Thanks guys for your perspectives on the AASP. I was also surprised how spread
out everyone was, and the lack of social interaction during the day. I do want
to recognize Claude Haynes for setting up the base camp tent, arranging for the
restroom facilities, sponsoring the Friday night pot-luck, the Saturday chili
dinner and the raffle. He did his best to get everyone together as a group -
yeah Claude!
To Paul and Kevin's comments, I think AZ-Observing is the right place to
announce if someone is going to a dark site and would not mind some company to
meet there. Even if it is short notice, there are probably some retired guys
that would be willing to go on short notice - I would.
All the best,
Rob
-----Original Message-----
From: az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On
Behalf Of KEVIN KOZEL
Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2018 12:17 PM
To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; Paul Lind <pulind@xxxxx>
Subject: [AZ-Observing] Re: AASP trip report
We may look at going to the Castle Hot Springs Road north of Whittman during
thrid quarter moon weekends. The SE sky has the bright Phx light dome, but the
rest of the sky is good. I've been out that way many times.
Kevin.
On October 12, 2018 at 12:34 AM Paul Lind <pulind@xxxxx mailto:pulind@xxxxx ;>send personal replies to the author, not the list.
wrote:
Indeed, the crowds are smaller than they were when I moved to Phoenix in
the 80's, and one reason is that we now must drive over 2 hours to find dark
skies. SAC used to schedule one or two star parties a month, and one of those
was within an hour of Phoenix so that people could go home the same night.
Those sites are now very light polluted, and efforts to replace them have
come up dry. We should continue to look for sites somewhat North or West of
Phoenix, particularly for those of us who have a really long drive to the
southeast EVAC sites. However, how many are really interested in mediocre
skies?
There are a few retired and rather disorganized SAC members that camp at
dark sites for two days to a week during new moon. These are "two hour" sites
like the Antennas site in the winter, and Stoneman Lake, NE of Sedona, in the
summer . People have slept in a small tents for these but most have camping
trailers. They are not organized events and usually requires last minute
decisions based on the weather etc. These trips could be posted on
AZ-observing, but it might be only a few days ahead of time.
Paul Lind
----- Original Message -----
From: Scott <srstiers@xxxxxxxxx mailto:srstiers@xxxxxxxxx ;>
To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx mailto:az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tue, 09 Oct 2018 17:26:05 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [AZ-Observing] Re: AASP trip report
I followed another truck in and we were the first two there on Thursday
afternoon. I was in the 5th wheel facing north just south of the E-W
runway. A friend of mine showed up Friday but we were sort of alone
because no one else parked near us except for the guy with the loud
generator! :-/
It used to be that the area I was in was filled with people but no one
showed up this time, probably because of the weather. Friday night ONE
person came by and asked what we were looking at and in the past there
have been people walking around until late. So don't give up on AASP or
the Messier Marathon. It was probably the lowest attendance I have ever
seen at either star party so that was unusual. :-)
Scott R. Stiers, W7BIT
Gilbert, Az
Astronomy is Looking Up! Music is Gettin' Down!
On 10/9/2018 2:10 PM, Michael McDonald wrote:
> > I saw the pup tents lined up over there and heard the rumor that
there was a group from ASU there. (And some nice music coming from that
direction Saturday morning.) But I never saw anyone come out from that group
so I figured you were off doing your own thing. Sort of like that one camper
parked clear out on the west end of the East/West runway by themselves.
> > There’s nothing wrong with people wanting to do their own
>
thing. But based upon what I’ve seen of other star parties on YouTube, I
was expecting a more social atmosphere. Now that I’ve been to an AASP, I
can adjust my expectations appropriately.
> > Mike McDonald
>
mikemac@xxxxxxxxxxx mailto:mikemac@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> >
>
>> On Oct 9, 2018, at 2:00 PM, Tom Mozdzen <tjmozdzen@xxxxxxxxx
mailto:tjmozdzen@xxxxxxxxx ;> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Mike,
>> Thanks for the report. If you had wandered just across the NS strip
onto
>> the east side (south end like you), you would have found a beehive of
about
>> a dozen ASU people socializing and sharing views in various
telescopes. I
>> think we were one of the higher density exceptions to the rule.
>> Tom
>>
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