Pedernales Falls Public Star Party 12 August 2023

About a dozen of us Austin Astronomical Society club members were there with instruments. The Perseid meteor shower was the main event. Advance publicity across social media promised the best live sky spectacle of the year; judging from the oohs and aahs of the crowd starting at first darkness, the promise came true. I left at 11:15 PM. As a regular backyard enthusiast, I see meteors all the time in my telescope, binocular, and naked eye. And, I own several meteorites. So, my focus was on talking about the stars while standing at my telescope. 

Brian Lippincott explaining eyepieces to guests.
A good fabricator, Brian has been the Equipment Chair.

Brian Lippincott was first on the field when I arrived, all set up with his solar viewing binocular rig and large Dobsonian reflector. He went off to place the entrance signs and I set up my Explore Scientific 102-mm achromatic refractor on a Celestron AVX computerized (“go to”) tripod and mount. At home, I rely on a much simpler and easier Explore Twilight 1 manual altitude-azimuth (“alt-az”) mount but the AVX with automatic tracking and menu selections supports public engagement very well. The only ocular (“eyepiece”) was a 14-mm 82-degree Meade 5000 for 47X. It was sufficient. Soon after Brian returned, other club members trailed in and found their places.

 

I stopped counting visitors at 125, and I estimated 200 overall, which was the headcount that Joyce and Jim Lynch at the greeting table said that they expected. At the Sky Theater mini-megalith Ed Labelle and Jim Lynch welcomed our guests. In the growing darkness, Ed devoted about an hour to explaining our local Stonehenge and highlighted the basics of viewing the sky, measuring distances with your hand,  the general mechanics of celestial motion, and how to dim your cell phone. 

 

Austin Astro Outreach Chair Ed Labelle at the
Obelisk talking to the visitors.

I began a four-star alignment and soon had guests. For most of my audiences for most of the night, I was focused on Messier 22. It is large and bright and I was able to talk from memory about the astronomy and physics of globular clusters without getting lost in the narrative while showing people where to look and how to focus for themselves. Over the course of the night, stargazing from the scopes of other members, many guests got to view the Hercules Cluster, (Messier 13) and they remarked on that view while visiting with me.

 

Overture! Curtain! Lights!
This is it: the night of nights!

But I started with Messier 11, the Wild Duck cluster because I aligned on Arcturus, Antares, Vega, and then Altair; and it was a short drop to Messier 11. For myself, this was a first sighting. I had tried two nights before from my backyard, but the view was unremarkable and I did not log it. This time, I could see the cluster and its red and orange stars. The guests were also happy. “Wild Duck” is a cooler name than “Messier 11.” 

 

Fixin' to Start: Many club members brought
large Dobsonians.

A steady stream of people in small groups and families, came and went and lined up again until about 11:00. We also looked at Beta Scorpii (Graffias) because some had seen Albireo at another instrument. They easily remembered the stunning yellow and blue pair. I explained that this is not as pretty, but these stars are truly gravitationally locked whereas Albireo is an accidental arrangement. I then talked about the 200 years between Galileo and William Herschel when it was assumed that the stars are more or less randomly arranged and are more or less alike with differences in color perhaps relating to their temperatures by analogy with an iron bar heated in furnace. Then, about 1810 William Hershel changed our paradigm. My groups viewed  Messier 7, Messier 80, and Messier 4. After I pointed to Mizar and Alcor naked eye, we viewed the system in the telescope, and I indicated Mu Scorpii, the Eyes of the Lion, another naked-eye double. I suggested that club members with larger instruments could show them that Polaris is also a double star.

 

Then, I went searching for Messier 51 (another first light for myself). My three guests agreed that they could see the small grayer patch in the middle of the field of view. And, again, I recommended that more aperture would be rewarding. Finding myself alone, I packed up.

 

PREVIOUSLY ON NECESSARY FACTS

Austin Astro Public Star Party

Kyle Astronomy Club Observe the Moon Night

A Good Entry-Level Telescope

Images from SXSW 2013