A Really Amazing time

by Peter Santangeli

It's been many years since I have been a hard core camper. And just between you-all and me, at the end of 3 days of most star parties, I'm usually pretty much ready to go back to the world of warm showers, hot latte's, and padded mattresses.

But not this time.

For the first time in many years, I can honestly say that if Calstar 2005 was 5 or 6 days long, I would have been there to the end.

Great weather.
Great conversation.
Great friends.
and for the first time ever for me, no equipment hassles.

It was particularly great to see a few faces that have been absent for a while, or who are only occasionally in our midst. James, Bob, Paul, others..., and to kick back and raise a glass with the rest of you too. It was a really great party, my only regret being that it was the last of the season.

Many, Many thanks to all who organized it. Calstar stayed close to its spirit - just a bunch of people out observing with no pretense. About as "Tac"-y as you can make a star party.

Many asked how the imaging was going. As it was my very first time out using a DSLR for imaging, but the results looked good, my answer was "Either these are the best images I've ever taken, or they are cr*p.". Well... I'm just learning how to effectively process hundreds of 8 megapixel images, but here are the very first, raw results of one sequence:

Reasonable resolution:
http://www.santangeli.net/m31_cs05_small.jpg

Full resolution (over a meg):
http://www.santangeli.net/m31_cs05.jpg

I have a lot of processing ahead of me, but it is looking pretty darn good.

Posted on sf-bay-tac Oct 02, 2005 22:29:59 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.2 Mar 14, 2006 20:12:57 PT