OSP and fires to our north.

[Mark Wagner]

This morning OSP (roughly at the arrow) is in a smoke plume within the yellow "elevated fire watch" covering a large portion of Oregon and Washington, near a large red flag warning (orange) section. I don't know what GSSP dealt with (no postings on TAC) but maybe star party season is now May?

-- 
Mark

[Peter Santangeli]

For GSSP, there was a smaller fire pretty close to us (south of Beiber) and a larger fire a further distance away in Little Valley.

We were fortunate with wind directions though. One afternoon there was a plume from the close fire overhead, and a slight smell, but I didn't really notice anything during the evenings.

Weather on the other hand, was a much bigger issue. Such is Astronomy sometimes.

For those that were involved in setup and came up early, it worked out pretty well - I ended up with 3 good nights and one 'usable' night. Others were not so lucky unfortunately.

But as far as I could tell, a good time was still had by all.

pete

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[James Webster]

Fires weren't an issue at GGSP this year. There was a plume of smoke visible in the southwest and a couple of days the scent of smoke was just noticeable. The OSP got closed down due to heavy smoke and massive fires nearby.

--

[Mark]

How unfortunate, James.  Did you go?

Pete, glad you had a good GSSP!

[James Webster]

I didn’t attend the OSP. I read on FB that it was shut down due to smoke.

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[Mark]

Bummer about OSP.  Especially since they just moved the event from August to avoid the wildfires.

[Arvind K]

I was there at both GSSP and OSP this year. This is my first time at both of these star parties.

GSSP had consistent cloud cover except for a few hours of sucker holes (that I enjoyed..).

OSP had lightning, thunderstorms, and an hour or so  of clear skies Wednesday night.. Thursday started off beautifully, but by evening when the wind direction changed the site was too smokey for my allergies so I packed everything and left before darkness. Sorry to hear OSP was eventually cancelled.

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[Arvind K]

Oh to clarify I only reached GSSP on Sunday. I was told there were some good nights prior to my arrival

[Mark Wagner]

Wow, sorry Arvind. In 30 years that's the first star party conditions double-skunking I've heard of.  Two star parties, two skunks, one trip.  In my teens we'd have referred to that simply as a "bad trip" 🙁

On to clear skies the rest of the year! Right?

Six nights of excellent CalStar coming up: Over 21.7 nights and 80°F max days.

"Good nights" prior to your (GSSP) arrival, I think that means Saturday. Unless folks are now going up more days early.

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-- 
Mark

[John Pierce]

On Sat, Jul 18, 2026 at 11:20 AM Mark Wagner <itsmar...@gmail.com> wrote:

...

"Good nights" prior to your (GSSP) arrival, I think that means Saturday. Unless folks are now going up more days early.

the setup crew would have been there Friday night, AFAIK, there's no GSSP folks on the property before that.

[Mark Wagner]

That would explain.  Not going, I've been getting the start date mixed up, and kept thinking opening day was Sunday.  Thanks.

At least there was some observing (thankfully).

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[Howard Banich]

I don’t know that the OSP was canceled, but everyone is leaving today rather than tomorrow because of the smoke. We had one “useable” night for observing and sucker holes on another, but the smoke from all the lightening started fires not only socked in the sky, but ash and small bits of charred wood (!) fell from the smoke. 

I think the main lesson for both GSSP and the OSP is to not schedule dates in July. Yes, there are excellent arguments to be made otherwise, but July has sucked too often in the past ten years that it would be prudent to schedule star parties in June or even May.

Howard 

On Jul 18, 2026, at 11:20 AM, Mark Wagner <itsmar...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Mark Wagner]

Howard - although it is just circumstantial and a "conspiracy theory" - I wonder if fire season has shifted to earlier. I'd want to look at ten years of weather and fire data to see.  Anyway, yes, May or June. I also think that if possible, Brad Templeton's idea of flexible dates might be good - if doable at all.  I think it might be a lot more work to manage, but to shift a day or two earlier or later could potentially avoid unwanted weather conditions.  Just a thought (Brad's, actually).

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-- 
Mark

[Richard Ozer]

GSSP had very little smoke from a couple of fires nearby.  Clouds were the real problem.

LOL on May as the new star party month.

Likely time for GSSP in 2027 will still be June, probably end of month spilling into July 4.

--

[Aris Pope]

Current conditions in Bend. GSSP was fine just some clouds in great company which you don't get at home.

Aris

--

[Mark Wagner]

Richard,

End May is a birthday trip for me.  I'd come.  I like chocolate cake

As unrealistic as I thought Brad's flex-time star party sounded to me at first, I don't think it's that far fetched and worth considering.  There's little to achieve it from what I see.  I hope you'd be open to discussion.

[Mark]

I don't agree.  Becky is great company.  Safe drive!

[Mark]

BTW Aris, Navarrete and I had planned to attend this year.  I ended up caring for someone (still am) with a medical condition.  I think Richard decided against last minute due to the weather forecast.

I've been to a few GSSPs (or more than a few) before, too.

Glad you enjoyed.

[Steve Gottlieb]

I’ll post an observing report from GSSP in a day or two. Besides my own projects (for future Sky & Tel articles), I revisited several objects from Akarsh’s Observing List: Cow and the Calf (great idea, by the way).

I also ended up being the speaker (again) and even had my 24-inch mirror cleaned (with help) to a sparkling state.  Lots of fun and camaraderie, all around. 

-- Steve

On Jul 18, 2026, at 1:44 PM, Mark <itsmar...@gmail.com> wrote:

BTW Aris, Navarrete and I had planned to attend this year.  I ended up caring for someone (still am) with a medical condition.  I think Richard decided against last minute due to the weather forecast.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sf-bay-tac/634099af-98e5-41ad-ac54-3f03211a64bbn%40googlegroups.com.

[David Kirjassoff]

I attended GSSP this year.  Arrived at a nearby campground Friday.   Skies were great and I heard the same from the setup crew at Frosty Acres.   Saturday was a bust, Sunday had some decent sucker holes, Monday was a bust, and Tuesday was spectacular. 

[Richard Navarrete]

Sounds great, Steve. I’m looking forward to reading your OR.

Richard

Sent from the all new AOL app for iOS

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[Mark Wagner]

Terrific Steve!  Glad there were some useful skies.  What are your upcoming S&T projects?

[Steve Gottlieb]

I have an article due next month on IC objects (for next January’s issue), and wanted to get in some last minute observations, including IC 1295 and IC 1276 (Palomar 7).  The one afterwards is on the Cat’s Paw Nebula (NGC 6334) and the Lobster Nebula (NGC 6357) in Scorpius.  A third is a survey of deep Sky objects in Lacerta.

This reminds me that I have a feature article on Cygnus planetary nebulae that’s in the current digital issue of Sky & Tel (September).  If anyone would like to read it, contact me directly as I can’t post it here. 

-- Steve

On Jul 18, 2026, at 3:42 PM, Mark Wagner <itsmar...@gmail.com> wrote:



To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sf-bay-tac/FF317B5B-2CDB-47AC-8F76-B8CEAA871D11%40gmail.com.

[Mark]

You sure stay busy with astronomy.  But that's not a surprise!

Thought I'd post this from the past so those who went to OSP se it's happened before.  And to one of the best we've had on TAC:

https://old.observers.org/reports/2000/2000.08.31.html

[Akarsh Simha]

It’s surprising how much fun OSP was despite the smoke and GSSP despite the so-so weather 

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[Aris Pope]

I'm sorry to hear that Mark. I thought you attended this year. There are more important things to life and that's very selfless of you. 

On Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 1:44 PM Mark <itsmar...@gmail.com> wrote:

BTW Aris, Navarrete and I had planned to attend this year.  I ended up caring for someone (still am) with a medical condition.  I think Richard decided against last minute due to the weather forecast.

I've been to a few GSSPs (or more than a few) before, too.

Glad you enjoyed.

On Saturday, July 18, 2026 at 12:55:10 PM UTC-7 Mark wrote:

I don't agree.  Becky is great company.  Safe drive!

On Saturday, July 18, 2026 at 12:45:59 PM UTC-7 Aris Pope wrote:

Current conditions in Bend. GSSP was fine just some clouds in great company which you don't get at home.

Aris

On Sat, Jul 18, 2026, 7:50 AM Mark Wagner <itsmar...@gmail.com> wrote:

This morning OSP (roughly at the arr) is in a smoke plume within the yellow "elevated fire watch" covering a large portion of Oregon and Washington, near a large red flag warning (orange) section. I don't know what GSSP dealt with (no postings on TAC) but maybe star party season is now May?

-- Mark

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:

Aris

[Mark Wagner]

Thanks Aris.  Glad you had a great time.  That's important too.

[Arvind K]

On Sat, Jul 18, 2026 at 11:20 AM Mark Wagner <itsmar...@gmail.com> wrote:

Wow, sorry Arvind. In 30 years that's the first star party conditions double-skunking I've heard of.  Two star parties, two skunks, one trip.  In my teens we'd have referred to that simply as a "bad trip" 🙁

On to clear skies the rest of the year! Right?

Six nights of excellent CalStar coming up: Over 21.7 nights and 80°F max days.

Mark, overall, to me the trip was good in different ways - it was a much-needed reset due to personal reasons, so I still managed to make the most of it.

I agree it could have been even better with more opportunities to observe, but I don't regret making this (about) 1,350-mile round trip to both sites. I am looking forward to CalStar later this year and wish we all get better skies!

"Good nights" prior to your (GSSP) arrival, I think that means Saturday. Unless folks are now going up more days early.

Right, GSSP started Sat (Jul 11), but the setup crew seems to have had the best observing nights thu/fri nights.

Catching up to other responses in this email thread, +1 to the idea of considering other months for future star parties based on how the trends have changed over the last 10-15 years.

[Mark]

Arvind,

I was having a bit of fun with the idea of a double skunk - it wasn't personal :-)  Really,  I'd never read such a thing before!  But I agree, there are other ways to enjoy the experience even without successful skies.  The old saying is "half the star party is party" ---- and there's a lot of truth to that.  Seeing old friends, making new ones, learning new things, a shared interest, etc.   And we all have to "make lemonade" sometimes.  There are others people with near-double skunk "ignominity"!  I'll never qualify :-)  I won't do 9 nights camping and observing.  Maybe an astro B&B, but its still a lot (for me).  I think GSSP and OSP may again be back to back June/July next year.  "Nope."

Jane - I'm sure the Mendocino forest was quite an unexpected/unwanted adventure.  I found just one crazy part of Hwy 1 from Mendocino to Leggett more than enough.  I'll read your OSP report - I did see a nice one from you on the TAC 2003 OR page -  a good set of Hicksons you were knocking out at Lake Sonoma.