Patrick wrote:
And then there's the fact that the club can never seem to agree on where to do private star parties. How in the world could there ever be consensus on where to put such a facility?
Part of this problem, is after the club picks the site, votes that as the "Official Site" for the month, small groups get together and plans their own "Dark Site Location. When the official site has been voten on by club members, that is where the support should be not where small groups are saying, "The official site is ______ but a groups of us will be going to ________ site, anyone who wants can join us." That is where some of the problem is. A Chair person, Don Colton, was chosen to pick the sites but still there are those who will go their own way.
Personally, I like having an observatory built on the back of my house. Sure, the skies are not perfect but I can still see M-13, M-31 and the milky way naked eye. And the fact that when I'm home I'm never more than a couple of minutes away from the start of another observing session makes such sessions >happen a lot more frequently than if I had to drive somewhere.
Patrick
Not everyone is in a position, financially or physically to have an observatory in their back yard. It would be nice if we had a location to go to with half-way decent dark skies and not have to fight other crowds for a camp spot. Those who attended the "Dark-Site" meetings and on the committee were not interested in building permanent structures at this time but to just have a dark location to go to instead of the "Official Dark Site" chosen by the club. So there would be 2 places that club members could go each month - the Official Site" and the permanent "Dark Site". Deloy and Karen Pierce