Yes...cloudy skies marred the 8-10pm observation sessions today but at least we still had that interesting beginner's talk by Vincent Snr followed by the equipment festival with the scopes on display.
I could not make out what is the composition of the audience but met a few singastro people I had never met before (fizzy123) as well as meet up with a few others not seen for a long time. even the elusive matthew made a rare appearance with Kochu.
I think the highlight for today must have been the Truss Dob being sold by Perseus from malaysia...nice and experienced people to talk to ...indeed they have a very interesting product for sale and I'm very very tempted!
Do check out all this with the full programme coming online tomorrow starting at 11 am!
rich
Singastro Session 1 Today!
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Airconvent
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Singastro Session 1 Today!
The Boldly Go Where No Meade Has Gone Before
Captain, RSS Enterprise NCC1701R
United Federation of the Planets
Captain, RSS Enterprise NCC1701R
United Federation of the Planets
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Airconvent
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hah hah...actually, the other highlight is Chris Yeo's clever home made 6" dob...work of art...complete with wall paper cover, thanks to Kay Heem.MooEy wrote:haha, the truss dob is highlight to you only hor. now u no nid consider anymore, the 8" definately within ur budget.
anyway, most of the people yesterday consist of people from singastro, sp and np.
~MooEy~
If there's enough interest, maybe Chris can consider doing this as a side line...heh heh. The other ATM Dob was from Kochu...huge canon lying on the floor! The other scopes are the usual spread of Maks , SCTs, and of course, the ever popular Tak refractors...
The Boldly Go Where No Meade Has Gone Before
Captain, RSS Enterprise NCC1701R
United Federation of the Planets
Captain, RSS Enterprise NCC1701R
United Federation of the Planets
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Airconvent
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odd.. a major singastro event, so many people turned up and yet so far no one posted their feelings on the event....strange...very strange...
no images to show for those non-SP people who took pictures (the SP people are still hard at work, clearing up the event venue and staying overnight there...good work all!)
Personally, for the lack of proper boards to put up the astro images, I think Woei Jin and team came up with some very innovative workarounds like the "hanging garden of babylon" display method where the images are hung from a "clothes line". My boss would definitely award rewards for such ideas!
I regreted missing the day's activities. Had intention to go at 4pm but unfortunately, my kid had high fever which did not subside till evening....
By the time I reached there at 7.30pm, the sky was cloudy and the last talk was coming to an end. I heard today there were alot of scopes present...sigh...SOMEONE PLEASE POST SOME PICTURES!! :roll:
rich
no images to show for those non-SP people who took pictures (the SP people are still hard at work, clearing up the event venue and staying overnight there...good work all!)
Personally, for the lack of proper boards to put up the astro images, I think Woei Jin and team came up with some very innovative workarounds like the "hanging garden of babylon" display method where the images are hung from a "clothes line". My boss would definitely award rewards for such ideas!
I regreted missing the day's activities. Had intention to go at 4pm but unfortunately, my kid had high fever which did not subside till evening....
By the time I reached there at 7.30pm, the sky was cloudy and the last talk was coming to an end. I heard today there were alot of scopes present...sigh...SOMEONE PLEASE POST SOME PICTURES!! :roll:
rich
The Boldly Go Where No Meade Has Gone Before
Captain, RSS Enterprise NCC1701R
United Federation of the Planets
Captain, RSS Enterprise NCC1701R
United Federation of the Planets
Yeah... seems like a lot of people took my photos...but still haven't seen one here yet...Airconvent wrote:odd.. a major singastro event, so many people turned up and yet so far no one posted their feelings on the event....strange...very strange...
no images to show for those non-SP people who took pictures (the SP people are still hard at work, clearing up the event venue and staying overnight there...good work all!)
Personally, for the lack of proper boards to put up the astro images, I think Woei Jin and team came up with some very innovative workarounds like the "hanging garden of babylon" display method where the images are hung from a "clothes line". My boss would definitely award rewards for such ideas!
I regreted missing the day's activities. Had intention to go at 4pm but unfortunately, my kid had high fever which did not subside till evening....
By the time I reached there at 7.30pm, the sky was cloudy and the last talk was coming to an end. I heard today there were alot of scopes present...sigh...SOMEONE PLEASE POST SOME PICTURES!! :roll:
rich
Don't like that leh,....make me pose for nothing...hehehe
I think tis event is a great success. It was interesting and veri informative. But from my observation, things I want to highlight is tis.
1) The event is a little short, only two days. Can try to increase to at least 3 or 4 days as from wat I see it is raining all the time. Thus, by increasing the days more talks or observation can be inserted to enrich the entire event. Chances of a non-cloudy day is higher.
2) There are too many talks. The talks are all crammed in 2 miserable days, thus it is veri tiring and sleepy to hear one talk after another. Also, the spectrum of the talks are too narrow and too 'chim'. Our target audience are not only stargazers but also other enthuastic folks tat want to enter astronomy. Thus, talks should be more on constellations, stars, planets, nebula........, which is the essence of it. But sadly, tis is covered in one side in Dr. Phil's talk. Talks should emphasis on pratical astronomy. Dr Phil's speech is veri confusing and 'chim'. His equations and symbols send my head spinning and dazzled for an hour eventhough he claims tat the maths veri simple. All tis plus the talks on astrophotography, would make a newbie think tat stargazing is for the mathematical folks and it is veri expensive. Besides, if the talks are shorter our younger folks and those folks reaching the age of retirement, would not get turn off.
3) There are no refreshments. When I decided to get some food from Mac Donald at the first level it was closed. Some public folks approached me and asked if there are other food courts in the poly. All of them are closed. Unfortunately the poly is located veri far from places to makan, thus those folks and I basically fast for tat day.
4)But there are things worth praising and conmenting. Credits should go out to alltis folks.
a)The display of the photo make people feel veri stylish, inspiring and yet veri relaxing. The black and white combination really make those astrophoto standout. The tent display is qutite cute and the projector displaying the astrophoto is creative and new.
b)The people giving the talks. They definitely made everyone wiser and more adventurous in astronomy. 8)
c) The Ngee Ann poly and Singapore poly students and helpers. U guys are veri committed and helpful to the pubilc in terms of attending their needs. It is amazing and wonderful seeing such a great event in Singapore, greater than I thought, proving the great networking and cooperative spirit among u all. Lastly, Kudos to Remus the OIC of the event, as I saw him running about making sure eveything went well.
I'm also happy to witness the greater cooperation and initiatives among Singapore and Malaysian astronomers. I hope tis will increase the awareness of astronomy in two countries
I definitely look forward to astrofest2005. 8) 
8)
1) The event is a little short, only two days. Can try to increase to at least 3 or 4 days as from wat I see it is raining all the time. Thus, by increasing the days more talks or observation can be inserted to enrich the entire event. Chances of a non-cloudy day is higher.
2) There are too many talks. The talks are all crammed in 2 miserable days, thus it is veri tiring and sleepy to hear one talk after another. Also, the spectrum of the talks are too narrow and too 'chim'. Our target audience are not only stargazers but also other enthuastic folks tat want to enter astronomy. Thus, talks should be more on constellations, stars, planets, nebula........, which is the essence of it. But sadly, tis is covered in one side in Dr. Phil's talk. Talks should emphasis on pratical astronomy. Dr Phil's speech is veri confusing and 'chim'. His equations and symbols send my head spinning and dazzled for an hour eventhough he claims tat the maths veri simple. All tis plus the talks on astrophotography, would make a newbie think tat stargazing is for the mathematical folks and it is veri expensive. Besides, if the talks are shorter our younger folks and those folks reaching the age of retirement, would not get turn off.
3) There are no refreshments. When I decided to get some food from Mac Donald at the first level it was closed. Some public folks approached me and asked if there are other food courts in the poly. All of them are closed. Unfortunately the poly is located veri far from places to makan, thus those folks and I basically fast for tat day.
4)But there are things worth praising and conmenting. Credits should go out to alltis folks.
a)The display of the photo make people feel veri stylish, inspiring and yet veri relaxing. The black and white combination really make those astrophoto standout. The tent display is qutite cute and the projector displaying the astrophoto is creative and new.
b)The people giving the talks. They definitely made everyone wiser and more adventurous in astronomy. 8)
c) The Ngee Ann poly and Singapore poly students and helpers. U guys are veri committed and helpful to the pubilc in terms of attending their needs. It is amazing and wonderful seeing such a great event in Singapore, greater than I thought, proving the great networking and cooperative spirit among u all. Lastly, Kudos to Remus the OIC of the event, as I saw him running about making sure eveything went well.
I'm also happy to witness the greater cooperation and initiatives among Singapore and Malaysian astronomers. I hope tis will increase the awareness of astronomy in two countries
I definitely look forward to astrofest2005.
8) 8) eh, I did give a talk on practical astronomy what, mainly for beginners one......so there is actually quite a good mix of talk la. You not there right? hehe....fizzy123 wrote:I think tis event is a great success. It was interesting and veri informative. But from my observation, things I want to highlight is tis.
1) The event is a little short, only two days. Can try to increase to at least 3 or 4 days as from wat I see it is raining all the time. Thus, by increasing the days more talks or observation can be inserted to enrich the entire event. Chances of a non-cloudy day is higher.
2) There are too many talks. The talks are all crammed in 2 miserable days, thus it is veri tiring and sleepy to hear one talk after another. Also, the spectrum of the talks are too narrow and too 'chim'. Our target audience are not only stargazers but also other enthuastic folks tat want to enter astronomy. Thus, talks should be more on constellations, stars, planets, nebula........, which is the essence of it. But sadly, tis is covered in one side in Dr. Phil's talk. Talks should emphasis on pratical astronomy. Dr Phil's speech is veri confusing and 'chim'. His equations and symbols send my head spinning and dazzled for an hour eventhough he claims tat the maths veri simple. All tis plus the talks on astrophotography, would make a newbie think tat stargazing is for the mathematical folks and it is veri expensive. Besides, if the talks are shorter our younger folks and those folks reaching the age of retirement, would not get turn off.
3) There are no refreshments. When I decided to get some food from Mac Donald at the first level it was closed. Some public folks approached me and asked if there are other food courts in the poly. All of them are closed. Unfortunately the poly is located veri far from places to makan, thus those folks and I basically fast for tat day.
4)But there are things worth praising and conmenting. Credits should go out to alltis folks.
a)The display of the photo make people feel veri stylish, inspiring and yet veri relaxing. The black and white combination really make those astrophoto standout. The tent display is qutite cute and the projector displaying the astrophoto is creative and new.
b)The people giving the talks. They definitely made everyone wiser and more adventurous in astronomy. 8)
c) The Ngee Ann poly and Singapore poly students and helpers. U guys are veri committed and helpful to the pubilc in terms of attending their needs. It is amazing and wonderful seeing such a great event in Singapore, greater than I thought, proving the great networking and cooperative spirit among u all. Lastly, Kudos to Remus the OIC of the event, as I saw him running about making sure eveything went well.
I'm also happy to witness the greater cooperation and initiatives among Singapore and Malaysian astronomers. I hope tis will increase the awareness of astronomy in two countries
I definitely look forward to astrofest2005.
But the food part is really worth mentioning. There is no nearby food or drinks stall. Drinks still not too bad because I found a nearby watercooler. Because I was there on the first day, I already knew there was no food stalls, so I ate my fill before going for the second day. But the organisers did provide some food....I was eating those curry puffs away..
My only concern is that the publicity was not enough for this event. But to be fair to the organisers, they had only so much help...and I think they have done their best. More of us should put in to help if we want it to be made known to more people.
All in all, I think it was an enriching event. I saw people from perseid telescope offering cheap truss tube scopes which is a very good thing. However, I feel a little sad for them though because they made a trip here all the way from Penang and the crowd is not really the kind that will buy their scopes. They must have thought that there is more crowd than this.
Also wonderful to meet Professor Dr. Chong. He is a pure genuis when comes to astro. Known him since his NUS days when I had to type email in DOS mode back those days. I never really seen him back then, only know that he answered my astro mails promptly despite being a professor in NUS. So now it was pretty nice to finally meet the man. Ironically, I met him now when he is a Professor in Msia but never met him when he was in NUS. Guess it's all fate.
Lastly....that 12" LX200 is a beast! What a sight! Had us all drooling. I am amazed how Wee King setup that scope single handedly. But that give us some inspiration because if he, a medium built man can do it, guess most of us can do it too. But I last heard he retrofitted his car boot just to fit this scope......so I guess...errr.....I don't think I want to do that on my car...(too messy behind with my junks now)
Will be looking forward for Singastro Festival 2005, only hope that it will not be so "enclosed" next time. Need to make it more "visible"
Hi Folks,
A big thank you for participating in the Festival!
The 'buffet' of equipment was certainly one of the highlights of the event. Thanx to all those who spent the time and physical effort
bringing your personal equipment and showcasing it.
It was great to see everyone interacting during the event... talking about astronomy, yakking about equipment... The Singastro forum has been up, running & buzzing for more than year. It was the first time during the past 2 days that many of us could put a face and real name to fellow members of the forum.
Believe that many of us were infused by the enthusiasm by the speakers. Who knows, we may see more local ATMs after Dr Chong's talk.
I'm really appreciative and grateful for the time, effort and sleep sacrificed by all volunteers. You made it possible!
As with any other large-scale events, manpower and $ are the main considerations and constraints. Perhaps with a greater pool of volunteers and more working budget/donations, the future Festival would extend over more days, with more publicity and with food catered for all participants.
Keep those posts coming. Thoughts, feelings & suggestions are welcomed.
::: Coming Attractions :::
Pictures of the Festival. Watch out for it.
Jiin.
A big thank you for participating in the Festival!
The 'buffet' of equipment was certainly one of the highlights of the event. Thanx to all those who spent the time and physical effort
bringing your personal equipment and showcasing it.It was great to see everyone interacting during the event... talking about astronomy, yakking about equipment... The Singastro forum has been up, running & buzzing for more than year. It was the first time during the past 2 days that many of us could put a face and real name to fellow members of the forum.
Believe that many of us were infused by the enthusiasm by the speakers. Who knows, we may see more local ATMs after Dr Chong's talk.
I'm really appreciative and grateful for the time, effort and sleep sacrificed by all volunteers. You made it possible!
As with any other large-scale events, manpower and $ are the main considerations and constraints. Perhaps with a greater pool of volunteers and more working budget/donations, the future Festival would extend over more days, with more publicity and with food catered for all participants.
Keep those posts coming. Thoughts, feelings & suggestions are welcomed.
::: Coming Attractions :::
Pictures of the Festival. Watch out for it.
Jiin.
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Airconvent
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- Joined: Tue Sep 30, 2003 11:49 pm
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yeah...usually the canteen is opened till around 6.30 pm but they closed early nowadays.
For future events, perhaps the organisers can make arrangement for those mobile canteen-on-wheels to be deployed for such purposes? Of course the traffic would have to justify him being there for 2 full days which means more publicity so that more members of the public can turn up. I was surprised that at 7pm, most of the gates to Poly were locked, so people trying to come in for the observation session (if it was one) would have thought the event was cancelled.
I think the main problem is probably lack of sponsors due to restrictions imposed by SP. If not, perhaps a tie-up with Mc Donalds would guarantee food availability till end of the event. Wouldn't help if the newspapers were informed too...
Just a thought...
But in the end, the team performed admirably and innovatively given the limited resources and let's hear a round of applause for them all!
*clap* *clap* *clap* *clap*
rich
For future events, perhaps the organisers can make arrangement for those mobile canteen-on-wheels to be deployed for such purposes? Of course the traffic would have to justify him being there for 2 full days which means more publicity so that more members of the public can turn up. I was surprised that at 7pm, most of the gates to Poly were locked, so people trying to come in for the observation session (if it was one) would have thought the event was cancelled.
I think the main problem is probably lack of sponsors due to restrictions imposed by SP. If not, perhaps a tie-up with Mc Donalds would guarantee food availability till end of the event. Wouldn't help if the newspapers were informed too...
Just a thought...
But in the end, the team performed admirably and innovatively given the limited resources and let's hear a round of applause for them all!
*clap* *clap* *clap* *clap*
rich
Last edited by Airconvent on Mon Nov 15, 2004 11:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
The Boldly Go Where No Meade Has Gone Before
Captain, RSS Enterprise NCC1701R
United Federation of the Planets
Captain, RSS Enterprise NCC1701R
United Federation of the Planets
Yeah..the volunteers did really well!Jiin wrote:Hi Folks,
A big thank you for participating in the Festival!
The 'buffet' of equipment was certainly one of the highlights of the event. Thanx to all those who spent the time and physical effort
It was great to see everyone interacting during the event... talking about astronomy, yakking about equipment... The Singastro forum has been up, running & buzzing for more than year. It was the first time during the past 2 days that many of us could put a face and real name to fellow members of the forum.
Believe that many of us were infused by the enthusiasm by the speakers. Who knows, we may see more local ATMs after Dr Chong's talk.
I'm really appreciative and grateful for the time, effort and sleep sacrificed by all volunteers. You made it possible!
As with any other large-scale events, manpower and $ are the main considerations and constraints. Perhaps with a greater pool of volunteers and more working budget/donations, the future Festival would extend over more days, with more publicity and with food catered for all participants.
Keep those posts coming. Thoughts, feelings & suggestions are welcomed.
::: Coming Attractions :::
Pictures of the Festival. Watch out for it.
Jiin.
Anyway you guys did great Jiin. Considering the limited time, help and $$$ that you guys had, this event was done pretty well. Only wished it was on a bigger scale....but this event is a first step to that. Next time with more help, I am sure we can do better.
Also, to those Singastro members who are so willing to setup and tear down their scopes, hats off to you guys. I know how difficult it is to bring all the heavy stuff, set it up and then tear it down again. Been there, done that. Incredible to see quite a few ATM scopes from Chris and Kochu. Good learning experience...
Ok..now give us our photos! hehe