Hi Jenny,
Okay here is a quick Table Mountain write-up. I've attached some pics as
well ( same ones from the list). Please edit as you see fit!
This year marked the first large regional star party for me in my
two-and-a-half year career as an amateur astronomer. I was pretty excited -
so much so I'm told I was the first person to officially register back in
May. Tuesday, August 11th rolled around and my wife and I packed up the van
with two kids, two telescopes, too much other stuff, and headed west.
*Location, Location, Location*
As most of you know, the Table Mountain Star Party is no longer held at the
actual Table Mountain - its home for the past few years has been Eden
Valley Guest Ranch in north central WA. Eden Valley is a fantastic (and
DARK) location. My family of four were quite comfortable in one of the
guest cabins, complete with running water and WiFi (no small thing since we
were staying for the duration of the event, 5 nights). The owners of the
ranch, Robin and Patrick Stice, were excellent hosts and I would recommend
the ranch as a destination itself, star party or not.
Eden Valley is about 10 miles west of Oroville, WA, up in the Okanogan
highlands - an easy half-day drive from Spokane. It's situated in a
picturesque valley with expansive views to the North, East, and South.
Western views are bit occluded by hills, but not drastically so. The 'scope
field is large and you can camp right next to it if you want to. There's a
separate area for folks with large camping vehicles, RVs etc. The Ranch
offers fun stuff like trail rides (which we did to my girls' delight) and
there's no end of exploring you can do during the day.
*The Days*
In a word, HOT. 102 degrees in the shade, and not a lot of shade. After a
couple of days of this we fled to nearby Oroville to cool off at a great
park on Lake Osoyoos. At the end of the week it cooled off enough for my
two daughters, aged 9 and 6, to enjoy the various student programs offered
by the TMSPA (Table Mountain Star Party Association). Activities included
bracelet-making, rock hunting, a trip to the local ghost-town museum, and
last but not least, stomp-rocket building. The whole thing is a ton of fun
is run by a few really thoughtful and dedicated folks. Daryl West in
particular...thank you! There's also bird-watching, fishing, etc. if you
want to strike out on your own.
*The Nights*
The daytime activities were great...but we're here for the stars. The TMSPA
(Table Mountain Star Party Association) is cool enough to provide an
observing challenge each year. This consists of a list of various objects
around few central themes. This year it was nearby stars with exoplanets,
double stars, and faint NGC objects in and around M33. The first night,
Tuesday, was spectacular. Above-average seeing and transparency and
near-zero light pollution. Smoke from nearby fires clouded the horizon a
little but it wasn't ever really a factor. I didn't get too far down my
list - it was just as much fun talking to folks and watching the Perseid
meteor shower, conveniently occuring over the course of the week. I spend
as much time on an air mattress looking up at the sky as I did looking
through the scope. Truly, you do not need a telescope to enjoy a star party.
The remaining nights were good as well, save one (Thursday or Friday) which
saw an impressive thunderstorm roll through - thankfully I had remembered
to get my gear under cover. I'd managed to get a few more of the southern
Messiers ticked off my list, looked through some very impressive
telescopes, and generally had a blast. There were workshops ('Sketching at
the Eyepiece" was my favorite) and talks from experts in the field on
everything from exoplanet detection to the history of M82 to the likelihood
of being hit by a meteor. The last night, Saturday, deserves its own
section...
*Saturday*
Most of the time I'm a "visual-first" observer. I've tried to do
astrophotography and visual observing in the same night but it never works
out very well - my brain just doesn't have room for both. So, I'd saved the
last night for photography. This turned out to be a good decision.
I'd set up my modest gear (camera, tripod, small EQ wedge/motor) outside
our cabin in the hopes of capturing some good wide-field views of the
'scope field and maybe some star trails. I looked up near the zenith and
was immediately annoyed by what appeared to be a long, thin cloud
stretching overhead from the northwest - surely this would be a hindrance
to long-exposure star trail photos. Then I noticed something else - the
'cloud' was glowing...and changing. I heard voices down on the telescope
field exclaiming things like "what the $&#% IS that thing?". Later I found
out it was a 'proton arc' - part of the huge aurora that was building
behind me in the north. I hadn't noticed it - I'd assumed the glow was from
a city in that direction...except there are no cities in that direction.
Friend and fellow SAS member Zach Drew, among myself and others,
immediately turned our cameras northward and tried to capture the event -
hopefully you saw some of the photos on the mailing list - they'll be on
the website soon as well and perhaps in this newsletter.
I can't really do justice to the sight of the Northern Lights either in
words (I'm no poet) or pictures (the photos help, but only capture a small
slice of it). If you've seen one, you know what I mean.
*The Bottom Line*
TMSP 2015 was a special event for me and my family. We'll be back next year
- I hope to see you there as well. If you have any questions about the
Table Mountain Star Party, please ask me or Zach Drew (he's actually on the
TMSP board of directors) at the meeting.
Nick Monkman
http://www.tmspa.com
http://www.edenvalleyranch.net
On Sat, Aug 22, 2015 at 10:15 AM, <jenny@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hello, it's that time again! I will be taking Asterisks Submissions
through August 25th. I'd love to see something on Table Mountains (hint,
hint, nudge, nudge). Please send in your pics, articles, or just subjects
you'd like to see addressed in a future issue.
Clear skies!
Jenny Harrington
jenny@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
509-218-0526
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