OAS is holding a Star Party/Messier Marathon at Dead Horse Point State Park on nights of March 15 & 16 and all of you are welcome to attend. We have reserved the group campsite so you can stay there or get your own campsite. This is an area that has a nice dark sky so that if it is clear we should get some great observing.
A Messier Marathon is an all night Star Party where you can try to look at all the Messier objects that are up on the night that you are observing. Between March 15 and April 1 the Sun is in an area of the sky that doesn't have any Messier objects so it should be possible to view them all.
You don't have to participate in the Messier Marathon in order to attend the Star Party. I would like to see this be a fun weekend of observing similar to our summer campouts. I plan to go on the trip even if the weather is not good for the star party. There are several National Parks and Monuments in the area that we can visit.
Directions: http://www.mapquest.com/ I ran a MapQuest trip for Moab (which is near Dead Horse Point). Driving to Moab from Layton via US-6 is 257.85 miles and will take about 6 hours, 24 minutes. Take I-15 South to exit 261 (Price/Manti) (72 miles) US-6 through Price to I-70 (127 miles) I-70 East exit 180 (Moab) (24 miles) US-191 (13 miles) US-313 (Dead Horse Point State Park)
Here are some links to web pages for the parks in the area. Dead Horse Point http://www.stateparks.utah.gov/parks/www1/dead.htm Arches http://www.nps.gov/arch/index.htm Canyonlands http://www.nps.gov/cany/index.htm Natural Bridges http://www.nps.gov/nabr/index.htm Hovenweep http://www.nps.gov/hove/index.htm
I hopes to see everyone there.
Thanks. David Dunn 801-961-3253