The 2012 Black Forest Star Party

Here's a brief report on the 2012 Black Forest Star Party.

I drove to Cherry Springs State Park in Potter County, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday and left on Monday morning. I was able to observe every night, although it rained during the evening on Friday before clearing. Some of the nights were a bit hazy, not to mention quite dewy. Occasionally, clouds would make an appearance.

A few of the week's many highlights included having my best views ever of NGC 604 (the brightest HII region in M33), NGC 891, NGC 1023, and NGC 7293 (the Helix Nebula) through John Vogt's homemade 32" f/3.9 Dob, some great views of Jupiter (one at a magnification of 833x through a 20" Obsession Dob and another through a 25" Obsession) including shadow and GRS transits, seeing a bolide that lit up the ground and left a persistent smoke train visible through my Celestron 8x42s, and a fine pass of the Chinese Tiangong-1 "space station". M8, M17, M57, M76, NGC 672, NGC 6543, NGC 6572, NGC 6888, NGC 6960, NGC 6992, NGC 7331, and Stephan's Quintet looked very good through the 32" Dob, as well. We caught a glimpse of IC 4617, the faint spiral galaxy that lies between NGC 6207 and M13 one night. B33 (the Horsehead Nebula) was an easy target through the previously mentioned 20" Obsession one morning. I also had some fine views of M13, M15, NGC 6949, and a number of other DSOs through another 20" Obsession.

I also enjoyed observing with Al Nagler, his bevy of Ethos eyepieces, and my Tele Vue TV-101 apochromat on Saturday night. I was given a loaner 17.3mm Delos that produced very fine images in my telescopes and those of some of my friends. Using "Uncle" Al's 10mm Ethos in the 32" Dob produced fantastic 366x views of M2 and M15.

I had a chance to meet Dr. Heidi Hammel, who gave an excellent keynote talk on the James Webb Space Telescope on Saturday evening.

On the downside, SQM readings at the park have been plummeting thanks to Marcellus Shale gas well drilling. The highest that I was aware of was 21.5. On some of the nights, it was rather easy to walk around sans a red flashlight, once dark adaptation was achieved. We could see the faint flickering of a gas well flare far off in the west on Monday morning.

Dave Mitsky

Hi Dave,

Though its unfortunate to hear about the increase in the surrounding LP I'm glad to hear that BFSP was successful. Though I've never attended Cherry Springs State Park, I do hope to make it out one year. I've always heard good things about it.