The Spring Binge is on!

[Jamie Dillon, DDK]

Nate Merkle, our genial county parks guy, got back to me promptly. We are booked for the week of 23-27 April at Lake San Antonio for the Spring Binge, Galstar, Spring CalStar, you get to pick the name of your choice.

Come early stay late. We're very likely to have big fun.

All the salient details are current and accurate at https://calstar.observers.org/

No pre-registration. Come as you are.

Zowie!

[Jack Mi]

Great news! Very excited about the event!

Just want to confirm if the posted observing site layout and rules would still apply for this event. Specifically, I plan to use the late arrive and early departure area, since I don't want to ruin other's experience, as I might arrive late/inevitably emit some white light as I set up camp in my car. (Or should I just try to go to a different site if rules are strict throughout the entire lot these days...?)

Anyways, hope everyone can have a great time there!

[Jamie Dillon, DDK]

Hey Jack, same rules you see on https://calstar.observers.org/observing-site/.

That late arrival area works well for the plans you're talking about. And it's pretty there, and has water taps and portapotties.

Thanks for the courtesy of asking!

[Jack Mi]

Excellent! Hopefully many can show up and enjoy the spring nights there!

[Peter Santangeli]

(Apologize if this is a dup. Gmail got weird with the size of the image in my last attempt)

Work booked off, and Spring project looking good...

New carbon fiber 13" astrograph. Almost finished. A bit of polyurethane and a shroud left...

Can't wait!

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[Richard Navarrete]

That looks awesome, Pete!

Richard

Sent from the all new AOL app for iOS

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[Muriel Dulieu]

Hi,

I would like to join the event, it will be my first time. I would be camping with a tent. 

How do you charge your equipment, phone etc during the day?

Also I have a special diet and probably will need ice packs to keep my food fresh in the freezer bag. Any idea how to freeze ice-packs overnight? 

Thank you,

-Muriel

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 11, 2025, at 5:21 PM, 'Richard Navarrete' via The Astronomy Connection (TAC) <sf-ba...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

 That looks awesome, Pete!

Richard

Sent from the all new AOL app for iOS

On Friday, April 11, 2025, 5:05 PM, Peter Santangeli <pe...@santangeli.net> wrote:

(Apologize if this is a dup. Gmail got weird with the size of the image in my last attempt)

Work booked off, and Spring project looking good...

New carbon fiber 13" astrograph. Almost finished. A bit of polyurethane and a shroud left...

Can't wait!

<image.png>

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sf-bay-tac/1599039995.496857.1744417242804%40mail.yahoo.com.

<image.png>

[Daniel Vancura]

Same here! Got myself a solar panel to charge my battery, but if there’s tips & tricks from those who have been to a few such events on what to bring/ prepare would be great to hear 🙂

Planning so far on:

• the usual toiletries
• Battery for equipment + solar panel to charge during day (on paper should be enough watt but have to test a little and maybe rent a generator from Home Depot?)
• The most important stuff (telescope etc obviously)
• Tent, sleeping bag, mattress
• Water bottles, snacks, tea and water kettle for hot drinks at night, hand warmers
• Clothes
• Probably a few more things that I didn’t think of just now

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[Peter Santangeli]

I will refer everyone to Dan Wright's ultimate star party checklist...

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nK4oSUmRetrJIYtPyvGOd1GGaBALaXQ2EmGODdrGZVw/edit?tab=t.0

The "can't miss" guide to not forgetting things.

pete

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[Steven R.]

Muriel,

I have an inverter that I power from my hybrid vehicle. You're welcome to plug into my AC power strip when I've got it set up. The inverter is beefy enough to power a small refrigerator (like a college dorm fridge) if you want to bring one for freezing your things.

Cheers,

-Steven

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[Daniel Vancura]

Thanks for sharing this checklist! That is a good one!

[Aris Pope]

Looks very similar to my list except for the exclusion of the adult beverages.

Aris

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[Ivor Barker]

Looks great Pete.

I'm sorry I will miss the Spring Binge, I recently moved to Chicago area so not much in the way of dark skies around here!

Have fun!

--Ivor

[Muriel Dulieu Holzer]

What happens if the weather is cloudy?

It does not look great right now, hopefully that will change.

- Muriel Dulieu Holzer, Ph.D.

104 Coral Dr, Orinda, CA 94563, USA

Cell: +1 347 446 0998

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[Mark Wagner]

Muriel.... if its cloudy, the event will be a camping trip.  The positive in that event is the possibility of camping with other amateur astronomers.  One must just decide if the risk is worth it, if the weather looks uncooperative.

Mark

[Ted Hauter]

This weather has 3D views through the big binoculars written all over it :)

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