lucky to have ‘astro celebrity’ Susan French and husband Allen French setup beside us. Both her and her husband were really wonderful people and so nice to talk to. THey definately got me more excited about observing, and checking out the objects that people typically overlook. I was also happy to have had the support of my fellow HAA friends during the Starfest International Salon of Astrophotography. I recieved an honourable mention (3rd place) in the deep sky category for my M42 image (the one I took back in the fall). It was pretty nerve racking at first especially after hearing the critiqing of each of the images. About 45+ images were submitted, which apperently was on the low side of what they were expecting so they had to combine the beginner and advanced categories into one.

We did have a fantastic clear Friday night where I decided to setup for some imaging. I had lots of issues and one of them included a broken dew heater, but I did manage to capture about 14x3min of M31 (widefield) with the Canon 40D and 100-400mm lens, unguided on the cg5-gt mount.

Canon 100-400mm @200mm f5.

Larger version: http://www.weatherandsky.com/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=2080&g2_imageViewsIndex=3

When I needed a break I would pop over to Steve G to see what he was up to. One of the highlights was finding and seeing Comet Boattini 2008 in his scope (the GWS). Pretty amazing since it is mag 13.5…. think of all the other comets that can be found in 16in of aperture.

My relatively inexpensive Costco tent held up alright with some leaks during the monster rainfalls. I also realized that the tent doubled as a ‘poor mans’ Astro tent. I was able to fit my 12in LB under the vestibule and observe most of the lower southern sky from there. It had good protection from the dew, sun and a rain (well sort of). Steve took some pics so perhaps he’ll send me a few so that I can post one.

Overall the talks were really informative and that alone makes it worthwhile to go to Starfest. I unfortunately got home sick and packed up and left right after the dinner and final presentation.

KerryLH