My 1st Star Party Experience

With September fast approaching I am beginning to think about my next Star Party during the upcoming new moon.  It is the fall CalStar star party held at Lake San Antonio along the central California coast every fall.  CalStar is a loosely organized Star Party held over 4 nights during the new moon in September or early October which I have attended since 2008 and written about previously.  But CalStar was not my first Star Party experience.  That honor is held by the Golden State Star Party (GSSP) which is held every year during new moon in late June or early July.

Like many of us I became interested in astronomy and the space program during the 60s while growing up in the " Steel City", Pittsburgh, PA.  I eventually bought my first telescope from the Buhl Planetarium, a 60mm Unitron Refractor.  From my parents heavily polluted back yard I could realistically only view the Sun, the moon and a few bright planets, which was fine since the Unitron was an f/15 refractor best suited for these types of objects.  Also, like many of us, after an initial spurt of enthusiasm with my new telescope, course work and school activities began to dominate my life and I packed the telescope away. 

Decades later as I began to think about retirement I thought about what activities I would like to fill all of my newly found free time.  Getting back into astronomy was an obvious first choice, so I began devouring the latest books on amateur astronomy equipment and techniques before settling in on a Celestron 9.25" SCT on a CGE mount.  I learned to set everything up and align the mount in my backyard in my home east of the San Francisco Bay area.  Skies are a bit darker than my childhood home back in Pittsburgh, but still quite light polluted at Bortle 6.5.  I don't remember where I first came upon the concept of a Star Party, but some time in the first half of 2008 I read about the Golden State Star Party.  I had never been to a Star Party, never heard of one and had not even been a member of an astronomy club before.  As it turns out, 2008 was the inaugural launch of the GSSP which grew out of a prior Star Party held in Shingletown, CA.  At the time I was doing strictly visual astronomy with my new Celestron and was not particularly enthusiastic about what I could see through an eyepiece from my back yard.  I suppose I had expected much more dramatic views of deep sky objects through a large telescope like the 9.25" rather than the "faint fuzzies" I was seeing.  I purchased a light pollution filter which helped, but did not make a dramatic difference.  So, what the heck, maybe the darker skies at this GSSP would provide get the kinds of views I was hoping for.

GSSP is held every late June or early July depending upon when the new moon falls.  It is held on a wide open grazing field on a cattle ranch in north eastern California in the exceedingly small town of Adin.  The location has Bortle 2 skies as the closest city is the town of Susanville 60 miles to the south with a population of under 13,000.  Adin is located in a farming and cattle ranching valley at 4200 ft which helps with the transparency of the skies.  GSSP has been held at this location every year (except 2020 and 2021 due to covid) since 2008.  It is a well organized  event attended by approximately 250 attendees.  GSSP doesn't have all of the activities of some of the other major Star Parties like the Texas Star Party,  Stellafane, etc.  But it does have a speaker presentation, a swap meet, two barbeque nights, a pancake breakfast and a public night for the locals.  Sometimes you will find a vendor there as well.   And there are lots of great outdoor activities an hour to two hours away.  I have had the honor of being a guest speaker twice over the years.

So, in 2008 GSSP was held the first weekend in July over the 4th of July weekend.  I decided to give it a try and see what a Star Party was about and hopefully see much more through my SCT in these dark skies than I could from my back yard.  Even though GSSP is held over 5 days and 4 nights I decided to just dip my toe into this and spend one night there to see if liked it.  Of course, being in the far north east corner of the state and some 328 miles away from my home in the Bay area driving time is about 5.5 hours not counting stops.   A long way to travel for just one night.  But you have to know that I never liked sleeping in tents and that is what I would have to do at GSSP.  So rather than risk multiple nights in an uncomfortable tent not knowing if I would even like a Star Party I decided the trade off with the long drive and only one night under the stars was my best option.  Not only that, I really was not a camper and I would have to be able to make meals for myself not knowing much about what was available in the local town.

On Friday afternoon I packed up my telescope gear which wasn't much more than the basic telescope, mount, EPs,a LP filter, finder and counterweights.  Since my son was in Cub Scouts we did have a tent and some sleeping bags, although neither of these were particularly of great quality or capability, but they would have to do.  I think we had a basic camping stove at the time which I surely must have taken, but to this day I don't know what I would have made for my Saturday inaugural Star Party dinner.  Most likely spaghetti which was my simple go to meal in the subsequent early days of my Star Party adventures.   I pilled all of this along with some basic snacks and water into my car for my big adventure.

I set out early Saturday morning for the approximately 6 hour drive not knowing that this was the first of 14 more such trips that I would make over the ensuing 17 years.  ( I missed one year because of work and the two years GSSP wasn't held due to Covid).  The majority of the drive is along interstates, mostly I5 in central CA past small towns and farm country.  The only challenge tends to be truckers clogging up the left of the only 2 lanes most of the way.   I stopped in Redding, CA for gas and food which has become my typical routine over the years.  I usually stop at the Black Bear dinner since it is right off the freeway and across the street from several gas stations.  Makes for a quick stop just long enough to gas up, fuel up and stretch my legs for the remaining 90 plus miles to GSSP.  From here the trip continues north east on RT 299 a mostly 2 lane highway which gradually works its way up through multiple valleys each with a small town or two as the elevation increases from ~450ft in Redding to ~4200ft at our final destination.  The scenery is beautiful and includes views of the snow capped Mount Shasta to the north west and the smaller Mount Lassen to the south west.

After 6.5 hours on the road including the stop in Redding, the road climbs one last mountain and down into the Big Valley with the towns of Bieber and Adin and the GSSP.  My first time driving to GSSP I missed the turn off onto Susanville road and almost missed GSSP completely if not for the Star Party sign strategically placed at the side of the ride a mile up 299 where the side road leads back over to the ranch where GSSP is held.  I finally arrived at the gate to GSSP and signed in with the volunteers there.  I don't actually remember what time I arrived but I am sure it was somewhere around 2 in the afternoon when the temperature was approaching a peak.  Since GSSP is held in June or July the temperature is usually in the high 80s or low 90s and we have even experienced temperatures above 100 degrees on occasion.   The Star Party is situated on a large flat field with no trees and overlooking the rest of the valley.  I did not know anyone at all so I set up on the eastern side of the field a short drive from the inside gate and away from the thick of the attendees.  I figured as a first timer I wasn't sure of the etiquete so it was better to stay away and not do something I shouldn't do.  Besides, I am a light sleeper so I prefer not to be so close to others not knowing their habits.  

I set up my modest equipment and tent in the heat of the sun and eventually started up a conversation with another guy nearby.  He was attending his first star party as well and had brought his two kids.  He was from the town of Alameda across the Bay from San Francisco and not far from where I lived.  GSSP attracts people from WA, Or, NV but mostly from CA.  My new Star Party friend told me about another Star Party, the CalStar star party in September of that year and decided that if I liked this Star Party thing I would give it a try as well.  After all, CalStar was only a 2.5hr drive from my home.  I don't remember his name because, sadly, after seeing him at CalStar a few months later I never saw him again even though I attended most of the subsequent GSSP and CalStar star parties.  Nonetheless he helped break the ice for me at GSSP and would later come to my rescue at CalStar when I forgot to pack the counterweights for my mount.

I don't remember much else about my very first Star Party, but I must have walked around the field gazing in awe at the many telescopes and large Dobs people had.  That night I aligned my mount and put my telescope to the test on a number of different deep sky objects.  But alas, while the views were much better than from my back yard I was still left staring at these rather faint and fuzzy objects with no color and I was sorely disappointed.  I don't know what I expected but I certainly was hoping for much more discernable shapes and details than I was getting.  Eventually I retired for the night and, like everyone else, packed up my gear the next morning and hit the road for the 6 plus hour drive home. 

Even though I was disappointed in the views as a visual observer I still attended the CalStar Star Party that following September.  This time I stayed for several nights and talked with a few more people than I did at GSSP.  

My first Star Party experience led to many more years of Star Parties at both GSSP and CalStar and even a couple of trips to the NightFall Star Party in Borrego Springs, CA.  The following year, 2009 I brought my 9 year old son with me to GSSP which was the start of many years of his accompanying me to GSSP and CalStar watching him develop into a pretty good astrophotographer.  Our first year together at GSSP we had a severe rain storm the very first night but stayed warm and dry inside our tent.  Fortunately I was smart enough to have brought a portable DVD player and some movies for us to watch until we fell asleep.  The next 3 nights were perfectly clear so we had a great time after all.  My son joined me for many GSSPs and CalStars over the years until summer internships during his junior and senior years in high school prevented him from attending.

GSSP 2008 convinced me that visual astronomy was not going to be my thing and set me on a different course for the next decade. While I was interested in astrophotography a thing called Electronically Assisted Astronomy (EAA) caught my attention right around that time.  After learning more about it I bought my first of many video cameras and learned how to set it up in place of the EP on my telescope and was very happy with the views of deep sky objects I was able to get in just tens of seconds to a few minutes of exposure.  Here were the incredible views of nebulae, galaxies and star clusters with lots of detail and even color.  I was hooked on EAA at this point.  So in 2009 I brought my camera with me and my son to GSSP and, with the much darker skies, was able to see even more than I could in my backyard.  This confirmed my commitment to GSSP and CalSTar for years to come.
In 2010 I moved for the first time to the far end of the field known as the Oort Cloud at GSSP to be far away from the visual observers so as not to interfere with their night vision from the glare of my laptop screen.  I also set up an EZ up with the side covers to further reduce any glare from my laptop.  In subsequent years as more amateur astronomers became to hear about EAA I became the GoTo guy at GSSP if you wanted to see what EAA was all about and get examples of what it could show.  In 2010 or 2011, I can't remember which, I met two of my first true Star Party buddies, Chris and Jon.  Both also had an interest in EAA so we had lots to talk about.  Over the next decade we would always set up next to each other with Jon getting there first as a GSSP volunteer to same spots beside his for Chris and I.  Chris and Jon lived only 30 min from me back in the Bay Area but we never got together outside of GSSP and CalStar.  Nonetheless we became good astronomy friends, sharing insights, sharing each other's backgrounds and just having a good time with each other at these events.  You cannot help but expand your circle of Star Party friends when you attend the same events year after year.  While Jon sadly passed away a few years ago and Chris has missed more Star Parties than he has been able to attend over the last many years, I have gotten to become friends with a number of other people at both Star Parties.  Some I see only from time to time and others, like the contingent from the Santa Cruz Astronomy Club, I see at most of the events.

So my very first Star Party led to me fun sharing adventures with my son as he was growing up which is a bonding that we will share for a lifetime.  It also brought a bunch of Star Party friends who I look forward to seeing at each of these events.  And, it set me on a path to become skilled at EAA, sharing my skills and adventures with other like minded folks.  The last few years I have been working on my astrophotography skills but still have fun with EAA from time to time.  If you have yet to experience your fist Star Party I can highly recommend it.  In addition to the great skies and readily available help you can be assured of making some new friends for life.