This past weekend star party at Natural Bridges National Monument went very well. On Friday night, we had eight telescopes set up and had about 50 visitors spend the evening from dusk to about 12:30 AM. Viewing was fairly reasonable with clear, dark skies and a moderately stable atmosphere. On Saturday evening, the clouds moved in and no viewing was possible. In all, this event was very worth while. Natural Bridges offers very dark skies with very low horizons in all directions. The head park ranger, Scott Ryan, indicated that he was very pleased with how Friday night went and is hopeful to do this again next year. Rodger Fry ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ann House" <ann@annhouse.org> To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2008 10:02 PM Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Report on Private Star Party at Capitol Reef
Once again, SLASers headed for Capitol Reef over the Labor Day weekend. This year it was dubbed a private event, as the rangers at Natural Bridges invited us for a Park-sponsored star party. Several club members supported the Park, camped, and checked out what Natural Bridges had to offer. I look forward to a report from that group.
Lowell & family members, Don & Linda, Steve & Cheryl, Ann & Craig, Ivo, Nate, Bill, Dave Bernson, and I met Friday night for dinner at the Capitol Reef Inn. We then went to Panorama Point to set up our scopes high above the highway and with good horizons. We had a good time visiting, listening to Dave talking about the constellations, and looking at the sky. Viewing wasn't the best Capitol Reef has to offer. The air seemed thick with dust or smoke. Clouds rolled in about 2-3 am and a storm was threatening us for most of Saturday. By Saturday night, the clouds obstructed viewing, though Don gave it a try.
Saturday was spent hiking and/or touring. Nate, Bill, Dave and I toured the Cathedral Valley in Nate's new car. We had an adventure and Nate's car has a few battle scars. Dave says it needed it as what is the point of an all-wheel drive if you keep the car pristine. Nate may have something to say about that, but I think all in all, he is just glad we are not stuck in a desert gully miles from civilization.
Thanks, Lowell, for pulling this together!
-A _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://gallery.utahastronomy.com Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com