6degrees AstroBlog

Par…tay!  Under the Stars!

By Dr. Irwin Horowitz, 8-31-07

	2006 Idaho Star Party group photo

As promised last month, I will be talking about next weekend’s Idaho Star Party™ in this column.

Star parties are gatherings of amateur astronomers where we go and experience the awesome majesty of the night sky.  Typically, they take place far from city lights and over a weekend evening when moonlight does not interfere with that view.  This way, we can best observe some truly stunning objects in our universe.  These objects range from planets to star clusters to gaseous nebulae to galaxies.  All are generally on the menu when astronomers gather at these events.

Most communities in our country have a local astronomy club or society.  The members will organize star parties for their own enjoyment and occasionally for public involvement.  Many such groups also organize larger gatherings where amateurs come from far away to enjoy the spectacle of a dark, clear sky.

Here in Boise, the members of the Boise Astronomical Society typically drive a short ways out of town once or twice a month to enjoy our star parties.  In addition, we organize star parties for school and community groups around the Treasure Valley.  As the group’s educational liaison, it is currently my responsibility to organize those activities.  We also hold a few public star parties each year, the most notable of which is the Bogus Basin Star Party, held in conjunction with the Bogus Basin Foundation.  Lastly, we organize an annual star party at Bruneau Dunes State Park southeast of Mountain Home.  This is the Idaho Star Party™.

This year, the Idaho Star Party™ will take place over the weekend of 07-09 September.  We have invited a special guest speaker to attend this year’s event, Mr. Rod Mollise.  Mr. Mollise is an author and noted amateur astronomer, who has written books on Urban Astronomy and on Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes.  He is also the author of “Uncle Rod’s Astro Blog.”

In addition to his presentations and the nightly viewing of the heavens, the Idaho Star Party™ also features a delicious Star-B-Q on Saturday as well as vendors selling a variety of astronomical items.  There is a door prize for each attendee and activities for the kids during the day.

But the real magic occurs once the Sun has set and the sky darkens.  With no Moon or city lights to ruin the night sky, and clear dry conditions from horizon to horizon, we sit at our telescopes going from one fascinating fuzzy patch of sky to the next.  Sometimes we like to visit some old favorites, many of which were cataloged by Charles Messier in his famous list.  We also like to try visiting new sights, and push our instruments to their physical limits.

Some folks like to do some astroimaging using either film or the latest in electronic detector technology to capture those elusive photons and generate beautiful pictures.  We also like to meander about the campground, going from site to site and visiting other observers to take a peak through their scopes and see what they have to offer.  A star party is, after all, as much a social event as it is an opportunity to observe.  The chance to talk with others who share our love and passion for this hobby is one of the highlights of these events.

If you are interested in attending, there is still time to register at the website given above.  Most of the campsites have already been reserved, but it is fairly easy to double up at many of the sites, especially if you set up a tent (as opposed to an RV).

On an unrelated note, recently the designers of the fabulous online application Google Earth have come out with a new version that includes a basic sky atlas.  I’ve been looking it over, and while it is not as extensive as many commercial planetarium programs like The Sky 6 or Starry Night Pro, it does have some nice features and you can’t beat the price!  I have no doubt that as it adds more features; it will become one of the best free-ware sky atlases available online.  I certainly enjoy using their original software to explore every nook and cranny on the surface of our planet from the comfort of my living room.
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This month, the early evening sky continues to be dominated by brilliant Jupiter low in the south after sunset.  By the middle of next month, it will become too low in the sky to see after dark, so enjoy our solar system’s largest planet while you still can.  Mars starts to rise around midnight at mid-month and is high up in the eastern sky when the first light of dawn starts to embrace the horizon.  It will continue to become brighter and rise earlier through the remainder of 2007, attaining its peak brightness on Christmas Eve, when it will be visible all night long (check my December column for information about a close encounter with the Full Moon the previous evening).

Because of the Idaho Star Party™, there will be no regular membership meeting of the Boise Astronomical Society in September.  Our next regular meeting will be the second Friday in October where two of our members, Bob Schneider and Art Martini, will give a presentation on their experiences attending the August launch of STS-118 with Barbara Morgan.

On Tuesday, September 18, the Yampa Valley Astronomy Club will hold their regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the United Methodist Church on 8th and Oak in Steamboat Springs, CO.  The presentation that evening will be on Atomic Clocks, GPS & Special Batteries by Larry Thaller.  I remind other astronomy club members out there that if you would like me to mention your club’s activities, please contact me at irwinh@yahoo.com.

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