Fired up

5.15pm. Really quite excited. We've just had a session on how to use the data analysis software, Maxim DL. It all sounded really dry a few weeks ago, but to see it done in front of me was really good. Just wanted to get my hands on it!

Up until the beginning of the course, I was looking forward to the observing part only, however seeing how Maxim DL can eliminate noise, calculate relative magnitudes, and all sorts of things, I am now looking forward to the data analysis part too.

Apparently there is a fully functioning 30 day version of the software on their website, so I may have to have a go back in the UK, although I'll have to download the data from the images we take.

Just having a quick coffee break, and I've taken some snaps of the site with the large camera. Really enjoying today so far.

One slight snag is that Avon, one of the tutors, has had to go home because his son has been taken ill, rushed into hospital in fact. Now we have four groups instead of five, so the groups are now fixed for the week, instead of changing just for tonight.

Listening to Simon talking about telescopes. Although he loves the sound of his own voice, he's very very clever indeed.

More later.