Star Party Etiquette
Star Party Answers | |
Star Party Advice
Part I: Observing Checklist
Pre-Observing Checklist of website information
With 5-10 minutes of internet browsing, and maximize your observing
experience. Try out these links.
First I check the weather at my observing site by clicking on:
Clear Sky Clock
Then I check for bright satellite passes, Iridium flashes, or space station
passes at:
Heavens Above
Then I consider the phase of the moon and rise/set times:
And I look at NIght Sky Notes:
Night
Sky Notes
And if I'm serious about logging in specific objects, I start up Starry Night
Pro and plan my evening's objects to any level of detail that I need.
Starry Night Software
Part II: Star Party Comfort
These are intended to be lessons learned. You may assume that these are
listed because at one point I didn't know any of this and did something really
dumb and learned my lesson.
The Boy Scout Motto is "Be Prepared." ...Sage advice for any
amateur astronomer.
Staying Warm
 | Bring warm clothes, boots and a hat. It gets cold, even in the
summer in most places - especially on mountain tops where we like to hang
out. (OK it's not exactly cold in the Mojave National Preserve in July
:-) It is said that you lose up to 80% of your body heat through your
head. "If your feet are cold, put on a hat," the saying
goes. I cheat a bit when it comes to dressing warmly. I bring a
couple of heat packs that you can get at most sporting goods shops.
These small packets heat up to about 150 degrees F and work by
oxidation. They are completely safe and although are advertised to
stay warm for 6 hours, I have often had them last for double that
amount. Put one in the pocket of your shirt under your jacket and
you'll be toasty. The packets cost about $1 each and are worth every
penny. They also come in Toe Warmer size. |
| Your feet are an important part of your observing experience. Get a
very warm pair of boots. In my area, the prime observing location is
from a parking lot on top
of a mountain. The heat flows right out of your feet and into the
pavement if your boots are not insulated well. Get the boots a bit
oversize for extra socks (and the toe warmer heat packs). You're not
hiking in these things, you're pretty much standing in one place. |
| Bring an old large blanket or drop cloth to put under your scope.
The first advantage to doing this is that it will keep the dust down around
your scope and you'll have a lot less cleaning to do the next day.
Another is that you'll be able to find that black lens cap you accidentally
dropped much more easily. It's also a lot easier on your knees if your
eyepiece is low to the ground and you have to kneel. I always seem to
find the weeds with the stickers to kneel on. |
| One of my fellow club members, Steve
Trotta, found a great company that sells cold weather gear for workmen
at a fraction of what you'd pay through a sporting goods shop. I just
bought a pair of Thinsulate coveralls with a hood rated to -30 degrees
F (!) from this company, WearGuard, http://www.wearguard.com,
1-800-870-6539, for just $150 (note: these are usually on sale at the
end of the winter for $99). I'm impressed with the quality of all
of their products and their fast delivery. They sell jackets,
insulated shirts, parkas and pants. You can even get a logo or your
name on them if you want. The products are sized for adults, but a
teenage boy can find a -20 degrees F Thinsulate winter jacket for $60 that
looks really good. Check them out. *See
additional review at the bottom of this page |
Power
| Bring extra batteries and charge your Power Pack before you go out. If you have a Telrad, a LED flashlight, map
light, or if your scope is a battery powered GOTO scope, it's only a matter
of time until you've hauled everything out on a nice dark evening, you're
set up and ready to observe only to find out that something's out of
juice. If it's not you, you can be the person who saves your observing
buddy's evening by giving them a battery or two. |
Furniture
| Consider bringing out a table to put your charts and eyepieces
on. Sturdy is good. I've tried one of those roll-up camping
tables and had poor luck with them. I started out with a half card table from Target for about
$20. It worked OK, but I found that I liked something just a bit
bigger like a folding table, so I got a molded plastic one at COSTCO for $29
and it's been a real workhorse. |
| The fold up camping chairs that are sold now are great for relaxing before
it really gets dark. They're also good for stretching out in the
sleeping bag to watch meteor showers. I recommend the ones with a
footrest and at least one drink holder. You can get these
inexpensively at Target, Walmart, etc. in the Spring. |
Safety
The fact is that we go to great lengths to find the remotest, darkest skies,
away from lots of people. But there are still the RARE issues with
animals, and even possible unexpected medical problems. By taking a couple
of responsible steps these are of little concern.
| Observe with a partner or a group. There's more safety in numbers. |
| Let someone know where you'll be observing from, and when you expect to
call it an evening and head home. |
| If you're observing from a State Park, or National Park, drop by the
Ranger Station and let them know that you'll be out and where you're setting
up. Usually they'll keep their eyes open for you - and on many
occasions, one or two rangers have stopped by and had some hot coffee while
looking through the telescope for a bit. |
| Take a cell phone with you. You can also use it to call up your
observing buddies and tell them all about the fabulous viewing they're
missing at that moment. :-) |
| Put your car keys in a zippered jacket pocket or attach them to your
tripod. Seeing them safely locked in your car is not necessarily a
happy feeling...at three a.m. |
| This should have been the first thing in this listing, but it's too embarrassing...
Always look up exactly where the Star Party is going to be and get there
before the Sun goes down. My club just held a big star party event and
I showed up in a daze to an empty campground 35 miles away. By the
way, when you're the ONLY person who went to the wrong spot, you can be
pretty darn sure it was YOU that made the mistake!! :-) I ran into
some other campers so I wasn't out there alone. I was scatter-brained,
but not stupid enough to be out at an empty campground with many $K of
optics! The night turned out fine and I got in some good observations
and made a few new astronomy converts. |
|
