Star Gazers?

[Kimbopolo]

Anybody else like to camp in order to get a dark sky?

I would love to hear how you combine camping with amateur astronomy/star gazing.

[Karen M]

Davis Mountains State Park (Ft. Davis, Texas) and Star Parties at the McDonald Observatory. The first place I ever REALLY saw the Milky Way.

Wish I could get out there more often.

Karen

[Kimbopolo]

Originally Posted by Karen M

Davis Mountains State Park (Ft. Davis, Texas) and Star Parties at the McDonald Observatory. The first place I ever REALLY saw the Milky Way.

Wish I could get out there more often.

Karen

Glad you brought that up. I've never ben but I'm planning a stop there this winter on the way to or from Quartzsite. Can't wait!

[cpaharley2008]

Stop here on the way to Quartsite to see the Milky Way and you may not want to continue....
Rocky Mountain National Park - Park Area: Trail Ridge Road

[Kimbopolo]

Wow! I've never thought about driving Trail Ridge Road at night. Thanks for the link!

[Karen M]

There's also the Texas Star Party Texas Star Party outside of Ft. Davis for serious star gazers. You can camp at Prude Ranch or in the area.
Karen

[Kimbopolo]

I would like to go for the swap meet, if for nothing else.

[Jon Vermilye]

Another location where the campground is dark - Craters of the Moon National Monument in ID.

[Kimbopolo]

Jon,

I'll add that to my list. I've never been to ID!

BTW, I've really enjoyed your blog.

[Greg H]

If you're going to Ft Davis you might as well drop down south to Marfa, Tx and see the Marfa lights, Aliens and UFO lights, so they say.

[WildBirder]

This is a big reason I'm shopping for my trailer. Can't wait to go to next years Mount Koba Star Party. I've tented a lot in my life but living in the Pacific North West the rain is a major deterrent. Especially if bringing gear. Thanks for the recommendations they've been added to the list.

I'm also keen to travel in order to bird but I'll start another thread for that.Cheers,
Mark

[Jon Vermilye]

If you currently have a high speed internet connection, check out theLandscapes 2 video. Not all night skies, but well worth watching!

[cpaharley2008]

Those are awesome....

[Jo G]

In Utah, Bryce Canyon NP has really nice dark skies, as does Capitol Reef and Natural Bridges. Bryce can be cold.... Another neat little place is Goblin Valley, a Utah state park. We have been tent campers for years, pulling a trailer of astro gear. We are just making the switch to using a Compact Jr. Sleeping masks are a necessity. Often times, we will pull off onto gravel roads, and then find a place to camp on BLM land, just so that we don't keep others up at night, and they don't get us up in the morning. We made our first trip in the Compact last week. Lots of things we want to do to make it work perfectly, but it beats the heck out of sleeping on the ground!

[John Cotrill]

I bought my 5th wheel just for star party's.

I like the Okie-Tex star party in Black Mesa, OK.

Al (Tele Vue) said he thought the skys were darker at Okie-Tex than TSP, but adds TSP has a few nights with more transparency.

[John Cotrill]

Flickr: John Cotrill's Photostream

Pictures of the Okie-Tex Star Party 2011

[Roger C H]

You can see many things with just a good pair of binoculars.

I see the moons of Jupiter quite often.

Did anyone see the eclipse of the moon?

In April, there is to be a solar eclipse. 83% in our area, so my program says.

While it is fun to look at the moon, planets, etc with a scope, mine doesn't have a tracker and the earth turns much faster than one would think, especially at high magnifications.

[David Tilston]

Originally Posted by Roger C H

You can see many things with just a good pair of binoculars.

I see the moons of Jupiter quite often.

Did anyone see the eclipse of the moon?

In April, there is to be a solar eclipse. 83% in our area, so my program says.

While it is fun to look at the moon, planets, etc with a scope, mine doesn't have a tracker and the earth turns much faster than one would think, especially at high magnifications.

I have a pair of 32x100 binoculars, with a WIDE area of view, that I purchased from a co-worker. The moons of Jupiter knocked my socks off! I am trying to see the terminator on the moon at every phase. This means staying up later then my advancing age makes comfortable. The shadows are now my favourite part of looking at the moon. With the 4" objective lenses, the moon is a bit too bright!

No tracker, or spotting scope. I am getting better at finding targets, but I still take a long time. The kids love it!

The cold weather is not helping. I give my binoculars time to match temperature with the environment, but I think I am getting frost. I think I should purchase a propane IR heater.

I have not taken it out with the trailer yet. We just got our Trillium 4500 this fall. I am really looking forward to less light noise.

[John Cotrill]

Our local club, is looking for another site because of the light polution problems where we are located now, (it's 1hr south of Tulsa). We will probably need to drive between 2-3 hours to find a dark spot.

I too use binocular's. I have 7X35,10X42, 9X63, 16X70 and Oberwerk BT-100X45 (that use 1 1/4 eyepieces.)

And my favorite at the moment are the 10X42!

I took all the above to Okie-Tex this year in my Scamp!

I am selling my Tele Vue Genesis refractor and keeping my Tele Vue 85 refractor for traveling in the Scamp.

I down sized to the Scamp 5th Wheel last year and it's time to down size my equipment. This year I am planning on taking my TV 85 and one of the above binoculars.

[Roger C H]

Light pollution is becoming a big problem for astronomers, professional and amateur.
The last time I saw the Milky Way was at the sea shore.

Exciting news for the west coast! A solar eclipse is coming in May:

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...pse-49488.html