On Saturday evening the AIC folks put on a gala dinner for us. We all had a great time visiting with folks that we met at the conference as well as some old friends, too.

Ken Crawford (AIC president) making some announcements.

This year we had a number of outstanding vendors attend. It's really dangerous to visit the vendors area with a credit card in your possession :)

Adam Block is now on the AIC board. Adam is one of the best astro imagers in the world. He is always available to answer questions and share his knowledge with anyone who asks. He's also a fantastic teacher, having made numerous tutorial videos.

That's Ray Gralak, the fellow that wrote the application PemPro and works a lot with the ASCOM software as it pertains to Astro-Physics mounts and products.

One of the new Astro-Physics mounts. You don't want to know how much these thing run!

This is Molly. We met Molly at the Texas Star Party back in 2017. She is a nuclear physicist. Back in 2017 she was working at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio, but now she is working on her PhD. at CalTech in Pasadena. Nice lady! She'll be teaching astrophysics at the Air Force Academy in a couple of years. No, really! :)

There's always something new and exciting to check out in the vendor's area.

My buddy Jeff hobnobbing with some of the vendors.

Planewave introduced a new mount that has no mechanical gears. It's called a direct drive and works magnetically. This guy looks like he's trying to figure out how it works :)

The vendors included lots of companies that make an assortment of mounts.

Celestron brought along a new line of astrographs (telescopes made exclusively for imaging). The camera goes on the front.

Software Bisque produces the planetarium program TheSkyX. Some years ago they branched off into manufacturing mounts and now can boast some of the best (and more expensive) mounts around.

Some fellows checking some new gear.

Here we are on Sunday (the last day) just before the raffle. "Must be present to win."

On Saturday, Professor Ann Zabludoff, PhD.,gave a really interesting talk on how amateur and professional astronomers can collaborate on various astronomical projects. She is a professor of Astronomy at the University of Arizona. That's where Adam Block works. Adam was the one who got her to come talk at AIC this year

We had a great turnout for the last evening of AIC 2019.

Lots of diners

Here we're just arriving for our last gathering on Sunday. The raffle is just about to begin.

Past winners of the AIC Hubble Award.

Past winners of the AIC Hubble Award.

Some of the Board members delivering raffle prizes.