Texas Star Party Stargazing Texas Style

The Newsletter of the Miami Valley Astronomical Society * Dayton, OH
Roughing it at the
Member’s Camping
Weekend page 6
June 2013
The 16-inch Reflector is reborn!
see page 4
Texas Star Party
Stargazing Texas Style
by Jim Ventling
After a cold winter and a wet cloudy spring,
stargazers in Ohio start to fantasize about strange
lands with sunny, dry weather and dark transparent
skies. That is why I have made several trips to the
Texas Star Party. TSP is held every April/May in the
western corner of Texas, 5,000 feet high up in the
arid Davis Mountains. Yes, the Milky Way can look
like storm clouds on the horizon and the sky is so
dark that true clouds look black against the night
sky. On a good night, the Milky Way will knock your
socks off. Not only is it visible at the tree tops, but
will cast shadows. On a great night it can take your
breath away.
Held on the Prude Ranch (a kind of RV park /
summer camp / dude ranch) only 12 miles from
the McDonald Observatory, the skies are among
the darkest in the continental states. At 30 degrees
north, and further south than the state of New
Mexico, sights like Omega Centauri are easy to
see! With up to 500 attendees, three observing
fields, and scopes of all shapes and sizes, this is
a great place for an amateur astronomer. There
will be a visual observer with a 4 inch scope next
to a monster 36 inch dob next to a hi-tech astrophotographer.
The place is remote, but the tiny town of Fort Davis
is only a short drive. The ranch has a variety of
accommodations - from tent camping to “motel”
rooms. Some attendees actually stay in town at the
motel or bed & breakfast or just up the road at the
state park. Showers and bathrooms are primitive,
but the ranch food is great. No cell phone service
unless you drive into town, but there is electricity all
over the observing fields and wi-fi internet.
McDonald Observatory----Fort Davis, Texas
Stargazing Texas Style---continued from page one
Professional astronomers and scientists or big names
in amateur astronomy make up a great lineup of
speakers. Almost a dozen vendors are there too,
Vixen, Celestron, AstroGizmos, Camera Concepts,
Astronomy To Go, and others. In addition, there is a
swap meet Friday morning where it is hard not to buy
something. Finishing the week, TSP has two nights of
door prize giveaways with lots of fun stuff.
This year, TSP offered an optional series of workshops
on astro-photography. I didn’t attend them but they
were very well recieved. Also added this year was the
SCURT. Scope Check Using Resolution Target was placed
on a nearby hilltop and used to test the resolving power of
scopes. A cool idea and fascinating project.
If you have any free time, there are some interesting
things to see in the area also. The Historic Fort Davis
army post will make you fell like you are in an old western
movie. The McDonald Observatory is very cool, with the
star party organizing special behind the scenes tours.
There are scenic drives through the Davis Mountains,
hiking and bird watching. Carlsbad Cavern and/or Big Bend
National Park are day excursions.
We did not get the best weather this year, but typically,
the star party gets almost a full week of sunny days with
deep blue skies and clear, dark, very dry nights (and
mediocre seeing). There is one problem that you won’t
mind - too many stars! When trying to find the dipper, this
Big Bear keeps getting in the way. I always bring a hat,
sunglasses, lotion, and lip balm. Warm, sunny days will
fool you, but it can get quite cold under a clear sky
in the mountains. Even so, there is rarely any dew unless
there was rain during the day. Many people are up until
dawn. This is not the kind of event where people go to
bed before midnight! I learned that the weather report
and clear sky clock are both unreliable here. Either or both
reports might say cloudy but the sky would be clear all
night! Days are usually windy, though the wind drops after
sundown. There is a lot of dust. This is very arid country to
begin with, and what little rain they get tends to come in
the middle of summer. Plan to clean everything after the
star party.
There is a late night grill and snack bar, but no breakfast
is served here (too many are sleeping in the morning).
The ranch dining hall is excellent, with good food in buffet
style. If you choose to dine there, it’s a great way to meet
people. One day I sat with a group and it turned out they
were from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and Indiana.
The next day, I sat with a guy that looked very familiar
but it took me awhile to realize it was Carroll Iorg, the
president of the Astronomical League. Besides the states,
Germany, Canada, and France are a few of the other
locations represented.
continued from page 2---MY WEEK
Saturday: Arrived a day early and stayed
at the state park. Wanted a chance to
tour the area and be rested after the
long drive (it does take about 26 hours).
Night was fantastic, clear and dark!
Pulled out my dob in the state park and
had some fun observing.
Sunday: Arrived at the Prude ranch and
set up camp and my scopes on the south
field. Big crowd already.
Night sky was only fair (still much better than back home!).
Horizon was hazy but the zenith was great. Omega
Centauri is a monster of a globular cluster. Low on the
horizon at 10 degrees it is still a naked eye object. Simply
awesome, with stars resolved across the core.
Monday: Sun getting hot in the afternoon. Spent a little
money at the vendors and stayed in the cool shade.
Night sky is good though hazy again around horizon. Work
through the TSP observing list. Lots of fun objects on the
list that I either haven’t seen or haven’t seen in a while.
The sky gets really good after 2:00 and I spend some time
just staring at the Milky Way. I start to crash at 3:30 and
head to bed even though many others are still going until
dawn.
Tuesday: Met people from all over the states today, even a
bunch from Ohio. The food here is great, I think I will gain
a few pounds by the end of the week.
Night sky was terrific even though ClearSkyClock said it
would be cloudy. Had a great time with the Mallincam,
even captured a couple images from the video feed. At
4:30, a power glitch kills my alignment. So I shut down and
look at the magnificent Milky Way for awhile before going
to bed at 5:00.
Wednesday: Some very interesting afternoon talks and
a good evening talk on asteroids. Bob and Matt show up
today, but Bob is missing his counter weights - darn! Oh
well, there are lots of other scopes to look through.
Night sky is only fair. ClearSkyClock is totally whited out,
but we still get some good views of M81, M82, M51, and
M13 before the clouds take over. We make use of the
Snack Bar Grill and hang out for awhile before heading to
bed.
Thursday: Hawaiian Shirt Day. Have a nice conversation at
lunch with Carroll Iorg, the president of the Astronomical
League, about clubs, outreach, star parties, weather, and
friends. You never know who you sit down next to. Talks
were great today especially the evening speaker - Research
with Infrared Spectroscopy on Stars in the Milky Way.
Night sky forcast is total crap with a good chance of rain.
Very unusual for this time of year. At sunset the clouds
blow in and there is even a few drops of rain. Green lasers
come out for a short while. Then the sky clears! Still some
patches of cloud moving through but the wind dies and
there some excellent observing to be had. We walk the
other fields and get some nice views through other scopes.
Around midnight the clouds return, so we relax back at my
setup. Bob and Matt head back to their state park camp
just as the sky clears again for awhile.
Friday: Managed to get up for the swap meet. Found a
nice filter I just had to buy. Weather report for the rest of
the week looks bad - rain & clouds. Some folks are packing up and leaving early. Dark clouds and sprinkles this
afternoon and a good downpour just before dinner. We’re
getting an early taste of the rainy season which usually
doesn’t start here until July. Rain stopped by 7:00pm but
everything is wet and cold. Another great evening speaker
and a lot of fun with Friday door prize giveaway. When we
get out at 9:20 the sky is clear! Night sky is great, but for
change we are fighting heavy dew. Get some great observing until the dew strap loses the fight at midnight. I enjoy
the sky for awhile with binoculars before going to bed.
Saturday: Beautiful morning but they guarantee clouds
for this last night. Don’t want to pack up wet equipment,
so I take down the big scopes and clean up camp. Nice
afternoon talks. The ATM review is great with some cool
projects and the SCURT results are very interesting - hope
they continue this. The evening speaker was the best yet.
A kind of Astro-Detective, he determines location, date
and time for famous events, paintings, photos, etc. Cool
to see how he takes into account shadows, stars, moon
phase & libration, RA & Dec of the Sun, building angles,
and more. The last night presentations of awards and
door prizes wraps up another Texas Star Party. No relief
from the clouds tonight. We all head to bed early and plan
on an early start in the morning. At least it was decent
weather all the way home.
It’s a heck of a long way to go, but the skies can be terrific
and the Texas Star Party is always a lot of fun!
The 16 gets a facelift!!
by Rick Weiss
The club’s sixteen inch reflector was recently recoated.
Both the primary and secondary mirrors were sent in and
recoated with a new durable, highly reflective coating.
John Graham for his advice on the coating vendor and the
shipping and packaging process used.
And lastly for input and in one case, warnings on how the
mirror was last installed and how it should be reinstalled.
John Chumack and Joe Tarkany.
Please take the time to thank these people and to take a
look through the scope the next time you are out at John
Bryan Observatory. The views through the scope have never
been better!
This is arguably the club’s most used instrument. It is a
handmade 16-inch reflector in a dobsonian configuration.
It is an f5.4 and was handmade by several early club
members, several of which are still around today.
The scope has gone through a few changes and upgrades
over the years, but the mirror has not be redone since the
scope was originaly built more than 18 years
ago. In addition, a cooling fan has been added
to help with temperature equalization.
The mirror recoating was not without its
challenges. Without going into any details,
surffice to say the mirror took almost 6 hours to
remove and it required the skills and hands of
several people to get the job done. The mirror
weighs over 60 pounds!
I want to thank the following people for their
time, advice, and concerns with this project:
Dave Orth, Jim Ventling, and Bob Connell for
their skills and brute strength in removing the
mirror and preparing the scope when the mirror
was returned.
Member Image of the Month
MVAS
Officers & Chairs
President Robert Connell - 937-367-4688
[email protected]
Vice President Jim Ventling - 937-376-2074
[email protected]
Secretary Linda Weiss - 937-371-2867
[email protected]
Treasurer David Orth - 937-241-3101
[email protected]
Membership DirectorDavid Orth - 937-241-3101
[email protected]
Observatory Chairs AO - Alan Zucksworth - 937-256-6822
[email protected]
JB - Rick Weiss - 937-901-4716
[email protected]
two-exposure panorama with a C8 at f/10, using a Canon T3i.
Image by Ed Novak
Photo Corner
Qualifications Greg Grierson - 937-898-1624
[email protected]
Events and Outreach Linda Weiss - 937-371-2867
[email protected]
LibrarianJim Ventling - 937-376-2074
AssetsDick Swan - 937-235-2605
Ron Hestand - 937-219-5952
[email protected]
Past PresidentRick Weiss
Astronomical League (Alcor)Alan Zucksworth - 937-256-6822
Newsletter EditorRick Weiss
[email protected]
John Bryan Observatory Phone
937-767-8478
Have Scope, Will Travel At the TSP by Jim Ventling
Member’s Camping Weekend by Rick Weiss
We had an awesome time during the Member’s
Camping Weekend. Though attendance was sparse,
we did enjoy some fair skies as well as a campfire
and of course an opportunity to commune with our
fellow member’s in the great outdoors.
It wasn’t like many of us were roughing it mind you.
Several club members brought out their campers
and enjoyed the creature comforts of home while
getting a taste of ourdoor living. We will be doing
more such events and we certainly hope more of
you decide to participate. Bring out your campers,
your tents, or your sleeping bags and spend the
night out amongst the stars.
As with this particular weekend we had a mix of
good skys and bad, but we did grill out and enjoyed
a nice fire down at the fire ring.
Photo by Charlie Cotterman
New Member
Announcements
by David F. Orth, Membership Director
For the month of May, the MVAS had two new memberships! Please give a warm welcome to:
•
•
Classifieds Section
The Amateur Astronomer now has a classified section.
Please consider posting your items for sale or throwing
out a greeting to one of your fellow members.
No Classifieds this month
Robert Harrison
Craig Rogers
If you see these fellow stargazers at a General Meeting,
a Members’ Night at JBO, or any other club event, please
introduce yourselves and welcome them into the club
June Meeting
Field Trip
Normally, there is not a general meeting held in June
due to Apollo Rendezvous.
This year we will be holding a June general meeting,
on June 14th and we are going on a field trip to the
Planetarium at Smith Middle School, 3625 Little York Rd,
Dayton, 45414.
Club member Scott Oldfield is the planetarium director
and has invited us for a visit and show.
So mark your calendars now and watch for more
information via e-mail.
Texas Desert by Jim Ventling
Enjoying the campfire, MVAS Style!