30 August 2002

Attending Star Parties

by Michael Hotka

Anyone can attend public star parties. You don’t need a telescope or any knowledge of astronomy to enjoy yourself. All you need is the desire to spend an evening outside and a curiosity of what is beyond what your eye can see.

I have attended one national (The Texas Star Party) and two regional (Okie-Tex and Weekend Under the Stars) star parties, along with many public star nights sponsored by our local astronomy club.

Each star party is unique. Some star parties have meals provided, along with snack shacks that are open all night. Others are bring your own food, beverages and water. The star parties I have attended have camping ranging from primitive to minimal electricity for running telescopes and computers. Some have hot showers and bunkhouses. Motor homes and travel trailers are abundant at these events, but there are no hookups for these units. Also, portable generators are highly discouraged, due to their exhaust fumes.

After dark, white light of any kind is forbidden. It is important to carry a red filtered flashlight so that you can navigate in the dark. A regular flashlight, with red cellophane rubber banded over the end is sufficient. If you retire early in the evening to your tent or RV, make sure that if you turn on white lights inside, that the white light cannot be seen through the shades or tent canvas from the outside. Some amateurs dark adapt their eyes to see extremely faint objects. So ANY white light will destroy their ability to see these objects.

While walking around the telescope viewing area at night, you must take extra caution as not to walk over someone's’ telescope or trip over tent ropes and restraints. This is very easy to do and you can get seriously injured if you are not careful. Some telescopes will require you to climb a ladder to gain access to the eyepiece. Ladders that some amateurs use have "half" steps on them. This makes positioning your eye at the eyepiece easier, but it also adds a hazard if you are not prepared for this extra step.

Have some knowledge of the weather and temperature conditions of where the star party is being held. Take the appropriate clothes so that you can stay up all night and not get cold. For instance, the Weekend Under the Stars (WUTS) star party is held in a mountainous area in Wyoming during the month of August. This party is at about 9000 feet. Full winter gear is required for this star party, even in August. During this past WUTS, a layer of ice formed on my telescope by 1 AM almost every night. Be prepared. It is better to take too many clothes than not enough.

Know the critters in the area also. Never leave home without bug repellent. Nothing is more annoying than slapping mosquitoes in the dark. Also know if there are any "friendly" critters that linger around the observing site. These critters live here all year, and we invade their habitat for a week. At the TSP, there is a skunk that lives under a pile of railroad ties. Everyone knows this so you can beware. I surprised this little guy one night. All my red light say was his backside with his tail in the air as he ran away from me. He proceeded to run under my truck, then under my camper, then around my telescope. Boy am I glad he didn’t spray anything. Know the critters so you will be prepared.

The Texas Star Party (TSP) and the Okie-Tex Star Party (OT) serve lunch and dinners each day of the event. These meals are excellent and sitting in the dining hall with fellow star partiers is a wonderful way to meet new people. I try to sit at a different table for each meal so I can meet other people whom share an astronomy interest.

During the day, some people like to catch a nap, so keep loud noises to a minimum. At TSP, WUTS and OT, there are always people with solar telescopes setup during the daylight hours. You can look at the Sun in many different ways, each way revealing a different aspect of the Sun. There are always chat groups that you can attend. Introduce yourself and join in. I have yet to see anyone denied from one of these casual chat groups. You can learn much from these informal discussions, so don’t hesitate to join in.

Next time I will talk about what you can do at a star party if you are new to amateur astronomy.