Time Lapse Star Party

This is a video I found with some nice time lapse photography in Italy. Enjoy!



ps. It looks like someone on the right side kept using a white light during the star party!

Astronomy in the Park

Feb 24, 2010:
Area park- This event was really a spur of the moment event. The sky was looking nice after a day of snow here in Texas. I text-ed Rick early in the morning to see if he wanted to head out to our dark sky site but with moon phase and the fact that I was working later than normal we decided to try observing from a park we scouted out a few weeks ago. I decided to sent out an invite to astronomers I knew that lived near the park. Before I knew it we had a small group!

It was fun!

Getting Started in Astronomical Outreach

Some encouragement of you to go out to and teach someone with that new telescope you got for Christmas. If you are interesting in volunteering contact your local astronomical group to see what events are coming up.

Roof Top Astronomy Video

Rick posted this video to YouTube.

Texas Hash

Latest Report from Eldorado Star Party 2009
So far there have been two great nights. Last night's viewing ended around midnight because of dew :(. Rick and I worked on the ESP observing list (a.k.a. Texas Hash) and snagged 16 out of the 26 items on the list. Some of the favorites of last night were the Blinking Nebula, Saturn Nebula, and some 10-11th magnitude edge on Galaxies. It wasn't easy but not that hard either. ESP allows Go-To and Setting Circles but Rick and I don't any of that on our dob so we do good old fashion star hopping ;)

Eldorado Star Party- Here I come

Today after work I'm heading to the Eldorado Star Party near Eldorado, Texas which is south of my hometown. I'll be there until Sunday morning. I'm hoping that the sky is nice. While I'm there I might drive up to Ft. McKavett to meet with some old astronomy friends doing a star party at the historical site there.

Here is a video I found from the 2008 ESP:

Garner State Park Report

My wife and I left Helotes at 2:30pm following Rick and his wife through Bandera, Tarply, Utpoia then Lakey. We went straight to the restaurant. When driving to the restaurant we noticed high siris clouds... not a welcome sign.

Tina, Diane, Rick and I were the first to arrive at the restaurant so we waited and soon the rest of the group came from their camp at GSP. We enjoyed some good food and then went to the park. Rick and I set up our 16" Meade Lightbridges up while a few others started to set up... still others waited until later to get their telescopes out. The clouds kept coming and Don was keeping tabs on the weather using is laptop and the park's wifi connection. He noted rain that was heading toward us but predicted it would break up before it got to us. Later another group of SAAA members came in from San Antonio.

We all nervously watched the sky as the sun plunged below the western hills. To the east we could see some lightning off in the distance. But overhead is was clearing. I helped Danielle collimate her 12" Porta-ball.

Don started the program after sunset with a sizable group of park goers. The sky continued to improve. When the first group hit the telescope field we had some fairly good views despite some clouds. As the night went on it cleared up more. We saw many meteors last night. One was extremely impressive starting in the Northeast crossing the sky all the way to the Southwest, it was about magnitude -1.5 with a nice greenish train (smoke trail). After that great meteor both Keith and Don yelled "that free folks" to the crowd.


I showed and observed many objects with my 16" telescope: M51 "Whirlpool Galaxy", M31 "Andromeda Galaxy", M6 "Butterfly Cluser", M8 "Lagoon Nebula", M70, Jupiter, M57 "Ring Nebula" and some other objects. About 11:20 PM the last of the public left. (Earlier one of the visitors lost their keys and searched for a while and eventually found them, we allowed them to use the dreaded white light to search.)

Also, by this time a few SAAA members left and headed back to San Antonio.

Rick began working on his Astronomy League stuff. Soon I joined him as he hunted down Hershel Objects. We were have a great time star hopping to 11th Magnitude faint and fuzzies... then...


Around midnight we heard a horrific sound. On the hill up above the observing site (HWY83 at the Old GSP entrance) we heard a loud crashing sound then screeching tires and eventually we could see and hear the vehicle rolling... we watched the headlights as they signed erratically and we hear thud after thud until eventually it stopped It must have flipped about 5 times. We knew it was a major accident. We called 9-1-1 and reported it. We watched not knowing if we should go or what the dispatchers told us to just stay in the park since we reported other cars stopping. About 20 minutes later EMS arrived. Thought the whole thing we could hear yelling but couldn't quite make out the what was being said. We were worried it was an SAAA member from the group that left earlier, but the car was northbound so we felt that was unlikely.

We sat watched through binoculars about an hour later we saw the tow truck with what looked like a sports car on it (we later found out is was a full size dodge truck just so smashed it looked like a small sports car)

In the morning we drove out their to see what happened. We say the vehicle hit the guard rail at high speed (no skid marks before the impact on rail). It took out about 8 poles and the car went sideways across the highway and hit the hill wall and we could see things thrown about from the care for about the length of a football field. Sadly we know of at least one fatality a white dog that was laying on the road must have been ejected from the vehicle during the ordeal. Chuck noted seeing a front bumper off a dodge truck at the initial impact of the rail. We were shocked to see kids toys all over the highway.

We hope and pray that the dog was the only fatality.

The wreck really put a damper on the GSP event, but prior to that we had a blast with good viewing.

ALSO: On a dark sky front good news! Don baker expressed concern earlier this week about the light over the old gate and they changed out the entire fixture to a full cut off IDA approved fixture. It really made a difference.

- Matthew

Star Party Movie

Info from YouTube: "'Star Party' is an hour-long documentary about amateur astronomers that aired on Colorado Public Television in 2004. VHS copies are available for FREE, providing you cover shipping & handling. Drop us a line; we'd love to spread the word."

Encounter with Cactus and Meteors. (weekend Star Party)

Saturday afternoon I loaded up my Jeep with my favorite folding chair, my homemade 4" Dobsonian and other gear. After double checking my packing list I headed to Rudy's BBQ on I-10 in Leon Springs. Rudy's is a great BBQ place, but they advertise as the "Worst BBQ in Texas." I guess this little ad campaign works because every time I've been there it was busy and to day was no exception. This was the meet-up place for the members of the San Antonio Astronomical Association who were planning on driving out to the Cat's Meow Bed & Breakfast, our dark-sky site to do some maintenance on the observing field and get in a little viewing.

I got there and enjoyed a plate of BBQ with a few of the members. Once we finished dinner we each got in our vehicle and caravaned out to our dark sky site near Fredricksburg, Texas. A few of people where already there. I parked grabbed my shovel, bucket and started searching for those needle covered things we call cactus. I filled my bucket a few times and soon the sun was starting it's plunge below the trees in the western horizon. I went to my jeep and began setting up for the evenings activities. My scope of choice was Snoopy the "Helotescope" (my home built 4" telescope). Then I set my chair in the circle of dicussion that was going on behind one of the member's telescope trailer (which houses a 30" Obsession Telescope).

During the that majestic hour after sunset when the stars slowly come out to play, a group of us shot the breeze for a while talking about various other topics while watching stars appear in clear sky that was overhead. Then when it was nice and dark we parted our ways and headed to our telescopes. I we set up behind my Jeep in the pasture we called the "Telescope Field." To the North of my telescope was another dobnosian whose user had a plan to observe a few Messier objects. To the south was our club's newsletter editor who was waiting for Jupiter to rise so he could photograph it with his Jupiter with a webcam.

We enjoyed about an hour of a moonless night and I looked at the Whirlpool Galaxy (m51)and the Ring Nebula (m57). Then clouds started coming in from the east. Before they settled in I used my telescope to observe M80 in the same fashion as Hershel by letting the image drift across the eyepeice. I did this repeatably to train my eye to notice details in smaller star clusters such as M80. I must have viewed M80 for about 30 minutes.

Then he clouds dominated for a while. While they moved through the astronomers on the telescope field socialized. We could see the moon rising behind the clouds.

About an hour later it was clear again. But now the moon was lighting up the night sky. I took in some views of Jupiter and the moon. This have me a chance to try out my Meade Planetary filter set that I had for a while but never really used. I could see two shadows of the Satellites of Jupiter on the planet. Being a 4" I could resolve the planet as good as some others that night so I headed over to Mr. Kelly's Schmidt-Cassegrain where we observed Jupiter and tired filters on Jupiter. We found the green filter really enhanced the banding and the shadows.

Around midnight I put my scope back in my Jeep and walked over to the circle of chairs and settled in for the Meteor shower. This night wasn't the peak but it was really enjoyable. There is something to be said for just sitting there watching the sky for hours on end. Bryan the obsession owner had Music playing and it was relaxing. I worked on my Astronomical League Meteor Observing list while we sat there, talked and joked around. Sometimes we'd hear snoring as someone drifted into a nap... but I remained awake and logged four hours toward the six required for the Leagues award pin. I logged 30 meteors that night most near Cassiopeia. The brightest I estimated at magnitude -4 at 3:50 AM (CST).

While sitting there star gazing Bryan our club's chairman got his green laser pointer and taught us about visual magnitudes using Lyra. He taught us about variable stars (ones whose magnitude-brightness changes) and about the Chicago Conference he attended about Citizen Science with Epsilon Aurigae.

About 4:30am we caravanned back to San Antonio. I got home about 5:30 am ate dinner and went to bed.

China Grove Star Party

Lomo LX90, originally uploaded by MPR Photography (Matthew2000tx).

Friday I headed out to the east side of San Antonio with my 10" Dobsonian in tow. As I was packing the car at my house near Helotes, TX drizzle was making it way down from the clouds and I could hear thunder off in the distance. Knowing Texas weather a summer time thunderstorm in the afternoon doesn't mean that the sky will not clear later in the evening.

Around 5:30pm I left my house and set my GPS to find a BBQ place called the Smoke House on Highway 87. As I drove across town I ran into intermittent heavy rain. My GPS receives traffic information and it told me to expect a total of 15 minutes added on the to trip due to traffic.

At 6:20 the rain had stopped and I arrived at the Smoke House and other astronomers from the San Antonio Astronomical Association were already in line ready to order. We enjoyed some BBQ as we talking about stuff. Then we caravan-ed out to St. Jerome's Church in China Grove.

Once at the church we got out some lawn chairs and sat and talked and joked around until the Boy Scouts came. The clouds started to part some and we could see a big patch of sky off to the east. After a while we set up our telescopes hopping for the best. Keith L. had to leave with the LX90 because his wife called and had a medical emergency. We helped him pack and sent him on his way. Later as night fell the clouds started to close in on us and we joked Keith left early because he got a new weather report and it called for rain. Debbie B. was able to show a few kids Sirius. But soon we packed up as it was starting to lighting.

Types of Astronomers

Lately I've been reflecting on myself the astronomer. As a dual career as photographer/educator I feel securely confident in my abilities and understanding of the subject matter. Astronomy...well at times I feel that I'm lacking.

Recently at a few star parties I've attended I did some basic observations of fellow astronomers. I was trying to see where I fit in. To me there seem to some various types of astronomers:

Type 1- Daddy/Mommy Astronomer
These are the moms and dads who are at star parties for their kids. They might have limited knowledge of astronomy but they are there to foster their kids learning.

Type 2 - Hungry Astronomer
This is the type of person that has had a taste of astronomy and recently decided to come back for additional helpings. This person may or may not have a telescope/binoculars (if they have one it is usually a department store off the shelf model that leaves much to be desired). Generally this type of astronomer comes to star parties to learn more and get advice as they start out in the hobby. This might the most common type, however, sadly, many of these fail to stick with astronomy.

Type 3 - Angler Astronomer
This is the type of astronomer that has some decent equipment they are still starting out in the hobby. The are standing in the water but they don't have the knowledge or equipment to go deep sea fishing yet, but that is the where they are headed.

Type 4 - Inspector Gadget Astronomer
This is the type of person, usually out with a GO-TO, fancy telescope, DSLR, etc... With them it is all about the dazzle of the equipment. They like buttons, little LED lights, things that use batteries. They probably have a smart phone with a data plan and are surfing the net as much as they are stargazing.

Type 5 - Serious Astronomer
This is the person who is "into" astronomy they are rather knowledgeable and have nice appropriate equipment for the type of observing they do: star-hopping, astrophotography, planetary, deep-sky. These people are generally resourceful with the equipment they use.

Type 6- Too Smart for their own good.
This is the most knowledgable person. They know the ins and outs of the universe and astronomy. These people are often so knowledgeable that they often talk over peoples heads and make references to movies and television shows that cause you to move you fingers in awkward positions.


I'm sure there are more types of people out at star parties but thought I'd mention these as sometimes when I'm out with my telescope I feel like I move between being one type of astronomer to another. Sometimes I feel like Type 6 when I'm talking with some people and at other times I feel like type 2.

So what type are you? (Post your comment and explore your inner astronomer.)

Hot Hot Hot... weather weather weather

My Telescope in HDR, originally uploaded by MPR Photography (Matthew2000tx).

If you don't know central Texas has been very dry this summer and San Antonio gets it's water from the Edwards Aquifer which has gotten very low this summer so we are at Stage 3 water restrictions. It has been unseasonably hot lately and today's high is expected to be 105 degrees; a temperature we usually don't see until the first part of August.

Why all the weather talk?? Well hot dry conditions are generally great for astronomy. I have gotten in some good viewing in lately because of the lack of humidity in the air allows the day time clouds to dissipate after sunset.

This week things have begun to moisten up a bit with rain the past two days. This is mostly due to the usual afternoon thunderstorms. Although we are in dire need of the rain, as is evident with the hue my lawn is showing, I have found it too humid in the evening to get the telescope out.

This week I have my parents in town from San Angelo, Texas and today is Wednesday which means it is the day of the week that the San Antonio Astronomical Association does it's weekly star party at McAllister Park near the San Antonio International airport. I would like to take my little Celestron First Scope out of a spin at the park and introduce my parents to the other astronomers that I talk about often. I see from the weather widget that the day's high is forecast as 105 and partly cloudy, so we might be able to make it to the park. All we need to hope for is that we don't have another one of those much needed rain clouds.... at least not today.

Garner State Park Star Party - June 27

This weekend, my wife and I went to Garner State Park for a star party. We met with fellow members of the San Antonio Astronomical Association at Cracker Barrel at 151 and 410 around 9 AM in San Antonio. Then, we caravaned out HWY90 to Garner State Park. We arrived just before noon and set up camp. Once we got hot, we decided it would be nice to hop in the bed of a truck and go take a dip in the frio.

We enjoyed swimming, watching college kids get ticketed for drinking in the river, and watching two of the SAAA members on the rope swing. Once we were good and pruny we got out of the river, changed and drove into Leakey, Texas for some great Italian food.

After dinner, we drove back to the park and we set up our 16" Meade Lightbridge dobsonian telescope. I was able to use my gigapan to snap some wide angle views: (More Blog after Pictures)

Zoom in on these:




After dark, the public showed up for viewing. We kept the scope on the Ring Nebula for that. Then. around 11:30PM I was able to do some serious starhopping. With the help of my lovely wife, we starhopped to many objects. We saw M51, the Sunflower Galaxy, Owl Nebula, and more. I eventually turned in around 2:30am. Viewing was great. I got to bag about 13 objects off my Messier list I'm working on as part of the astronomy League's observing list.