by Rich Neuschaefer
As others have said it was HOT, well over 100 deg F. on Wednesday. The state was having a heat wave. But, hot weather in July not unusual. I got to the SSP site a little before noon. It was hot and extremely dusty. One person there said he saw dust going up 50 feet in the air even though cars were driving very slow. Late in the afternoon, or maybe early Thursday, the water truck made a few passes along the driveway behind the tents. This was a big help but there was still a lot of dust around the tents.
We all knew that we wouldn't have any shade and so many of us bought special rigs to give shade to our tents. This let us sit not get fried, but sleeping while the sun was up was virtually out of the question. Even on Monday morning when the heat wave had mostly passed and the temps were in the 80s, I couldn't sleep past 7:30 am because the heat from the sides of the gazebo and heat from the ground around the gazebo reflecting into the windows of the tent.
The night skies were outstanding! Clear, dark skies with a low horizon all the way around. It is a deep sky observers dream. The seeing was ok but maybe not a shallow sky observers dream.
The people of Shingletown were great. The public night was outstanding. A really fun night. Lots of visitors. They seemed to have a fine time looking through the telescopes and asking questions. I would do the public night again anytime.
I'm sure the dust can be greatly reduced by watering both the driving and camping areas a day or two before the start of the star party. There was some talk of spreading pea gravel over the dirt and that along with the water would be a big help.
Maybe some people won't have a problem sleeping late if the temps are in the low 80s? I don't think the shade making devices we had were up to even those temps, in my case. It just is not the same as being under the shade of a tall tree.
In the case of the camps and temps at the Lassen star parties, we could sleep until 9 am or 10 am reasonably well depending on where we had placed our tents in relation to the trees. We could also take afternoon naps. This is something I could not do at the Shingletown airport. It was frustrating to have such outstanding night skies and have to go to bed early because of the sun roasting you shortly after it pops over the horizon.
At the Lassen star parties we would often go a dozen different ways to hike the trails, go fishing or some other diversion. But, we also had the option of sitting around camp and talking to our observing buddies. Camp at Lassen was a focal point for the group. At SSP it was so hot, few people hung out at the airport camp. I made several trips up into Lassen state park to keep cool and would stay away until close to dinner time just to avoid the heat back at the airport. I really missed the "focal point" feature of SSP camp site.
Maybe next time we can leave the scopes at the Shingletown Airport and camp where there are trees and shade? I wouldn't mind camping in Lassen state park and driving do the Shingletown Airport for observing. The problem with that idea, who knows if Lassen will have a group site open that would handle such a large group?
It was unusual having a star party where the scopes are arranged in one very long line. That had its pros and cons but not really an issue as far as I was concerned.
The bottom line, SSP has great night skies, if you can stay awake long enough to enjoy them.