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I arrived at the state park Friday afternoon. BW and Patricia Haley had already set-up BW's equipment for his flat presentation. They had left a sign on a paper plate that stated "Meet us at Area 51" - The ranger had given them RV site #51! Harry Bearman and Paul Derrick soon arrived and we all met at BW's trailer. Note! we didn't see any aliens or flying saucers! BW and Patricia treated all of us to a magnificent Steak dinner! The sky was a little hazy early evening. However, it cleared later that night. Saturday's "Summer Star Party" went very well! Patricia greeted guest and had them sign-in. She had 99 sign-in's! They were treated to videos, "EINSTEIN'S RELATIVITY", courtesy of The Teaching Company and "Runaway Universe", courtesy of WGBH. We also had a number of ATM activities. I showed guests how to grind a telescope mirror with ceramic tile. Mike Robinson poured a pitch lap and Mike Green demonstrated grinding with a glass tool. BW gave a presentation on testing flats. He set up a sodium light and a black light with a green filter. He then placed a binocular prism and a flat, on top of a 1/20 wave master flat. This produced fringes that revealed the surface quality of each test piece.
The CTAS provided us with a excellent Star B-Q! There is one thing I have learned over the last few weeks, Texas Astronomers really know their Bar B-Q! FWAS President Harry Bearman and star party volunteer Jessica Lovejoy passed out door prizes. Our grand prize was a home brew 6" dob that BW and myself finished assembling at the event. Ivickza Sanchez was the grand prize winner! We also had a good number of ATM,s. Harry Bearman and John Dowell were this year's Judges. Sandra Milfeld won the ATM "Grand Honors Award". Paul Derrick gave a presentation that covered a variety of cosmic wonders. His presentation was absolutely stellar! Ed Flaspoehler gave a presentation on how and where to find some of summer's most spectacular objects. He also informed guest about how they could earn observing awards by joining any astronomy club that is a member of the Astronomical League. Skies were overcast Saturday. However, they began to clear after the indoor program. At 11:00 PM we used the parks 16" f6 scope with a 12mm Nagler to view M13. It was described by a guest as fireworks! We used the park's 16" f6 scope with a 12mm Nagler and a OIII Filter to view M17. A guest said it looked as good as his CCD image!
Skies were clear and stable when I turned in at 2:30 AM.
Clear Skies! Thomas
Thomas Williamson
http://whitney-astro.com/
distglow@hotmail.com
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