Dumb Star Party Ideas

[ballaratdragons]

Here are some really useful ideas and activities to try at your next Star Party.

:) A Bonfire

:) Unfiltered Sun observing

:) Green and Red Laser pointer Sword-fights

:) EP throwing contest:
Lightweight Class: Series 500's
Heavyweight Class: 2" Naglers

:) OTA Rolling Race

:) 8" Dob Race (who can run the fastest carrying a GS 8" Dob over 50 metres)

:) Tripod leg Javelin throw

:) Primary mirror discus throw

:) Car Donut comp in the centre of the viewing field

:) Water-bomb fights near the Laptop users

These are just a few of the fun activities to liven up your next Star Party. Feel free to add more to the list so we can all enjoy our Get-togethers! :D

[Daring Dave]

Floodlights so you don't trip over in the dark ???

:doh:

[davidpretorius]

ken, now that has made me laugh!! what will snake valley be like???

[ballaratdragons]

All of the above Dave, All the above. Give me more ideas.

I like Daring Daves idea. Flood Lights. Don't want to trip over all those computer cables.

[janoskiss]

Ah Ken! I'm laughing so hard I'm crying!

:rofl: :lol: :rofl: :lol:

Let me try:

25" Obsession catapult contest --- using massive counterweights on the primary end to launch projectiles placed at the focuser end. Possible projectiles: Nagler grenades (of course), small children... We could charge the kiddies, say $2 per ride. :D

[davidpretorius]

not for this thread i know, but i have been having a look at starry night pro and checking out 28th october - 1st november skys and there is going to be a lot happening. mars, saturn, orion, m33. moon non existant

great timing ken, well done!!!

[toetoe]

Plus all the above events :poke: what a weekend we are going to have. :doh:

[ballaratdragons]

All sounds great hey!

Steve, what aged kids are allowed to ride the catapult? LOL! Maybe we could fire them into the lake!!

How about Fireworks.

[toetoe]

Must only be done at nightwe don't want to spoil all the deep sky viewing during the day.. :P

[ballaratdragons]

Ahhhh, good point Peter.

I might be able to hire one of those Hollywood style Search-lights (you know the ones with a Gazillion candle power) so we can point it at the Moon and stuff and light them up so they will be easier to see! :whistle:

And then we can point the Gazillion power Searchlight into an EP and project the light backwards through a scope into space. :P

[toetoe]

Get the one with the Batman signal.

[ballaratdragons]

That's not fair!!! How are we going to enjoy views of the moon if it ain't out that weekend. :D

:) Free mirror cleaning service by the kids with all scouring pads supplied.

[davidpretorius]

this stuff is soooooo much fun to read.

[Starkler]

Or.... the truss dob wheelbarrow race :)

For an added challenge, run a zig zag course through the imagers camp.

http://www.teeterstelescopes.com/images/davids1751_thumb.jpg

[toetoe]

Super glue your best EP in the focuser so you don't miss place it.

[ballaratdragons]

Hahahaha!!! I love it Geoff . . . Blind-folded LOL! towards the lake :rofl:

or even along the pier going out over the lake. :cool: :rofl:

[ballaratdragons]

LOL!!! Super Glue 2 of your favourite EP's to your eyes! Then all you have to do is change eyes and your mag goes up or down. Makes walking around fun too
:lol2:

[toetoe]

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: EP's glued to the eyes OTA on each arm 12" due shield on the head. DANGER DANGER WILL ROBINSON DANGER.

[ballaratdragons]

Peter,

That one made me laugh till my eyes watered! My belly hurts now from laughing. Thank you for that Classic!!!!!

[davidpretorius]

peter that is the winner!!!!

[RapidEye]

Hmmm, some GREAT ideas so far!
A couple more...

Tripod 110m hurdles - at night, in the dark of course. You could leave the bumper lights on for added effect
Martini mixing contest, using starblast OTA's as the jigger
Campfire starting contest using 6" Refractors and 10mm chinese plossles - see who can use the sun to get the bonfire going the fastest
Laser tag using green lasers - pumped up of course. The first one to go blind loses.
Light Bucket Basketball - set up a couple of 18" dobs at either end of the observing field as the bucket.
:help:

[RB]

You guys crack me up.......

Everyone at home is wondering why I have tears running down my eyes.:rofl:

[davidpretorius]

hey rocket,

now you can see how you get to 5 to 10 posts a day!

i have not watched tv in weeks, these guys get on these rolls and the entertainment is worth gold!!!

It is a wonderful mix of aussie dry humour and very deep understandings of astronomy and equipment plus a generous dollup of willingness to help the noobies out!

[rumples riot]

Here mine.

1. Inspecting all OTA's with a torch to make sure they are working, especially important while the owner is checking in his EP. The Torch must be Million candle power.

2. Coke can lobbing competition into Dobs. First to fill a dob gets a free smack in the mouth. Don't laugh to hard I had someone try and use my scope as a bin once.

3. Maybe also a flare competition to see how many flares will totally obliterate the sky.

[janoskiss]

The Dobs are copping a lot of abuse here. :mad2:

How about something for the Goto-ers?
War of the SCTs! Use your GPS Goto SCTs + fork mounts with alt-az motion as remote-controlled robots crawling around the sheep paddock and trying to bash each other senseless. Last surviving corrector plate wins!

[acropolite]

How about a sausage sizzle under a dob secondary using the sun....

[ballaratdragons]

We could have Low-flying Helicopter Joy-flights over the viewing area at night so you can look down and see everyone! (I can see David and Mike and Steve and there's Geoff over there). Don't worry about the dust blowing around, just wipe it off with a tea-towel.

[rumples riot]

Steve H, I don't think having the last surviving corrector would even do it. Last surviving dec motor would do it. The race would be over in 2 minutes. SCT's are good scopes but the motors are crap. It would look like a heap of broken down darlecs and then there would be the smell of burning plastic. LOL cool.

[janoskiss]

Damn. There goes my idea... How about corrector plate birdbaths? Point at zenith, add water & a half handful of birdseed on the back of the secondary.

[ving]

umm... how did i miss this thread!!! :lol:

in all seriousness tho, you could have a red-light disco :P

[ballaratdragons]

We could test the new motorised focuser.

It is a portable trolley-mounted Holden 308 V8 with a belt drive running to the focuser knob.

Best part is it fits all focusers!! Just wrap the belt around the focuser knob and fire her up . . . Varrrooooommmmmm!!!!!!!! FULL FOCUS!

[ballaratdragons]

Dob mount rides for the kiddies.

Just take the OTA off, sit the kids in the rocker box and spin :P

Wheeeeeee :D

[Little Dragon]

Put gun powder in the telescope tube then drop in a bowling ball, aim it and light it. Now it's a cannon.:rofl:

[[1ponders]]

You could take the corrector plate off the SCTs place them at one end of the viewing field, take the spiders out of the newts and place them at the other end of the field. Hook a heap of vacuum cleaners set on blow up to the visual back of the SCTs and to the bottom ends of the newts, you'd have to drill a big enough hole in your newt mirror for this game, and turn them all into Nerf ball cannons and have a game of real life star wars, rebel vs the empire. Like BDs old avatar

[ving]

hiya arry!
kicked dad off hey? ;)

[[1ponders]]

great minds think alike hey 'arry :thumbsup:

[[1ponders]]

Or you could use water balloons instead fo nerf balls. You might need to use big compressors instead of vacuum cleaners to generate enough air pressure though.

[slice of heaven]

:lol: :rofl:
You guys need some clear skies

[[1ponders]]

How about taking 'arry's idea a bit further and put the gunpowder in the dobs, turn them upside down and see how high your rocket will go :lol:

[Daring Dave]

Ummm Free Alcohol..

After a few hours nobody would know what was what ..

'It's a star...No it's a planet.'

It's a star....Mate you will see stars in a minute !'



:zzz2:

[davidpretorius]

do you think when the iceman comes home from sorting out Hutchinson customer service complaints, jumps onto the forum, looks at this thread and then thinks "what have they done now???"

as most of are parents, it is like coming home and your child has decided to flush everything down the toilet. Do you laugh or cry.

I suppose there are other forums where you can get a similiar spread of expertise, but whilst these type of threads are done to accompany the serious ones, i could not even think of going over to another forum!!!

Great one Ken!

No doubt, we will all be a little shy at snake valley to start with, but ( i do not think ken drinks ) after a few drinks, i got the feeling, it will be a really fun time!

[Daring Dave]

May have to change my current ring tone for the event..

Currently ACDC 'Whole Lotta Rosie'..

[janoskiss]

I find that after I've had a few, seeing and transparency always decrease dramatically! Alcohol and astronomy don't get along too well... :P I'm not really trying to be funny here either; speaking from experience.

[toetoe]

I don't think there will be to many shy people as there personalities are here in this thread :poke: i don't need any drinks to be a bit wacky, i'm like this at most times :P i think i'm going to turn up in my "WARNING WARNING WILL ROBINSON DANGER DANGER" outfit :rofl: :D :thumbsup:

[TidaLpHasE]

How about a game of tug of war with all the power cords and usb leads:D

or paint your eyepiece with black ink and offer a look to everyone on the night:whistle:

[davidpretorius]

everything in moderation!! alcohol included!

Peter, if you do turn up in that, forget grog stuffing up your viewing, tears and your gut muscles aching from laughter will stuff up any well focussed scope!!!!

Hey, even if it is raining, and all of the super planning ken (& mike) have done ie saturn taking time out of her busy schedule to be the stripper on the night, is wasted, these extra scheduled activities will keep up the laugther and silly giggling will keep us entertained

[ballaratdragons]

David,

Also, thank John (xstream) as he is the co-organiser of the Star Camp I couldn't do all this on my own!

If it is raining we can go into the big Dining Room or the Meeting Room and have Telescope Stripping and reassembling races.

Or we could leave our scopes out in the rain pointing at Zenith! That'll wash the mirror clean!! :doh:

[davidpretorius]

sorry john, great guys doing great work! really appreciate it!

[ballaratdragons]

I haven't spoken to John my co-organiser yet about this but I'm sure he will agree . . .

I will be offering a FREE mirror ID engraving service. Security marking! I can engrave your name or Code number or whatever you like right onto the mirror surface.

No-one will steal your scope if they look down the OTA and see the mirror is security marked with big numbers. :thumbsup:

I could even do a bit of engraved decoration around the Centre Spot for a fee :D

[Astroman]

How about ride the GOTO SCT contest, we all jump onto a SCT and whizz around till we fall off (might work better with the SCT filled with Alcohol) The last one still on his/her SCT is the winner.

[ballaratdragons]

Great idea Andrew!!! and if they still don't fall of at the end, we'll stick their hand controller in a bucket of water and watch the SCT really go Berserk :rofl:

[RapidEye]

Well, not all aussie! :P And not all deep :ashamed:

Dunno why I didn't think of this one before:
Sword fighting with 90mm F/15 apos!
We could even recreate the final battle in LOTR:ROTK using 125mm Maks as troll clubs.
Are there any big ugly Kiwis here that could play a troll (cough, Rob, cough).:D

[ballaratdragons]

Hey,Hey, Hey, when the sword fight is over and the f/15's aren't wrecked we could balance them on our nose whilst juggling Series 500 EP's.

[Starkler]

Im seeing a lot of dob destroying ideas from the sct crowd . Do i detect some dob envy? :lol:

[Starkler]

All you need is an sct, and a fistfull of magnesium ribbon stuffed into the visual back, light her up and hey presto ! :D

[RB]

You guys are unreal, I love this forum.
Ever since I joined I havn't done any work :doh:
And I've been laughing along with this thread all day.

[RB]

When all the serious clowning around is over, we can give each kid a sparkler to run around with...(see attachment) :rofl:

[cahullian]

As kids we used to get in large tyres and go for a roll down hills, at the camp we could put the kids(3 or 4 at a time) in Ken's OTA and see how they go.

[cahullian]

or a game of squash with the sct's I'll drive the steamroller :P :whistle:

[RapidEye]

Thats why I tossed in LOTR reinactment with Apo sword and Mak clubs - need to spread the love :love:

What about 10mm plossl badminton? Finally a use for those cruddy short FL plossls that all the manufacturers toss in with a new scope!

[Nortilus]

Firework would be great, maybe a flash bang grenade thrown into the sky...

[ving]

who are you trying to kid? he does most of his spammi... posting from work! :P

[ballaratdragons]

How about a rowing race on the lake using SCT's as the canoes and the hand controllers as paddles!

They do float don't they? And their mounts as anchors!!

I'll give my boys some spray cans to walk around the camp to spray paint a new clolour on your OTA's. You know, brighten them up a bit!

Another great idea is a portable welder. We can weld tripod legs in the open position so they won't move around or close up while your taking those critical Astrophotos. Can't beat a very rigid mount! :D