OR: LSA is like the beginning of Mad Max (the first movie)

[Rod Brown]

Remember the first Mad Max movie? More specifically, the first part of it? It's been decades since I watched it, but to my memory, at the start of the film civilization was on the decline. There was still social order, represented by Max and the police force of which he was a member. But society, and things in society, were worn and frayed. Lawlessness was creeping in, and folks had to band together to resist it (as shown even more in subsequent films in the series).

This was my first CalStar and my first trip to Lake San Antonio. The "Field of Dreams" there is a dry expanse. With the abandoned baseball backstop, long disused and sometimes askew charcoal grills, non-potable water spigots, and decaying services (for example, separate recycling and trash bins which get dumped together), civilization seemed to be receding. Beyond the overflow camping are many campsites, sparsely occupied this time of year. Rangers drove around periodically, but down by the reservoir rocks had tumbled into the road and lay untouched for at least a couple days. The shower I used was strange: the water was running, but it was unheated (which was fine since I was quite warm). There were literal piles of rust on the ground underneath the dividers between the toilet stalls, resulting from years of decay, but the toilet paper was well stocked. A bit eerie.

Being on that edge, though, helps keep the skies dim for us astronomers. That edge was a place for folks from the Bay Area and beyond to come together for a common purpose. I did not arrive until Saturday, so I missed the pizza, but the burgers that night were great. Best of all was breakfast at Chez Dan -- excellent food and great conversation, and an opportunity to pitch in and contribute. I won't try to name them all since there were many and I would undoubtedly leave some out, but I met and enjoyed chatting and sharing views with all sorts of folks during my days there. To me that was even better than the viewing.

And the viewing was good! Darkness was comparable to my normal spot up here in Nevada County, but I would say the seeing and transparency were better at LSA. Since, after all, I was at CalStar, I decided to delve into Akarsh's CalStar lists. There were a few items on the easy and intermediate lists that I had not observed, so I started with them. I observed until about 1:30 am Saturday night, but I did not record that many objects, as I was busy chatting and sharing views through my 18" and others scopes. Quite a few folks, I'd say about ten or so, stuck around through Sunday night, and that was another good night, if slightly brighter than Saturday. That evening I began working on items I had yet to view on Akarsh's difficult list, but around 11 I found that I was struggling to see a galaxy that should have been well within my capabilities. I moved on to a glob which should also have been straightforward, when I realized my problem -- I had left on my OIII filter after viewing a nebula. That stupid mistake told me I was too tired and it was time to call it a night, even though it was early, and try again the next evening.

By Monday afternoon, everyone else had left and I was alone in the field. That Mad Max feeling came creeping back. F-16s dogfighting loudly, occasionally overhead but mostly over the horizon, contributed to the sense of a distant apocalypse. Late afternoon, as I dove back from the shower, the animals started, coming out. Not just the deer, quail, and vultures, which had been pervasive all weekend, but turkeys, coyotes, and pigs, too. As the sun set and I was making dinner, the pigs started trotting around the edges of the field. I've got a bit of a grudge with pigs (long story, but I'll be getting and MRI in a couple weeks due to a nagging shoulder problem from a long-ago bike crash in Henry Coe caused by my front wheel dropping into a hidden pig hole). So I yelled out "Hey pigs!" occasionally to let them know I was there and aware of them. After it was dark I started as usual with observing doubles, then I kept working on Akarsh's difficult list. I also observed Pluto for the first time, right at the edge with averted vision. The occasional loud pig squeal was a bit unnerving, but overall it was a fine night, and I enjoyed the presence of my animal companions, even the pigs. I started getting tired a bit after midnight, which a few months ago would have felt early, but the nice thing about early fall observing is that the nights are getting longer, so you can start earlier and quit earlier and still have a decently long session. I finished with a few old favorites, went into my tent, and slept well. 

The next morning I woke up early and immediately started packing. As I was doing so, a beat-up old garbage truck came around to empty the dumpsters. I had veered back just into the civilized side again, apparently.

It was a great trip. I greatly enjoyed meeting many of you. I look forward to seeing you all, and others on this list, at LSA in the spring.

Rod

[Ted Hauter]

Or Star Wars Ep 4: C-3PO: What a deslote place this is...

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[Rod Brown]

That's an appropriate quote.

My Prius is not "the last of the V-8 interceptors," but it will do for now.

Rod

[Ted Hauter]

I sometimes leave at night and the pigs just don't care and will totally be slowly  meandering across the road nearly to the wheel and tire and I have to swerve around them.

If I could turn around and look at him, he'd totally give me a look out of the corner of its piggy eye and continue on.

LSA could be a nice time capsule unhidden. 

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[Jaimie Henderson]

Terrific OR, Rod! I missed CalStar, but now I feel as if I was there the whole time. :-)

Jaimie

[Richard Navarrete]

Thanks, Rod, for the entertaining review of your time at CalStar. It’s not the prettiest place, but it gets the job done.

Richard

Sent from the all new AOL app for iOS

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[Mark Wagner]

Rod,

You nicely described my feeling of decline at LSA.  I returned for the first time in... gotta be well over a decade or close to two.  Drove to the visitor center, and marina store.  The burned husk of the visitor center guarded at its front entrance by a resting buck deer, with cracked weed strewn walkway, was an eye opener.  I felt saddened by the sight, like looking at my past and seeing it falling apart.  Memories (lots) in full-on entropy.

The FOD was like I recalled.  Several dozen telescopes set up in a large expanse of dirt.  But it was a welcome sight.  So were the people, many whom I hadn't been around for almost a decade.  Randy, great to see you, and Dan, Charlie, Jamie, Paul & Debbie, Andy,  and Carl.  You all look the same but maybe a bit more... well, the wine improves with time.  Saw some of my more regulars too, Peter and Dave.  Met AJ, nice imager near my camp.

I think for me the highlights were two; Titan transit was freaking awesome - I've seen tons of shadow transits on Jupiter and thought Ganymede was a show.  But no.  Titan lives up to its namesake.  It was a black ball on the limb of the planet.  Like a cannonball hole.  The view especially through Charlie's 20" was salivating, thought I'd need to change shirts.  Thanks Charlie, worth the trip for that.  Also, first night I didn't set up a scope, but found an MDAS member with a cranky 14.5" Starmaster - the goto was disobeying so I offered to star hop to whatever she wanted.  Spent a good amount of time there, nice scope, nice views.  Oh, also having Paul voice direct me at the eyepiece of Charlie's scope to the globular in M33, that was a treat.

Hoping to get out more, to deeper and darker.  Hoping too that LSA itself resurrects soon to its past glory.

Mark

On Friday, September 26, 2025 at 2:16:47 PM UTC-7 Rod Brown wrote: