Black Star Canyon Star Party Recap – Saturday September 28th, 2013

This past weekend, the BSC area was closed under a high fire Red Flag warning until at least 6pm Saturday. I was told that they might not lift the Red Flag warning at 6pm and had sent out an email notice to that effect Even so, we had 26 cars and about 40 people come out to the BSC star party and they were not disappointed. The red flag warning was lifted and we had exceptional night sky seeing.

All the stars in the Little Dipper were visible to the naked eye, including the magnitude 5 stars an hour after sunset. We could even see the Milky Way from the “Teapot” up through the Summer Triangle.

Everyone could see Venus as the Sun set and later a much dimmer Saturn was visible to the right up to about 8:15pm. Later we even saw Uranus as a blue-green small disc and some also viewed Neptune.

The Deep Sky objects M22, M15 & M13 along with many others were spectacular. Others were observing the M57 Ring Nebula and double star Albireo. Later we viewed the M31 Andromeda Galaxy and the Double Cluster in telescopes and binoculars.

Hot as the evening started, it cooled down fast and we put heavy jackets on at 8:30pm. It was a great star party and we closed the gate just after midnight when the last member left and the temperature was a chilly 57 F.

Steve