OSP 2007

by Tony Franco

I left Thursday morning and after some stop overs, made it to the entrance gate b4 they "closed" for that day.. Didnt much matter whether they were closed or not since I ending up setting up by the entrance anyway. The spot I picked was a bit noisier than others more up the hill but I found out later that the wind born dust didn't cause me an issue like others on the main observing fields.

After a quick dinner of KFC chicken I had picked up in Redmond, I setup the 16" NightSky TrussDob and my trusty Orion StarBlast. I had just a handfull of neighbors. One family from Washington had a brand new 16" LightBridge from Meade. Nice 16" for just $2k. Man, cannot get any cheaper than that!! This nights observing list I picked from the packet I had downloaded from the OSP website earlier in the week. They called it the OSP Sampler. Basically, eye-candy for the astro masses.. Yup, that's me!! Later that evening I wandered over to the main observing field just to immerse myself in the StarParty mantra. The soft murmur of voices, the dance of red flashlights, and the sound of "coffee-grinders" in the night.. Also partook of the standard OSP fair... Wandered over to the espresso trailer for a nice Mocha. Man, this is the life I thought. I called it an early evening and hit the sack at about 2am. The skies were great that evening. Things were abit windy early on but mellowed out just before midnight. The transparency came and went a few times due to some smoke intrusion from a few fires north of OSP.

Friday I woke up to clear skies and the sound of Astro-Nuts waking up after a long night. I wandered over to the "Chuck Wagon" for some breakfast.. Ahhhh.. Eggs over easy, hashbrowns, sausage, toast and a hot coffee.. I'm starting to like this StarParty.. I don't have to even cook!!! I hit the registration tent at 11am and then made my way to the vendor area. Boy, there were sure alot of folks selling their wares. Even met Mr. Burgess himself at one of the boothes. They had a swap meet at about the same time. I didnt see any great deals but my neighbor picked up an old 3" refractor for $20. I spent the rest of the afternoon just wandering the field checking out scopes. Dropped into one of the Tech Talks on the Large Binocular Scope.. Cool!!! two 8 metre scopes. I took a mid afternoon hike past the observing fields just following ForestRoad 800 for a ways. On a rise I checked my cellphone and had full scale on the signal strengh. I actually had cell coverage back at my camping area, another advantage of were I had set up other than the dust. I made it back just in time for Mel Bartels scope Walk-About. Checked out about 4 StringScopes including the 40" which was the largest scope there. Man, nice piece of craftmanship. Got to take a peek in this scope later on, but I digress. Best scope was a 16" trust dob constructed of carbonfibre. His entire "trusttube assy" minus rocker box must have weighted about 20 lbs I kid you not. Super thin mirro, etc. I could pick it up with one hand.. It was for sale.. Just $4.5k. After dinner, I wandered back thru the observing areas to chat with folks and check out other scopes as the sun set and twilight slowly faded. I spent very little time at my scope this evening, I mooched views on other scopes most of the evening. I and a long line of others spent quality time hanging around the 40". Man, that was one looooong and taaaalllll ladder. The only object we viewed on our feet was the Helix, and even then it was so bright it ruined everyone's night vision. There was a constant banter from us on "suggested targets" LoL.. "Hey, how about M13.. Let's look at the galaxies beyond the core of this globular". Someone else mentioned checking the surface of some Quasar.. Har-har-har!! The owner was good natured and had a laugh with the rest of us. This was the latest evening for myself. Ending it at 3:30am after a peek in that Meade 16" lightbridge.. Man, nice view for $2k.. Nice mirror too.

Saturday was partly cloudy, the forcast was hit and miss and alot of folks starting leaving as the day wore on. I hit the vendor area and picked up a few astro trinkets. They had the Official Prize drawing and I hate to say it.... But I didnt win anything again.. Sniff-Sniff!! As the day wore on the clouds started gathering in the afternoon and few of us hopefuls hung out till evening at which point it got socked in. I tore down and put everything away as did a few others. Good thing since at about 4am it started raining. I had to tear down camp in the rain and left at 7am on Sunday. I battled the rain all the way back to California. It didnt let up till almost the California border.

Overall, OSP was a nice experience. The organizers were friendly as were those that attended. The skies did not disappoint if you dont count Saturday. I'll definately put this one on my "To do again" List. Total head count I understand was just shy of 700. They also mentioned that they will be starting up a "Public Night" in a year or two by poplur demand from the local 5 county community.

CS,

TonyF