Latest / Star Trails: From Backyard Astronomy to Cosmic Wonder / From the Archive: Star Party Stories

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From the Archive: Star Party Stories · Star Trails: From Backyard Astronomy to Cosmic Wonder

0:07
Howdy Star Gazers and welcome to this episode
0:10
of Star Trails. My name is Drew, and I'll be
0:13
your guide to the night sky for the week of May
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the 31st to June the 6th. There are some episodes
0:21
that end when you publish them, and there are
0:24
others that linger. Over the last 113 episodes
0:29
of Star Trails, We've talked about black holes,
0:32
dying stars, distant galaxies, radio telescopes,
0:37
ancient astronomers, and worlds beyond our reach.
0:41
But every now and then, I find myself thinking
0:44
back to a much quieter episode. A year and a
0:48
half ago, I packed a recorder, drove out into
0:51
the dark countryside, and spent an evening at
0:54
a star party with members of the Midlands Astronomy
0:58
Club. At the time, I thought I was just gathering
1:01
tape for an episode, but listening back now,
1:04
I realize I captured something else. Not just
1:08
telescopes and astronomy talk, but the feeling
1:12
of amateur astronomy itself. The folding chairs,
1:16
the red flashlights, old telescope cases covered
1:20
in dew, the conversations that drift between
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Saturn weather forecasts. guitars, and stories
1:28
about department store telescopes from 1985.
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In a hobby increasingly dominated by apps, automation,
1:37
and glowing screens, there's something timeless
1:40
about a group of people gathering under a dark
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sky simply to look up together. So this week,
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while I take a short break, I wanted to revisit
1:51
one of my favorite episodes from the archive,
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remastered a bit, with newly recorded narration,
1:58
but otherwise preserved exactly as it was. This
2:03
is from Star Trails Episode 41, Star Party Stories.
2:08
And be sure to stick around after the segment
2:10
for a quick look at this week's night sky. So
2:14
settle in and let's head back out under the stars.
2:30
Being at a star party is like stepping into a
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shared dream. A mix of curiosity, excitement,
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and a touch of nostalgia. Tonight, the Midlands
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Astronomy Club converges at one of their secluded
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observation sites. The twice yearly gathering
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is a chance for family, friends, and those curious
2:52
about the hobby. After an hour's drive northward,
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with daylight waning, I arrived at the club's
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Dark Sky Sanctuary, just in time to join the
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familiar faces that bring these nights to life.
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Seasoned observers, club veterans, and newcomers.
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Telescopes of all kinds already point skyward,
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waiting for nightfall. Skies are clear for now,
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but a front is forecasted to arrive this evening,
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and that could bring clouds or even rain. The
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real star of the event is the food, and we'll
3:27
enjoy the cookout even if observation is impossible.
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Club president Mike Roberts, who normally plans
3:34
the club's monthly meetings and topics, has one
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of the most important roles of the night, manning
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the grill. Ever since I was a kid, I've always
3:43
looked at the sky. And that's true of most of
3:45
us. Most of us have been doing this for our entire
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life, and I just like getting out there and looking
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at the sky. But it's not just about looking at
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the stars. It's about sharing that fascination,
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connecting with others who feel the same pull
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of the cosmos. Hap Griffin was one of the original
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members to build an observatory on the site some
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years ago. It's a chance for people like us that
4:11
are just enamored by the night sky and getting
4:14
together with people that are interested in the
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same things that you are. under a really magnificent
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night sky is just the best. Between Hap's observatory
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and his neighbor, Frank's, an impromptu gathering
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place is formed. Astronomers huddle together,
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guitars in hand, sharing melodies and stories
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beneath the darkening sky. Most of these club
4:40
members have known each other for years. I'm
4:43
a relative newcomer, but before I knew it, someone
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handed me a guitar and invited me to join in
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over the murmur of cosmic chatter. That's with
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a homemade telescope. Wow. I figured that, I
5:12
ground figured it, polished it and figured it.
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And that's the scope that I built. It's carbon
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fiber tube. Wow. F3 .9. That's beautiful. As
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you can guess, it doesn't take long before the
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talk turns to telescopes. Well, I joined the
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club when I was 13 or 14 years old. I've been
5:32
in astronomy since 1985 as a first grader. That's
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past club president Wes Munn. I started with
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a department store telescope from the old service
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merchandise. You probably remember this from
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the 80s. It showed me the craters of the moon
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and I thought only I thought only PhD scientists
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could see that. But that was my ticket. And I
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just that telescope, you know, looking back is
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far inferior to what I own now. But I treated
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that thing like it was my own Lowell Observatory
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or Mauna Kea Observatory. I mean, I just felt
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like I discovered the moon myself. For many,
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telescopes are more than tools. They're extensions
6:13
of a passion for the stars, each scope reflecting
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its owner's unique story. So the light will enter
6:19
here, gets corrected, color corrected and aberration
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corrected, bounces off the primary mirror, back
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toward a mirror mounted in the center of this.
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Amateur astronomer Steve Dornberg takes pride
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in using what would be deemed a vintage scope
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nowadays. His blue, grey, and gold Dynamax scope
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looked futuristic in the early 80s, but has since
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graduated to retro -cool status, judging by how
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many gawkers he gets when he sets it up. Well,
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assuming I can keep my optics from fogging up,
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I'll get my 8 -inch Schmidt -Cassegrain made
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by Dynamax, which is no longer in production,
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out here and we'll take a look at some stars.
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In an era when most astronomers are using some
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sort of computer -assisted guiding or a smart
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scope, Steve relies on methods more in line with
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the age of his scope, which still renders beautiful
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views of planets and deep -sky objects. Absolutely.
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The optics, I mean I've taken meticulous care
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of the telescope in the years I've had it and
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it's all about the optics at the end of the day.
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I don't have a lot of the G -Wiz computer technology
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because it simply didn't exist when I bought
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the telescope. But it can track. It does have
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a drive motor on it. It can track if I align
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it properly. And other than that, I have a Tyrion
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Epoch 2000 star chart in here that I can look
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things up. It is not totally current. Some of
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the stars may have drifted a bit in 24 years,
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but they should be relatively close. So my right
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ascension and declination may be a bit off of
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hay. Across the field, a crowd has lined up to
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view the setting sun through a solar scope. Guests
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quickly learn that if a scope is pointed at the
8:24
sky, chances are they'll be invited to peer into
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it. When you come to a star party, there's going
8:30
to be generally a number of different types of
8:33
telescopes to look through. If you're trying
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to get an idea for a telescope that you might
8:38
want to buy, if you're a beginner, it's great
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to look through a lot of different types of telescopes
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because there'll be a half a dozen different
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types of scopes here and you can see what the
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pluses and minuses are of each and things like
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that. So a star party is a great chance to actually
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kick the tires, so to speak, on other people's
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equipment. And they're happy for you to... to
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look through it or they wouldn't have brought
9:00
it. For Paul Romanizen, who's been the club's
9:17
observation chairman for 20 years, Education
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is at the core of the club's mission. Well, one
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of the things is if you have a telescope for
9:25
long enough, you need motivation to take it out.
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So the reason to take it out is to show people
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stuff. Do you see the ring? Did you see the bands
9:37
on the ring? Did you see the little dots on either
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side? Do you see the moons? Those are the moons,
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eh? Well, we do programs for schools. We've got
9:47
outreaches coming up. Two more. We try to do
9:50
them on around the first quarter moon so there's
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something that's got nice visuals. The clouds
10:04
that were threatening earlier have officially
10:06
rolled in, covering up the handful of twilight
10:09
targets that were being studied. But no one is
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singing the blues Some of our best star parties
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have been where it did cloud up and we just all
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sat around and talked I remember one we were
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supposed to watch a meteor shower I think and
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a bunch of us got together and it was cloudy
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We didn't see a single meteor, but we sat around
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and talked and I thought Here people that know
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what I'm talking about and they and I know what
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they're talking about You know when I mentioned
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some big technical term or some concept The fact
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that they understand what I'm talking about,
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and that they're talking about the same things
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that I'm talking about, it was just, it was enlightening.
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It was like, hey, bing, the light went off. I've
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got to be a part of this forever. Drizzle has
11:00
begun, and several of us hastily toss our gear
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into cars and prepare for the long ride home.
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For most newcomers, the experience has been worth
11:09
it. I saw Saturn, and I saw the moon right next
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to Saturn. I am very surprised to see in these
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telescopes how you're able to see a different
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side of Saturn. And I also enjoy the solar telescope.
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That was very surprising. I actually didn't expect
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to see a spot on the sun. I saw the moon and
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I saw the sun earlier. I saw Saturn pretty close.
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It was pretty unique. The sky to these star gazers
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is a canvas that stretches into infinity. It's
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alive with stories that reveal new wonders. Every
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time they look, they see something new. A brightening
11:52
star, a comet, or simply the vastness of space
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itself. The sky is not painted on. It actually
12:00
has depth and meaning. So, if you look at the
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sky through a telescope or a pair of binoculars,
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and then you increase the magnification on it,
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you're going to see farther out. You're always
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going to be able to see more. And there's stuff
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happening out there all the time, and stars are
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getting brighter, and they're getting darker,
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and they're moving, and they're doing all kinds
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of things. And so the sky is really a never -ending
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source of fascination. There's a lot of stuff
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going on out there. Here, it's rarely just about
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what you see. It's the moments of shared wonder
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and the camaraderie that binds them together
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under a sky that feels a little less vast when
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shared with others. I hope you enjoyed that report
13:08
from the field, and special thanks go to all
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the folks who agreed to be interviewed. You can
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learn more about the club at their website, midlandsastronomyclub
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.com. After a quick break, we'll be back with
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this week's night sky. Stay with us. Welcome
13:37
back! As we close out May and prepare to head
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into June, the night sky is offering up some
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beautiful late spring observing opportunities,
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especially if you can get away from city lights
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for a while. Tonight is a rare blue moon, the
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second full moon of the month. Despite the name,
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the moon won't actually appear blue, but it's
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still a fun calendrical oddity that only happens
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every couple of years. This particular blue moon
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is also what astronomers call a micro moon, meaning
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the moon is slightly farther from Earth in its
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orbit and may appear just a little smaller than
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usual. Even with the growing moonlight, there's
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still plenty to see. Look toward the western
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sky shortly after sunset and you'll spot brilliant
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Venus shining like an aircraft landing light
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in the twilight. Jupiter is nearby as well, and
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the two brightest planets in our sky are slowly
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drawing closer together for a spectacular conjunction
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coming up in early June. Mercury is also beginning
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to creep into the evening sky very low on the
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horizon, though it may require binoculars and
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a very clear western view to catch it. If you're
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willing to get up before dawn, Saturn and Mars
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are making their return to the morning sky. Saturn
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rises first in the east before sunrise, with
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reddish Mars hanging nearby, lower on the horizon.
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Telescopically, Saturn is still sitting fairly
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low for northern observers, so the atmosphere
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may make it shimmer a bit, but the rings are
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unmistakable. Late spring also marks the return
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of the Milky Way to the evening sky. By midnight,
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the bright core of our galaxy begins lifting
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itself above the southeastern horizon, especially
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visible from darker, rural locations. This is
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one of my favorite times of the year because
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the sky begins transitioning away from the sparse
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constellations of winter and into the richer
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star fields of summer. Now, let's turn our attention
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toward the constellations Boötes and Hercules.
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now climbing high in the eastern sky during the
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evening hours. Bootes is anchored by brilliant
15:59
orange Arcturus, one of the brightest stars in
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the entire night sky, and a reliable beacon this
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time of year. Nearby is the constellation Hercules,
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home to one of the finest globular clusters visible
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in the northern hemisphere, Messier 13. Under
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dark skies, M13 appears as a faint, fuzzy patch
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between the stars of Hercules. Through binoculars,
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it begins to resolve into a grainy ball of light,
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and through even a small telescope, it explodes
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into hundreds of ancient stars packed tightly
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together. A swarm containing perhaps several
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hundred thousand suns orbiting the outskirts
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of our galaxy. The light you're seeing from that
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cluster tonight began its journey toward Earth
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around the time humans were first developing
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agriculture. That's going to do it for this week.
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If tonight's episode sparked your curiosity or
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maybe gave you something new to think about the
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next time you look up, I'd be honored if you
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shared star trails with someone who might enjoy
17:10
the journey. You can always find the latest episodes,
17:13
show notes, and extras at StarTrails .Show. And
17:18
if you'd like to help support the show, there's
17:21
also a little Buy Me a Coffee link on the site.
17:24
It genuinely helps keep these stories coming.
17:27
Be sure to follow Star Trails on Blue Sky and
17:31
YouTube. Links are in the show notes. Until we
17:34
meet again beneath the stars, clear skies everyone.