[12+ HAA members are at the Black Forest Star Party Sept 5-7.]

I went to the BFSP on Tuesday morning with Kerry to meet Ed who was already there. One thing about long clear nights under dark skies, is that dew can be a problem. Not wanting to be ‘shut down’ by dew anytime before dawn, i took steps to be ready to prevent it and fight it when it happens anyway. I have a 350 watt mini hair dryer and a fresh power tank, my ‘mobile’ dew busting setup. It works great.

We have had 2 perfect nights. The first one, we stayed up till about 4 am, when I figured I had had enough. A combination of early rising and impending dawn shut me down. I think i got fooled by the zodiacal light though, based on what was observed the next night.

The skies were excellent, and I was able to find everything I sought. There are a lot of bright, very fast meteors in the sky. They leave white or green fuzzy trails. I must have seen more than 3 dozen, of which perhaps a dozen would be excellent ones. Plenty of normal meteors too. I missed probably twice that many, based on what sounds I could hear from others in the field.

Wednesday night was also excellent. I found Pluto, and sketched the surrounding star field. My CDC is configured to show more stars than the CDC on Kerry’s machine, so there was some doubt about the star field being right. It was the right field, but the problem was to identify which fairly bright dot was Pluto. The GWS also shows many more stars than the CDC. But Pluto is in the bag!

On Wednesday evening, Jackie and John arrived, and found our camp after a bit of exploring down the lanes. There are about 150 observers on the field by now. Fortunately, the HAA contingent is set up prominently near the observing domes. After setting up, Jackie and John got right into observing on probably the best night for the rest of the week. I saw the zodiacal light, extending perhaps 30 degrees up the sky. It was a triangle of light. The skies being so dark, it actually was visible on both sides of the milky way, which cut through. It remained dark in other directions for another hour.

There was a bit of high cloud in the sky around 5 am. Also a contrail. I tried to catch M109 as it rose above the trees, but in a race against the dawn, the dawn won. By the time i was ready to cover up the GWS, it was light enough to see across the field. Fortunately i have a toque to pull over my eyes so I can sleep in the daytime. I covered up the scope after daybreak, as did Jackie, John, Jim, and Kerry.

The HAA is set up near the roll-off roof shed, along with our banners. There’s space to shoe-horn in a few more tents. The other members of the contingent are due in today, Thursday.