Comet Lovejoy Party + Equip Festival 2015!!! [10 Jan 2015]

[Airconvent]

Hi
Just enquiring. Anyone has a dovetail-to-manfrotto tripod plate adapter to mount a 6SE OTA to a manfrotto head? If yes I may consider bringing the 6incher instead.

[rcj]

The Comet Lovejoy Party & Telescope Display 2015 event (CP2015) is today! Would like to take this chance to thank all the potential instrument contributors. At this time, we have 56 instruments that could be on the field tomorrow, and likely more (last minute enthusiasm!). We just hope that the weather improves further tomorrow, but still, even if it is cloudy, the environment would be exciting! There would be Dobsonians ranging from 8" to a whopping 22" to be expected, and Cassegrains from 5" to 14", not to mention the numerous refractors and other exotic designs! To the veteran, this is a great time to catch up with the community. To the novice, it will be an eye-popping experience to see and interact with all the instruments and owners behind them. At this point in time, we are not sure how big the turn-out will be, but it could anywhere be from 100 to thousands. For those driving, if carpark E2 is packed, you could try E3. If you are bringing instruments and drive, it is best to come earlier. With clear weather, one could expect to see Comet Lovejoy, as well as several other celestial objects (Jupiter, bright star clusters and other deep sky objects). See you in a few hours!!

[rcj]

weather is looking good ! the big massive cloud system seem to have thinned out. Let's hope the weather continues to improve. In a few hours time, it's gonna be a blast!

[wucheeyiun]

Yes, we hope that the weather will hold up! weather forecast is not optimistic though.

[rcj]

it is expected to have some torrential afternoon rain, but looking at recent satellite map, there is no huge clouds in the region. It should clear up again this evening.

[KushTROID]

Forecast seems good for tonight!

Screenshot_2015-01-10-16-52-58_20150110165749770.jpg

[shirox]

Great event tonight with so far one of the best public response! Great work guys!

[rcj]

CP2015 Afterthoughts:
As I am about to catch a flight in a few hours, wanted to quickly summarize last night’s event: It was an unprecedented success last night even though it started as if the sky was going to “drop”. Showers/drizzle came upon us from 3PM, and even at 6PM while we tried to set up, it was interrupted by light showers. However, just as the crowds came in, the sky magically turned for the better, the evening colours were stunning, and Sirius was the first to “pop out”. The E2 field by now, was becoming like a star party, and the aerial photography crew launched their drones to capture the atmosphere. With undescribable euphorism, lost count of the number of setups at the field, dazzling array of dobsonians dotted all over (not forgetting the mammothical 22” nearer towards the passing public), SCTs, refractors, you name it there it was! Was great to meet up with astro friends (some not seen since 10 years or more ago!), and sharing the enthusiam and joy with the newer generations. Non-stop chatting, non-stop showing the public Lovejoy, Jupiter, M79, M35, M41, M42, etc. One moment, saying hello, another moment explaining the comatic structure of the comet nucleus, and another moment engaging in yet another conversation with a long-found friend, etc. Nevertheless, most importantly, would like to end of with thanking the following people, it was essentially a collective people-driven inspiration that this event was all about!

Heartfelt THANKS to:
- Organizing ad-hoc committee: Thomas, Gavin, Ivan, Jeremy, Michael, Yvonne, Junwei, Honglian, Malcolm, Melcolm, Clifford, Ko Ko, Kochu, Gary K, etc.
- All instrument volunteers for CP2015
- NParks (for allowing us permission to use the field)
- E2 Carpark management
- SINGASTRO astronomy veterans (since 1990s!)
- The various edu institutions for helping/turning up: NUS, NTU, VJC, Hwa Chong, St Andrew, ACS, etc. NUSAS had people turning up from 0th committee to current! WOW!
- AMK/Bishan/TP/Sengkang sidewalk groups
- various agents of publicity (MPCC, Galaxy, NUS, NTU, Clubsnap, etc)
- Members of the public for coming and having a great time!
- Everyone else that I’ve missed out!

Pictures!
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... e65f16364a

[kohjb]

Thanks Remus and the entire organizing committee for a great job well done! I really enjoyed catching up with "old" friends and making new ones. The atmosphere was electrifying and I was really sad to realize, by the end of the night (at 1am) that I didn't find time to make some rounds and see more of the other fantastic equipment there. Thanks in particular to Gavin, for contacting me and reminding me about the event, without which I would have missed a truly magical night!

Joo Beng.

[depardeuz]

Excellent summary of the event Remus! Capturing the heady exhilirating experience one can only feel at the event! It was pretty awesome feel from the start when Remus took the first charge and a leap of faith to place his tripod in the field and the rest was history! A great event for Yr2015 and a very memorable one at that! Applause and bravo to the very enthusiastic organising committee for the untiring efforts put into making this star party such a successful one and no longer just a dream!