Sponsors and Raffle

The cost of holding Qld Astrofest continues to increase each year, and our raffle is an important part of how we limit the impacts of these increases. Without the support of our sponsors, the raffle could not be held, and the cost would continue to increase.

The sponsorship rules changed this year with sponsors for the raffle able to choose which level of sponsorship they wish to hold: Bronze, Silver or Gold.

• Gold sponsors provide prizes with a value of $1500 or above.
• Silver sponsors provide prizes with a value of $999 to $1499
• Bronze sponsors provide prizes between a minimum of $250 to $999

*To find out more about becoming a sponsor click Sponsor Information

Prizes and draw outcomes

This year our sponsors were extraordinarily generous. See the list below for more information.

	TOTAL VALUE		$16,755.98
Sponsor	Prize Offered	Winner	Value
Celestron	Starsense 5” DX	Dean Vickers	$1499.00
	Luminos 31mm Eyepiece	Tom Jacobs	$749.00
	NexYZ Phone Adapter	Guy Thomason	$124.99
	Celestron 40” Telescope Bag	Marc Arganue	$249.99
Skywatcher	Star Adventurer Astro Kit #1	Robert Flatman	$699.00
	Star Adventurer Astro Kit #2	Guy Thomason	$699.00
Testar	QHY247c	Robert Flatman	$2899.00
Astro Anarchy	‘NEW’ Star Adventurer GTi with GTi Tripod & Evolux 62ED	David O’Driscoll	$1997.00
Palmway Optical	1 x Mirror coating	Tony Piccini	$1000.00
SailPoint	Saxon 20×80 Binoculars	James Frazer	$295.00
BINTEL	Imaging Gift Card: this can be used against Cameras / guiding accessories, or even a down payment on that new mount you’ve always been wanting!	David O’Driscoll	$1000.00
	Visual Gift card: this can be used against everything from a new telescope or that amazing eyepiece you’ve all wanted!	James Fraser	$1000.00
	Swarovski Optik Habitcht 7X42 GA Binoculars	Kerry Holmes	$1390.00
UNIFY Solutions	iOptron SkyHunter Portable EQ/AZ GOTO System with iPolar	Mike Geisel	$1,299.00
	Celestron Skymaster 12×60 binoculars	Tom Jacob	$175.00
Optolong	Optolong L-Extreme 2”	Linda Porter	$439.00
	Optolong L-Enhance 2”	Linda Porter	$339.00
	Planetary kit 1.25”(LRGB + IR pass 685nm)	Tom Jacob	$484.00
Badger Australia	Freezer Suit voucher to purchase one right for your size	Dean Vickers	$300.00
Australia Sky & Telescope	Annual subscriptions to Australia Sky & Telescope publication	James Frazer	$59.00
	Annual subscriptions to Australia Sky & Telescope publication	David O’Driscoll	$59.00

Please also click on the company name in the left column for each of the sponsors and read their profile – a small gesture for their generosity. If you are in the market for new astrogear, please keep these sponsors in mind – remember, if we don’t support them, they may not be in business long enough to support us!!

Group photos

As always, we have photos from the event.  Click on the images below to access the high-resolution versions, which you can download.

 

Erwin van der Velden Astrophotography competition

In 2006 this astrophotography competition was created in memory of Erwin van der Velden, a keen astrophotographer and Astrofest regular. The competition is open to all registrants to the Queensland Astrofest.

Up to 3 entries per registrant, and to be eligible, must have been taken between last year’s Astrofest (in this case 2019) to the beginning of this year’s.

There are two categories which are:

• Category 1 – Through a Telescope. A telescope is regarded as 400mm focal length or greater.
• Category 2 – Non-Telescope. As the name suggests, photos taken without a telescope or less than 400mm focal length.

Entries are voted upon by Astrofest registrants throughout the event, and winners announced during the AstroFeast on the final Saturday.

Another award, Best of the ‘Fest is also awarded on any subject, astronomical or otherwise.

And the winner(s) were…

Joe Cali cleaned the field. He won all three prizes! See his images below:

The Gerald Awards

TBA

Our guest speaker

The 2022 Major Speaker was Dr Vanessa Moss, Senior researcher from CSIRO. Vanessa presented on  “Uncovering the hidden Universe with Radio Astronomy”.

Dr Vanessa Moss is a radio astronomer based at CSIRO, working at the boundaries between astronomy, telescope operations and data science. She oversees science operations for the ground-breaking ASKAP radio telescope, coordinating astronomical observations from survey planning to the arrival of the data at the Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre. Prior to her current position, she worked overseas at ASTRON Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy in research and telescope operations and at the University of Sydney as a CAASTRO postdoctoral fellow. In her astronomy research, she studies phenomena across the Universe, from the hidden structure of the Milky Way to the shadows of gas against distant black holes.

Uncovering the hidden Universe with radio astronomy

The sky we observe with our eyes offers just one window on our complex Universe, one that mainly traces the light emitted by stars and galaxies. If we instead survey the sky with radio eyes, we glean unique views of astrophysical phenomena including the fuel that stars are born from, high-energy particles spiralling in magnetic fields, the dark mysterious edges of black holes, and flashes of radio light from rapidly-spinning cosmic lighthouses. From the birth of radio astronomy in the 1930s, Australia has played a key role in developing this field, with CSIRO leading the designing, building and operating of world-class radio telescopes such as Parkes Murriyang, ATCA and most recently, ASKAP. In this talk I’ll give an overview of radio astronomy in the global astronomical context and an introduction to the array of instruments operated by CSIRO as part of the Australia Telescope National Facility. Come on a journey into the world of radio waves, and discover what lies hidden beyond our normal view of the Universe!