Tennessee Star Party 2003
Rod Mollise
Just returned from the 2003 Tennessee Star Party, and thought I'd give
you a quick report on this two-day event (26-27 September). I was
invited to speak at this star party by the sponsoring Barnard-Seyfert
Astronomical Society, but had actually been thinking about checking it
out for some time, and probably would have gone anyway, since I'm
always looking for another easy-driving-range opportunity to do some
serious deep sky observing. At any rate, this kind invitation gave me
that little big of extra impetus I needed to pack-up and head for the
Volunteer State.
The TNSP is a young event--this was only its 4th year--but it is off
to a good start due to both its good skies and a location that offers
excellent facilities. It's held at a private girls' Summer camp, Camp
Nakanawa, that's located near the small town of Crossville, Tennessee
in the East-Central part of the state. This camp has been around since
the 1920s, is situated in beautiful scenenary and offers functional
and comfortable facilities. There's a nice and large dining hall (the
food was quite good as star-party-food goes), and a decent-sized if
not over-large meeting hall (if the star party grows beyond its
current 150-200 attendee level, there are a couple of other larger
possibilities for programs on-site).
The drive from Mobile was around 8 hours, and the last 2 hours of this
was on state highways. I was a little concerned about this last, but
it turned out to be a nice thing, as Dorothy and I were treated to
just-plain-lovely mountain scenenary on the way up until we climbed to
the elevated plateu where Crossville and Camp Nakanawa are situated.
Following registration, we dropped our luggage at our cabin, a tiny
two-bed affair that Dorothy pronounced "adorable," and headed for the
observing field. Couldn't want much more in that regard. It's big
enough for the star party to grow many times its current size. In
fact, the set-ups on the field were dwarfed by its expanse. But that's
a good thing. I prefer a little elbow room on the field rather than
fighting for space as is the case at many events lately. I brought the
NS11, and had it set-up in short order and awaiting the coming of
night.
There was a large open pavillion-building on the Western edge of the
field that served as a vendor's hall and also provided hot
coffee-chocolate during the wee hours. Vendors present this year were
Bill Burgess (Burgess Optical) and Ken Dauzat (Ken's Rings and
Things). Bill had brought an impressive array of equipment, including
a couple of his new achromatic refractors. I got a look at Mars
through his 127 F/8 scope and was quite impressed. I ain't exactly a
refractor kind of guy, but I must admit, Mars looked nice and sharp
and contrasty and that on-axis color was nowhere near what I would
have expected. Ken brought some samples of his fine work, including a
couple of customized EXT125 OTAs, Ken had removed their flip-mirror
equipped rear cell covers and replaced them with a metal assembly with
no flip mirror but with a 2" capable rear-port. Couple this with a
50mm finder and a white paintjob for the tube, and you have quite an
interesting little item!
I'd be the first to say that Friday night wasn't exactly perfect. Oh,
the sky started off decently enough, but the moisture content was
high, meaning that a light-dome from a nearby town (Crossville, I
assume) was more prominent than it should have been. However, this
didn't prevent me from getting some good looks at favorite objects.
The Veil was surprisingly prominent for this semi-hazy night, and
little NGC 404 (right next to Beta Andromedae) was more prominent than
it usually is. Maybe the skies weren't quite as bad as they looked at
times? At any rate, I soldiered on, viewing mainly favorites until
clouds closed us in about midnight. This was not _too_ disappointing,
as I was pretty derned tired after the drive, and weather reports
promised a front passage that would bring really good weather on
Saturday.
Or so I hoped. Saturday began with thick clouds that just grew worse
and worse, with serious rain and thunderstorms continuing from 3am to
afternoon. I didn't worry too much, however, as I was more concerned
with presenting my talk (The Care and Feeding of a CAT(adioptric)) and
listening to the many, many excellent presentations. We were treated
to outstanding programs, both Friday and Saturday, on a wide variety
of topics covering everything from video astronomy to cosmology. I was
particularly gratified to see that the organizers had taken pains to
provide some programs and activities for younger/beginning amateurs.
If you ask me, too many star parties ignore the kids (and novices of
all ages).
By late afternoon, it was clear that the front _would_ pass through,
bringing cool temperatures, and, we hoped, clear skies. This did
indeed happen, and by 10 pm, the skies were beginning to look
gorgeous. My "object of the night" wasn't anything obscure. It was the
good, old Eagle Nebula. I've seen this legendary cloud from many
locations, but I will say that on this night, with a 35mm Panoptic and
a UHC filter, it looked as good or better than I've ever seen
it--including from the Texas Star Party. It was particularly
interesting to check it out in Dennis Williams' Stellacam-equipped 10"
LX200. This deepsky-video camera provided quite a view of the nebula's
central region. The famous "finger of god" dark lanes made famous by
the Hubble images were easily visible. Yes, the Stellacam provides
real-time video of even faint objects, and can actually show more than
can be easily seen visually. I never thought this would be possible
with video, but it's here.
The only fly in the ointment, so to speak? The 8 hour drive home
Sunday morning. I knew I had to quit at a reasonable hour, and shut
down the NS11 and did some packing before midnight. I wasn't quite
ready to call it a night, though. I spent at least another hour
viewing many deep sky marvels on Dennis' Stellacam monitor screen. I
also had some remarkable views through some Bigdobs (yes, I admit it),
thanks to the kindness of their owners. After checking a couple of
SCTs' collimation at their users' requests, it was time for some Rebel
Yell and a last look or three at the sky before bed.
The biggest recommendation I can give the TNSP? They left me wanting
MORE! Thanks very much to my fellow attendees and the good folks at
the Barnard-Seyfert AS for having us and for being so darned nice!
If you're interested, I'll post a copy of my TNSP presentation (.ppt),
"The Care and Feeding of a CAT," on my website over the next day or
two.
Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
Like SCTs and MCTs?
Check-out sct-user, the mailing list for CAT fanciers!
Goto <http://members.aol.com/RMOLLISE/index.html>
Scott Smith
It was a pleasure meeting you and Dorthy at TNSP. Thanks for the excellent
presentation! Must have been nice being in a cabin early Satuday morning
when the storm came through. My son Tyler and I enjoyed a ride in the tent
with 25 mile an hour winds and rain ripping across the observing field. We
held together and enjoyed the great skies on Saturday night!
Scott Smith
"Rod Mollise" <rmol...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:9788d438.03092...@posting.google.com...
Jon Isaacs
>The drive from Mobile was around 8 hours, and the last 2 hours of this
>was on state highways. I
Just a quick question:
I forgot how it goes, is an Alabama State Highway gravel or dirt??? :-)
Actually been to Alabama and did some cycling there too. Nice roads and nice
folks too...
jon
Eddie Kirkland
party. Saturday night was one of the most productive nights in my short
four years of observing: the Veil, Helix, Swan, and Orion nebulae were
beautiful, and some very nice planetaries, also. While not as dark as I
had expected, they were better than our club's dark site. I'll probably be
back next year.
I have only one complaint with the TNSP; its not long enough, it should be
three days instead of two.
Eddie Kirkland
"Rod Mollise" <rmol...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:9788d438.03092...@posting.google.com...
Rod Mollise
Hi Jon:
TENNESSEE state highways. Danged if they don't actually _pave_ 'em. Don't ask
me why! ;-)
Rod Mollise
>three days instead of two.
>
HI Eddie:
Me too. As for the sky darkness...I was pretty pleased. I'm sure the less humid
the night, the better.