The last Starwalk of 2001 was held on Saturday, October 20^th at Copper Breaks State Park. Set up around the scenic overlook was a large variety of observing equipment including 15, 18, and 20 inch Obsession telescopes. It's hard to imagine that more will be added to this contingent next year.

A total of 14 Skyguides, members of the Dallas and Fort Worth clubs, were prepared to provide the viewing through telescopes and large binoculars. Several individuals brought their own telescopes to round out a wonderful viewing session for the 90 people already gathered from Amarillo, Lubbock, Wichita Falls, Dallas and many small communities in between. The ages ranged from pre-school to several over eighty and many were regulars to this monthly event.

Now that it was getting dark, Jeri Turner, wife of Park Superintendent David Turner, was half way through her visual orientation of the night sky, when down the road there appeared another group of people walking towards us carrying flashlights. A group of Boy Scouts and their leaders had arrived. And then there was fifty more people bringing our total attendance to over 140 for the final Starwalk. The largest crowd ever for a Starwalk.

Thank goodness for all the volunteers with this huge crowd. April had an attendance of 90 people and each succeeding month ranged from 50 to 70 attending. This was the biggest.

How was the sky? Well, Mother Nature teased us all night long as thin clouds streamed across the sky from time to time. This still allowed us to share many beautiful lunar, Messier and NGC objects, along with planet views. People didn't realize the wonderful viewing just through binoculars. Of course, our biggest binoculars were Fujinon 25 x 150mm in size!

In spite of the clouds it was a huge success. Every member of the Dallas and Fort Worth club went out of their way to show objects, answer lots of questions and teach how to locate objects in the night sky. We met our match with some of the youngsters and their amazing knowledge of Astronomy. One first grader knew his stuff and challenged us with some very deep questions.

In addition to tremendous personal satisfaction, the Sky Guides were given free Park Admittance, free campsites and a wonderful Mexican meal from Jeri Turner. Rumor has it many volunteers travel to Copper Breaks just for the food and fellowship at the Turners residence!

When the 2002 schedule is announced, there will be changes with the Starwalk location and Sun observing will be added. Your traveling to Copper Breaks and volunteering your time has made this event a huge success. Hopefully by next Spring our remote observing field will be ready for us. On behalf of Copper Breaks State Park, thank you for making our year the best ever. See you next year.

Richard Brown, Astronomy Advisor and Chief Sky Guide. Write me at: rabrow@aol.com