[Chaos-l] Star Party beginning Thursday

[Allen Davis]

I wanted to encourage anyone who can to attend the CHAOS event beginning
Thursday this week and running to Sunday.  I am planning to go at least two
nights.  This is always a lot of hard work for anyone who plans something
like this, and the more folks that show the more successful it will be.  And
the longer future it may have.

 

So it is fall now and we have new things to see, and there are always folks
with whom I enjoy visiting a lot.

 

Lesson learned.  The Refractor Star Party, along with the Central Virginia
Star Party, was this past Saturday night at Camp Brady Saunders in near
Goochland Va.  The weather forecast wasn't good most of last week, and it
improved some Friday night.then Sat morning the CSC and the forecasts went
phooey again.  But Robert Nielsen, Mark Clegg, Jason Strother, and I had
pretty much decided we needed a road trip anyway.  John Raymond, our
Richmond buddy, really came up with the idea.and we went.

 

Met Tim Streagle, the guy that runs the camp, and he is supernice.  Also,
the facility is big and has lots of nice facilities.  A great lodge  house
with lots of room.kitchen.and a bunkhouse with beds, and cabins.  I slept in
my trailer, and Jason slept in his tent.  You can pretty much do as you
like.  We saw some old friends, including John R. and Jim Browder *another
nice guy*.  Prashant Reddy too.who organized it and we thank him also.   We
were fed by these generous folks, and then went outside to look at clouds.
I had a new Starseek wireless module that I wanted to test with my Macbook
(running Sky Safari Pro for Mac) so I got out my refractor setup just to
"test".  Also dragged out the obsession to do the same.  First I will say
that the connections worked on both scopes and that was great.  But low and
behold, as the clock ticked toward 1100pm., the sky started to show nice
breaks, and by midnight it was really really clear.  So I was able to test
out not only with cloudy skies, but with real stuff!  And it worked great.
I highly recommend Sky Safari.its inexpensive and it looks great.
Astroplanner also will send over plan to it.

 

But the best part was that we actually were able to have a star party!
Robert set up his FSQ 106 with Em200, Jason had his Dob, and Tim set up his
camera for some shots.  Strange, we NC boys were the ones who set up, and
the Richmond crowd left early, except for John, Jim, and Prashant.  Tim
lives there and it was a short walk to and from his house.   

 

So lesson learned once again.  Don't give up.  I value the friends as much
as the observing, and wanted to go anyway, and we were able to visit.  But
the added bonus is that we were able to observe, use our equipment, and best
of all talk and laugh about it all.

 

The observing is of course very important, but I must say that the friends
are just as important if not more so.  Thanks to everyone who came, it would
have been a success regardless of the skies.  That was icing on the cake.
Don't always trust a bad forecast.  Go visit the people  and friends you
love and let things happen.  Life is too short to let go by and not enjoy
each other's company, conversation, shared sky experiences and views.  Keep
that in mind when deciding about going to the CHAOS event at Staunton River.
I am looking forward to seeing folks as well as hoping to observe.

 

Thanks to Tim and the Richmond folks for hosting us.  I urge everyone to
visit there when you can.  There is another event coming in November.  Will
forward that info.  allen

 

E. Allen Davis

starstorm151 at embarqmail.com

 

"M'Illumino              "I am enlightened

D'Immenso"              by the immensity."

 

   -Ungaretti               -Ungaretti

 

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