by Tony Franco
Just got back from a marathon vacation which included a few nights at Merritt Reservior in Nebraska..
We arrived at NSP on Sunday.. Picked a spot on a grassy knoll and set up my 16" Night Sky Scope. Evening was warm with temps in the 70's. A young moon was hanging over the western sky making for a nice sunset. Sunday night for me was the best night but transparency was greatly lacking. Overhead it was plenty dark.. Darker than IHOP or SSP but not as dark as I would have expected. I've seen it darker with better transparency in the Southern Sierras and eastern Nevada. The high humidity would plague us the next 3 days. With constant threat of afternoon thundershowers, typical of Nebraska in the Summer. I spend this evening just lazily hitting familiar objects attempted to make mental comparasions between NSP and other star parties I've been to.
Monday night was a few notches down from Sunday with a heavy moisture layer high in the atmosphere.. Man, wishing for California dry air. Decided to cart my Dob down to "Dob Row" since there was a general lack of large "Dobs" to be found at NSP this year. Met a few folks who had nice things to say about my NSS scope.. I was setup next to a gentleman with a 20" Obsession and another two with home-made dobs. We had a marathon on Plantery Nebula, thnx to some suggestions of a gentleman that I swear must be Steve G's twin separated at birth.. Man, that dude was popping DSO's off left and right for us to chase.
Tuesday evening they had a ChuckWagon Burger cookout and prize drawing with a Meade 10" Lightbridge as grandprize.. Sorry, I didnt win anything. After sunset a thunderstorm hit. We hung around till 11pm hoping for a few sucker-holes but the Storm Cells just kept coming. Wind, lightening and heavy rain.
Wednesday we debated about staying or bailing since the weather forcast was pretty dismal.. We decided to pack it up and head to our next destination of the two and a half week trip.
NSP for me was a disappointment, but then, I was taking a risk given the unfavorable weather forcast for that week. Would I do it again?? Probably not.. We've found out that we just dont have the tolerance for high humidity and Sand Hills Mosquitos... Did I mention the Mosquitos!? And they said they were not bad this year... I'm still itching writing this....LoL!! Oh, almost forgot, the entire observing area was intersparsed with these tiny cactus aply called "Missouri Pin-Cushion", they would stick to shoes, sandles, pant legs and childrens toes..... Pokey little things.
:-/
Cheers... or Should I say "Clears"... LoL..
TonyF