Our mission at IceInSpace is to help grow and advance astronomy and science in our region - to unite people from all over Australia and all over the world who share a common interest.

Our aim is to inform, educate and entertain - by providing a facility where people can ask questions, get advice and information and discuss a wide range of topics related to astronomy and science. We hope to foster an increasing interest in amateur astronomy and science to benefit people of all ages.

We are also happy to support, proudly sponsor and help promote events that share these common goals. There are a number of events coming up over the next few months which we encourage you to take a look at:

2008 Australian Earth Sciences Convention: 20-24 July, Perth, Western Australia
The AESC is Australia’s premier geoscience conference and a major event on the international geosciences calendar. It is expected to attract more than 1000 Australian and international delegates and will feature more than 135 presenters and 450 papers.
Mass extinctions on Earth, asteroid impacts, what 3.5 billion year old fossils can tell us about evolution, and exciting information being gathered by NASA’s current mission to Mars will be among a wide range of planetary science topics on offer at the mega-conference.
Forum discussion.

Queensland Astrofest 2008: 25 July - 3 August, Duckadang, Queensland
Now in its 16th year and organised jointly by the astronomical societies of the South East Queensland region, the Astrofest is open to all amateur astronomers.  It is held at Lions Camp Duckadang about two hours drive (170km) north west of Brisbane and provides a unique opportunity for up to six nights of viewing and imaging at a great dark sky site.
Forum discussion.

Border Stargaze 2008: 28-31 August, Albury/Wodonga, New South Wales
The Border Stargaze is now in its 2nd year, and is held at The Wymah Valley Retreat formerly known as The Great Aussie Resort. The exciting news is that the retreat has undergone a major transformation. The quality and types of accommodation available have increased in addition to significant improvements to the existing facilities. The retreat is a premier dark sky location with an average reading of 6.4 Magnitude, fantastic!!!!
Forum discussion.

IceInSpace AstroCamp 2008: 30 October - 2 November, Lostock, New South Wales
IISAC2008 is star party organised by the IceInSpace community, now in its 3rd year and takes place at the Lostock Scout Camp, Lostock in the beautiful Hunter Valley area of NSW. The location was chosen because of its proximity to Sydney, the Central Coast and Newcastle, and at under 4 hours drive from Sydney you'll be amongst clear, very dark skies in a lovely country setting. We're expecting over 200 registrations this year and is a great place to meet the IceInSpace community!
Forum discussion.

International Year of Astronomy - 2009
In 2009 it will be 400 years since the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei turned a telescope the heavens. The International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009), a global celebration of astronomy and its contributions to society and culture, marks this event. With the theme of “The Universe, Yours to Discover”, IYA will help reconnect people with the night sky, the common heritage of humanity. IYA2009 is an initiative of the International Astronomical Union, the body that represents professional astronomers worldwide, and UNESCO, the educational and cultural arm of the United Nations. IYA2009 activities will take place locally, regionally and nationally.

IceInSpace plans to play an integral part in hosting and promoting local IYA2009 events through our site and forums. Keep an eye out for activities as they are planned and announced.

Keep coming back to IceInSpace for news and updates, and share this information with your friends and family.

Hi all

Sorry for the long time between updates - it's been a busy time. But we're back in action now and there's a lot to tell you about today.

I've uploaded 4 new articles and 2 new reviews -

• 16" Tri-Dob improvements including ArgoNavis and ServoCat
• Balancing your home-made dobsonian
• Setting Up and Using a Celestron CG5 Mount
• Revealing Star Colours using the Defocusing Technique
• Review: Skywatcher ED80 Pro
• Review: QHY8 One Shot Colour Cooled Camera

Thanks as always to the authors for contributing their knowledge and information as content for IceInSpace so others can share and learn from their experiences.


Terry (mojo) has been busy and has added a couple of new features to IceInSpace:

• "First Name" in your forum profile. This is for registered members of the IceInSpace Forum (register here), where your first name will appear next to your username when you post. See this forum thread for an example and discussion about this feature.
  
• A new Search Page has been added as you can see in the menu on the left. Working through Google search, you have the option of searching the entire site, just the forum, or an internet wide search.

We're always happy to hear your suggestions or feedback for additional content or features on IceInSpace - so please contact us and let us know what you think!


Jupiter is reaching opposition in a few weeks time (July 9th) so remember to head outside and observe the King of the Planets! It's best to wait until it's high in the sky (at least until over 45° is best), and wait for those moments of steady seeing where you'll be able to make out the Great Red Spot (GRS) and perhaps the two smaller red spots right nearby, the SEB and NEB outbreaks, and check for any moon or shadow transits which are always exciting to observe and image.
If you live around the mid-north coast area of NSW, or you don't mind a bit of traveling, you're welcome to join us at the Planetary Imaging Camp at Nambucca, near Coffs Harbour at the end of June/early July. Anthony Wesley will be there from around the 22nd June (for 2 weeks), and i'll be there from the 28th June until the 4th July. This forum thread discusses all the details, so please post your interest so we know to expect you. You'll need to book your own accommodation or even just come for the day/night if you like.
If you're interested in planetary imaging and want to improve your skills, it would be a great event for you to come along and learn from some of the best and most active planetary imagers in Australia.
Anthony and I are hoping for clear and very steady skies, so that we can come away from the week with a hard-drive full of sharp, new images of Jupiter.

Thanks for reading!

Hi all

A couple of quick updates of some recent activity in Astronomy (a larger update will happen in the next week or so when i've got time to edit the articles/reviews that have been submitted).

The Mars Phoenix Lander has safely landed on Mars - an amazing accomplishment after a 9-month journey to the red planet. The Phoenix Lander is not a rover like Spirit and Opportunity - it now stays where it landed (in the northern pole region), using digging tools to sample the martian soil and analyse it for water and carbon-compounds - hopefully revealing potential signs of current or past microbial life.

• NASA Phoenix Mission Pages
• Phoenix Images
• Forum discussion

Here's one of the first images released showing the view across the martian plains. NASA Phoenix image.