Date: June 23, 2009
Title: Star Parties: Fun in the Dark
Podcaster: Ted Judah
Organization: None
Description: All about star parties. From organized astronomy club outings to intimate star gazing and the grand opening star party of a newly built home-made observatory.
Bio: Ted Judah is a total amateur. Amateur astronomer, carpenter, surfer, artist, designer, photographer, musician, cyclist, husband and papa.
Today’s sponsor: This episode of 365 Days of Astronomy is brought to you by the letter ‘c’ and the number 3.14159265358979323846264338327950
Transcript:
Hi this is Ted Judah for the 365 Days of Astronomy.
Have you ever been to a star party? If you’ve never been to one you may be wondering what it might be like…
Oh Rigel! Nice Party
Hey Thanks Polaris, glad you could make it, help yourself to some dip and comets…
Rigel Rigel! Rigel! The Rigel-nater,,, Hey man great party.
Oh Oh Hey Eta Car. I, uh, didn’t know you were coming…
Ooh I wouldn’t miss a good party. Yeah Man, Betelgeuse told me about it.
Oh Ho! Look who just walked in; the Pleiades Sisters! I gotta get..
Yeah, well try not to break anything.
Whoa sorry. Party Foul!
Oh boy… that star is seriously unstable.
Oh I love what you’ve done with the stellar nursery. Oh Hey Thanks Yeah, um.. OH someone wants to take our picture… CHEEEEESE!
Thanks Hubble. I want an 8 by 10!
Nova. Nova! Nova! Nova! … Beetle!
So what is a star party really? I guess my most basic definition would be:
People Gathering to look at the night sky.
That’s it.
Now a star party could be a thousand astronomers at a large, organized, sponsored event at a prime dark Sky location with vendors and bathroom facilities and the fanciest amateur telescopes you’ve ever seen. Or, it could be two people enjoying the sky from their front porch.
You don’t even need a telescope. Some of the most memorable parties I’ve been to were held during Meteor showers with people all around lying flat on their backs Oooing and aahhing at the celestial fireworks above.
Wow!
My astronomy club, the Sonoma County Astronomical Society has a couple of fun events – one is the August Star-B-Que – a pot-luck BBQ and Star party at our local Robert Ferguson Observatory. It’s a nice dark site located in a mountain-top valley in Sugarloaf State Park. It’s well worth the visit if your ever in the Northern California wine country.
The other event my astronomy club holds, in conjunction with the National Parks Service, is a trip to Yosemite. We set up telescopes for public viewing at glacier Point over-looking half-dome. After sunset he majestic daytime views give way to a spectacular night sky full of stars.
You can search the internet for star parties in your area. Chances are your local astronomy club has a list of the years events. If your not a member, go to a meeting – they’d be thrilled to meet you.
Now as with all things in life there are some rules of etiquette to follow at star parties:
You should arrive before dark – Get set up an mingle as you wait for it to get dark.
It’s no fun for you or others to be fumbling around in the dark.
No bright lights – and use you red tinted flashlight – and use it sparingly.
Dress in warm clothes. and expect temperatures 20 degrees colder than is forecast. Being cold makes it hard to have fun.
Ask before touching. An astronomer with a telescope may be doing some photography or the scope may not be pointed anywhere of interest so please ask first. Most time people will be happy to let you look through their scopes.
Cigarette smoke can do damage to delicate optical equipment so don’t smoke. Besides, it’s not good for you.
Some formal events will have rules against, pets, green laser pointers, even children. But in my opinion it’s not a star party unless there are kids there to enjoy it.
Yea!
” So for my students some of the fun things about a star party was, well one, getting to be out late, in the dark, with their friends – is very exciting when your in junior high school.”
This is Mrs. Judah – an 8th grade science teacher – and my wife.
“They don’t get many chances to do that with parent approval – so that was exciting. The other thing they really enjoyed and got a kick out of was wrapping their cell phones in red cellophane so that they could still see what time it was without blinding themselves. That they thought was pretty amusing.”
“And another thing, I think, they really got a kick out of was just actually seeing things through the telescopes. i think they surprised themselves by how much fun they had just checking stuff out, especially Saturn. We had a nice view of Saturn that night and Saturn is always exciting to see through a telescope. It really makes what we are learning in class so much more exciting and so much more interesting when you make it real in that sense, where it really is something out there and I can point a telescope and I can see it with my own eyes. It’s not just a picture in a book.
So all those things were a lot of fun. A lot of fun.”
Our life in this 21st century with our cell phones and electric lights and television and internet sometimes makes us forget the simple pleasures. The simple pleasure of observing the universe under a dark sky. The simple pleasure of good company, of friends and family.
I’m asking you to set aside a night this summer, one night for a star party.
So, get comfortable, relax and go have some fun in the dark.
Hi welcome, can I get you some punch? Coming right up…uh.. where is… who took my big dipper?
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
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