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Date: 26 Aug 2006 08:21:34
From: Dave Mitsky
Subject: A Word from the Black Forest Star Party
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Well, things are not looking too good here at Cherry Springs, folks.
Last night a sucker hole opened up for a bit early in the night and we
were able to observe a few of the showcase objects such as M11, M13,
M27, V Aquilae, and T Lyrae. All the while there were brilliant flashes
of lightning off to the north and northwest.
Since I had booked a motel room in "nearby" Coudersport, I left when
the hole closed and the storm grew closer. As I was watching Stargate
Atlantis, a tornado warning for neighboring McKean County flashed on
the tube.
The forecast for tonight is not promising. As a matter of fact, as I
drove to the Coudersport library to post this message a severe
thunderstorm and possible tornado warning was issued on the radio.
What a shame it is to have the Black Forest Star Party suffer a similar
fate as the Cherry Springs Star Party did two months ago.
http://www.bfsp.org/starparty/index.cfm?CFID=1134928&CFTOKEN=90820592
http://www.astrohbg.org/s4/
http://www.upstateastro.org/stars/cssp.html
Dave Mitsky
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Date: 26 Aug 2006 08:26:12
From: RMOLLISE
Subject: Re: A Word from the Black Forest Star Party
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Hi Dave:
Very sorry to hear that. Y'all have a great site, and the one evening
during the Cherry Springs Star Party when the sky gave up a little, I
was impressed. I thought the CSSP was great.
Of course, that's easy for me to say...I flew in, hit things on the
only really decent night, didn't have to worry about equipment (I used
the Meade rep's 10-inch RCX on the single OK night), and found a
friendly bar in Coudersport.
:-)
Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of:
Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope
and
The Urban Astronomer's Guide
<http://skywatch.brainiac.com/astroland >
The Annual SCT User Imaging Contest is Underway!
<http://www.rothritter.com/contest/2006/ >
Dave Mitsky wrote:
> Well, things are not looking too good here at Cherry Springs, folks.
> Last night a sucker hole opened up for a bit early in the night and we
> were able to observe a few of the showcase objects such as M11, M13,
> M27, V Aquilae, and T Lyrae. All the while there were brilliant flashes
> of lightning off to the north and northwest.
>
> Since I had booked a motel room in "nearby" Coudersport, I left when
> the hole closed and the storm grew closer. As I was watching Stargate
> Atlantis, a tornado warning for neighboring McKean County flashed on
> the tube.
>
> The forecast for tonight is not promising. As a matter of fact, as I
> drove to the Coudersport library to post this message a severe
> thunderstorm and possible tornado warning was issued on the radio.
>
> What a shame it is to have the Black Forest Star Party suffer a similar
> fate as the Cherry Springs Star Party did two months ago.
>
> http://www.bfsp.org/starparty/index.cfm?CFID=1134928&CFTOKEN=90820592
>
> http://www.astrohbg.org/s4/
>
> http://www.upstateastro.org/stars/cssp.html
>
> Dave Mitsky
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Date: 26 Aug 2006 22:08:31
From: George Normandin
Subject: Re: A Word from the Black Forest Star Party
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"Dave Mitsky" < > wrote
...
> Well, things are not looking too good here at Cherry Springs,
> folks.........
That's very unfortunate Dave, particularly since the weather forecast for
the NY/PA border area is for "clear and dry" from Tuesday thru next weekend.
Perhaps they could just extend the star party?
George N
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Date: 27 Aug 2006 16:15:10
From: Dave Mitsky
Subject: Re: A Word from the Black Forest Star Party
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RMOLLISE wrote:
> Hi Dave:
>
> Very sorry to hear that. Y'all have a great site, and the one evening
> during the Cherry Springs Star Party when the sky gave up a little, I
> was impressed. I thought the CSSP was great.
>
> Of course, that's easy for me to say...I flew in, hit things on the
> only really decent night, didn't have to worry about equipment (I used
> the Meade rep's 10-inch RCX on the single OK night), and found a
> friendly bar in Coudersport.
>
> :-)
>
> Peace,
> Rod Mollise
Rod,
IIRC, this was the worst Black Forest Star Party ever in terms of
observing. During the official duration of the star party, there was
about half an hour of observing time and that under less than ideal
conditions. I ended up regretting my decision not to leave for the park
on Thursday, since there were a few hours of clear sky early that
night.
Most people packed up and left on Saturday evening after Sue French's
keynote talk and the raffle prize drawing were finished. Needless to
say, there was no observing at all on Saturday night. At least, there
was no tornado.
However, I had a surprisingly good time at the 2006 BFSP nevertheless.
I spent time with some good people I see only a few times a year at
most and being in Potter County is always a relaxing experience for me.
I also won two raffle prizes this year, a book (_Astronomy Hacks_) and
a 4mm Burgess Optical/TMB Planetary eyepiece, which lessened the sting
of the poor weather a wee bit.
Dave Mitsky
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