Tomorrow morning, I’ll leave for the annual Astronomical League convention dubbed ALCON. It’s a real joy to travel to these meetings and meet so many amateur astronomers who are doing observing, imaging, and spreading the joy of astronomy as a hobby. This year, ALCON is being held at Bryce Canyon National Park in southern Utah, so I’ll fly to Las Vegas and drive from there, arriving Thursday evening. Over the next few days, I’ll be reporting from this important meeting and the attendant observing sessions under extremely dark skies.
Photo credit: Lowell Lyon, Salt Lake Astronomical Society
The meeting takes place today through Saturday night, July 2, and features talks by a large number of astronomers and enthusiasts, including the world’s leading comet discoverer, Carolyn Shoemaker. I will be delighted to be speaking about how to sketch deep-sky objects, and other speakers will include Steve Edberg, Arne Henden, Vern Rabin, Mike Murray, Robert Arn, and one of the icons of amateur telescope making, John Dobson.
The skies at Bryce Canyon are phenomenally dark, and I’ll bring you some reports about the observing that no doubt will go late into the night. Tomorrow will be a travel day; look for my first report on Friday.
To check out the ALCON website, see
http://alcon.astroleague.org/.