Star Partying 101

What is a star party?

Star parties are gatherings in which many astronomers will observe the night sky together, usually in an open field far away from the city lights. The meets usually last an entire night, although meets lasting several nights to an entire week are common. The number of participants at a star party varies from a dozen to hundreds, depending on location, weather conditions, and other factors.

What happens at a star party?

Activities at star parties usually involve looking through telescopes or binoculars at objects beyond our Solar System--stars, nebulae, globular clusters, galaxies, and more. New to the hobby? Then attend a star party. New astronomers will have a chance to expand their knowledge on the hobby. Veteran astronomers will be there to help and answer questions.

At larger star parties, participants can expect guest speakers (from NASA, telescope manufacturers, astronomy magazines, etc.) providing presentations covering our solar system, interstellar neighborhood, galaxy, and the universe as a whole. Participants can also expect prizes at larger star parties, donated by astronomy retailers and manufacturers. Prizes given are usually eyepieces, telescope kits, filters, etc.

Where are star parties located?

Due to the issue of light pollution near urban and suburban developments, star parties are usually held in remote locations. There are exceptions, however; some star parties are located closer to urban centers in order to attract local participants. Events are usually held in state parks, private camps, and club-owned observatory sites. The key ingredient to the location is dark skies.

What expectations are there?

There are a few expectations set in stone by astronomers for an orderly observing night; the most important to note concerns white lights. Due to the sensitivity of the human eye, any emission of artificial light, using common flashlights, will reduce the astronomer's ability observing the faintest of stars. The only flashlights permitted at star parties are those emitting red-spectrum light. White flashlights are not tolerated.

For those bringing their kids along, it is recommended to keep an eye on them. Pets are generally not allowed at star parties. No one wants to listen to dogs barking and howling all through the night, and pets don't always get along with one another.

What to bring?

Regardless of the location, veteran astronomers will recommend bringing spare clothes--flannel shirts, sweatshirts, jackets, or hooded jackets. The extra clothes will prove necessary as temperatures drop during the night. It is recommended to wear layers when spending an entire night observing the night skies.

Other items to consider bringing along include food and beverages, nothing too complicated though. A few water bottles and some dry snacks should be enough, if observing for one night. Should the star party last for several days, however, options may vary, depending on location. There are a select few star parties where restaurants are within driving distance. In most cases, restaurants are out of the question, due to remote locations. However, some of the larger, more organized star parties include food vendors on site.

Assuming there's a combination of interests (astronomy and camping), recommendations suggest the astronomer should bring along camping equipment--tent, stakes, camping chairs, etc. And as stated before, bringing conventional flashlights is out of the question. In place of a traditional white-beam flashlight, astronomers suggest bringing along a red-spectrum flashlight. It may not be as bright as a conventional flashlight, but its bright enough to see what the observer is doing.

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Celestron SkyProdigy--Part 2

The Celestron SkyProdigy telescope is designed to automatically align itself with minimal human intervention. The astronomer isn't required to manually align the telescope; just type in the local time and coordinates of the observation site, and the telescope does the rest.

Celestron SkyProdigy

The Celestron SkyProdigy 130

Last week, I borrowed a SkyProdigy 130 Newtonian Reflector to test whether the scope could align itself with numerous obstructions present. Looking back, I had problems with buildings during my previous semester at Susquehanna University with the Celestron NexStar 5SE Schmidt-Cassegrain scope. To loosely simulate the building situation at Susquehanna, a suburban cul-de-sac development served as the test site. Unlike the Susquehanna University campus, however, trees were a concern.

The SkyProdigy telescope, according to Celestron, aligns itself in three minutes. This estimate assumes there are no obstructions interfering with the scope's alignment process. In the cul-de-sac development, however, trees obstructed approximately one-half of the sky. As a result, the alignment process took more than three minutes. With only half the sky available, it took the scope approximately five minutes to align.

Following a successful alignment, my tour of the suburban "night" skies started with the planet Saturn. I was able to make out the largest of the Saturn ring gaps and three "stars," though I'm sure I was actually looking at three of Saturn's moons. Had there been clear skies the following night, I would have taken the telescope out again and determine whether those "stars" were actual stars or satellites of Saturn.

M5 as seen through the Hubble Space Telescope. Image by NASA and ESA

Other than Saturn and it's neighboring "stars," my tour included a few globular clusters, M5 in particular. Unlike the ringed planet, however, I didn't find M5 as amusing. With the local light pollution and the position of the object, M5 appeared similar to a puffball. Had I waited for an hour, or relocated to a darker site, the globular cluster would have appeared to have thousands of individual stars, gathered around one common point in space.

As a result of this test, I am considering bringing a SkyProdigy to Susquehanna University. Although the alignment process took longer with the SkyProdigy, the accuracy and operation had improvements over the NexStar telescope, which, I believe, will make the hobby more enjoyable. However, additional tests will be necessary before my return.

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Celestron SkyProdigy--Part 1

From my experience at college with my first scope, I had run into a few difficulties. Time was limited, buildings and trees obstructed my field-of-view, which sometimes made it difficult to align the scope. As stated in my previous post, I am considering an upgrade to the Celestron SkyProdigy telescope. Unlike my previous telescope, the SkyProdigy aligns itself, using a wide-field camera and a database of current star patterns. Not only does this feature save the astronomer time, it also allows for beginning astronomers get started faster without having to know the names of stars and constellations.

For this weekend, I'll be testing a SkyProdigy scope, for a better understanding of how its self-aligning feature works. According to Celestron, the scope should align itself in three minutes. I'd like to see if it can actually do this when the view of the skies is obstructed by buildings and trees, much like it is on campus. It may only be May, but I feel the need to test this scope months ahead of time, before going back to Susquehanna University.

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Taking a Telescope to College--Part 2

Last year, I had written a post about taking a telescope up to college. The telescope was a Celestron NexStar 5SE Schmidt-cassegrain. It operates on twenty double A batteries, weighs less than thirty pounds, and, with the tripod legs raised, occupies minimal space, making the scope an ideal choice for a college environment. When not in use, I had it stored safely in a corner, where it wouldn't get knocked over or damaged. And due to its light weight, it can be carried by one person. Getting through doors--manual or automatic--was no trouble; no help was required. Furthermore, lowering the tripod leg extensions alone was possible, given the small size and low weight of the scope.

To get an idea of how the telescope fits inside a college dorm room, here's an image from my dorm room the last two semesters:

In this entry, I'll be covering three subjects: on-campus ambient light, reactions of classmates and passersby, and a telescope upgrade.

Ambient Light

One problem I had not considered was ambient light. The Susquehanna University campus lighting is set to turn on before sunset, and the lampposts are not designed with the astronomer in mind. Light floods at least 90% the campus, a figure unsatisfying to the astronomer. I compared the light situation on campus similar to what is observed in the average suburban community. Observing deep-space objects was nearly impossible; the lights made it difficult for the eyes to adapt to the dark. I tried observing the Orion Nebula and Andromeda Galaxy, in spite of the ambient light, and I had moderate success with the nebula; all I could observe in the Orion Nebula were a few bright, young stars. I couldn't get the Andromeda Galaxy, due to the flood of light, and poor alignments on my part.

When observing the Andromeda Galaxy, the eyes must be adapted to the dark skies. This means that the nearest light bulb has to be a mile away, a fact that is evident at Cherry Springs State Park; and even there, more distant galaxies can be observed.

The ambient light issue wasn't an issue when observing the moon and the planets, however. Of the planets that interest the amateur astronomer, I observed the planets Jupiter and Saturn, although I should have made efforts to observe Venus and Mars. Mercury was out of the question, due to there being many obstructions: buildings, trees, hills, cars, the Sun, etc. Jupiter was my main interest while observing up at Susquehanna, in addition to the Earth's moon and Jupiter's moons; it was possible to observe Jupiter's four largest moons through the 5-inch scope.

Reactions from Passersby

As I would set up the telescope, there were a select few who would stop and ask what I'd be looking at or to have a quick view in the eyepiece. Most of my potential classmates most likely hadn't grown up with a telescope in their family's house, and it was no surprise to me that they'd be in awe at the sights of the Moon or Jupiter through the eyepiece, for what might have been the first time.

It was as though the telescope had brought much child-like excitement out of those who looked through. On that notion, I look back to a distant past when I personally got a first glimpse through a telescope, when I too was stimulated with excitement over the most commonly viewed objects in the night sky. Yet, unlike most of my fellow classmates of Susquehanna University, I did grow up with telescopes in the house.

My classmates were amazed over the details of the lunar craters and observing the Galilean Moons of Jupiter; few knew observing Jupiter's moons was possible. They were also astounded to notice one of Jupiter's moons--the volcanic moon of Io--was moving slightly in the field of view. Most astronomers state the moon travels once around Jupiter every two days approximately. The exact figure is close to every 1.8 days. As far as the Earth's moon is concerned, I doubt my classmates had a chance to see it through an eyepiece. The craters and mountains, if to be observed properly, requires a telescope; and with the telescope, my classmates were in awe over the magnified sights of the Moon.

Upgrade

While the Celestron NexStar 5SE served me well these last two semesters, and like most astronomers, the first telescope just isn't enough for the hobby and desires of the astronomer. For the next two semesters, I'm considering an upgrade to a Celestron SkyProdigy 6 Schmidt-cassegrain. This telescope also aligns itself, saving the astronomer time. This is accomplished using a camera and a database of the star patterns. The telescope is also larger than the previous model. Why a larger scope? It's quite simple: a larger scope allows for a larger mirror; a larger mirror means more light is collected, which, in turn, allows the astronomer to observe objects in greater detail.

However, given the tight spaces in college dorms, it isn't recommended going with anything larger than a 6-inch scope. Another concern is increased weight; carrying the scope, opening doors, and lowering the tripod legs, all alone, would be a difficult task. Again, the largest scope college students should consider, if getting into the hobby, would be a 6-inch scope.

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Cherry Springs State Park--Part 2

Cherry Springs

Another month, another visit to Cherry Springs State Park to observe the night skies. As you may recall from my post from June 2nd, the state park is an ideal location for night sky observing, due to the lack of light pollution. The suburban settings outside of Philadelphia, though acceptable for observing the planets and the brightest of stars, is never the correct environment to point a telescope at distant objects -- nebulas, galaxies, globular clusters, etc. To fully appreciate the hobby, one must travel beyond the reaches of all sources of light pollution. And to those living in or around Pennsylvania, Cherry Springs is a great option.

On July 8th, my dad and I traveled to Cherry Springs to get another chance to observe the best starry skies of Pennsylvania. Though normally we bring along our 4-inch TeleVue refractor or our 10-inch Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain, we decided to borrow an 8-inch Orion go-to Dobsonian. We wanted to visit the park earlier, although weather conditions were unfavorable on weekends prior to July 8th. And yes, the work week also gets in the way of such trips....

One important tip for new astronomers everywhere: pay close attention to the details of the weather forecasts! Why you ask? Although the meteorologists were right in forecasting clear skies, we did have some minor degree of cloud cover and, of all things, a boatload of dew. While dew becomes an issue during the night, our scope was covered in dew before sunset, much to our surprise. Our tent, our eyepieces bag, even our chairs were covered in dew. The moisture made aligning the scope a problem. Though we've used the red dot finder while aligning the Dobsonian, we soon realized the moisture had made our red dot finder a red blob projector.

Though we had some cloud cover initially, this was before and slightly after sunset -- no problem there. Around midnight, however, clouds began filling up the skies to the southeast. Did I forget to mention we had the Earth's moon to worry about as well? When adding the moon into this equation, we were observing through milky skies.

Log Cabin Inn

The astronomer cannot live on the dark skies alone; an astronomer has got to eat, right? Personally, I recommend the Log Cabin Inn, located on US Route 6 about thirty minutes east from Cherry Springs State Park.

The menu had an astonishing selection of dishes listed -- all in four pages. The second page (I'm skipping the first page, which covered appetizers) lists various steaks and related meats. Page three covers various freshwater fish and seafood dishes. And the final page covers numerous pasta dishes.

The salad bar -- everything so fresh and nutritious; I helped myself to some homemade macaroni salad and coleslaw, both having such a delightful taste. I swear, I could have gone up for more had I decided to skip the deserts after the main course. Yet, perhaps the best part of the salad bar was the homemade clam chowder. Unlike most eateries in Pennsylvania, this restaurant made their chowder with fresh, tender clams.

Of the items on the menu, I went with their broiled trout, with cheesy mashed potatoes as my side dish. And this wasn't just your average trout purchased at the grocery store; this was freshly caught trout from the local streams.

As for deserts, there were twelve different deserts to chose from: carrot cake, cheese cake, cheese cake with a carrot cake inside of it, pie, etc. I had settled for a cheese cake that had a carrot cake inside of it; a unique combination, I thought. Already I knew I enjoyed cheese cakes and carrot cakes separately, but together as one desert, that was something worth trying. Mmm ... a lovely cheese cake, carrot cake mixture it was! I could have it again and again.

How would I rate this restaurant in comparison to others? Personally, I hate to rate everyone; it's too much pressure on my part. Still, it beats eating at a pizza joint. So, fellow astronomers, if you're planning to go to Cherry Springs State Park anytime soon, please take my advise: go to the Log Cabin Inn! I'm sure you'll be satisfied!

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