Tag Archives: Star Party

Maine Astronomy Retreat – Email Announcement And Update From The Organizers

Posted on July 17, 2015 10:47 am - - Leave a Comment

Greetings, fellow astrophiles!

The following email came across the internets yesterday announcing updates to the Maine Astronomy Retreat, yet another excellent Star Party placed reasonably close to Central New York. For those interested, check out the email and embedded links for more information.

We are reaching out to inform you of an update about the Maine Astronomy Retreat at Medomak Retreat Center in Washington, Maine – a vacation for you and your telescope!

2015july16_Ringler1

We are pleased to announce that Babak A. Tafreshi has been added to our team of instructors. Tafreshi is the founder of The World at Night or TWAN program and a photographer for the National Geographic image collection, specialized in nightscape imaging, connecting the Earth and sky, bridging art and science. He is also a science journalist and astronomy communicator. He is a board member of Astronomers without Borders and a contributing photographer for Sky & Telescope. You can explore his photography in the links listed below:

* Personal website: http://dreamview.net
* The World at Night: http://twanight.org/tafreshi
* National Geographic: http://natgeocreative.com/photography/tafreshi
* Timelapse Motions: https://vimeo.com/btafreshi/videos

We would love if you would pass on this information to your group members or include it in your newsletter and calendar of events.

Please see our website, http://www.astronomyretreat.com, for more details, and to register. If you have any questions, please feel free to give us a call at 1-866-MEDOMAK.

Thank you so much for your time and consideration.

David Brunner
Director, Medomak
Summer Camp for Families & Retreat Center for Adults
www.medomakcamp.com
www.medomakretreatcenter.com

Posted in: Star Parties - Tagged: , , , , , ,

Official Announcement: 2014 Cherry Springs Star Party – June 26th To 29th

Posted on February 15, 2014 9:40 am - - Leave a Comment

Greetings fellow astrophiles!

Registration is now open for one of the very best Star Parties in our neighborhood (OK, a 3 hour drive. But well worth it once you’re there!). Aside from excellent dark skies (when it’s clear), a wide variety of day-and-night scopes for your observing pleasure, vendors and raffle prizes, and the daily lectures (for those not sleeping off the previous night), the Cherry Springs Star Party is a great place to hang with fellow amateur astronomers (Ryan and I spending the bulk of our down time with friends and fellow members of Kopernik Astronomical Society).


View Larger Map

The www.astrohbg.org/CSSP/ website is the official location for all announcements about the event, but we may provide updates here if something significant is announced (and will remind via facebook and twitter as well). If you’ve never committed yourself to a small block of time of heavy-duty nighttime observing, this is an ideal event and location to do so. And what better way to shop for your next scope than to have several hundred demos on display each night!

Official email announcement is below. Registration PDF: 2014_Star_Party_Reg_Form.pdf.

Hello friends:

cherryspringsMark your calendars now for this summer’s prime astronomy experience, the Cherry Springs Star Party in beautiful Potter County, PA. Make your plans now for a wonderful astronomy vacation under the darkest skies in the Northeast. Enjoy old and new astronomy friends. Families will enjoy the fun, too. Nearby Lyman Run State Park has a great lake and beach area for relaxing. They also provide shower facilities for those who are camping.

Registration for this years star party is currently open. A registration form is attached to this email. Registration by PayPal is open and the link is included at the bottom of this email. You may send in your registration at any time.

A Facebook page for this years star party has been created for up-to-date information regarding speakers, vendors, door prizes and weather updates. You do NOT need a Facebook account to access this page and the material on this page. The Facebook page will be updated periodically until the day of the star party.

A update email will be sent out closer to the star party with a list of all the vendors, door prizes and other information that becomes available.

Clear Skies,
Max Byerly
Trustee,
Astronomical Society of Harrisburg
astrohbg.org

Registration by PayPal: cherrysprings.org

Go to that link, on the left side, click Registration Information under the menu. That will take you to the page where you can register by PayPal.

Follow the Latest on the Star Party on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/pages/Cherry-Springs-Star-Party-2014/295858413801517
(you do not need an account to access all the information on this page)

Posted in: Cherry Springs - Tagged: , , , ,

UPDATE: New Moon Telescopes’ Star Party Moved To Sunday, November 3rd At 6:30 p.m.

Posted on November 1, 2013 2:11 pm - - 3 Comments

UPDATE: Sunday, Nov. 3 – 2:30 p.m. – We are a GO for tonight! The clouds are predicted to clear starting around 7:00 p.m., so the NMT Star Party in West Monroe is a go. We hope you can join us!

For those of you getting your CNYO updates via RSS or email –

Due to the murky forecasts (as in the weather forecasts call for murky conditions. They all seem to agree on the weather this weekend) for Friday and Saturday nights, the official call has been made to move the New Moon Telescopes’ 27″ Dobsonian Stary Party to this Sunday at 6:30 p.m.

All other information remains the same, with event details still available at the original link. Keep track of the announcement bar (at right) on cnyo.org for updates.

We hope you can join us!

Posted in: Public Observing - Tagged: , , ,

A Small Mob For A Big Event – Quick Summary Of The New Nova Party For PNVJ20233073+2046041

Posted on August 16, 2013 12:32 am - - 1 Comment

CNYO’s first official “Scope Mob” and New Nova Party was composed of Larry Slosberg, Dan Williams, and myself. After only 50 minutes of observing (and enjoying a moonlit sky still clear enough to see plenty of detail), I am pleased to report that we:

(1) found the nova easily enough in binoculars and scopes

(2) saw three bright Perseids between us (it’s still going!)

(3) caught the ISS and many, many satellites

(4) as an added bonus – we caught DAICHI (ALOS) that flared four times as it went from South to North (very nice addition!). To see what gave it that flaring power, I refer you to the image below (and its very hefty solar array):

2013august15_jaxa-alos-daichi-satellite

DAICHI (ALOS) – See space.com for details.

(5) found the Moon yet again (very pleasant as always, with some nice brightening of high-elevation objects beyond the terminator)

(6) found a great little spot for hosting future impromptu darker sky observing sessions

For those wanting to check out the nova themselves in the next few days, I am pleased to report that it is presently Naked Eye (so is markedly brighter than it was even last night – 5.0 and brightening by all reports). For those interested in the search, I provide unlabeled and labeled images below. The key is to find the brighter Delphinus (look below Cygnus for the medium-bright diamond shape), then find Sagitta above and to the right (looks like a dim arrow). Naked Eye, you will see a star above Delphinus’ head, then another one between this bright star and the arrow tip of Sagitta. That “other” star is the nova, likely set to be even brighter tomorrow (with a closer Moon but still clear predicted skies). If you’re using 7x to 25x binoculars, you will see a small cluster of stars to the lower-left of the nova – which I’ve connected in the form of a Rockette for what may or may not be an obvious reason.

2013august15_nova_unmarked

Unmarked image (Canon T3i, 13 sec. exposure, ISO 1600). Click for a larger view.

2013august15_nova_marked

Marked image (Canon T3i, 13 sec. exposure, ISO 1600). Click for a larger view.

But it’s a relatively easy find once you have Delphinus and Sagitta figured out. There are only two other bright starts in the vicinity!

Posted in: Observing Logs - Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,