Sky & Telescope June 2001 [antikvár]

It's Party Time!Perhaps you'd like to check out a new telescope or eyepiece, but there's no astronomy store in your area. Maybe you live in a light-polluted city or suburb and wish you could spend some quality time under truly dark skies. Perhaps you enjoy looking at the Moon and planets with your little refractor but can't stop wondering what it'd be like to view galaxies and nebulae in a giant "light bucket." Maybe you'd even like to meet some of the folks who bring you Sky ?i Telescope each month.There's an easy way to do most or all of these things at once: go to a star party. As recently as 15 years ago there were only a handful of major events where amateurs could gather for collective dusk-to-dawn stargazing and astro-conversation. Vermont's Stellafane, pictured here, was the first. In the U.S., other biggies include the Texas Star Party, the Riverside Telescope Makers Conference (now called the RTMC Astronomy Expo) in California, and the Winter Star Party in Florida.Over the last decade dozens of new annual events have come on the scene all over the world, most of them hosted by local astronomy clubs relying on the efforts of enthusiastic volunteers. Most feature not only stargazing but also vendor exhibits (where you can often buy equipment at a special show discount), talks by noted amateur and professional astronomers, telescope-making clinics, swap meets, and door-prize drawings.You should go these assemblies are a lot of fiin. They give you a chance to meet all sorts of interesting people who love astronomy as much as you and I do. If you scan the list of amateur events in this magazine or on our Web site, you're bound to find a star party within easy traveling distance. Or take a longer trip and turn it into a family vacation. Never seen the Grand Canyon? Visit it while attending the Grand Canyon Star Party. Or do it the other way around. Planning a holiday in Japan? Go when you can include the Tainai Star Party on your itinerary!We usually send an editor to each major event to give a talk, judge a telescope-making competition, or look for article ideas. This was easy when there were only three or four major star parties per year. Now, with more and more events crossing the threshold from "minor" to "major," we find ourselves stretched a bit thin during the spring and summer, when we invariably have two or three editors on the road at once. I'm not complaining, though. It's a good problem to have, because it s a sign of our hobby's enduring popularity and continued growth.Sounds like a reason to celebrate. Let's party!