What about personal star parties, does that fit here?

[AEAJR]

I have been doing personal star parties for a few friends. I think I have done 4 in the last 5 months. Usually involves neighborhood kids or 1-4 friends coming to my house to learn about my obsession with the sky.

Lots of fun. One is now using 10X50 binoculars to learn the sky and the other purchased an 8" Dobsonian.

I will probably have another in a week or two. I don't get a lot of serious observing done but we have a lot of fun. :)


If this should be somewhere else, let me know so I can move it.

Do others do this? I presume you do.

[The_bluester]

I don't do anything formal but a friend comes out on the occasional new moon to gather data for his astrophotography exploits. Our usual setup spot is next to my shed which has a network connection to the house so I can stream music there.

Call it a small scale star party. A couple more would be welcome, but only a couple or we would run out of space.

[GG]

Run out of Space? :shrug:

[MortonH]

So you're inviting us all to the next one? :P

[Wavytone]

Ed, sure go for it, but you do realise you're on the other side of the planet ?

Morton I'm not keen on Long Island, even upstate New York... too much light pollution. And the flying time puts a big hole in the weekend...

[madwayne]

Hi Ed

We started a small Facebook group called Southern Highlands Star Gazers, thinking we may get 8 or 10 people. The closed group now has a membership of nearly 80 varying from amateurs with decades of experience through to people who don't own a telescope or binoculars.

We get together normally on the 3rd quarter and new moon weekends but we have also tried a lunar viewing night. The weather has conspired against us so far but we'll get there. Our group has only been running since just before Xmas last year. We have a site that is semi dark with plans in the future to source somewhere darker.

The Southern Highlands is an area around 2 hours drive South of Sydney, enroute to Canberra, and its main towns are Mittagong, Bowral and Moss Vale plus there are also a number of smaller villages like Robertson (where I live) and Berrima.

If you come to Australia feel free to look us up.

Wayne

[The_bluester]

For a given definition of "Space" of course.

[AEAJR]

Absolutely. I live right in the center between NY Kennedy International, NY Laguardia and Long Island McArthur airports. I am sure you can get a flight.

Light pollution is pretty bad so no problem seeing where you are walking. Only problem is I never know more than a day or two ahead as to when I am going to have them as it is weather dependent, naturally. But you would be welcome.


Here is what I do:

I usually put out the XT8i for general use, starting with a 2" 38 mm 70 degree eyepiece. 31.5X and 2.2 degree FOV. I let them wander the sky if I am tied up with someone else.

I set up the ETX 80 in Goto mode and put it on something to track so there is a self service scope ready to go. Normally this scope gets the 8-24 Celestron Zoom. Maybe a 2X barlow too, depending on what I am tracking. Last time I was tracking the moon. 32X to 100X is usually good for the moon.

Next time I am going to teach my friend how to use the GoTo to target the ETX 80 and give him a list of targets that the scope can find for him. He should love that.

Then I have 7X28, 10X50 and 15X70 binoculars out. I find that some people gravitate to the binoculars rather than the telescopes. And I have a $3 pair of plastic child's binoculars I could hand a 4 year old.

I have these as handouts so they have something to take home.
http://whatsouttonight.com/

I really enjoy it and I think they do too because I have more people asking me to let them know the next time I do this.

[Allan_L]

G'Day Ed
and good on ya!
Welcome to IceInSpace :welcome:

I too, love to share the skies and telescope views with unsuspecting newcomers. :)

As far as this being the right place for the post, well. Yes - sorta.

It is really meant to let people know of upcoming observing sessions (formal or informal) and star parties.
So if you encourage your attendees to log on to IceInSpace to check for your next sessions, then by all means.

Thats the principle, anyway, but generally we are always happy to hear about such sidewalk astronomy sessions and the public reaction.

Sounds like you are really enjoying it, and so too your attendees, so keep it up and keep us informed of how it is going.

BTW, I have looked through that Orion XX14i you commented on (in another thread) and it is a truly fantastic piece of equipment with remarkable views of the heavens. However, of note is that the owner has swapped the Orion push-to software for Argo Narvis (also push-to software, but with a better operating system/user interface - IMHO). :thumbsup:

[AEAJR]

Have not seen the Argo Narvis. So far I have found the Intelliscope feature quite good and accurate. However now I know about an alternative if I ever feel the need.

Compared to a similarly configured fully manual Orion XT8i the Intelliscope feature only adds about $120 US to the cost of the scope. But if I feel the need I now know about the Argo Narvis system.