Saturday, September 30, 2023
Issue 596: My Favorite Star Parties
 |
| Miss Dorothy and Friend, 1994... |
What did I start thinking about as I was pondering what to
write about here? Star parties. Why? Well it is definitely and obviously
the fall star party season in the Northern Hemisphere. There was more to it
than that, however. Mostly, how much I miss the star party experience. I
haven’t been to one in, oh, about four years.
“Whyzat, Unk, whyzat, huh?” A couple of reasons, Scooter. The biggest one being covid. 2020 wasn’t any year to gather with a bunch of people even if you tried to keep your distance. 2021 wasn’t either. 2022, the supposed last year of the plague? I had a relatively mild case late that year and I am not anxious to get it again. But…
I sure got sick of the fracking lockdown and am glad to be back teaching undergraduates in person. Dorothy and I made it through this year’s big Huntsville Hamfest no problem…so, what's to worry? Yes, I can still get skittish about crowds. But I think that is psychological more than anything else, and I can shake it off as I did at Huntsville.
That ain’t all that’s kept me off the star party trail, though.
A combination of health issues and me getting older is maybe
more the reason I haven’t been back to an observing field than fear of the covid
cooties. Miss Dorothy and I made a short trip the other day, to Biloxi,
Mississippi, and I realized I was just…I dunno…hesitant about driving I-10. I
felt shaky behind the wheel. Of course, that is probably just that I haven’t
driven long distances much thanks to the combination of retirement and the virus. I’m thinking I
could get more comfortable with it again—though never like in the days
of my two-hour daily Interstate commutes.
Anyhow, thinking about these things just naturally led me
to thinking about the wonderful star parties I’ve attended. I became a
regular at the game about 30 years ago. Oh, I’d been to a couple before that,
but wasn’t a regular star-partier. By the 2000s, though, I was star party crazy and
you could find me on observing fields from sea to shining sea, both observing the sky and speaking before the assembled multitudes. In fact, I did
so many star parties as a speaker in 2016 that a dear friend said in retrospect that that long spring and summer
was Uncle Rod’s Farewell Tour.
Maybe, maybe not. I am thinking about the Deep South Star
Gaze in November as a way of dipping my toe back in—we shall see. And who
knows what the new year will bring? I know I’m interested in going again. But
I will only go if I want to. If I know it will be fun.
Be that as it may, over the years I have naturally accumulated
some favorites when it comes to star parties, and I thought I would share them
with you this morning. As in the old series of articles, My Favorite Star
Parties I ran for a long time, “favorite” doesn’t necessarily mean “best.”
Sometimes it does…but mostly these are the ones where your ol’ Unk just had him a
Real Good Time.
This event is still ongoing, now being called the “Deep
South Star Gaze.” So why do I refer to it by its older name? I’ve had good
times at this Mississippi/Louisiana event for three solid decades, but I
believe I loved it best when it was in its original home at beautiful Percy
Quin State Park near McComb, Mississippi.
Why is this one of my great ones? I’ll fess up that
is mostly because it was the first star party I went to with my beautiful new
bride, Miss Dorothy, way back in 1994. But that’s not the only reason. Another
is it is focused on observing. Oh,
there’ve been talks and occasional contests over the years, but what everybody
is out for at this star party is observing. It’s also that I’ve been so
many times over the years my fellow attendees have become genuine friends. I
will also admit it’s also been wonderful to have a good star
party just around the corner, less than three hours from home.
How is it now? I’ll just have to go to find out, won’t
I? While the star party is in its fourth home, and while I still miss Percy
Quin, I admit I have had terrific times at all of the DSRSG’s locations. Stay tuned…
The straight poop on Chiefland? It was held year after year
in the first decade of this new century at the Chiefland Astronomy Village
near, natch, Chiefland, Florida. Other folks loved it, too, for the above
reasons, and also for the incredible friendliness and welcoming attitude of the
CAV residents. Maybe we loved it too much. The attendance became so
large it overwhelmed the facilities (like porta-potties) and caused various headaches
for the residents.
In addition to the WSP year, there’ve been several revivals
of the CSP. In fact, I was at one of the last organized ones. But…while it was
a good enough star party…it just wasn’t the same. How could it be? The original movers and shakers
at Chiefland have like all of us grown older. Billy and Alice Dodd are
gone, have passed away. My old friend Carl Wright has left us as well.
Others, like the heart and soul of Chiefland, Tom and Jeannie Clark, moved away
years ago. I’m thinking I’ll have to be content with my memories. I won’t lie,
though: If somebody decided to put on
a CSP in the old mode, your Uncle would be SOUTHBOUND.
How could it not be? Where is it? Near Fort Davis Texas.
Where is that? Go west till you almost run out of Texas. There’s little there
other than the picturesque town of Fort Davis, McDonald Observatory, and, yeah,
the Prude Ranch. Sometimes it doesn’t rain for months and months. The dude ranch
where the event is held is dark, oh, it’s real dark, folks. It’s
so dark the sky is that dark gray color it assumes when there is no light
pollution. The Prude Ranch is also very nice, the food great, and if you want
to meet the big names in amateur astronomy, you will meet them there.
I am proud to say I was at Prude Ranch twice (as an
unassuming attendee, not a speaker or anything). It was wonderful. I’ll never
forget it. I haven’t been back, though. It’s such a long way. When
Dorothy and I were at the height of our careers, there wasn’t time. Now that I’m
retired? As above, the idea of that long of a trip on crazy I-10 is a
non-starter with moi.
I have been at Spruce Knob many times thanks to the kindness
of a couple of sets of organizers (associated with Washington DC’s outstanding
NOVAC) who had me up as a speaker. God knows why they’d want to hear your silly
Uncle more than once, but I’m glad they did. I would dearly love to go back. As
with TSP, what has prevented me post-pandemic is my physical ailments brought
on by the accident I had in 2019. An airplane ride from the ‘Swamp to DC (and a
car ride from there to West Virginny) just doesn’t seem doable. Well, it hasn’t
seemed so. Maybe next year will be different. Sure hope so…
Five Star Final
Those are my big four, y’all. But there are other greats, some of which I
only got to experience once. The Idaho Star Party is sure one. Dark, I
mean CRAZY dark—topped off by folks who instantly became friends. One of the
nicest times I’ve ever had and another of the friendliest groups I’ve encountered
is the Miami Valley Astronomical Society (in Ohio, not Florida), who put on
the Apollo Rendezvous. You want to get out of the heat, meet some great observers,
and experience truly dark skies? Try the North Woods Starfest (Chippewa Valley
Astronomy Society) in Wisconsin. Their star party at Hobbs Observatory is just….well,
it’s fab, y’all, fab, I tell you.
Next time? Keep your fingers crossed for Unk to get
some hours with M13…
