Iowa Star Party

So, I attended my third Iowa Star Party last weekend. Unfortunately, a busy work schedule left me only making it one night, and it ended up a somewhat dismal night for observing at that.

As for the event, if you're in the region, I highly recommend it. In it's 10th year, Iowa Star Party remains an intimate gathering, drawing perhaps 25-30 amateurs. ISP is organized by the Ames Area Amateur Astronomers and held at the Whiterock Conservancy, near Coon Rapids. Less than half the distance to get to than my 'home' Nebraska Star Party, the site itself is a good one (albeit no Merritt Reservoir), situated roughly halfway between Omaha and Des Moines, about a half hour north of I-80. The skies provide solid Bortle 'blue' conditions. The Whiterock Conservancy has fully embraced it's role in hosting the Iowa Star party, having permanently designated a 'Star Field' on the property, actively engaging in keeping the surroundings free of light sources. The event officially runs from Thursday evening through Sunday, with a banquet held on Saturday evening, followed by a speaker, generally from a local university. This year's featured speaker was Curtis Struck, an Iowa State professor who spoke on his research on colliding galaxies. The presentation was well done, and nicely tailored to the audience of amateur stargazers. A public star party is held on Friday night, which draws 75 to 100 locals. The food is good, the people are friendly, the stargazing, when conditions allow, is very good.

As for my own viewing, I enthusiastically trailered out my, still relatively new to me, 30" f/5 Obsession. The evening, did provide about an hour of good viewing, spent impressing the locals with a tour .of popular targets. After the haze set in, I spent most of the night chit chatting with attendees. Around 3am, the skies in the east did clear up enough, I swung around to Jupiter. Up to this point, I hadn't really had much in the way of decent nights of good seeing with this monster scope. This night was an exception however, and wow, I almost fell off the ladder when I saw what the Jovian giant could actually look like under good conditions. Tiny festoons/detail within the belts, like I'd never seen before. My 18" always showed great detail, but absent any tracking, it's an exercise in futility trying to take it all in. With the ServoCAT, I could actually sit there and really boost the magnification. It almost felt as if I was even seeing subtle variations on a tiny surface of Ganymede. That made my night, as up to this point, I was still unsure of what I had in this Russian made, full thickness, Sitall mirror. It seems to be a good one.

Anyway, I know there are some people here from states surrounding Iowa. Come this time next year, I highly recommend you consider a trip to Coon Rapids. I think they've got something good going on there.

Jeff


'Anzio Annie' after a night at Iowa Star Party
https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...55601234_n.jpg