I arrived in San Jose, California, Thursday night, October 21, to attend the 2010 Advanced Imaging Conference (AIC). Eight other attendees and I took the AIC shuttle from the airport to the hotel. I’m talking first class: This was a stretched bus with meters-long couches, neon lighting, a high-definition television (showing an AIC presentation), and a full bar. The driver even served champagne to those who wanted it. All that for a 10-minute ride.
After enjoying supper, I headed down to the vendor area. Although registration wouldn’t start until Friday morning, 30 or so dealers already were setting up. I wandered around and chatted with folks from Astrodon Filters, Atik CCD Cameras, Celestron, Orion Telescopes, Planewave Instruments, and more.
And, yes, I saw some old astroimaging buddies, too: Adam Block, Ken Crawford, Bob Fera, Tony Hallas, and Warren Keller. They and some 300 other avid astroimagers from around the world are here to share what they know, or to learn as much as they can, about capturing photons from distant objects. It’s a high-charged atmosphere, and people are already having a great time.
AIC’s board of directors has given me some time after dinner Friday night to present a brief PowerPoint talk to the conferees. I’ll be chatting about Astronomy’s upcoming 100-page special issue Spectacular Universe.
This issue will showcase the work of astroimagers. Our monthly magazine provides the largest audience available to photographers who target celestial objects, but we can only run a limited number of amateur images in each issue. Spectacular Universe will feature more than 200 photos — each taken by an amateur astronomer. What’s more, the majority of those images will come from people attending this conference.
So, yes, I’m jazzed. The AIC sessions started this morning. I’ll hit parts of many of them to sample what’s hot this year. Stay tuned to Astronomy.com’s blogisphere for more of my reports soon.
Related blog:
On my way to the AIC 2010