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Georgia Sky View  -  "A Stellar Event"

The Flint River Astronomy Club hosted it's fourth annual Star Party 

on April 4th, 5th, and 6th -  2008

Recap of the Star Party

Door Prizes:

Larry Higgins won the biggie, the Oberwerks binoculars.  

Ken Poshedly won the 3-volume set of Uranometrias.

Carlos Flores won the observing chair.  

Charles Anstey and his family won the trivia contest.  

Speakers:

Dr. Schmude talked on measuring Jupiter's storm systems

Dr. Michael Covington spoke on DSLR astrophotography

Steve Bentley showed how to construct a custom power supply for your telescope.  

Well, again another Georgia SkyView is history. This year, instead of
a starparty, it turned into a rather frustrating wading party. The
weather just did not cooperate in the least. It even tried to tease
us a couple of times only to rain on our parade again.

However, all was not lost. It turned out to be an absolutely
fantastic event considering not a telescope was put up and observed
through as far as I know. Friday evening and Friday night was spent
doing what set-up had to be done and getting around to meeting all
those that attended.

Saturday morning started off with a breakfast of homemade biscuits,
sausage, bacon, and gravy.

At about 1 o'clock, the door prize drawings were held. The Grand
Prize winner was Larry Higgins winning a nice pair of Oberwerk
binoculars.

Then at 2 o'clock, Dr. Richard Schmude gave a wonderful lecture on
how to observe storms on Jupiter other than the GRS. Absolutely
amazing how they measure the size of the storms during the year.

Following Dr. Schmude's presentation, Michael Covington gave an
informative presentation on DSLR astrophotography. Mr. Covington is a
renowned author of several books on this subject.

After Mr. Covington's presentation, a presentation of how to
construct a custom power supply for your telescope was given.

Then came the good part, time to eat. The club hosted a cook out with
hamburgers and hot dogs. Other delicious dishes were broght by those
in attendance. If anyone left the dining hall hungry, it was his own
fault.

Saturday night was spent watching a couple of videos about the Hubble
Space Telescope and a good game of "Astro-Trivia" .

Of course, Sunday morning was spent taking stuff down and cleaning up
the facitlities for inspection by the Park Rangers before we could
check out.

So, in spite of the nasty weather, the GSV for 2008 was a roaring
success. I feel confident in saying that a good time was had by all.
Steve Knight is to be congratulated for pulling off yet another
successful Georgia SkyView Starparty. For a club this size, we should
be proud to be able to compete with much larger clubs by hosting such
an event. Thanks goes out to all those that participated, those that
worked to help the event take place, and especially to Steve Knight
whose leadership made it all possible. If you didn't make it this
year, plan on it next year. You won't regret it.

Hoping for clearer skies soon,
Steve Bentley