I would like to share some of the comments recieved by attendees at this year's 17th Mason Dixon Star Party........www.masondixonstarparty.org

#1

I just want to thank the organizers of the MDSP. It was definitely a
great star party - one that will stay with me as good feeling for a
long time. That was a fine facility with all flat camping and
observing sites and of course the weather was about as good as it can
get for this time of year. The Saturday picnic was a great idea -
definitely a lot of fun. I had a wonderful time an am looking forward
to next year....I wouldn't be surprised if the attendance at least
doubles next year. The 2007 MDSP was great and I am really looking
forward to 2008.

TE

#2

Okay, so I heard the forecast, and decided after Thursday's observing
to
come back to Baltimore on Friday morning but to leave my tent set up
for
Saturday, despite the cloudy forecast. I went back to the MDSP on
Saturday just after noon and went straight to the picnic (12:00 -
4:30).
I ate my lunch, painted a watercolor of a tractor (cursed it's
hideous
nature until it was finished, at which point I decided it wasn't
quite
so bad after all), then schmoozed until the raffle at 5:00. HAL won
only
fanny packs which were given as consolation prizes.

Anyway, on to the observing: Saturday night was one of the best
evenings
of observing I've ever experienced. Wow! When the clouds cleared out
at,
I'm guessing here, about 11:00, the skies were just glorious! I saw
parts of the Veil Nebula I've never seen before. It just glowed. The
North American and Pelican Nebulae were not quite as bright, but were
clearly visible. The trail of Messier objects from the Lagoon to the
Eagle Nebula was a glittering fairyland of stars, nebulae, and
clusters.
M31, M32, and M110 were all in the same eyepiece. I took a break to
share a package of Oreos with those observing down the line,
spreading
yummy cookie joy wherever I went. To end the night, I helped someone
locate M70 with a trick I'd learned years ago in Sky&Telescope
Magazine.
He could star-hop to M69 all right, so I told him to do so. When he
had
it centered in the eyepiece, I told him to walk away from the
telescope
and come back in ten minutes. Skeptically, he did so. After ten
minutes
I had him sit at the eyepiece and watch for M70 to start drifting in.
(It actually takes about 11 minutes, but I wanted him to start
getting a
little uneasy before it showed up. Sure enough, he called out, "I see
it! There it is!" I confirmed it for him and gave proper credit to
S&T.
At about 3:00, the high haze returned and I went blissfully to sleep.

Of course at 7:30 a biplane buzzed the landing strip about 30 feet
from
our tents and about 5 feet off the ground. Buzzard! Anyway, I'm sure
glad I didn't give in to the forecast. an all-around delightful
evening.

Teresa

#3

I confirm Teresa's sky clarity it was great, and yes i did partake of
the oreos she offered,?and about the tracktor painting I watched HER
PAINTING @ a couple different times and She painted for a couple
hours,and and that painting was just fine ...I met Dwayne and Eddie
for the first time,great guys I enjoyed my chat with them, and the
time with 2 of my son's and thier 2 sons, and i'am hoping to be at
the star-b-que and Hal's star party on the 21st???????? ?????????
? bill mc d sr.

#4

Hey Todd (and all),

Sorry you missed Saturday night. The seeing started out very
steady. Things got a little mirky for about an hour and then
cleared out beautifully about 10. The weather was much warmer (I
did not even need a sweatshirt until about 1am).

Some info on the 24 inch scope. Many members from HAL and WASI have
looked through this scope as it is Matt Orsie's. Matt got a new
truck and the old scope is tough to get in and out. Since he is
still working with Webster on the design of his new scope he is not
sure if the optics will be included. He actually took the sign down
on Saturday because the specifics might change. Matt is going to
send me an e-mail later this week with the details and I will post
when he does.

For those that missed the party, it was a great time. We got four
decent nights (especially for July in PA). Saturday night was the
best of the four but everyone was pretty tired by the time we got
there. HAL had the largest group at the party (probably more than
even the YCAS). The speakers were good, there were a few vendors
and a small swap meet. The picnic was a nice touch.

Clear Skies,
Dave G

 #5

Being fairly new to astronomy and being my first star party outside
of HAL all I can say is WOW!!!! . My list of objects I saw for the
first time is too long to mention. The weather was nice for July and
viewing conditions were excellent for 2 1/2 nights. I had a great
time and looking forward to the next one, even though it may take me
a week to catch up on my sleeping.

#6

Ok Ok,gotta put my two cents worth in.  Everyone that i saw had a
wonderful time,especially meeting Bill McD Sr one of HALs
founding members.  Bill it was nice getting to meet you and your sons
and grandsons.  I think that there were about 8 HAL members in
attendance and the weather for JULY wasn't bad,although at night it
did get kinda cool.  We were able to start observing Thursday evening
as soon as it got dark,although they have sky glow also (toward
Harrisburg). On Friday evening we had to wait till midnight for the
sky to clear and by 3am it was great,except by then I was running on
about 3-4 hours sleep since arriving thursday afternoon.  When i fired
up my 200LX it was like an alarm clock people knew what was going on
an started coming out of tents to observe.  Saturday evening cleared
and we able to get in more viewing.  After going to both AHSP,CSSP and
now MDSP,the sites are listed in the best viewing order.  I think that
the only days this month comfortable enough for camping just happened
(we really lucked out this past weekend).  Looking at the milky way,we
could see where it was, but i gotta tell you it was nothing compared
to AHSP last year.  A lot of factors are involved in that-
moisture,clouds, light polution,and altitude.  I really hope those
going to AHSP next month have great viewing weather.  It was a wonderful
event and the round trip to MDSP and back home was about 150 miles
total,not bad.  So on to the next event this weekend and hope to see
everyone at the Starbeque.
CS Eddie

#7

First, I want to thank the folks of the Your County Astronomical
Society for another great Mason-Dixon. It's a tough job for small
clubs to host events in Pennsylvania these days. With the black skies
of Cherry Springs State Park and Spruce Knob within an easy day's
drive, what's a small club to offer stargazers in Southeastern, PA,
with its dense population and associated artificial lighting?

First, the site is not bad. I can see M-13 and Milky Way with no
problem. Yes, there are light domes and the limiting magnitude on a
transparent night is about 6.0, but that's a far cry better than the
urban and suburban skies most people have to deal with in this region.
The site is scenic rolling farmland mixed in with woodlots. It does
indeed offer an escape from the rat race, a nice outdoor experience,
but with enough amenities to satisfy non-stargazer family members.
The site is not so remote as to place one completely in the
wilderness. I noted that this event is far more family oriented than
the more "hard core" dark sky events in remote settings. I saw many
more non-astro spouses and small children at this event than at most.

The location aside, the event was very well organized, with a
fantastic picnic dinner included in the price of admission, offering
enough food to satisfy anyone. The quality of the food was excellent,
and we got to enjoy it under the shaded patio of the Shreveport
Airport / Footlight Ranch. Some attendees enjoyed the swimming pool,
a blessing in hot July weather.

In summary, this is a family friendly event run by friendly people.
If you have a spouse or child that is hesitant about camping, this
would be an easy introduction for them. If tent camping is out, there
is a bunk house that can be rented. Showers are available to all
attendees.

I'm a hard core deep sky observer, and I won't be giving up Cherry
Springs any time soon. Still, I'd be hard pressed to give up my
annual pilgrimage to Mason-Dixon, a very relaxing enjoyable event.

Best,
Oil City, PA

#8

A friend and I day-tripped it to the MDSP yesterday, and we were sad
when we had to leave and head home (too early!) last night. The
facilities were great, and so were the attendees. We agreed that this
was one of the nicest star parties we have been to in a looooong time.

Most of you are still there, packing and cleaning up as I write this,
and I say safe trip home, folks, and we'll see you next year!

-JR

#9 

todd.v@...> wrote:

Given the dismal weather report for Wednesday, I showed up and set up
my tent and scope Thursday, stayed two nights, and had my fill of
camping for now and returned home Saturday (today).

I didn't actually count, but there were at least 50-75 trailers/tents
set up on each side of the taxiway, some with one or two people, some
with an entire family. Across from me was a 24-inch "short tube"
reflector (f/4.5) and a ladder to access the eyepiece about 8 feet or
so off the ground. He was selling it for $6,000.00, quite a bargain.
Now if I lived in the country where I could fully use such a device at
home, I might have bought it.

Thursday night, I observed from dark till about 1am before getting
tired and hitting the canvas. Even though it's July, by about 4am I
was shivering! So, I went to my truck and ran the heater, snoozing
till the sun came out and began warming the tent, where I finished my
sleeping.

Friday night started out fully cloudy. I took a snooze and looked out
one of the tent's apertures at midnight and saw that the stars finally
were out. So, I got out and observed till about 4am this time, before
again getting the chills and heading to the heated truck for warmth.

I was observing with my Celestron C6-R, a 6-inch achromatic f/8
refractor on a CG-5 (goto) mount. (Having spent a year starhopping, I
decided to relax and let the goto do it-and it made for a good
tracking motor as well). Mostly I observed with a Meade QX 68-degree
AFOV 36mm eyepiece, giving me 33.3x magnification and a 2.6 degree
field of view (enough for all of the Pleiades and the whole coathanger
asterism, just barely). When that didn't suffice, I used a Zuhmell
15mm 50-degree AFOV eyepiece that came with an eyepiece kit-this was
only helpful on the Ring Nebula, Wild Duck Cluster, and Jupiter.

I used a PowerTank 17, which held out both nights without needing a
recharge, as well as providing power for my portable DVD player
(portable-I was roughing it) in the daytime. Too bad my camera
batteries didn't last so long-I used 1 1/2 batteries a night ( I had
two, and recharged one in a (1/4 mile away) bathroom outlet Friday
afternoon). My camera is a Cannon Digital Rebel XTi, and for
astrophotography, this time I used a 100mm-300mm zoom lens at F/5.6.

I also used 20×80 Zuhmell binoculars, 3.6 degree field of view. Of
course, I also did some naked eye observing.

At first, on Thursday, I was disappointed because, while I could see
the washed-out Milky Way, I could see no structure. However, after
midnight, that changed-the Milky Way was higher in the sky (Cygnus
close to zenith) and there were fewer lights from cars and houses in
the surrounding area.

Friday, from midnight to 4am, the Milky Way was pretty nice-not like
the photos from the Arizona desert, but still good. The Great Rift was
obvious through Cygnus and Aquilla, as was the Great Cygnus Star Cloud
and the Sagittarius Star Cloud.

It wasn't till about 3am or so that Andromeda Galaxy rose high enough
to be spotted with the naked eye; same with the Double Cluster. I'm
pretty sure I saw M13 when I looked hard at the keystone of Hercules.
At the end of the night, Pleiades, normally a winter cluster, was just
rising-still in the horizon skyglow and impending sunrise, but still
nice in the scope. Also, as Perseus rose, the Alpha Persei association
became a brilliant piece broken off the Milky Way.

All 7 stars were visible in the little dipper, but four of them were
faint.

Herman's Cross was a naked eye asterism.

Among the objects viewed:

M13, the old standard Hercules Globular Cluster.

M31, the Andromeda Galaxy-quality varied, depending on whether it was
low or not, or whether dew was collecting (an off-and-on problem
Friday night). With the 36mm lens, at its best, I clearly saw M32 and
M110 in the same field of view. This may be the first time I've seen
M110; it's a tough one from my more usual observation locations.

M4, a globular cluster in Scorpius, was easy to see (it is almost not
there in suburbia). M5, another globular in Ophiuchus, was brilliant.

M51, the whirlpool galaxy, wasn't too spectacular-too low on the
horizon. Still, I saw the satellite galaxy and part of a spiral wisp.

I saw one that the Goto hand controller called the "Pinwheel Galaxy"-I
forget which one that is; it was a faint fuzzy ellipse, no detectable
spiral arms.

The double cluster was brilliant in the 36mm lens-I counted 80 stars
in the two clusters, not counting lots of outliers in the field of
view. Among the individually- resolved stars I saw apparent nebulosity
(no doubt an optical illusion).

The Wild Duck cluster really looked like a flying duck. Before, I
thought it was called such because I could barely make out a "V"
shape, like birds flying in formation.

I spent some time with binoculars just scanning the Milky Way (kind of
a "spacewalk" experience) lying on the ground, as Cygnus was near the
Zenith.

Very close to the Zenith was this interesting (no doubt chance
occurrence) asterism-a string of stars about two degrees long
(reminiscent of Kimble's Cascade). It is a slightly-wandering line of
13 bright (in binoculars) stars (15 really, since two were doubles
just split by binoculars). It was just northwest of Chi Cygni. In
fact, look at the cross. With the naked eye in the Mason Dixon Star
Party skies, picture the cross as upright, Deneb at the top. The next
star down is Sadr, the crosspiece star. The next (faint) star down is
not Chi Cygni, I forget what it is, but the variable star Chi Cygni
(or is it Xi Cygni? the one that brightened to 3rd magnitude last
year, normally 6 or 7) is right next to it, so close enough. In these
dark skies, I could see three stars to the left (same orientation) of
this forming an obtuse triangle. To the right of it, this time in
binoculars, is the cascade.

Sadr, in fact, looks great in binoculars, being surrounded by many
stars, Milky Way marbling, and the open cluster M29, all in the same
field of view.

I also saw the Ring Nebula (M57), a definite white ring in the scope.

The Dumbbell Nebula (M27) was brilliant. It looked like two star-like
bright points, each surrounded by a disk of nebulosity (like globular
clusters), and the whole boxed in with a rectangle of fainter
nebulosity, all a bluish-green color.

M8 (The Lagoon Nebula) was a cluster next to a nebula. M24 was an
awful lot of stars. M39 in Cygnus was a fairly loose open cluster, all
its stars being individually- resolved bright points.

A failure was the Helix Nebula-I could not see it at all. It may have
been too low in the sky.

For planets, I observed Jupiter multiple times, and Mars briefly. Mars
was just an orange disk with a dark blemish in the center, but with no
other structure evident. Jupiter showed the four Galilean moons and
one prominent brownish band, a less-prominent white band (brighter
than the surrounding yellow surface), and two faint yellowish bands
(darker than the surrounding surface). The innermost moon was very
close when I looked, I estimate 1/8 a Jupiter-disk- diameter from
Jupiter.

It was a good two nights, but I was ready to go home after the cold
lumpy ground and all.