Oregon Star Party 2013

Registration appears to be open (I registered!). I am really excited about it this year; a good group of interesting speakers, the spectacular skies, a new trailer and better scope transport capabilities... I'm even looking forward to tripping over my first "Darnit" bush (of the year)!

Did my registration yesterday as well. Counting the days. I will be coming up on the Saturday before and will be there the whole week.

I am looking forward to it and will also be arriving on the weekend ahead of the event.

-Wade

Registration for the 2013 Oregon Star Party is now open at www.oregonstarparty.org. This year’s party will take place on August 6 to August 11 at Indian Trail Springs. We look forward to seeing you up there.

We have one major change this year, we would like to send out a big thanks to Mary’s Chuck Wagon who for many years served food to astronomers at the Oregon Star Party. Mary decided the trip up to Indian Trail Spring was too much and has decided to move on.

Our new caterer will be Jason Robertson’s Headwaters Café. For much of the year Headwaters resides in New Orleans catering to the motion picture industry and private clients. However for the months of July and August Headwaters heads north to Portland for the cooler weather. On a side note, Jason appeared this past January on Food Network’s Chopped. For more information on Headwaters Café go to www.headwaterscafe.com. This year’s Star Dinners are as follows:

Thursday Dinner

Beef brisket with red wine reduction
Garlic mashed potatoes w/gravy
Roasted carrots with soy and ginger
Green salad
Beverage

Friday Night

Lasagna w/Italian sausage & basil ragout
Broccoli with garlic and butter
Dinner rolls
Caesar salad
Beverage

Saturday Night

Meatloaf
Mexican corn salad w/jicama & red peppers
Roasted red potatoes
chips and salsa
Beverage

Registration for the 2013 Oregon Star Party is now open at www.oregonstarparty.org. This year’s party will take place on August 6 to August 11 at Indian Trail Springs. We look forward to seeing you up there.

We have one major change this year, we would like to send out a big thanks to Mary’s Chuck Wagon who for many years served food to astronomers at the Oregon Star Party. Mary decided the trip up to Indian Trail Spring was too much and has decided to move on.

Our new caterer will be Jason Robertson’s Headwaters Café. For much of the year Headwaters resides in New Orleans catering to the motion picture industry and private clients. However for the months of July and August Headwaters heads north to Portland for the cooler weather. On a side note, Jason appeared this past January on Food Network’s Chopped. For more information on Headwaters Café go to www.headwaterscafe.com. This year’s Star Dinners are as follows:

Thursday Dinner

Beef brisket with red wine reduction
Garlic mashed potatoes w/gravy
Roasted carrots with soy and ginger
Green salad
Beverage

Friday Night

Lasagna w/Italian sausage & basil ragout
Broccoli with garlic and butter
Dinner rolls
Caesar salad
Beverage

Saturday Night

Meatloaf
Mexican corn salad w/jicama & red peppers
Roasted red potatoes
chips and salsa
Beverage

That's it. I'm there. "Chopped" is one of my favorite shows. That tips the scales to Oregon from Table.

On such random axes do our lives revolve.

Uh, me too.

I've got the vacation time off to go. It seems to be more suited to RVers than to small tent campers. Hopefully I can get out there this summer.

BTW that link isn't working.
HTTP Error 400. The request hostname is invalid.

This one worked:
http://www.oregonsta...ty/default.aspx

I've got the vacation time off to go. It seems to be more suited to RVers than to small tent campers. Hopefully I can get out there this summer.

BTW that link isn't working.
HTTP Error 400. The request hostname is invalid.

This one worked:
http://www.oregonsta...ty/default.aspx

Here are some camping tips for the site. OSP Camping Tips

I've got the vacation time off to go. It seems to be more suited to RVers than to small tent campers. Hopefully I can get out there this summer.

BTW that link isn't working.
HTTP Error 400. The request hostname is invalid.

This one worked:
http://www.oregonsta...ty/default.aspx

Lots of tent campers at OSP, including me the first year I went. Not a problem and actually the majority of participants the years I have been there were tent campers.

I've been scouting the camping sections lately. Looks like some space blanket solar shields for my tent and equipment will be important. Don't know if it's too windy for any of those dining canopies. Dust abatement is critical. Lots of dust mats around tent and scope. Found some good checklists online that I can edit for my use to get ready.

There's also the Brother's star party in early September SE of Bend, OR.

I'll be on a strict budget so no splurging on astro equipment or catered meals LOL.

You need to be careful with the dining tents. In general, they can stand up to the wind if you anchor them sufficiently (You need to use some kind of weights. The ground is too rocky and dry to drive tent spikes sufficiently to do the job. If you have some buckets, there are plenty of rocks to fill them for weight.)

The issue is dust devils. A few years ago, we had one well anchored down so that it could not go anywhere. Still, it took a direct hit from a dust devil that collapsed it and destroyed the frame.

Last year a dust devil destroyed an awning attached to a motor home and another knocked over a Porta Potty. It came out of nowhere & was gone quickly, but leaving havoc in its wake.

I took the whole week off. Can't wait to go, it's going to be my first OSP.

I wont be making it this year.. I'll be out of town with family.
I hope the weather is perfect during the week!

My girlfriend and I are planning on going to the OSP this year. This will be the first time for me. I've always wanted to go, but-for one reason or another (usually associated with where I've lived and my work schedule)-I haven't been able to go. She's never been to a large star party before and she's somewhat getting started in all of this. Both of us are really looking forward to going. Since moving here to Antelope in late 2011, which is just a couple of hours away (northwest of the site) and having some time off now, there's no excuse NOT to go. Well...money...but we'll see how THAT goes. The trick is getting away, as I run the local volunteer fire department here and we are dealing with an unusually early fire season albit it's been quiet for us so far (knock on wood).

I live in a frontier area where the skies are pretty darn dark, about 45 minutes over the hills from the nearest source of city glow and only five or six street lights in our tiny town (I live in the "quiet" and "darkest" part of our tiny town, so I'm blessed with some convenient astronomy. However, I have spent some time camping in the Ochocos and the skies there, when the conditions are right, can't be beat.

The OSP website's forum has a good deal of first-timers and some well-written posts by folks passing on some great tips which we'll take heed to. Going to be interesting to see how much we can cram into a little '02 Hyundai Accent....taking the 10" LX200 with us. Normally I can take a lot of stuff if I'm going by myself. Where I used to live in the Sierra Nevadas, I got packing my gear down to a science because I only had a tiny hole in the trees at the zenith to work with, which meant travelling for observing. Now there's two of us. Just hoping the roads going all the way out to that site are not too rough for my little car.

I've been away from CN for a while, again, due to a TON of stuff going on in my life and I wouldn't even know where to begin if I were to explain. Maybe in another thread at another time. Suffice it to say, the OSP is going to be a welcome excursion for me...if all goes well according to my evil plans to get out of Dodge for a few days.

OSP is a great star party. You are going to have a great time!

It's not everyone's cup of tea, but you should catch at least one of Dave Powell's evening sessions at the loop. Each night, he goes over the mythology of an area of the sky. He's a great story teller and it's always interesting and humorous.

Oh, we're definitely going to take in one of Dave's talks. We love stuff like that.

She's dying to catch a view out of a 20" or larger Obsession....

Hopefully we will get a nice spot to pitch our tent and scope. She wants to be nearer to the trees, away from any RVs. I've never been there so I don't know where to begin looking. We plan on arriving as early as possible during daylight in the morning Thursday and leave first thing Sunday morning.

Getting away from RVs is pretty easy. There is a large camping area to the north of the loop that is off limits to RVs.

Getting near to the trees is a bit tougher, as there are no trees near the main part of the star party. If I remember right, there are a few folks who set up their tents near the trees in the distance. But I'm one of those RV guys, so I keep close to the road.

Getting a view through a large telescope should not be a problem. For the last couple of years, there has been an attendee with a 41" scope. There is also a regular who brings up a 25" Obsession. I think that I missed him last year, but hopefully he'll be there this year.

-Wade

Cool. That's what we're after. Hopefully by early Thursday morning we'll be able to make our way around and find a good spot to plop down on without difficulty. I usually don't mind camping near other people at a large event but she's interested in having a little more space and privacy.

The other thing, however, is she has a bum knee (awaiting surgery) and is on crutches. She gets around nicely but at times needs to rest. As long as the ground stays relatively level, she'll be okay. I'm usually right there with her.

A 41"? Wow. When I told my girlfriend that, she just had a big smile on her face. She likes the idea of being able to see all the different types of telescopes. I'd been telling her that she SHOULD get some opportunity to see through a 20" or larger at some point. She also wants to see what high-quality APOs are all about. One thing the both of us are hoping to experience is one of those large-aperture binocular telescopes.

Nice to know you're going. I'd love to meet a few fellow CN'ers at the event.

I camped next to the guy with the 40 inch scope. He ground the mirror himself. It was made from plate glass he had fused in a kiln. He had a problem after 3 years of grinding and had to spend a couple of more years refiguring it. It took him 7 years total to the mirror and structure. The whole structure weighs 800 pounds. He was trying to see the Einstein Cross in it one night. I used his very tall ladder for better cellular signal. I spent six nights there and had a great time. It was my first OSP. I plan to be there for the total eclipse in a few more years. This year will be my 6 straight GSSP which is much closer to my home in Reno.

As for the 2017 total eclipse, I'd definitely be East of the Cascades just North of Madras as Salem and the Willamette valley are famous for morning marine layer clouds even in the middle of summer. Wouldn't that suck if you woke up and found you were going to miss it even though you were under the center line.

Oregon path

Total Solar Eclipse 2017

BTW, when is the last day you can register for the OSP?

I camped next to the guy with the 40 inch scope. He ground the mirror himself. It was made from plate glass he had fused in a kiln. He had a problem after 3 years of grinding and had to spend a couple of more years refiguring it. It took him 7 years total to the mirror and structure. The whole structure weighs 800 pounds. He was trying to see the Einstein Cross in it one night. I used his very tall ladder for better cellular signal. I spent six nights there and had a great time. It was my first OSP. I plan to be there for the total eclipse in a few more years. This year will be my 6 straight GSSP which is much closer to my home in Reno.

Wow. That's quite a project. I'd love to see that scope for its historical value as well as its optical ability, which I would love to experience. My girlfriend and I have been tossing around the idea of making our own telescope as a fun project to do together (I did a little bit of ATM in my younger years) in the future.

We too are discussing going back fo see the total eclipse as well.

Reno, eh? I used to live in the Nevada City-Downieville, California area before I moved back here in late 2011 (I'm originally from Oregon). I visited Reno fairly often, preferring it to Sacramento for a variety of reasons. Sadly, I never got the opportunity to attend the GSSP. We had a small astronomy club in Nevada City that occasionally had interaction with the Sacramento Valley Astronomers Society, whose annual Star-B-Que at the Blue Canyon Airport I attended.

As for the 2017 total eclipse, I'd definitely be East of the Cascades just North of Madras as Salem and the Willamette valley are famous for morning marine layer clouds even in the middle of summer. Wouldn't that suck if you woke up and found you were going to miss it even though you were under the center line.

Oregon path

Total Solar Eclipse 2017

BTW, when is the last day you can register for the OSP?

Totally agree with you on this. Fortuntely for me, I live a bit north and east of Madras.

Noticed you're in the Medford area. I'm originally from the Rogue Valley. Grew up and lived in Talent throughout my early life. Graduated from Phoenix High School. Worked as a firefighter and medic in the Rogue Valley (even put in a little time with Mercy Flights back in the 80s). My parents still live up in the hills northwest of Sams Valley way up East Evans Creek. In fact, my girlfriend and I plan on driving down to visit my parents in October. Aside from that, the two must-do stops along the way: 1) Crater Lake and 2) Luigi's Sandwich shop (nothing beats their Garbage Grinder!), neither of which my girlfriend has experienced in the past.

A place I used to love taking my telescope to in southern Oregon is near Freezeout, way up in the hills above and behind Talent. From there, one can take in a stunning view of the valley with Roxy Ann just peaking out above fog layer whenever it'd settle in.

BTW, when is the last day you can register for the OSP?

Early registration is available until July 12, but you can arrive at OSP and register onsite, it is just a bit cheaper to do it early.

mtnmedic, R&D sandwich shop is even better than Luigi's IMO.

I'm planning on several solo star parties up at Howard Prairie this summer during the week when I'm off. Camping should be good into early October until the rain starts back up again.

Hoping to get out to OSP this summer, but if not I'll try for Brother's in early September.